PTO Generators anyone?

[sandman2234]

The general rule of thumb for any generator worth it's salt is 2hp per KW, as was mentioned. If you purchase a larger generator within reason, and you don't have the horsepower to run it, you just can't produce as many kw's as possible. You just keep the draw within the operational limits of the power being supplied and all will be fine.
The best way to do it is to have the house wired with a disconnect that completely shuts off your street power before allowing the generator power to be added to the system. I was working on doing just that when my employment was halted. Making an outdoor connection to the whole house is a lot better than running extension cords but it must be done right or can be a major problem for you and any lineman working on the system.
David from jax

 

[sandman2234]

If I owned a 2210 I would probably look for something from 10kw to 15 kw. Your not going to be able to generate much more than 9 to 10 kw but should you ever go to a larger tractor the added range would be nice to have and it won't be enough to hurt the 2210's performance.A 10kw should be enough to run your complete house provided you use a little sense about not running the A/C and hot water heater at the same time while the wife is slaving away in the kitchen. Give her a break and fire up the grill, while she takes a long hot bath in the comfort of an air conditioned home, while keeping it romantic by using candles.
Sometimes those cheap 10kw heads are available from the discount places for about $299, such as Northern Tool or Harbor Freight. The problem with them is the rpm required to run them, meaning you will have to build or arranged a way to speed up your pto from 540 to either 1800 or 3600 depending on what they call for.
David from jax

 

[JamesH]

As stated in the previous post you need to do the conversion from the PTO of 540rpm to 1800rpm for most generators.
If I was building my own set where could I find one of these gearboxes? I have done some looking but not had much luck.
Thanks,
James

 

[Grrrr]

Some questions for those of you "in the know." Does running the tractor in neutral hours on end to run the PTO generator cause any unusual wear and tear on the tractor itself? Thanks. . . .

I don't think running the tractor for hours on end in nuetral does any damage. There is a big contractor near us who has 4 combines. He has lots of trailers waiting on these combines. When the trailers come back to the yard the dump the grain in a pit in a massive barn. In the barn next door is a grain dryer. It has to be loaded from the top.

To load the dryer they have an old International tractor. It has two jobs, pumping slurry and driving the grain auger.

During the harvest, it never stops. It is started when the first load of grain comes in and stops about 1 month later when the last of the grain is emptied from the pit. It is filled up every other morning from a diesel bowser parked next to it. It is only ticking over when in use. It will often work all day and all night to feed the dryer. During the summer it does about 600 hours.

All Spring it travels with the contractor to pump slurry from slurry tanks. It gets about 400 hours a year doing this too.

It has about 25,000 thousand hours on it. It had an engine rebuild at about 13,000 hours. The only thing they do is change the revs every now and again.

 

[SkyPup]

Some questions for those of you "in the know." Does running the tractor in neutral hours on end to run the PTO generator cause any unusual wear and tear on the tractor itself?Thanks. . . .

It causes major problems when it is left on 24/7 for months on end.

The noise throughout the middle of the night of the engine running is monotonous and makes it difficult to sleep at night The irrigation pumps running off the tractors PTOs night after night after night gets old fast. You don't really notice it during the day as the wind and other environmental noises drown out the constant drone of the diesel engines running. But at night, when all is quiet and still, you can hear it for miles.