On 12/18/2010 10:07 PM, Rich Grise wrote:

Laurie Forbes wrote:

Would appreciate any comments, good or bad, on the Generac Guardian
series of stationary propane/nat gas generators (we are looking at the
14& 17KW sizes).

Thanks for any assistance.........

You don't say where you live. If you're in earthquake country, then
natural gas probably isn't the best route, because if the main ruptures,
you won't have any NG. I can't speak at propane vs. liquid fuel, other
than propane doesn't stink like gasoline or diesel. ;-)

I also don't know which of the three gives the most KWH per dollar of
fuel. )-;

Good Luck!
Rich



We just finally got our gen set hooked up. Ancient Onan 12.5KW 1800 RPM
Single Phase - 4 cylinder engine with NG/Propane carburetor.

Ran it for a while on 5 gallon propane tanks. Not enough run time for
any realistic emergency.

We first looked at installing a 250 gallon propane tank, believing the
sales guy who said the tank was $65 a year to rent. That sounded very
reasonable - found out later (but before signing the contract) that we
also had to pay for a full tank a year whether we used it or not. $500
or so... Yikes!

We already have a natural gas service and use it for heating, water
heating, cooking, etc. so hooking up to the gas line made sense. The
only reason we looked at propane in the first place was the cheap tank
rental and having power in the event of a natural gas interruption.

Realistically, the only time the NG line would fail would be an
earthquake. So, going with the propane option we'd have electricity but
likely an earthquake would reduce our 1920 vintage house to sticks and
kindling. Kinda defeats the purpose.

We tapped in a 3/4" line at the gas meter and ran it about 40 feet to
the gen set. It uses about 133 cubic feet per hour with no load, so
probably about 175 at half load, which is about what we need. (We really
should have downsized the genny to about 5 KW to cover all our emergency
needs, but this unit came up at a good price - an oldie but a goody.)

If we run it continuously it'll cost about $50 a day. More likely if we
need it we'll just fire it up a couple of hours to keep the essentials
going - or get the neighbors to chip in when they bring their extension
cords over and plug in. The fireplace insert will provide enough
emergency heat with no electricity at all and we can light the cookstove
with a match.

We did our own 'brute force' power transfer switch instead of buying the
$275 commercial panel. We installed a 50A dryer outlet from our main
panel and a small sub-panel with breakers to feed all the emergency
circuits. The generator output stubs out to another dryer outlet near
the sub-panel. When needed we will manually unplug from the main panel
and plug into the generator receptacle. Cost about $30 for the whole
shebang.

Neither gasoline nor Diesel were even considered - the ethanol gas goes
bad too fast and diesel would turn to jelly before we got to use it.

Awaiting the first power failure of the season to try it out.

Carla

"But there's still a problem. Yes, Biden is occasionally a truth-teller.
But, just as often, he's explaining how FDR spoke to Americans on TV,
years before they had television sets or — give it time — how squirrels
would taste more like ice cream if goats were only taller. And again,
whenever he punctures the politics as usual with an inconvenient truth,
the administration forces Biden to recant, not the other way around." -
Jonah Goldberg