pto generator?

[HK45]

Im up in the air about getting a pto generator for my bobcat ct450. Can somebody tell me if its safe to run the pto and tractor for a few days at a tiem if need be? Also any suggestions on who makes go pto generator? Thanks

 

[pmsmechanic]

Safe depends on your aversion to risk. If you aren't going to be sitting on the tractor and it overheats or loses oil pressure then you aren't there to shut it off. Chances of that happening are very slim. Can you afford to replace the motor?

Install some Murphy switch gauges. They aren't cheap but they work. They are also relatively easy to install and will protect your investment. I just went to their website Murphy by Enovation Controls and looked at whet they all have. It might be a bit of a challenge to find what you need but if you have a local supplier they can help you sort things out. In southern Alberta they are very common on irrigation engines which can run non stop for weeks at a time.

As far as a PTO generator goes I don't have any experience yet but am in the process of building my own. Store bought ones are designed to run at 540 pto speed and I don't need full power so I'm designing one that runs at approx 300 pto rpm. I'm only planning on useing it for running my shop and having showers, washing clothes etc. during power outages. The rest of the time my yard can comfortably run on a 2200 watt Yamaha generator that we use for camping.

 

[bobmisi]

I have a 13000 watt pto generator and a Branson 3820i. The generator is designed for 540 rpm but I run mine at 1000 rpm at barely above an idle. Never had a problem, and keep in mind that most of us do not run the generator every minute the power is out. I run mine a couple of hours at a time to get things done and cook or whatever. Then I shut it down for a couple of hours. I don't need to run a generator all night long to keep my night light lit and my alarm clock running. I also have a woodstove to keep the house warm when the power goes out in winter. I believe tractors were designed to run for many hours at a time. Just keep checking the fluids and grease it often and you should be fine.

 

[Cord]

I'm of the opinion that a PTO generator makes way more sense than a purpose built generator or worse, a permanent home generator. They just don't get enough use to justify the maintenance. Besides, because it has been neglected that engine won't run when you really need it. Starting a carb tear down is not what you want to do when the power is out because of a blizzard or ice storm. That brings up the second point, what do you really need? Farmers around here have them because it's cheaper to have the pto generator sit around unused for 20 years than to loose a batch of milk. You can easily track the limits of the power outage by the unmanned tractors outside with a spinning drive shaft.

 

[Bigfoot62]

Here's a 6 page discussion of that: http://www.tractorbynet.com/forums/rural-living/315826-diesel-generator-pto-generator.html?highlight=generator

But, to answer your question: A diesel tractor is perfectly fine for continuous run for a few hours, or a few days. They do it all the time. There are thousands of tractors running water pumps, aerators, mills, etc., every day.

A PTO generator is on my short list. I just haven't had the extra money to buy one yet. Hope I can do it before we get another hurricane up here. (Rita, in 2005, was the first time we ever saw a Cat II storm this far from the ocean. Maybe it won't ever happen again)

 

[nybirdman]

I have a PTO generator back-up.It runs at PTO speeds to keep the voltage correct.Running it any less will give you low voltage(not good).Mine has a meter built in.Tiger Power is the name on mine but I don't believe they are still in business.

 

[MH8675309]

Last winter when we had an ice storm one of the gas stations north of Marlette ran a generator with a tractor about the size of a Ford 6000. It ran the whole store and they had people lined up for gas fuel and kerosene. The generator itself didn't look very big but it handled the store fuel pumps and all.

 

[Utopia Texas]

I have a 13000 watt pto generator and a Branson 3820i. The generator is designed for 540 rpm but I run mine at 1000 rpm at barely above an idle. Never had a problem, and keep in mind that most of us do not run the generator every minute the power is out. I run mine a couple of hours at a time to get things done and cook or whatever. Then I shut it down for a couple of hours. I don't need to run a generator all night long to keep my night light lit and my alarm clock running. I also have a woodstove to keep the house warm when the power goes out in winter. I believe tractors were designed to run for many hours at a time. Just keep checking the fluids and grease it often and you should be fine.

You are kidding aren't you about running the generator below rated speed? The lower voltage output will eventually burn up any electric motor rated for a particulate voltage.

 

[TerryR]

I'm of the opinion that a permanent home generator makes way more sense than a portable generator, or worse a PTO generator. There's no need to tramp through the snow banks to get the generator, hook it up to the tractor in the snow and ice, drag it to the house, and hook it up to the house. Run it on the natural gas or propane supply for the house and you have no need to worry about plowing out the road to get fuel, or your fuel supply going bad. No need to tie up the tractor if you need it for something else, like plowing the road out.

Of course, the truth is which is better depends on a number of factors, including the conditions you expect to use it in (blizzard or hurricane, for example), fuels you have available, length of outages you expect, your trust your tractor running at full speeds for extended periods, and what other needs you may have for a portable electric supply.

Terry

 

[bobmisi]

You are kidding aren't you about running the generator below rated speed? The lower voltage output will eventually burn up any electric motor rated for a particulate voltage.

The generator is running at the same speed due to the pto spinning at 1000 rpm at a slower tractor engine speed. The generator has a gauge to set the engine/pto speed to the correct speed to get the correct output.

 

[nc redneck]

Whole house generators turn on and off by themselves in the event of power failure. During the night the only way I can tell if power is off is the clock is blinking and ceiling fan has a different noise when running on gen. No getting up putting fuel in it, flipping breakers and wondering when power is back on.
Biggest reason ,what if you are out of town or have a health issue. Do you really want your wife or kid out pouring fuel and flipping breakers at 3 in the morning when they probably have no experience ? Propane or NG will take care of all bad fuel issues.

 

[grsthegreat]

my whole house generator has run 2 times in the past 2 weeks. both due to power lines down by wind storms. The longest was 7 hours during late afternoon thru midnight. We were the ONLY house lit up as far as i can see.

Had friends come over to watch tv and play cards.

As a note, im a Generac dealer and installer. I now have 5 new jobs scheduled, with the largest being a 45KW unit that i just ordered today.

Alot of people arnt home when the power fails and dont want their family sitting around in the dark. Its all a personal preference.

As for me, a 22 KW generator and auto transfer switch costs roughly $6500 +/- installed. not a huge chunk of change.

With a winter kit and onboard battery maintainer, the ONLY maint is a yearly oil change (like 1-1/2 quarts) and a $17.00 maintenance kit of filters and plugs. Takes all of 15 minutes.

Personally id rather run a $4,000 motor than my $30,000 tractor. but thats just me.

We lost power so far 4 times since January. its not just a once in a while thing.

My own system is a manual transfer switch and electric start (manual) ganerator, but i plan on installing a Quietsource 1,800 RPM water cooled 22KW unit here soon to hook to my 400 amp panel so my shop and barn are also covered. My barn heated water tanks nearly froze this winter during outage. Had to jury rig extension cords all over the place.

 

[newbury]

I'm of the opinion that a permanent home generator makes way more sense than a portable generator, or worse a PTO generator. There's no need to tramp through the snow banks to get the generator, hook it up to the tractor in the snow and ice, drag it to the house, and hook it up to the house. Run it on the natural gas or propane supply for the house and you have no need to worry about plowing out the road to get fuel, or your fuel supply going bad. No need to tie up the tractor if you need it for something else, like plowing the road out.

Of course, the truth is which is better depends on a number of factors, including the conditions you expect to use it in (blizzard or hurricane, for example), fuels you have available, length of outages you expect, your trust your tractor running at full speeds for extended periods, and what other needs you may have for a portable electric supply.

Terry

Whole house generators turn on and off by themselves in the event of power failure. During the night the only way I can tell if power is off is the clock is blinking and ceiling fan has a different noise when running on gen. No getting up putting fuel in it, flipping breakers and wondering when power is back on.
Biggest reason ,what if you are out of town or have a health issue. Do you really want your wife or kid out pouring fuel and flipping breakers at 3 in the morning when they probably have no experience ? Propane or NG will take care of all bad fuel issues.

A permanent whole house generator is really nice if all you need is a generator for one house and your power goes out frequently for extended periods of time.

My ex boss bought one AFTER the only extended power outage I've seen here in Northern Virginia since 1975, that was about 15 years ago. It runs for a period every month. It hasn't been needed in 15 years, $5,000 well spent.

I bought a 6KW "portable" at the same time for $600. I try to run it several times a year, and last year was the first time I needed it for a few hours and I ran it for about 30 minutes total. $600 well spent. Works well at a construction site.

Now as frequently happens people buy generators AFTER an event then find they rarely use them and sell them. I picked up a Winco 12KW VERY lightly used, w/ PTO shaft for $600. I've only run it a few times to test it. It's portable, I can lend it to relatives. I can take it to the field and stick weld with it.

The OP asked about PTO generators,

Im up in the air about getting a pto generator for my bobcat ct450. Can somebody tell me if its safe to run the pto and tractor for a few days at a tiem if need be? Also any suggestions on who makes go pto generator? Thanks

why don't we discuss windpower, solar power, hydro power?

Winco makes a good product. Yes it's safe to run it for extended periods. Diesels are DESIGNED for long term running.

 

[mfreund]

I'm of the opinion that a PTO generator makes way more sense than a purpose built generator or worse, a permanent home generator. They just don't get enough use to justify the maintenance. Besides, because it has been neglected that engine won't run when you really need it. Starting a carb tear down is not what you want to do when the power is out because of a blizzard or ice storm. That brings up the second point, what do you really need? Farmers around here have them because it's cheaper to have the pto generator sit around unused for 20 years than to loose a batch of milk. You can easily track the limits of the power outage by the unmanned tractors outside with a spinning drive shaft.

I beg to differ, when it is storming out and raining cats and dogs I do nothing and the lights come back on. We have a 20 kw Generac generator. There is no way if I was not home that my wife could get the power back on with a pto generator and tractor.

 

[daybreak1998]

Howdy,
A permanent home generator is nice for some.

PTO generator = I do not need electricity right away. Say the power goes off for maybe 30 minutes, I will survive. Say I look outside and see 1 inch of pure ice covering everything, and the power goes out, yep, probably going to be out for a while. Hook the pto generator up, connect it, everything is powered. Say I do not need a generator for 3 years, OK, connect the pto generator and it works. No extra engine to maintain. If you have a real farming operation, lots of tractor power and diesel, then you need big power, when you need it. Do you really need to use your tractor 24/7 after a storm, fine use it to clean up, hook up the pto generator and clean yourself up and relax.

But, if you have a small house, a small tractor and neighbors all around, city water, city sewage etc.. then you can probably get one of those tiny little efficient generators

 

[Mudfarmer]

I have a PTO generator from Harbor Freight (don't think they sell them anymore). It has worked great the two times I had to use it in the last several years. No small engine maintenance :thumbsup:. I just make sure I have plenty of diesel on hand in the winter. I priced a natural gas standby: $7000 vs $700 (got mine on sale). My Deere 3005 runs quieter than the neighbor's natural gas standby. Gotta figure that a tractor sitting and running a generator is easy hours - no transmission, steering, hydrayulic, etc wear and tear.
Mf

 

[schmism]

dont forget you can always take that PTO genny with you to build fences in the back 40.... drive it down to a neighbors house that lost power when the drunk hit his pole out front etc.

Hard to do either of those with a stationary "house" unit.

On the upside to the house version is you an get NG version that will run off the gas supply that is ALWAYS on, and you never run out of fuel. but Id take the portability over avoiding the logistics of having to have diesel on hand.

Others point out that there may be times when you want to use the tractor and the genny at the same time. That tornado comes through and you need power, but you'd also like to have the tractor to clean downed trees etc. My response to that is, I could use the 2 hr break to come inside to the air conditioning and cool off and get some lunch while the genny runs the house "recharges" the refrig etc. Then ill go back out for another 4 hrs of pushing trees around. The kids dont need to play xbox all the time.

 

[daybreak1998]

Howdy,
The primary concern here would be water for cattle, and keeping the freezers (2 chest freezers, and 3 uprights) going with all that beef inside

NG=natural gas = city folk, there is nothing out here in the country. Propane= the amount a engine uses is crazy.. goes thru propane like it cost 5 cents.

Diesel generator = good, just another engine to maintain.
Diesel tractor with PTO generator= the best way

I am pretty much on the farm 99.6 percent of the time. If I am not around and the power is gonna be out for a long time, I call my neighbor to hook it up.

 

[Bigfoot62]

my whole house generator has run 2 times in the past 2 weeks. both due to power lines down by wind storms. The longest was 7 hours during late afternoon thru midnight. We were the ONLY house lit up as far as i can see. . .

As a note, im a Generac dealer and installer. I now have 5 new jobs scheduled, with the largest being a 45KW unit that i just ordered today.

As for me, a 22 KW generator and auto transfer switch costs roughly $6500 +/- installed. not a huge chunk of change.
. . .

$6500 may not be much to some people, but it is to me. Besides, I already have 3 tractors. I can't use all of them at the same time anyway.

Howdy,
A permanent home generator is nice for some.

PTO generator = I do not need electricity right away. Say the power goes off for maybe 30 minutes, I will survive. Say I look outside and see 1 inch of pure ice covering everything, and the power goes out, yep, probably going to be out for a while. Hook the pto generator up, connect it, everything is powered. Say I do not need a generator for 3 years, OK, connect the pto generator and it works. No extra engine to maintain. If you have a real farming operation, lots of tractor power and diesel, then you need big power, when you need it. Do you really need to use your tractor 24/7 after a storm, fine use it to clean up, hook up the pto generator and clean yourself up and relax.

That's what I'm thinking. Well said.

 

[schmism]

NG=natural gas = city folk, there is nothing out here in the country. Propane= the amount a engine uses is crazy.. goes thru propane like it cost 5 cents.

This is typical "the best is what i know" response without actually looking at the costs involved.

To boil it down, Propane has 84,950btu/gal diesel (#2) has 128,450btu/gal basicly the btu/gal will dictate how much energy you can pull out of the fuel. So all other things being equal you would expect a propane powered genset to use 84,950/128450 = .6613 or 33% more fuel for any given load.

so now to cost per gallon. say Diesel cost $4/gal and say propane costs $2.50/gal. that would mean you use 33% more of the 2.50 stuff or roughly $3.325 for every gallon of $4 diesel you would burn.

So ya, considering just costs of the fuel, its WAY cheeper to burn propane than it is Diesel at 2014 prices. If you were go purchase a brand new 2014 diesel generator your looking at some fun EPA requirements concerning documenting how many hrs it can run under the Tier 4 emission regulations exemption for "emergency use generator". with LPG you would not have to bother with such requirements.

FYI if you had a 1000gal propane tank and got it filled at "summer" rates you'd be looking at like 1.25 give or take instead of 2.50 so the argument gets even worse for diesel.