"Stormin Mormon" wrote in message
...
Years ago, I ran some numbers on gasoline power
generators, using numbers from sales catalogs.
How many hours at half load, gas tanks size, and
so on. If memory serves, I figured a gal of
gasoline produces 4000 watts for one hour.
Propane has less energy than gasoline. If this
SWAG all works out, figure 4 gals of propane
for one hour of wide open throttle on a 16,000
KW unit. A 100 gal tank (filled to 80 gal)
would then be 20 hours of wide open throttle.


How much does propane cost to fill the tank ? If anything like gas even
running with not much of a load the 16 KW unit will use a lot more than a 5
KW unit. If your numbers are anywhere close and even if the generator is
not loaded all that heavy the tank is not going to last too long. I
understand the OP is going to be without power for several days at a time
several times a year.

They might want to opt for a dual system such as about a 1 or 2 KW inverter
type to run lights and a tv set and another larger one of around 5 or maybe
10 kw to power up the larger users such as the water heater for short
periods of time.