Home generator

[Wind]

We are in our new house now for about a year and my wife thinks we need a standby generator to power the house during a power outage.  An auto-whole house generator would be nice but not willing to pay that much.  Thinking of a PTO type, I have a hand full of tractors that would do the job.  10 or 12KW would be big enough.  It would be just for the home-no other buildings.  What do you think and what works for you?  How reliable are those box store generators?  

[JimMeade]

The hog house and turkey guys might be a good source of info on the PTO generator.  They used to be popular.  I don't know anything about them, myself.

Box store generators - I don't know.  If you need a generator, you need it and can't take a chance.  They need to be run periodically, maybe once a month or once a quarter or whatever.  What fuel?  Own tank?  On natural gas line?  Fuel can get stale or one could run out in a long power outage.

[Wind]

Thanks Jim, I'm staying away from the box store generators and have a 12KW PTO generator coming. I plan on keeping a small tractor here all Winter to push snow and run the PTO gen-set if I need to.  It is ice storms that will take the power out for long periods of time around here.  Beans are done around here and about 30% of the corn to go.  

[r822308000410]

Personally have a 15KW, PTO, my understanding is you need about 2HP per KW.  I went with a PTO gen, because I figured at least one of 4 tractors would start and I didn't need another 'one trick pony' engine to maintain.

Larry

[Wind]

Just the other day I ran my new PTO 12KW generator for the first time. That was my thought too, 3 or 4 tractors around to do the job. 

[markjlemmon]

Hi, This is Mark.

A home generator will mean that it will serve as a backup to the municipal power grid providing your electric services.

[helenhans]

Only single-phase consumers can be connected to a single-phase power plant. A three-phase power plant can be connected to both single-phase and three-phase. But this property does not mean that three-phase power plants are always better. It should be remembered that for most generators the maximum allowable load on each phase should not exceed 30%. In practice, this means that you cannot remove more than one third of the rated power from a single-phase socket of a three-phase generator. Those. If a three-phase generator has a rated power of 6 kW, then you can remove no more than 2 kW from a 220 V outlet. The most important thing is to understand how does a standby generator work in order to choose the best option. If you have additional installations for a stable or something in addition to the house, think that there will be more and it also needs food.

[leonardheryford]

I also need a home generator

[thomasrobe2151765]

I also have a home generator, and maybe it is going to sound strange to you, but I can't imagine my life without having a home generator. I don't know what about you, but in our district, power outages are pretty often, and as I work from home, I need an electric connection all the time. A few years ago, the electricity disconnected, and I could have lost my job, but I promised my boss that it will never happen again, and since bought a generator the same day. I had no clue how to buy a generator and what to pay attention to, but thankfully I was recommended to check a guide where I found all the necessary information. If you want, you can check the site I am talking about by clicking on this page

[charles4401560]

At 100% efficiency,  1 HP = 746 Watts.  But most generators are around 85% efficient, neglecting any gearboxes and belts needed to turn the alternator at (usually) 3600 RPM.  So the actual efficiency will be somewhere around 75%, meaning that a 15KW unit will need  (15,000/746)/0.75 = 26HP if operated at full load.