Generator Advice

[turkeyrun]

We were without electricity for 2 weeks, this past July.

Ran a 6kw / 6.5kw peak portable Gen for 2 weeks. RV for A/C and refrigerator, 2 freezers in house. Used less than 6 gal gasoline a day. Not cheap, a pain to go get gas every day and fill Gen tank, but we got through it.

Son has a HF 9kw "portable", GET THE EXTENDED WARRANTY, he has plugged into whole house and not had problems. Be diligent on load and run only necessities.


Get some more bids on that install. $16k is RIDICULOUS!

 

[Raido Free America]

Rural out where I am, some of the decent sized outfits have people that do all kinds of stuff rather than staying hyper specialized in their thing. But yes, I'm out where anything goes too.

Being a retired Fire Fighter, I understand the need for codes, especially electrical codes, but anything can be overdone! Politicians all crave MORE CONTROL!!

 

[Raido Free America]

Gasoline/Diesel powered generators are a pain to keep fueled, plus expensive to operate. We had a propane powered generator in an RV, and that worked great, had two 50lb propane tanks, plus the engine ran so clean, I never changed the oil, in 10 years. It didn't look like it needed it, We didn't use it much, mostly just ran it every 2/3 months to keep it working. If I was going to spend the money for a whole house type generator, I would go with a tri-fuel portable generator, that will run on Natural Gas, Propane and Gasoline. Natural Gas in this area is unlikely to go down even in a prolonged power outage, because I understand they have gas turbine compressors, as well as electric powered compressors, in this part of the country. If we did lose NG, this generator would still run on Gasoline!!

 

[cowadle]

https://generatoranswers.com/harbor-freight-propane-generator/
really nothing special here and should work on about any small engine...

 

[Raido Free America]

The country store back home at Moreland Arkansas, a tiny Ozark village, that was the information, cultural hub of the area. There was a destructive tornado, the worst in anyone's memory, so the loafers at the store decided to have a fund raiser, and build a community storm shelter. These people were all handy at just about anything, and did all the work, and ended up with a great storm shelter large enough to accommodate everyone. At the daily bull session, and checker game, under the shade tree at the store a few days later, one of the village elders, said, " After all that work I hope we have another bad tornado!" Kinda like deciding to buy, or not buy, a generator?

 

[cowadle]

https://centuryfuelproducts.com/sup...rsion-kits/generator-dual-fuel-conversion-kit

 

[cowadle]

one thing to remember is that you want lpg vapor and not liquid lpg so to prevent a fire you must not tip your ptopane bottle over on it's side. you will flood the regulator with liquid and probably get a bad situation fast.

 

[Raido Free America]

So electricity goes out and you lose everything in your refrig and freezer. It is bad but if you don't spring for an expensive generator and installation, you can buy it all for a fraction of what the generator and installation cost.

At some point you could spend more than what you save is worth. But then there is the comfort of your family to consider? We compromised and went with a cheap generator, big enough to run the freezer, refrig. and fan on the gas furnace, or wood stove. We had a generator mounted in a RV, for many years that we could have used in the house, but ever once used it, not even in the RV!

 

[Letfreedomring]

How do the propane/nat-gas regulators work in freezing and below temps when it is more likely to lose grid power? Are they prone to freezing? Haven't heard of it being an issue lately, but I remember early 80's vehicle conversions were prone to freeze up.

 

[cowadle]

How do the propane/nat-gas regulators work in freezing and below temps when it is more likely to lose grid power? Are they prone to freezing? Haven't heard of it being an issue lately, but I remember early 80's vehicle conversions were prone to freeze up.

Shouldn't be any freezing problems unless there's moisture in the fuel. A little ethanol in the tank takez care of that.