Stand-by Generator

[VonFatman]

I "kinda" dipped into the gun money in real and meaningful way this week. Today our standby generator was delivered. It will be installed next week.

It's a 20kW Kohler. Our little house (about 1,300 sq. ft.) should be able to function just fine with any unexpected (or expected) electrical outage. It will run off our LP tank. No manual fueling. It comes on weekly to "exercise & do a self-diagnostic test". If we are out of town, we get an e-mail (on the cell phone) that alerts us we were/are not on the grid during the period.

We are feeling more and more like being prepared for "issues" is a good thing. This is one area where we have made a significant change to prepare.

Anyone else have their homes/business set up with standby electrical power?

I'd enjoy hearing about the types of preparedness others have gone with to keep the power on.

Bob

 

[Ga Johnny]

now the utility will never fail you again, buying a generator is the best insurance you can buy. I had one for years, never lost power for more than a few minutes.

 

[MDGasman]

You'll be glad you spent the extra $ for the Kohler over a Generac. Much more reliable long-term.

 

[CAJUNLAWYER]

So what happens when you run out of LP???????????

 

[VonFatman]

Ga Johnny,
I know....but I will be secure in knowing if we do loose the power will be back up in less than a minute.

MD,
I felt the same way. We'd looked at a number of alternatives (including using my Grasshopper PTO as a power source) and...the Kohler seemed a better solution for us.

Caj,
The only appliance in the home that uses LP is the furnace. We have a 500 gallon tank at this time. I'm thinking of replacing it with a 1,000 gal. tank at some point in the future.

Bob

 

[Engine 21]

You'll be glad you spent the extra $ for the Kohler over a Generac. Much more reliable long-term.

I'll second that! Extra $$$ is worth it for Kohler equipment.

 

[bamabiker]

I've been thinking about getting one of those. Did not know Kohler made them, thank you for showing it. I guess they have them for natural gas also?

 

[VonFatman]

mook012,
After an investment in the equipment....it's always good to hear Kohler is a wise choice.

bamabike,
Yes, these units run on LP or Natural Gas.

Bob

 

[Cpo1944]

I "kinda" dipped into the gun money in real and meaningful way this week. Today our standby generator was delivered. It will be installed next week.

It's a 20kW Kohler. Our little house (about 1,300 sq. ft.) should be able to function just fine with any unexpected (or expected) electrical outage. It will run off our LP tank. No manual fueling. It comes on weekly to "exercise & do a self-diagnostic test". If we are out of town, we get an e-mail (on the cell phone) that alerts us we were/are not on the grid during the period.

We are feeling more and more like being prepared for "issues" is a good thing. This is one area where we have made a significant change to prepare.

Anyone else have their homes/business set up with standby electrical power?

I'd enjoy hearing about the types of preparedness others have gone with to keep the power on.

Bob

I have a 20 kw gen, for my home/office/lab. It does very well powering everything-that is until the 3 HP dust collector and the 5 HP air compressor and the A/C switch on. That load will actually slow down the engine ,not stop it , and if I don`t switch
something off immediately the Compressor will start to smoke.
I learned this lesson the easy way and managed to not burn up anything. I am careful now to not overload it.

By the way it is a Northern Lights fishingboat gen with a Kubota Diesel engine, it`s about 15 years old now and has had only one repair so far- a electronic component in the starting circuit board- cost about $150 to fix.

Congratulations on your preparedness these things are costly but so necessary to have. We had a tornado that put our power out for about two weeks and that is when I decided to get my gen. I couldn`t run my lab or office without power and I hated the feeling of helplessness -not anymore.

 

[VonFatman]

Jack,
Thanks for the reply. I do not have any large "load" items to concern myself with now. Our expectation is that we will have a pretty good handle on the electrical once it's installed.

Bob

 

[m657]

geez.....outgunned again...

 

[zercool]

The only appliance in the home that uses LP is the furnace. We have a 500 gallon tank at this time. I'm thinking of replacing it with a 1,000 gal. tank at some point in the future.

Kohler's specs say 161cu.ft/hr at 50% load; propane is about 35cu.ft/gal so you'll be burning almost 5gal/hr for a 10kW load. (Not a lot less for a lower load, actually - 25% load specs are 127cu.ft/hr.)

Propane tanks can only be filled 80% in order to allow room for the gas to boil off and flow into your lines, so your 500-gallon tank holds 400 gallons - or about 3.5 days of run time.

I keep running into this precise dilemma whenever I consider putting in a larger genset than the 4000W gas unit I have... How do I store the fuel to run it for more than a few days, but still have enough power to run the house (even in a much-reduced way)?

And lest you think I'm trying to be a killjoy, I am extraordinarily jealous and very glad to see another person on the prepping side.

 

[VonFatman]

zcool,
Good info!! Thanks.

Bob

 

[ChattanoogaPhil]

I keep running into this precise dilemma whenever I consider putting in a larger genset than the 4000W gas unit I have... How do I store the fuel to run it for more than a few days, but still have enough power to run the house (even in a much-reduced way)?

Exactly.

I have a Honda EU2000 and Honda EM5000S.

The 2000 is all I have ever used. It runs the refrigerator and a couple lamps, or I can unplug the refrigerator for a bit and run the microwave or whatever else. The longest the power has been out is 8-9 hours. The 2000 didn't need more than it's one gallon tank. I keep three 6 gallon gas containers full (changing out every couple months )... for a total of maybe 25hrs of generator use over the past decade or so. LP sounds better every time I think about it.

Of course the most important disaster plan is Internet access... an iPad with cellular data plan.

 

[Cpo1944]

Kohler's specs say 161cu.ft/hr at 50% load; propane is about 35cu.ft/gal so you'll be burning almost 5gal/hr for a 10kW load. (Not a lot less for a lower load, actually - 25% load specs are 127cu.ft/hr.)

Propane tanks can only be filled 80% in order to allow room for the gas to boil off and flow into your lines, so your 500-gallon tank holds 400 gallons - or about 3.5 days of run time.

I keep running into this precise dilemma whenever I consider putting in a larger genset than the 4000W gas unit I have... How do I store the fuel to run it for more than a few days, but still have enough power to run the house (even in a much-reduced way)?

And lest you think I'm trying to be a killjoy, I am extraordinarily jealous and very glad to see another person on the prepping side.

That is very good data,and I thank you too. I have a propane powered Gen at my beach house and I never figured out how much run time I have on my 500 gal tank, so now I know.
If a fella was clairvoyant he would know if he had to ration his run time to make it last until the outage was fixed, but since we live in "Civilization" most times things are up and running in short order, and if we suffered Armageddon who cares , so 3.5 to 4 days will have to do.