Generator suggestions?

[rosies or bust]

Try this link to answer all your generator questions, including which generators are the best, and how to connect to your house. Ran across him on the Survival Podcast.

http://www.solar1234.com/

[HUNTINCOUPLE]

Try this link to answer all your generator questions, including which generators are the best, and how to connect to your house. Ran across him on the Survival Podcast.

http://www.solar1234.com/

Nice find there!

[Rich_S]

LPG is a great way to go for intermittent short term standby use, as long as the LPG isn't your main source of heat.  Also people on nat. gas can go that route too.  Remember it takes 26% more LPG to do the work 1 gallon of gas, it takes 35% more LPG to do the work of 1 gallon of diesel. 

If you need 5kw generator it will take a bigger LPG engine to achieve that over a gas or diesel engine.


It's not the ideal end of the world power your bunker solution though, diesel is king for those folks.

Both gas and diesel have drawbacks, too. Gasoline gets old and crappy after a very short time, diesel can grow bacteria and go bad, while LPG stays good almost indefinitely. LPG may take 25% more, but the cost is much less per gallon. I just paid $1.59/gallon to top off a couple of tanks and this is the time of year when the price is up. Price per kilowatt is far better with LPG. That is, if you own your own tank. Sign up for one of the rental tanks and you'll be paying over $4.00/gallon and locked in to only that vendor. Lots of pitfalls with a contract. If you don't use a certain amount, you'll pay for it anyway!

I did a lot of looking before making my choice - YMMV.

[KFhunter]

No you made a great choice.   I use propane to heat the house so I wouldn't want to plug a generator into that.  I use a farm diesel so a diesel makes since for me since I can keep the diesel rotated.  Last year propane was nearly $5.00/gallon even if you owned your own tank, this year was the cheapest I've seen it for a long time.  Propane prices are more volatile than either diesel or gasoline.  Nice thing is you filled your tank at a cheap rate and most likely will last you many years before a refill.


Everyone's situation is different and it sounds like you have a great setup.

[baker5150]

I use a 2500 watt from harbor freight.  I think I paid $250 on sale 5 years ago.  Runs like a top.  Loud.  But never had an issue with it. I run the heck out of it at elk and deer camp.  I have a transfer switch at the house and run lights, freezer, furnace etc  with no issue. 
I feel I'm money ahead at this point.

How much stuff are able to run on 2500?

Enough I guess.  I run the furnace, some lights, tv, fridge and freezer at the same time.  Not sure how often the freezer actually kicks on. We don't open it once the lights go out.

[baker5150]

No you made a great choice.   I use propane to heat the house so I wouldn't want to plug a generator into that.  I use a farm diesel so a diesel makes since for me since I can keep the diesel rotated.  Last year propane was nearly $5.00/gallon even if you owned your own tank, this year was the cheapest I've seen it for a long time.  Propane prices are more volatile than either diesel or gasoline.  Nice thing is you filled your tank at a cheap rate and most likely will last you many years before a refill.


Everyone's situation is different and it sounds like you have a great setup.

$5 a gallon?   Whoa.  I never saw more than $2.50 last year. 

[KFhunter]

No you made a great choice.   I use propane to heat the house so I wouldn't want to plug a generator into that.  I use a farm diesel so a diesel makes since for me since I can keep the diesel rotated.  Last year propane was nearly $5.00/gallon even if you owned your own tank, this year was the cheapest I've seen it for a long time.  Propane prices are more volatile than either diesel or gasoline.  Nice thing is you filled your tank at a cheap rate and most likely will last you many years before a refill.


Everyone's situation is different and it sounds like you have a great setup.

$5 a gallon?   Whoa.  I never saw more than $2.50 last year.

It was between Jan 2014 and early march 2014 - big spike that cost a lot of keep full customers, especially the rental customers.  Ouch!
In-law got hammered by a shady company Ferrel Gas, they really gouge their customers.

[HUNTINCOUPLE]

No you made a great choice.   I use propane to heat the house so I wouldn't want to plug a generator into that.  I use a farm diesel so a diesel makes since for me since I can keep the diesel rotated.  Last year propane was nearly $5.00/gallon even if you owned your own tank, this year was the cheapest I've seen it for a long time.  Propane prices are more volatile than either diesel or gasoline.  Nice thing is you filled your tank at a cheap rate and most likely will last you many years before a refill.


Everyone's situation is different and it sounds like you have a great setup.

$5 a gallon?   Whoa.  I never saw more than $2.50 last year.

It was between Jan 2014 and early march 2014 - big spike that cost a lot of keep full customers, especially the rental customers.  Ouch!
In-law got hammered by a shady company Ferrel Gas, they really gouge their customers.

Thread jack on this one. Ferrell Gas is a huge gouger to there customers!!!!! That is where I'll leave that comment. Carry on with generators. Honda all the way!!!!!

[Rich_S]

No you made a great choice.   I use propane to heat the house so I wouldn't want to plug a generator into that.  I use a farm diesel so a diesel makes since for me since I can keep the diesel rotated.  Last year propane was nearly $5.00/gallon even if you owned your own tank, this year was the cheapest I've seen it for a long time.  Propane prices are more volatile than either diesel or gasoline.  Nice thing is you filled your tank at a cheap rate and most likely will last you many years before a refill.


Everyone's situation is different and it sounds like you have a great setup.

Yeah, mine's just a SHTF scenario. We've had very few power outages since Peninsula Light (serving Gig Harbor and surrounding areas) went on a tree trimming program a few years ago. I'm mainly preparing for an extended outage such as a Solar flare that takes out the grid. The big transformers might not be replace for months or years. My wife retired from purchasing for the utility and knew quite a bit about lead times for stuff like that.

We only use LPG for our kitchen range, so our existing 20 gallon tank lasts us a year or more. With conservation, the 250 gallon tank could be stretched a long, long time for the genset, plus with a flip of the switch, it can use gasoline.

Have to agree on Honda's though. Our 5KW was quiet, started first pull even after sitting for weeks or months, and gave us good service for 15 years, sometimes running (daytime only) for 2-3 weeks at a time. Only reason we changed was for the LPG capability.