power generator

[RAMd®d]

I'd want something portable to be able to move it anywhere.

A friend got a 5000W Honda generator and had a plug wired into his service by an electrician and had PG&E inspect and approve it.

He can plug it into his service, or move it to another part of his house (OUTside, geeze) and power stuff directly from it.

In CA, there is the potential for an earthquake disrupting natural gas lines, so gas powered portability are more important considerations.

For the last several years, he's stored it in a shed and takes it out once a year to run it and test it.

I wouldn't keep it unopened, assuming that it will just work when I need it. I'd also want to familiarize myself with it's operation with hands-on practice rather than consulting the manual when I *needed* power.

As far as solar power is concerned, I think it's a good idea in general, for daily use, and would likely serve well in an extended power outage.

What kind of capacity is typical for home use? Does the average situation provide for a few hours or a few days, or what?

But getting solar *just* to cover a possible power outage? No way it's as cost effective as a gas-powered generator.

[RAMd®d]

While the idea of selling the generator instead of loaning it has its merits, you could be seen by your neighbors as somewhat mercenary and opportunistic, trying to profit from the misfortune of others.

However well meaning, I believe that in Man's infinite capacity for understanding, you'd be seen in a "You're in need of electricity? I have the answer. No, I won't loan it out, but I'll sell it to you. At a fair price, of course."

No matter how nice you are about it,\ I think the neighbor, at that time, would reduce the discourse to it's lowest elements, not to mention having a mental image of you twirling your mustache.



I may be a little cynical, though.

[Mr645]

What are you trying to power? Things like lights, fridge, IMHO not worth trying to power. The fridge will hold temp for a few days, more than that, I button things up and go to a hotel or a relatives house for a few days. It would be worth it if I could run AC (Florida) and water heater, but you need a lot bigger generator for that.

[3d]

Another vote for a generator that runs on typical 20lb liquid propane tanks.

In a disaster on the the scale of Hurricane Sandy. Gas stations will have run dry by the second day of the blackout. Then you're out of luck with that brand spankin' new generator by the 3rd day.

I was out of power on Long Island, NY for a total of 3 weeks. No lights. No heat. No fridge. No hot water. Half mile long lines at gas stations with gas. People with gas cans walking on the highway in search of gas. It wasn't pretty.

If you figure that a typical liquid propane generator will give you about a day's power on each 20lb tank with careful use. (Do your own research for exact numbers). Stockpile 10 filled tanks in the garage. In an extreme emergency I'm sure you can stretch those ten 20lb tanks into over 2 weeks of power.

[Robert M]

Hi everyone,

I ran some numbers for dual fuel generators. They can be had for well under $1000.00. SO, if I were to buy a generator, there is no way I'd go for a model that would require a conversion kit for compatibility with natural gas. That's just me.

For me, a portable generator would definitely need to be able to run a few lights, the fridge, whatever is necessary to provide heat in the winter and at least one or two window air conditioners in the summer. That and I'd want to be able to charge devices like cellular phones, tablets and notebook computers.

The only way for a fridge to hold its temperature is if it remains closed and even then it'll only stay cold enough to prevent spoilage for a short amount of time. In my area, outages can last for a few minutes to a few days. After an event like Hurricane Sandy or an event like the microbursts of 2010, outages can last for a week or more. So, staying at a hotel isn't necessarily feasible. Same goes for staying with relatives.

Robert

[RAMd®d]

Another vote for a generator that runs on typical 20lb liquid propane tanks.

I did not know that.

I thought this meant being powered by a residential gas line. Are there generators that do both propane and gas? That would get my vote.


The only way for a fridge to hold its temperature is if it remains closed and even then it'll only stay cold enough to prevent spoilage for a short amount of time.

This.

Open the door once and the temperature will be noticeably higher the next time you open it.

The freezer will fare somewhat better.

Not that any of this effects me, because in my area, a natural disaster that disrupts power for anything more than several hours would probably kill me anyway. Your mileage may vary.

But I'm curious- if you want to stretch the propane or gasoline supply, do you turn the generator on and off? Specifically, how does this affect a refrigerator or freezer.

My 'fridge is old, so sometimes it takes a good while to start chillin' again, if the power has been off for a few hours.

Is the compressor ok with the AC being cycled as opposed to the refrigerator (or freezer) controlling the evolutions?

[Bill in NC]

100lb tanks - preferably 2 ganged together.

3d wrote:
Another vote for a generator that runs on typical 20lb liquid propane tanks.

[mrlynn]

Bill in NC wrote:
100lb tanks - preferably 2 ganged together.

Yes, if you can afford it/them, and the space they take. Then you're looking at a more permanent installation. You can buy or lease the propane tanks from a local supplier.

I would assume a propane-burning engine can be modified for natural gas fairly easily; probably require some kind of adapter. For natural gas, you have to run the pipe outside to the generator, and you have to be sure that the pressure is adequate for the engine.

Gasoline engines can be adapted for propane; my son-in-law modified his lawnmower to burn propane, because he didn't like the exhaust.

/Mr Lynn

[Mr645]

Being in South Florida, if you open the fridge and freezer only a few times a day, you can get at least 3 days, possible four before things defrost and get too warm. And after 4-05 days without air conditioning and hot water, we just get a hotel room or stay with relatives. My thoughts are either go big, 10K watts to run the house, or don't bother.

I do like the idea of Propane since the fuel does not go bad and we dont need to deal with starting iot up each month

[tenders]

The conversion kits for generators below about 10kW work for both natgas and propane. You tweak a little mixing screw until the engine runs at max RPM, and the setting for that screw is different for natgas and for propane. I gathered that at higher power, the BTU difference between natgas and propane starts to matter so you need a different regulator.

The allure of storing a bunch of 20-pound propane canisters whilst waiting for a power outage is lost on me, although it's better than storing gasoline. The benefit of propane comes when you have a propane furnace running off a giant tank that you can tap into. You could run the generator for weeks at 8-10 hours a day, keeping your fridge cold enough, charging your electronica, and running some window air conditioners in the summer. A gas-fueled furnace only takes 500 watts of power for the fan, and a gas water heater takes zero, so you can have full heat and hot water with a generator.

I just checked my receipts. My generator is 4kW peak, ETQ brand, 7hp engine, cost $300, and the conversion kit was $200. I seem to remember a generator that was pre-loaded with a conversion kit was about $800. The other costs I incurred for my rig are independent of the generator decision. I flirted with the idea of buying a bunch of these kits, doing a few conversions over a rainy weekend, and selling them on Craigslist. I may still do that some day for fun!

For anyone considering the path of the conversion kit, if you can install an SSD in a laptop I assure you can install a propane/natgas adapter.