Lee wrote:


EXT wrote:

"Pete C." wrote in message
...

Twayne wrote:

RBM wrote:
"Lee" wrote in message
...
A friend has a backup generator that runs off of natural gas, and
I always
thought it would be nice to get one when I got a new house. Fast
forward -
I have a new (old) house, but it heats by oil and there is no gas
nearby.

The power has gone out several times this summer, so now I'm
wondering
what the options are. Are there any generators that use oil? I
know there
are propane generators, but was thinking it would be nice not to
worry
about another tank and delivery schedule.

Any recommendations? I need something *simple* to use. So far the
outages
have lasted around 6 hours. They are annoying in the summer, but
I'm a
little concerned about more occurring in the winter.

It won't be as cheap as a NG/LP generator, but a diesel generator
will run
fine on heating oil, runs at half the RPM's of a gas generator, and
will
last much longer


Well, it'll run fine on #1 fuel oil; not other numbers. #1 is actually
kerosene but with a little less filtering since it's not used in
automtives. You might have to clean the filter a little more often with
#1, gut it's an easy job.
If you heat with #2 fuel oil, do NOT use that unless the genset is
specifically designed FOR #2 fuel oil.

HTH

#2 fuel oil and #2 diesel are the same thing. #2 fuel oil gets red dye
and is exempt from transportation fuel taxes. #2 fuel oil is also known
as "off road diesel" as it is commonly used in construction and logging
equipment that doesn't operate on the public roads and is exempt from
the transportation fuel taxes.

Sorry, I checked, part of that is myth. You really need to check your
oil supplier, apparently in areas that have a lot of oil heat, heating
oil is a cheap low grade oil that they supply, as it doesn't take much
to burn in a furnace. Diesel fuel is more refined and has a specific
cetane rating, similar to gasoline's octane rating, so your engine will
last longer and not have ring/cylinder damage. The reason you need to
check your fuel supplier is because some areas actually use diesel fuel
for heating oil, some areas don't. I found this all out when I bought a
diesel generator and checked with several major oil companies.

Wow, this is all so foreign to me. I'd only ever had natural gas before
(turn on the stove and it was there... didn't have to worry about
deliveries or grades etc. I have no idea what number oil is in my
tank!). What I liked about my friend's generator was that it just kicked
in automatically, and she didn't have to do anything when the
electricity went off. Would an oil one work the same?

Your fuel oil is more than likely #2, just fine for a diesel generator.
Figure out your average household load, add 30-50% capacity to that and go buy
a diesel generator with automatic transfer switch, (DO NOT use a suicide
cord) have an electrician install it, get an oil man (contact your fuel oil
supplier) to plumb in the fuel line and filter from the fuel tank.

And Voila - your set.

I would expect a properly sized generator wattage rating for an ordinary house
without electric heat or other big loads to be somewhere between 7500 and
15000 watts continuous. Lights, frig, freezer, furnace, water pump?, sump
pump?, septic pump?, a couple of burners on the stove, TV's etc - add em up,
add a fair amount of margin.
Resist the temptation to buy something small like a 2kw generator it will only
be a pain in the ass. And also resist the temptation to half-ass stuff to
save a few bucks, its not worth it. When its done right and the generator is
sized large enough, power outages are simply a 30 second inconvenience, when
the generator is too small its a PITA all the way through the outage as you
try to manipulate loads and try keep the generator out of overload.
Eric