Generator Put the PTO generator to work today

[Tul01]

Woke up this morning to the power flickering at about 06:00. It struggled for about 10mins and then quit. It was wet heavy snow with a strong wind, turns out many transformer fires and probably some down lines. By 8:00 it was apparent it wasn't going to come back on. Our family business (boarding pets) needs power to run the furnace and sprayers to keep the critters safe and happy. Fired up the PTO generator (Dayton 40kw/80surge). First time we've used it other than a couple tests. Ran like a champ, ran everything at once. After 8 hours, power came back on, everyone happy. With all the equipment,including the computers etc, I kept a very close eye on the frequency, it seemed to vary slightly about 60.2 to about 60.5. I remember reading someone saying specs/allowances etc, but can't seem to find it among all the threads. I think this variance is acceptable, but just hoping for a confirmation.

The other interesting thing I thought was less than half tank for 8+ hours at pto rpm, I thought that was reasonable.

Thanks

Brent

 

[newbury]

How big is your tank?
How much of that 40KW do you need?

 

[joeblack5]

60.2 to 60.5 Hz is an excellent stability. I would not be able to think of anything that would notice that except an old style electric clock that would be a couple of minutes off.

later J

 

[Tul01]

The tank is about 30 gallons, I figured we probably actually used about 2 jerry cans, 10 gals, don't want to fill it too full, its traded in, just waiting for new one. . The electrician we were talking to said it would be too small to run everything at once, so we carefully staggered things at the start of the day, but by the end of the day we were pushing it and trying to start things and have them running simulating just letting it run unsupervised.

Thanks Joe, definitely not my area of expertise.
Brent

 

[buickanddeere]

It's the tractor, not the generator that dictates frequency. The Generator does control voltage.

 

[Tul01]

So that means the governor is handling the load changes nicely then thanks. Hmmm, I wonder how close we were to maxing it out?

Thanks
Brent

 

[buickanddeere]

That tractor would carry a steady 60KW pto generaror load

 

[Tul01]

Thats on the upgrade list, we have a second building that has a much higher load demand according to the electrician. He is correct there are a half dozen 2+hp motors, +++. The next challenge is to see how much we can run because we can stagger start. I suspect a 60kw will run it. he says min 100kw to handle the surge. I think if we can get 2/3 or more up and running, we will be in the market for a 60kw generator. . The shame of it is that although the building is only 5 years old, we weren't sure what direction emergency power would take us so we made the logical decision of we'll sort that out later . Now we have to modify the panel etc to get the switch in. Oh well shuda, wuda, coulda.

Thanks Brent

 

[daybreak1998]

Howdy,

Without knowing exactly what the Dayton PTO Generator has for gauges, you have other methods of capturing your output usage total. Get yourself a clamp-on meter. That way you can see what you total draw is at that moment. The meters usually also have a peak hold setting to see what the highest surge call for power was. My Tiger Power PTO generator 30kw has it built into the generator. It does help with knowing what your draw is and how many other items you can start and run.
Here is my unit drawing 18kw-15.4kw and something dropping off, maybe a a/c unit, or well pump.
[video]https://www.dropbox.com/s/d2g0zdbjdi83rd6/generator%20running.mp4?dl=0[/video]

You would get the same type of info from a clamp-on meter. That way you could see if your PTO generator would suffice. I am pretty sure it will. I know my 30kw is a 30kw prime continuous unit. In other words, I can run the thing right up to the full 30kw for 24/7.

good luck