In article , Pete C. wrote:

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.

I would at least be wary about putting #2 fuel oil marketed for home
heating into a diesel engine, unless it comes from a source offering it as
"offroad diesel", or unless the engine is rated to take fuel with "cetane
rating" as low as it gets.

Diesel fuel has a "cetane rating", an analogue of the "octane rating" of
gasoline. Home heating oil can be stuff whose cetane rating is too low to
make it saleable as truck fuel.

- Don Klipstein )