home generators
 

I would like to make the right choice for a generator.
I believe it should be diesel because I have an oil furnace with ample fuel .
Also, i understand diesel pretty well.
What i do not know is the reliability and other caveats of the numerous brands.
For the average house, I would think 10000 watts ought to cover it during the emergency
Run the oil furnace
hot water
elc stove
odds and ends
Plus i HATE buying too small and being disappointed with the savings.
I have learned over the years..I think
What do you guys think about this one?
thanx!

Perkins 10,000 Watt Diesel Generator

I have no direct experience with the Perkins unit but it looks great.

I have three back up generators, two gas powered movable types (10K watts) and one PTO powered unit on it's own trailer rated at 15K watts). I have three tractors so I can rotate.

The key to these things is in no particular order:

- Ease of maintenance.

- Where to position? I would put the Perkins on wheels but that is me. I like to store equipment inside and I do not mind a few minutes set up time.

- Noise. Get the enclosure!

The absolute most critical item in my mind is to have a separate fuse panel installed professionally with the circuits you want identified. I plug in a big cable from the generators into a purpose installed receptacle in the garage, switch fuse boxes and light the gens off and turn on the juice.

We power stove, re-fridge, water pumps, water heater and various plugs throughout the house.

Nice unit.

10KW is plenty. In an emergency situation, you will conserve and limit power usage anyway. A/C becomes a luxury. Furnace, well (if you have one), hot water, refrigeration and a few lights are all you need. Even then, you can rotate usage such that no two big power consumers are operating simultaneously.

I have a 12KW (peak) pto gen (off a diesel tractor) and a 2KW Honda (gasoline) gen. Between the two, I'm good for a couple weeks off grid.

Curious - you have oil furnace - and electric water heater?

We went through this...

Bought a portable 10,000w gas generator on ebay (they have diesel too), and made a hook up in the garage for the 220.

Since we bought it 5 years ago, power hasnt gone out ONCE.

Glad I spent only $1500 (generator $1000/switch box $500)...

Love the generator, and use it for tons of stuff all the time.

Neighbor got a permanently mounted one, spent $10,000...

Whats the point? If your power goes out once or twice a year, portable is the better bet. Plus, it has resale value.

Every time I start reading one of these threads I go through the "I want a generator" mode.

The ultimate would be the very expensive natural gas units wired to the house with an auto start. Big bucks. Our power is pretty reliable.

Someday I hope to find a deal on a lightly used Honda generator that has the nice stable voltage. I just have to go find it and I have been lazy.

I chose gas for simplicity, cost and portability. Honda engined from Costco for ~1k, 6800/8500w. I need to run the well pump, a few lights, fridge and it would be nice to have the mini split and water heater. I can run the microwave or cook on the grill outside if it comes to it. My little gen works fine so far.

Add up the amps of your appliances and that'll tell you the max size. 10k sounds like plenty, just check the power #'s for the range.

Yes - thats the way this place came.
Obviously, you might know something i do not know. Is there a better way?
thanx.
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Next-
A generator or a "backup " of some kind is required here if the pwr goes out.
Out is NOT the question.
It does and can for a day to 3 days EZ.
Winters can see 20 below zero EZ, and i do mean capital EZ.
So a backup is necessary if the pwr goes out, or my world will freeze up !
I want enough pwr for a batt bank in case i go nuts and leave the grid.
As a postulation, I have a steady stream not too away and I might be able to rob a steady 20 amps from it.
I am not at all sure about small river generators ..but it looks enticing.
I would love to leave the grid!

I like the stream idea but really know nothing about maintenance or reliability. Sounds good on paper assuming you have the batteries to store power. How do you switch power from multiple sources?

Wood stove is my primary heat and only need power for the fans. -20 is cold though, I usually dont see 10f too often.

The stream idea is in the future ,..
Right now I need to solve the dilemma for the coming Winter.
A larger Genset is a good idea if i were to ever dump the grid.
Most people that get rid of the grid go composite sort of- a little wind, water, sun, lots of batteries and ways to charge them and inverters...
But that's all in the future.
i do not want to make the mistake and buy too small of generator and have to do it again.
I love my wood stove. But again in the event of a pwr failure and If i were away......thats a real big problem

we have a 2k Honda portable and transfer switch for sump, living room, gas heat and fridge.

bought it 3 years ago and just last month was the first time we had legitimate use for it.

The literature mentioned 30,000 hours life span. That is a boatload.

Eight hours a day, 356, is 2848 hours a year.

Honestly, if you do this right, you can go off the grid.

A good friend of mine works in China Lake, Ca but has a remote ranch in Kennedy Meadows in the Sierra's up Nine Mile Road then to the right a bit.

He has solar, wind, batts and a 10KW like you are looking at. That is it.

He has been at it 10 plus years and hasn't had any issues. Battery storage is a bit of a dark art he has gotten good at. He built a battery storage room under his house so the battery room temperature is constant.

Get smart on batteries and battery maintenance and care.

I have the itch and have toured some houses off the grid.
i got the disease when I found out most elec companies are trying to pass laws- if you are not off the grid in such and such time you have to pay a bill anyway ! (even if you are not hooked up)
I think Ohio is such a state.
Yes proper Batteries and care is key importance.

What part of the country are you in?

I'll be interested to see how it goes.

Not far from ya paul
12842
Adirondacks.
I have an extra place here if you and yours want to visit for a couple days and go hike the peaks.
Snowy is 3 miles up the street.

Excellent!

My Buddy in Kennedy Meadows is a retired Marine Cobra pilot so if he could figure it out we are all good to go :)

Redbeard is an expert on alternative power. Send him a PM.

You mentioned not buying small in an earlier post. I think the Perkins unit, if supportable and reliable, is excellent. There are also any number of $300 portable gens that could serve has reliable b/u and in other capacities.

The problem for us here is that we are he last stop on the grid for our cooperative power company. They are an excellent group but we get taken care of late in the "get the power back on cycle", often 4 plus days.

Getting the supporting logistics right now will help later. Neat planning exercise.

So if you are off the grid and not hooked up and they send a bill and you don't pay what do they do? Cut off you electricity that is not hooked up? Do they do send the guys in the protection racket to collect your "protection" like in the Soprano's?

Perkins makes good equipment. I have a customer in Panama who uses two Perkins Diesel units to power his resort Island.

I wonder about the diesel in cold weather. When you are home you can take care of it, but since you mentioned an outage when you arent home, is the auto transfer switch smart enough to start of cold diesel? If its -20 I assume you'd have fuel additive but still might need to have the engine plugged in. Also might have to cycle the glow plugs a few times. Only speaking from car/truck diesel experience, maybe this stuff is figured out with the gen switch/controller.

The 30k hours really is a lifetime but you'd better have a few fuel trucks lines up to keep it fed.

We build complete off-grid solutions called "Mi-Grid". For about the same price, we sell the Mi-Grid 500. It is 4kW inverter based with batteries and Solar ready and has an 8kW generator.

A complete kit with 2.4kW of solar panels & ground mount system is a bit under $8K after the solar tax credit, plus shipping.

Mi-Grid Hybrid Energy System