We lost power mid-day Friday and didn't get it back until about 10PM last night. The generator ran continuously for roughly 36 hours.
Based on the capacity of my tank (96 gallons @ 80% full) and my best guess as to how much I started with, I estimate that it burned somewhere between .8 and 1 gallon per hour. That's with the furnace, well, water heater, fridge, big freezer and various lights as well as occasional use of the microwave and toaster and the heat for the chicken's water.
I'm pretty pleased with that!
Be careful when following the masses. Sometimes the M is silent.
Posts: 15638 | Location: Downeast Maine | Registered: March 10, 2010
"Pacifism is a shifty doctrine under which a man accepts the benefits of the social group without being willing to pay - and claims a halo for his dishonesty." ~Robert A. Heinlein
Posts: 26758 | Location: dughouse | Registered: February 04, 2003
Originally posted by sgalczyn: what's the make, capacity and setup?
Kohler 14KW. Auto-start, auto-transfer, propane fueled from a 120 gallon "Pig". It's located about 40 feet from the house behind the garage.
There are only a couple of circuits in the house not connected to it, and that's because of lack of space on the transfer panel, not generator capacity.
Be careful when following the masses. Sometimes the M is silent.
Posts: 15638 | Location: Downeast Maine | Registered: March 10, 2010
Originally posted by Blume9mm: yes, give us more info on this critter.. sounds like propane to me... how many kilowatts and sounds like it might have a cooling system....
Air cooled, surprisingly enough. Never been an issue tho. I did add a carb heater to avoid fueling issues in the Winter.
Be careful when following the masses. Sometimes the M is silent.
Posts: 15638 | Location: Downeast Maine | Registered: March 10, 2010
You are getting good fuel economy out of your unit. Your supply tank is a little small in case of a longer outage and any difficulty in getting it resupplied. We have an 11k unit connected to a 1000 gallon tank which also provides propane for our furnace, stove and water heater. I try not to let it go below 300-400 gallons before having it refilled. If you had a bigger tank your price per gallon might be significantly lower.
Originally posted by PHPaul: Based on the capacity of my tank (96 gallons @ 80% full) and my best guess as to how much I started with, I estimate that it burned somewhere between .8 and 1 gallon per hour. That's with the furnace, well, water heater, fridge, big freezer and various lights as well as occasional use of the microwave and toaster and the heat for the chicken's water.
I'm pretty pleased with that!
Interesting. I happen to have a 120 gallon buried propane tank. Since I already have it, I looked at a 22 kw Generac quickly after Hurricane Ian. It seemed to me that I would burn through 100 gallons of propane in 24-36 hours. As such, it was not worth it.
Posts: 2377 | Location: Orlando | Registered: April 22, 2007
Originally posted by Gene Hillman: You are getting good fuel economy out of your unit. Your supply tank is a little small in case of a longer outage and any difficulty in getting it resupplied. We have an 11k unit connected to a 1000 gallon tank which also provides propane for our furnace, stove and water heater. I try not to let it go below 300-400 gallons before having it refilled. If you had a bigger tank your price per gallon might be significantly lower.
I'll revisit that, but the first time I crunched the numbers I couldn't make it pencil out when you considered the up front costs of the tank and installation.
Be careful when following the masses. Sometimes the M is silent.
Posts: 15638 | Location: Downeast Maine | Registered: March 10, 2010
Originally posted by bendable: Does gas matter when fueling these generators?
Reg gas or ethanol?
I don't know as mine is propane, but I'd think ordinary 87 octane regular would be fine.
I wouldn't want a gas unit for a standby because the tank is small requiring multiple refills and gas goes bad. Propane is a no-brainer as long as you remember to fill the tank occasionally, and as mentioned elsewhere, if you have a lot of outages or a heavy load, a BIG tank (1000 gallons) makes for a lot of peace of mind.
Be careful when following the masses. Sometimes the M is silent.
Posts: 15638 | Location: Downeast Maine | Registered: March 10, 2010
I have a 22kw Generac, owners manual says 3.5 gal/hr of propane under full load. 2.5 ga/hr at 50% load. I have never heard it run but at one speed. Doesn't matter if on exercise mode or powering the house.
I also have a small 3200 watt gas gasoline generator (used for my travel trailer in the woods.) If on prolonged power outages I often shut the big one down any run the house overnight with the small one. It has a fuel shut off so I can easily run the gas out of the carb when shutting down.
Integrity is doing the right thing, even when nobody is looking.
Posts: 4291 | Location: Metamora MI | Registered: October 31, 2003
