House generator advise

[Manxdriver]

Champion! I have a 5000 watt unit and have been using it for over 15 years without issue. Well, except for that time I tipped it over and tried to weld a crack in my *home-built caster base* and it caught fire from spilled fuel. Cooked it pretty good. Called Champion, told them the whole story about how stupid I am and what parts I destroyed. They overnighted the parts and refused to let me pay for them

[cephas]

Have one to run few lights, freezers, fridge, furnace, computer, and submersible pump for water.
Check out the differences between a regular generator and one that is an inverter generator. Has to do with how "clean" the power is. Depends on your needs.
Maybe they all are now, I don't know.
Have had a gas Honda 6500 inverter over a decade and it has been 100% reliable with just regular maintenance. Was told to run it at least 1/2 hour a month and have done that religiously. Turn off fuel and let carb run dry every use. Engine speed varies with demand for load. Can get up to about 15 hours on a tank. Was expensive at the time I bought it and last time I looked their latest and greatest is at least double what I paid. After all this time not the least bit sorry for what I paid.
When considering price study how you'll hook it into your system. Can end up spending a couple bucks there too.

[Rural Ruger]

I don't recall ever seeing one at an auction but I'll start looking for them more intently. I don't know if it was bullshit or not but an electrician once told me that PTO units wouldn't work because the generator needed to spin at a precise speed to put out 60hz.

Not BS. You do have to match engine speed to be at least close to running the rear PTO at 540 rpms or 1k rpms, depending on the exact generator. A lot of tractors have the required engine speed marked on the tach or in the manual though. So it's not 100% plug and play, but also not that hard as long as you know the right engine speed. I never got to the point where I needed to figure all the finer details out, but it's something you'd want to give a consideration to at least, make sure your tractor can handle it, etc.

As far as the technology itself though, it's been around for decades. Even some old lawn tractors from the 60s and 70s had front mount generators as an option (belt driven).

[Just1more]

Great info and food for thought Appreciate all who have replied Thanks!

[staylo]

I’m not a mechanical expert, but we have had both portable and whole house generators. When we bought our house the previous owner had a 7KW Honda portable generator that he had had an electrician wire up a sub panel for. It ran critical things like the well pump, the refrigerator, microwave and lights, but it didn’t run the range or the water heater or the heat pump. It started every time I needed it and ran like a champ. The only problem with it was that you usually lose power during nasty weather, at which time I’d have to get dressed to go outside either in torrential rain or sleet or freezing rain or a blizzard. If the power was out for more than 15 minutes or so our coal stoker stove would go cold and we would lose our heat so I was always paranoid the power would go out when I wasn’t home, or in the middle of the night while I was asleep.

We finally installed a whole house Kohler generator. It runs everything as well as the grid power does, and it starts itself up automatically. The other benefit is in a lengthy power outage like we experienced here once when the power was out for five days, that’s a lot of trips to the gas station for gasoline to run the portable. If you can afford the initial upfront cost, or if you lose power frequently like we do out in the country/woods, then the whole house is definitely worth the money.

[JaySmith]

The problem i have with PTO generators is it ties up one of your tractors. Also, getting everything set up will take a good while, if the power is going to be out for more than 4 hours, there's a chance I'm going to need my tractor for something else, such as snow clearing, since we frequently lose power in snowstorms.

[Walleye Hunter]

The problem i have with PTO generators is it ties up one of your tractors. Also, getting everything set up will take a good while, if the power is going to be out for more than 4 hours, there's a chance I'm going to need my tractor for something else, such as snow clearing, since we frequently lose power in snowstorms.

That is a valid point, since my plow truck has gone on strike on me. That plus it not being the least bit fuel efficient, it would cost a lot to keep it running for extended periods of time. The only advantage would be that I believe it's got enough power to run a large generator and I am all electric here.

[RockIsland]

That is a valid point, since my plow truck has gone on strike on me. That plus it not being the least bit fuel efficient, it would cost a lot to keep it running for extended periods of time. The only advantage would be that I believe it's got enough power to run a large generator and I am all electric here.

Get an EV150. You can power your whole house for 20 minutes.

[sbmania]

Listen to staylo. Everyone in my neighborhood who had a smaller generator eventually just replaced it with a whole house unit. Way too much trouble trying to cycle from circuit to circuit and filling it up with gas in the middle of a blizzard. Or worrying you might lose power when you are not home.

Just spend the money for a Generac 22kw unit and be done with it. Now when we lose power, which is often in our neighborhood, all power comes back on line withing 10 seconds. AC, heat, refrig, washer dryer, microwave - makes no difference. All runs seamlessly. The biggest problem is resetting all the digital clocks that are flashing after the power loss. Buy once, cry once!

[esh21167]

Can anyone throw out a ballpark estimate for a whole house 25K continuous propane generator installed with a tank and an automatic transfer switch? $10K? More?