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Features to look for in stand alone generator

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John Mc
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Posts: 98 Vermont
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2002-02-01          35161

I'm looking for a stand alone generator in the 4 or 5000 watt (continuous) range, gas powered. It will be used to run small power tools and for emergency power backup (basically get my furnace going, and keep refridgerator cold).

There is a huge range of prices for these units. What features or construction should I be looking for (i.e. bearing type, brushless, "cleanliness" of the power, etc.)

I've been told that some electronic furnace controllers "choke" on the dirty power from some portable generators.

Thanks for any advice you can give.

John Mc


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BCalvin,Texas
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2002-02-02          35198

I think the biggest thing you need to know is how much power does the furnace need to start???
How long will the generator operate at any given time....
As I am sure you are aware there are generators and generators..
If you are using one for short burst duration one purchased at one of the large hardware operations will work fine....Many of the construction people purchase them and run the you know what out of them day after day.
But most of those unites have little more than a inexpensive gasoline engine and over a long period of time they will fail when you need them the most....
Again depending on how you will use the unit the engine is a very important part of longevity but it also is a great cost differential. I highly recommend electric start pulling the high horsepower engines can give you a heart attack. 220 output 30amp receptical make sure you get a ground bar to bury next to the unit....you can put a standard surge protector between your hot lead and the furnce if you are afaid of a surge...but not knowing the furnace your bigestproblem is the initial power needed for the start-up...once running the furnace should not pull that much power ....

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TomG
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2002-02-02          35206

Yikes, I'm out of time today, but I will participate in this one. I've got a Honda 6500 that's 5000 or 5500W continuous. It does the job described, although it's not too happy about the furnace and water pump starting while the fridge is on. High electric motor starting loads are hard on generators and should be minimized. Using the generator for emergency backup, I juggle loads around and try to keep only one motor load active at a time.

The 6500 even does a decent job with the stove as long as only a bit of lighting is also on. My only complaint is that the cold weather starting isn't great and I usually use a whiff of ether during the winter.
....

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John Mc
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2002-02-02          35213

I don't have the furnace yet, since the house is under construction. I'm not so much worried about the power rating (including surge) of the furnace generator combo. I can figur that out. It's more the "dirty" power concern. I've heard some of the "Home Depot" store models put out more of a triangualr waveform (not sawtooth, but triangular) which causes some furnace controls and other electronic equipment to choke.

My heat will be a boiler (probably oil or propane fired) Most of the house is radiant floor heating, with a few small pumps to circulate it. These don't draw anything like a well pump (though I will need to run that... separately if necessary). The controller will switch on and off various zones as needed. I might occasionally need to run other electronics as well.

I see specs on harmonic distortion quoted on some units (i.e. "less than 6% harmonic distortion") but I don't know what's considered a good number.

I don't anticipate running this a lot of hours, so I'm hoping I don't need one of the $1500 - $2000 units. On the other hand, I'd be willling to spend more than the $400 or $500 for the low end units, if I knew I was avoiding some of these problems, or otherwisse getting something for my money.
....

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TomG
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2002-02-03          35234

In pro audio equipment I’ve found that it almost takes an engineer to sort out the specs. It depends where on the power curve noise and distortion specs are taken, and specs tend not to be comparable.

I'd be more concerned by the possibility of voltage surges, sags, spikes and transients than wave shapes and harmonics. Running a signal through a transformer and power supply tends to shape and clean up many signals. However, if high AC quality is required, there is a variety of specialty power conditioning equipment used by sound companies that have to work with bad AC.

I think that a sine wave is the natural form of a signal produced by an inductor rotated in a magnetic field (basically a generator). If a generator produces a different waveform, then I'd suspect an engineering trick designed to justify a big power spec. High-end equipment don’t usually rely on tricks, because there are always costs to these things. Specs may be pretty illusionary. However, I'd guess that a generator's duty cycle is a pretty good proxy measure for quality. I'd look at the difference between peak and continuous rating and also how long peak levels can be maintained. Something close to a 100% duty cycle and able to sustain peak loads for longer periods probably produces high quality AC too.



....

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John Mc
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2002-02-03          35238

TomG-

From what I read, a lot of the distortion is caused by harmonics of the main sine wave. I know that triangular waveforms basically are a sine wave with a strong third harmonic (so if you are generating 60 Hz, you'd have a strong 180 Hz component superimposed over it). Spikes and surges tend to get filtered out pretty well by an inductor (transformer), but I don't think harmonics do (I may be wrong on this, however).

I've heard from a couple of people who had problems where the controller on their furnace would not start up on some generators. They put it on a scope and saw a triangular waveform. Borrowed their neighbor's generator, and it ran fine... that one scoped more like a true sine wave.

I'm concerned about that factor, but also about getting a decent basic unit. Unfortunately, I don't know much a bout the mechanical aspects (why is OHV touted as superior on a small gas engine? Is it worth paying extra for? Who makes good engines: Briggs, Tecumseh, Northstar?) What features should I be looking for on the generator half?

John


John ....

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Steve in Buffalo NY
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2002-02-03          35247

I suspect that most generators and inverters put out more of a square waveform. So does the power company. It's just that it runs thru so many transformers before it gets to you that smooth it out into a sine wave. I use a 4400 watt unit to run most of my house. Just had it running for quite a while lately with our ice storm (Buffalo, NY area). Works fine, but I have a lower tech furnace. I ran it all day at my parent's house too. 2 sump pumps, a freezer, a refrigerator, oil furnace and oil hot water heater. You could hear it load pretty good when the freezer came on but the voltage never went below 110 on that leg.

Just saw 5 Hydro Quebec trucks at a local restaurant. Looks like they called in reinforcements from all over! Some areas have been off for 3 days (20 deg and wet cellars!). ....

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Steve in Buffalo NY
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2002-02-03          35248

Oh yeah - the original question. I have a homelite and a generac. I have run the pants off the homelite and it is holding up great! The generac is for the camper when we go to races. Runs great too!

Anything with a honda engine will run forever. OHV engines are supposed to be more fuel efficient and more power per displacement. Hondas are quieter too.

Pressure lubrication (has an oil filter like a car) is supposed to be better, but my homelite doesn't have it and has high hours and still burns no oil (changed regularly). ....

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John Mc
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2002-02-03          35268

Steve-

Unless you spend big bucks for a "true sine wave" inverter, most inverters put out a square wave or a "modified sine wave" (which is basically a square wave with slightly sloping sides). I would not have thought most AC generators used an inverter. Inverters are used to transform DC to AC. Since there are losses in the conversion, I would figure they'd just generate AC directly, rather than generate DC and convert to AC.

(They only reason I know anything about inverters is because I've been reading up for possible addition of solar &/or wind power to our new home... requires inverting the DC power to AC for running traditional appliances.)

John Mc ....

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TomG
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2002-02-04          35277

Yes, true about harmonics and waveforms. The combination of transformers and filter networks in some power supplies do a decent job of rejecting harmonics. Some pro audio power supplies are designed to clean up AC. Never the less, I always used moderately expensive surge protectors that also contained noise filters on all my pro sound equipment. However, I had more sound problems due to poor AC grounding than to dirty AC.

I've heard discussions about armature construction in high-end generators. I believe these engines tend run at half the RPM of standard generators. I've also heard that these high-end features including true sine wave may not be too important for an emergency power backup application. Even equipment with low expected service life ratings may last indefinitely unless utilities become even more unreliable. I don't know how comparable service lift ratings are but they may be good to check.

Similarly, fuel efficiency may not be all that important, but noise was a very important consideration to my wife. That's probably why we ended up with Honda, or at least that's how they're advertised. We may not need the long life but it is quieter. Wife still grosses about the noise even though the generator sits in a shed over 50' from the house. I can comment about generator hook ups to utility equipment if interested.
....

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John Mc
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2002-02-04          35289

TomG-

Re: generator hook ups to utility equipment

My general contractor has an electrician who is familiar with this, as far as meeting the applicable codes. If you have some suggestions beyond that, I'd be very interested. I'm thinking of things the code doesn't deal with but that someone who has lived through an installation may have good ideas about. Are there things you wish you had done differently? Are there different types of subpanels or transfer switching that is more convenient or more flexible for changes down the road?

I will eventually be hooking up a grid-connected, Net Metering system (tie in wind power or PV cells to an inverter... sell excess back to utility when I'm not using all I generate, buy some from utility when my needs outstrip what I'm generating locally). Even though the controllers on the inverters for these systems automatically disconnect if utility power goes down, the electric company still wants the same manual disconnects they require for someone with a backup generator. Hopefully, what ever I put in now will still be usable when the net metering system goes online. ....

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Steve in Buffalo NY
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2002-02-04          35291

TomG- Yep, I recall seeing that some of the better RV generators run at 1800 rpm instead of 3600. Quieter I'm sure. And you still get the 60Hz as long as that's what it's designed for. I think that is my biggest gripe with PTO generators - I would have to run my tractor at PTO RPM for (possibly) days on end to make power. Not my idea of fun... ....

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TomG
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2002-02-05          35307

Steve: The lower RPM generators probably are quieter but also have much longer service lives. Maybe important for somebody like John who may get into the competitive power buz (That's just now cooking up here in Ontario). Yep, I thought I'd be getting a PTO generator when I first got the tractor. I made all sorts of brave pronouncements about not having a flock of small engine sitting around. Of course, that's exactly what I ended up with. The tractor does what it does well and so do the small engine toys. I understand big PTO backup generators for dairy farmers--bunch of grumpy cows and bad milk if the power goes down for long, and it takes a bunch to run a dairy operation. For emergency backup, I don't need everything on in the house at the same time, and I don't want to put a generator on the 3ph in the dead of stormy nights.

John: My hookup is a sub-panel that runs as a 60-amp branch circuit on the service panel. It has it's own 3-point main breakers for utility and the generator supply and mechanical linkage that prevents both mains from being on at the same time (3-point here is two hots and the neutral rather than tractors). I got a 60-amp panel with 24 branch circuit slots even though the generator puts out 22.5A/220V peak. I wired most of the original house on the backup panel even though I can't run it all. However, I can power most everything in the house by juggling branch circuits around.

My feed runs just over 100' with a 30' underground section. The underground runs through conduit so I can pull the wire by just digging at each end. I used 10-gauge (30A) line, which meets codes, but I also can't just hook up a larger generator. There probably is appreciable voltage drop over 100' and it may have been better to start with 8-gauge wire. I also could have used 1" rather than 3/4" conduit for the up sections.

I don't think my arrangement would work for you. I can't imagine a utility allowing surplus power to be fed to a grid by backfeeding it through service panels--could be wrong though. I expect they'll want transfer switches. The trouble with transfer switches is that they have to be rated at least as large as the utility service. A 200A transfer switch is very expensive, but I guess it could end up as a business write off.
....

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TomG
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2002-02-05          35314

I probably should point out my basic ignorance of small buz, or green power suppliers as they're called here before somebody else does. I might learn something. My impression is that this is low voltage generation that gets on to the grid by back feeding service transformers at higher voltages than supplied by the utility. Now that I think of it, I'd be surprised unless something more sophisticated than a meter is required.

This could be an interesting thing to do. With the way electrical rates are exploding around here, I can easily see that it might be cheaper to generate your own power by generator during 'gas wars' than to buy it from the utility. And of course, once it's in place solar, wind etc. is a whole lot cheaper and a lot greener than a gas generator. So, if it's cheaper for an individual, why not sell surplus to the utility?
....

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John Mc
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2002-02-05          35328

Tom -
For more info on Net Metering (or Grid Interconnect systems as they are sometimes called) check out Home Power Magazine at the link I hope I attached below.

I would not be using my generator to feed back into the grid. That's too expensive. (Initially, it's for power outages from the grid and portable power needs.) What most Grid Interconnect systems do is synch the inverter (which takes the DC from you solar cells, windmill, or mini-hydro system) to the utility power. When you are generating more than you use, you run your meter backwards, and are selling power to the utility. When you need more than you generate, your meter runs forwards and you are buying from the utility (hence the term "Net Metering").

The disadvantage of this system is you still have to pay to get the utility power installed at your site (unlike a completely off-the-grid system). The advantage is that you don't have to buy and maintain a bank of batteries... the utility grid acts as your battery. Another advantage is that you don't have to size your "Green" power system to handle your whole load. Surges for starting up motors, for example come from the grid, if needed. You can also start small and slowly build up to a system that meets all or most of your needs, as opposed to an off-grid system where you have to buy a good sized system from the start.

A lot of state in the US have Net Metering laws which require utilities to buy back this "green power". Vermont is one of these, and from what I've heard, most of the utilities are OK to work with on it. (In some states, the utilities make it a real hassle, even though the law requires them to do it).
....


Link:   Home Power Magazine

 
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TomG
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2002-02-06          35342

Gee! Seems like I got it basically right. The concept of using the utility as a back up battery is a very appealing idea. I talked with a solar power consultant several years ago. He said that considering the costs of the equipment and electrical rates, people who already had utility power on the property would never get the investment back. He said his main business was for properties that would have to put in lengthy runs of private over-head lines to get utility power. But that was several years ago, the costs of solar panels etc. and electrical rates have changed radically since then. Sounds like maybe it’s time to revisit the idea.

I did sort of anticipate the need to sync the phases, and maybe some sort of voltage feedback to control current delivered to the utility. I can think of several ways to coordinate an inverter. More tricky with an engine, but I guess if gas became cheap enough, a generator could be used to charge batteries at a profit. Batteries would clean up dirty 12V DC nicely.

In terms of looking at generators; I recall that my township has a Kubota generator that I think is a 30A/220V peak generator. Don't know much about them except, like the tractor, it's orange and looks good. Might be something to check, considering the brand name.
....

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Bruce Pirgerr
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2002-02-06          35351

I built my "house" 1000' off the road, completely without power. Although I had all the cable buried and was ready for NYSEG to turn me on, they took a couple of months to get there easment...then I got involved and had it in 2 weeks. (There's a lesson there...)

I have a cheap ($550) 5000W Generac with with 10HP Techumseh engine. I built the entire shell of the house with it. We ran all the tools, air compressor, well pump, etc. off it without any problems...until the last week of the building process. The air compressor started blowing the fuses on the generator, literally 2 days before we had the roof shingled.

It is very loud...but worked well. I had no problems running the 3/4HP pump 165 down. It is very difficult to start when cold...more or less impossible. Not electric start...and I'd highly recommend this, especially if you you hope your wife can get it going (at least my wife). (Although she did manage to start it up a few times when I was on the roof...always good for a hoot).

If spending the extra few hundred bucks won't cause financial pain, I'd buy something a little nicer. But at the time, I was building a house...

You also might want to look into the "transfer switches" that are avaiable to switch circuits from line to generator. No chance of backfeeding into the grid...which can win you somew nice fines from your power company, and possible kill someone. Home Depot has a box on the on-line site, complete with a heavy 240V cable and connectors, and outside "feed thru" panel, for som,ething like $179. I bought one and will install it as I wire the house.

Good luck. ....

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TomG
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2002-02-07          35363

Guess I've got several things to say. The first one could save somebody a bunch of money. Easements can be buggers to deal with. We almost had the power disconnected at our camp while we did a demolition and eventually put in a new service. A utility company site planner saved us. If we had disconnected, it would have cancelled an existing easement and would have required a new survey ($5,000CAN minimum) to get another. The order had to request a 'temporary disconnect pending service upgrade' to preserve the easement.

The second thing is that generator panels or transfer switches are very good things. Before we installed one, I used a 100A panel and a flock of receptacles on a piece of plywood that I had from my old sound buz. I added a stove receptacle and put twist-lock plugs in the well pump and furnace lines so I could run extension cords from the panel. The arrangement does 100% isolate the generator and utility equipment, but an inspector after we installed the generator panel didn't like the twist-locks. No pain though, the generator panel is much better. The old sound buz panel remains useful at building sites without power. The panel provides a number of 15A/120V outlets, some of which are GFI protected. It also provides a number of special receptacles that 220V equipment may use but may not be on a generator.

The last thing is that I guess a 1000' of service line would be overhead. We had one pole with a pole service on it put in. A pole contractor came with digging truck towing the pole trailer. He'd already put the panel, conduit, and even the ground plate already on the pole. He had the pole planted in under an hour. Those digging trucks are sure something--make tractor hydraulics look like it's barely there.
....

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Bruce Pirger
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2002-02-07          35384

Just to complete the story...I have 44 acres of woods up on top of the hill...out in the sticks. The neighbor was a fellow from Texas (I'm in New York State)...NYSEG claimed to have tried to call him, send him mail, etc. 3 months of trying...no contact. I got his number and called him, he called me back, and 2 weeks later all was done. I'd think NYSEG would have just put the line over his property, as it was along the roadway, although maybe 40' in. He has 65 acres or so...and I have never seen him. No problems to do it the safe way.

My 1000' service is buried. 850' of primary buried in 4" conduit. I had my excavator dig the trench with his backhoe...through the woods...down the bank...it was quite a site. 13 hours later, some $650, he was done. I laid the 4" out next to the trench. We pulled the cable (this is big stuff, two 1" pieces) through the conduit as we built it, one piece at a time. It took us 3 hours to have it completely down. Yep, we were all amazed. At the end, we were pulling 800' of cable through the conduit, downhill, with our bare hands (two of us). We did lube the cable as we fed it in. I was VERY worried about this whole project but it worked great. All said and done, transformer vault, conduit, triplex to the house, meter, disconnect, trenching, and backfill was about $4500. I didn't want overhead...didn;t want to see it or worry about trees falling on it. As it turns out, if I did go overhead, a 80' white pine would have fallen across the lines this past Friday night during a nasty wind storm...I had to cut through it as it fell across my driveway. I did think of that burried line with smiles. Of course, if it ever fails the grin will change. But, since I am in 4" conduit, I can easily pull in another line as I remove the old...not too bad of a job. ....

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TomG
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2002-02-08          35398

That sounds like a good result. Even though I think of costs in $CAN, the cost seems much more reasonable than I would have thought. Texas is big. I hear it takes three months to get a phone call across the state.

Yes, underground is good. The utility 14KV line across the highway us has a bunch of splices in it from downed trees. We were here for one of them. It makes a real good fire in the bush, and it took the utility over two hours just to cut off the power. In the meantime, it was just a couple guys from the township throwing shovels of sand whenever the flames flared up. Real fortunate it was raining at the time.

I'm not sure, but it sounds like the buried line is 14KV line to a 220V transformer. It's good if the utility allows private work to run distribution lines. I'm pretty sure our utility would require that they do all work themselves, and their rates are pricey even compared to contractors.

I'm a little surprised you pulled cable through 800' of conduit. Usually I hear about 'pull-points' or what ever they're called every 200' or 300'. I suppose we'd be required to use them here, and such things do run up the costs. But as I mentioned, we'd start out with $5,000CAN min just for an easement survey. I wonder why government cutbacks only seem to get rid of the things I want, and every other government thing just keeps going up. Well, maybe it's just here or maybe just me. Anyway, glad you got the power and at what seems a bargain to me.
....

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Billy
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2003-02-25          50066

I found the generator I've been looking for. It's a 108 KW with Perkins diesel. Turn key price of $17,325, including setup, 150 gallon diesel tank, running all wire and 2-200 AMP automatic transfer switches.

Billy ....

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JerryGoucher
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2003-02-25          50069

Billy,
Check out your fuel consumption per hr. I think that you will need a larger tank. I know that I wouldn't have anything less that a 300 gallion for what you are using it for.
JerryG ....

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Billy
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2003-02-26          50078

Jerry,

I opted for a 350 gallon farm tank with refueling nozzle for $200 more. That should run it 3 days plus?

Billy ....

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JerryGoucher
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2003-02-26          50102

Billy,
Good choise. I just didn't want you to get into a bind with not enough fuel. What is the HP of the Perkins? I had to go with a 166 hp because of the length of my leads from it to the buildings.
JerryG ....

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Billy
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2003-02-26          50127

Jerry,

If I'm not mistaken, it's a 162 HP. The furtherest transfer switch is about 280' from the generator. I'm seriously thinking about running it to my house, if the finances hold out. The guy said it wouldn't have any trouble running everything at once. The only thing is the cost of wire, 700' to the house.

Thanks for the headsup on the fuel tank. If you think of anything else I might have overlooked, let me know.

Billy ....

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JerryGoucher
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2003-02-26          50147

Billy,
My lines don't go as far as you but I was told that the voltage drop(?) would be to much. That is why I had to go from 150 to 166 hp. BTW, I don't know how your battery is mounted but, mine was in a steel frame. I was always told that the battery would discharge into the concrete if you sat the battery on it . Now for what I am getting at. I think that the battery will also leach through the steel in to the concrete. Several folks around here have had the batterys not hold a charge. What we have done and what the installers are now doing is putting a piece of plywood under the battery and also installing a automatic trickle charger on the battery. Make sure that it is automatic though, you don't want to cook your battery to death. I got mine a W/M for about $20 or was it $30. I can't remember, all that I know for sure is that it won't charge the battery if it doesn't need it. The last thing that you need is for the genset not to start if you need it. ....

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Billy
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2003-02-26          50153

Jerry

We did discuss the voltage drop from the genset to my house. He assured me it wouldn't be a concern. I do know the setup comes with a block heater and trickle charger. Whether the charger is automatic or not is something I'll have to check into. I've always heard that about batteries and concrete, so I'll check that out too. Thanks

Billy ....

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TomG
Join Date: Feb 2002
Posts: 5406 Upper Ottawa Valley
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2003-02-27          50172

Sounds like a contractor is going to do the work, so problems like length of the run and voltage drop would be their buz. If the run is under-ground, I don't know at what distances pull boxes in a run start being used but something like that may be an issue with runs around 300'. It can be a difficult to pull 200A triplex through 300' of conduit--especially if there are sweeps and even more especially it's copper line. However, that issue does sound like it's the contractor's problem.

Aluminum DB line sure does pull easier and it's a lot cheaper, so maybe that's your issue as well. The 80' of aluminum 200A DB line for our house under-ground service was pricey. It was supplied by the utility and cost more than the 300' or so of overhead line from the transformer across the highway.

I supplied 30' of DB line from a 200A pole service I put in to a construction trailer at our camp. I ran the trailer feed as a 100A branch circuit. I used 100A copper DB line and the price really took my breath away. The electrical supplier says 'I'll have to order the copper in but I have aluminum in stock and it's about half the price.' Well copper is what I'm used to working with so I bit the bullet and bought copper. I think I might have to mortgage the tractor if I was looking at putting in 300' of 200A copper underground.

My impression is that a 1A trickle charger can be left connected indefinitely to a sizable battery. Maybe I'm wrong.
....

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marklugo
Join Date: Jul 2003
Posts: 281 Tifton, GA
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2003-02-28          50242

Most peole when they buy a generator forget to think about portable welders. Most all of the smaller ones can be bought for less that 3k and carry capacities of 10,000 watts continuous output. That's what I have for back up. It has 220 and 110 ac outlets and voltage is adjustable so that it can be fine tuned. And to think you get a welder to boot! ....

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Billy
Join Date: Oct 1999
Posts: 975 Southeast Oklahoma
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2003-02-28          50252

Here about two years ago we had a record ice storm. This whole area was out of power for a week, some as long as a month. There where literally tens of thousands of generators bought. Some of the guys used the storm as an excuse to get their wives to let them purchase a portable welder. For a long time after that there were quite a few bargains on used generators. This all helped chainsaw sales too.

The good part is the area was declared a disaster area. For those who filled out the proper papers and sent their chainsaw and generator receipts in to FEMA got a partial reimbursement. Those portable welders didn't qualify LOL

Billy
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Doc Robbs
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2003-04-02          52468

108KW Yikes you should be able to power the whole neighborhood! Our hospital runs the whole OR, ICU, and other critical functions on 150KW.

I've got a 30KW Olympian (Cat with a perkins engine) and I could power 4-5 homes without any trouble. Even with electric water heater, well pump and heater fan I never even touch the full capacity. I went with this one instead of the 15KW because it was a good deal.

In general for figure a 2HP engine for each KW generated. (i know the conversion is ~.750HP/KW but in the real world it takes 2HP).

1800 RPM generators deliver cleaner better quality AC power, last longer and cost significantly more.

In diesel generators I was given a general rule for fuel consumption and it seems to hold OK for me. 0.7 gal of fuel per hour per 10kw. It doesn't really matter if you are using all of the power the engine will still use that fuel.
My 48 gal tank runs my generator for 2 days running regardless of how much of a drain I put on it. I don't understand it, It doesn't make sense to me but thats reality.

If that holds true for you you'll be burning over 7 gals an hour and thats a lot of fuel if you don't need it.

Thanks
Doc Robbs
....

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Billy
Join Date: Oct 1999
Posts: 975 Southeast Oklahoma
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2003-04-02          52482

Doc, I just need to power 4 broiler houses. It's a bit over kill but that's what the integrator says I need. ....

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