My wood stove saved my ass but need a Diesel generator recommendation.

[Iron man]

This last storm was the last straw for the wife and she wants to get a generator when taxes come in.7 days with no power does suck.Ive searched the web looking at diesel generators in the 1-2k range and I think every one is from over seas so not sure and don't want a lemon..7000 wat is the smallest I would be looking at but feedback on brands in any range would be helpful.

 

[Chris-PA]

Yeah, three cheers for wood heat! Just about everything is made overseas, I don't see how you will avoid it.

 

[HILLBILLYREDNEC]

I would look into propane standby that is hard wired. . I have a couple stand by hard wired gennys at the ranch nice quite units.Check to see if they have parts available for the genny you are buying.
Briggs & Stratton PowerNow Propane Generator — 10,500 Watts Startup, 7000 Watts Continuous, Electric Start, Model# 40248A | 6,000 - 10,999 Watts | Northern Tool + Equipment
Check the one in this link,pretty simple to install and easy to fuel,wife friendly starting,

 

[Dalmatian90]

-- diesel generators
-- 1-2k (dollar) range
-- 7000 wat is the smallest
and I'm assuming:
-- new

Don't think you'll be able to get all four. Three would be tough. Be interesting to see the replies

We've had good experience over the last 20+ years with Honda and Onan generators at the fire company...but they're not in your budget even for gas. Come down a bit in watts to 5500 and up in price a few hundred and switch to gasoline and you're in Honda range.

 

[svon89]

Ill be honest, I do not know about diesel generators, but I had a 9000W with a 16hp briggs twin on it. Thought about converting to propane, but decided I could survive with a 5000W unit. The amount of fuel savings is well worth not being able to run the entire house at the same time. At one time I had a yanmar diesel but it was only 3500W and just could not handle my well pump. It would do all day on around 5 gallons. Not sure if that helps.
I have drooled over the slow speed diesel generators, but just could not justify the cost of over $3000. They are supposed to run forever on very little fuel.

 

[cjnspecial]

Keep an eye out on craigslist for an diesel welder, many of them double as generators too. That way, you get more bang for your buck. Or if you have a tractor, buy a pto generator.

 

[Rudedog]

I would look into propane standby that is hard wired. . I have a couple stand by hard wired gennys at the ranch nice quite units.Check to see if they have parts available for the genny you are buying.
Briggs & Stratton PowerNow Propane Generator — 10,500 Watts Startup, 7000 Watts Continuous, Electric Start, Model# 40248A | 6,000 - 10,999 Watts | Northern Tool + Equipment
Check the one in this link,pretty simple to install and easy to fuel,wife friendly starting,

Thanks. I'm looking for ideas also. This sounds like a good one. Good thread Iron Man.

 

[cjnspecial]

I can tell you from many, many hurricanes worth of experience that honda generators are the most reliable, quietest and by far the most fuel efficient. And when gas is scarce, this counts for a lot. A honda eu2000i generator will run all the lights(compact flourescents), the refrigerator, a laptop and a window a/c unit for 24 hours on maybe 3 gallons of gas.

 

[HILLBILLYREDNEC]

The one advantage to a hard wired unit is that if the lady of the house has to run it she can. If your married you want something the lady of the house can feel comfortable about. The one down side to gas or diesel is the handling issues,generator must be cool to refuel,in other words not doing its job. The propane style with a 250 gallon tank can last two to three days of heavy use or a week with a light load. I have wire a couple of local house's with a 5 kw rv built in genny with a remote start in the house,yes they are more expensive to buy.
[video=youtube;xo_bAcy-MPQ]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xo_bAcy-MPQ[/video]

 

[Encore]

We have a 5500 watt generator and it runs everything but the AC (so we just usually throw a window unit up when that happens)

What we have to do is switch from well to the water heater when we want to run the hot water.

It's got a Briggs and Stratton on it. I bought it for $400 used and it's run like a top.

We lost power for 3 days during the winter last year and we had no problems. Down the road I'd love to get a big diesel generator, but for now the gas one works great. If I run it all day it'll use about 5-7 gallons depending on the load on it.

 

[54stude]

Do you have a tractor with a PTO? If so, look into a PTO generator that you would run with your tractor.

There are a lot of used ones available at old dairy farms that no longer milk. Having a generator to run the barn was not optional for a lot of farmers.

 

[Rudedog]

HILLBILLYREDNEC how much would that wiring cost? It looks like a lot of work. I paid $2,600 for a heavy up from 100 amp to 200 amp service with new siemens box and new and breakers about four years ago.

 

[Iron man]

I wasn't as specific as I should have been.Sorry!I'm looking at portable units so if needed it can be used elsewhere.The ones Ive seen in my range say 7000 or 6500 surge wats so about 6000 to 6500 is there continuous rating which should be good enough to get me by.The main reason I'm looking a diesel is because they use much less fuel and fuel is hard to get when nobody has power.Thanks for the replies so far.

 

[fdoberman]

1. Invest 20 bucks in an Amprobe and learn how much power you really need.
Yes, you can live without AC, your parents & grandparents did!

2, Diesel or propane both offer long fuel storage and great running reliability

3, Thanks to the wonderful economy thousands of generators are selling for cheap money.
Invest some time, learn what you need, and learn how to get the machine running and keep it running.

The So Called Electrical Contractor community considers genset installs as their easy big money. Screwem and endrun them.

 

[HILLBILLYREDNEC]

Rudedog,how handy are you? The cost to install is based on the type of transfer switch. Most of the basic ones can be done fairly cheap. If you feel comfortable and know the basics of wiring they go in really easy,the good switch's color code the wires .[video=youtube;uaRU0YtFx9g]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uaRU0YtFx9g&feature=related[/video]

 

[Currently]

I had a customer that had a tough request to fill regarding generators and found this site. He has used and new gensets and transfer switches of all kinds.

Warning, website is extremely slow, he has a very low bandwidth connection but a ton of good info on his site.

GeneratorJoe Inc. Diesel Generators

He is a bit ornery but knows his stuff.

As for that video on that post before mine, if he ever gets a house fire, his insurance company will not pay ... all I am going to say on this.

You can buy an interlock that will prevent the main breaker and gen breaker to be on at the same time. This is required by code.

Generator InterLock Kit

Women and children are notorious at skipping steps during times of crisis if they do not do this on a regular basis. The possibility of forgetting to turn off the Main breaker and having current backfeed back into the grid and killing a lineman is not a chance any sane person will do.

If I am the only person doing it, yes ... but you introduce other people and all kinds of crap can happen.

 

[HILLBILLYREDNEC]

I had a customer that had a tough request to fill regarding generators and found this site. He has used and new gensets and transfer switches of all kinds.

Warning, website is extremely slow, he has a very low bandwidth connection but a ton of good info on his site.

GeneratorJoe Inc. Diesel Generators

He is a bit ornery but knows his stuff.

As for that video on that post before mine, if he ever gets a house fire, his insurance company will not pay ... all I am going to say on this.

You can buy an interlock that will prevent the main breaker and gen breaker to be on at the same time. This is required by code.

Generator InterLock Kit

Women and children are notorious at skipping steps during times of crisis if they do not do this on a regular basis. The possibility of forgetting to turn off the Main breaker and having current backfeed back into the grid and killing a lineman is not a chance any sane person will do.

If I am the only person doing it, yes ... but you introduce other people and all kinds of crap can happen.

This why auto switch systems are safer, and more idjit proof.

 

[Steve NW WI]

I wasn't as specific as I should have been.Sorry!I'm looking at portable units so if needed it can be used elsewhere.The ones Ive seen in my range say 7000 or 6500 surge wats so about 6000 to 6500 is there continuous rating which should be good enough to get me by.The main reason I'm looking a diesel is because they use much less fuel and fuel is hard to get when nobody has power.Thanks for the replies so far.

I don't know of any portable propane units, but I haven't been looking either. But, 6-10kpropane powered units are not a lot more expensive than gasoline, and a 500 gal propane tank (that's not heating the house, thanks to wood heat ) will run it a lot longer than even a "long term" outage. I'd choose propane if I was buying, as far as I can tell, all the local gas stations are on the same grid as me, so no power=no gasoline.

I can imagine a propane unit running off 40-100# bottles, but I haven't seen a setup like that.

 

[StevenBiars]

I can tell you from many, many hurricanes worth of experience that honda generators are the most reliable, quietest and by far the most fuel efficient. And when gas is scarce, this counts for a lot. A honda eu2000i generator will run all the lights(compact flourescents), the refrigerator, a laptop and a window a/c unit for 24 hours on maybe 3 gallons of gas.

One of my first jobs out of high school (after the military) was working as a construction gopher on the U.S. Grant Bridge replacement. In 2004, we had a crazy flood season, and the baffles inside one of the crane barges apparently broke free. The barge ended up taking on water, so the tug operator brought it as close to shore as possible and staked it. The barge had already taken on a significant amount of water, so it wasn't possible to safely offload the crane. Until things calmed down, I went out every 2 hours from the end of the working day until the laborers returned the following morning to gas up several honda powered pumps. When I was finishing the last gas-up (4:30 am) a rather large log struck the front of the barge, and knocked one of the stakes loose. It was a loosing game after that, and the load shifting made it all but impossible to safely attend to the pumps. The following morning, a brand new Manitowoc lattice-boomed crawler crane was sitting at the bottom of the river, with water past the back hitches (halfway up the a-frame).

Since the pumps were secured, they were eventually recovered after about a month at the bottom. My step-dad ended up getting one of them after the insurance company had signed off on scrapping them. He took it home, cleaned the carb, flushed the jug and crank case, reoiled, and it fired up and ran perfectly. That honda engine now serves as a transplant on an old 1950s-ish Yazoo self-propelled mower.

With that said, Honda makes an almost unkillable small engine.

 

[EXCALIBER]

There is absolutely no need to spend all this money for a generator when you can make a very effective one for less than a hundred bucks! :msp_w00t:Further more this is a green approach and requires little to no gas or fuel.

Ok first thing you will need will be a pedal bike, almost everyone has one of these, but if not can be had for little or nothing as it does not need to be fancy. You can get one with different speeds to help with efficiency of this design. You will need to visit a junk yard to procure a few v belt pulleys, one for the alternator and one for the rear of the pedal bike. Now you need to go down to autozone and pick up a nice high amp chevy alternator and a new v belt. Now all you have to do is make a stand for the rear of the pedal bike so the rear tire is off the ground, and a bracket to mount up the alternator with a way to tension the v belt. The last step is to take the wifes car battery out of her car (THIS IS A VERY IMPORTANT STEP, DO NOT SKIP THIS STEP) into the house and place it on a board, hook up some charging wires from the alt to battery, and your almost done. Now hook up a 110 inverter and your in business.

Directions for use: Now that everything is in place and hooked up you are prepared. When the power goes out you tell the wife/gf to "hop" on the bike and start pedaling. This will keep the battery fully charged, and you will have enough power to fire up your computer and get on arboristsite.com. (WARNING; SOME MEMBERS HAVE EXPERIENCED "NOISE" EMANATING FROM THE BIKE EXERCISE POWER MACHINE WHEN IN USE, THIS IS NORMAL, ALTHOUGH IF THIS "NOISE", USUALLY A HIGH PITCH WHINING CONTINUES FOR VERY LONG, YOU MAY WANT TO THINK ABOUT RELOCATION OF BIKE POWER UNIT TO OUTSIDE OF YOUR HOME OR A BASEMENT).

This system has many good features built in besides getting free power. This system uses little to no gas or fuel so good for the earth, the wife/gf will no longer need a gym membership thus saving you 70$ a month, plus you get that "I did it myself feeling" of self-reliance.

The only drawbacks to this system is the noise this system can make when in use, mentioned earlier, and if installed incorrectly MAY CAUSE SEVERE INJURY OR DEATH. Skipping using the wifes/gf's battery will result in tire-tread-ittis, leaving you with a broke down power source and black goodyear tire treads that you bought her on your back, legs, and arms. There is also a slight risk of knuckle-sandwich-ittis, ass-kick-ittis, frying-pan-head-ittis, and in severe cases locked-leg-no-nookie-ittis (meaning your power source has broken down, as well as your alternate heating source, the latter will require many attempts to fix costing much $$$, trips to the flower shop, nights in the dog house, graveling, begging, promising to reform, counseling, church, and access to your bank account for shopping). This is where the system can use a little fuel if things go wrong, either to escape the out of control power engine (wife/gf), or to procure the things needed to get system back online.

All in all could be a great system, if used carefully and wisely. Please install then post your individual results.opcorn:We will anxiously be waiting!!!