Generators - Whatcha got?

[Lampshade]

Originally Posted by StirCrazy

they can stand in one spont and see 10 miles of power lines at once, out here they actualy have to go looking for the problem

Steve

+1... not to much snowmlet sliding down hills taking out rows of poles either :S. Or tree branches, or Vancouver drivers . Feel bad for the people up in Prince Rupert this past season though, somebody up there really made the weather gods mad at you.

[mike31154]

Originally Posted by MitchM

I put in one of those whole house generators from Costco. We've had snowstorms here with no snowplow for 3 days. I used to use a 6500w gas generator, but 5 gallons of gas only lasts about 10 hours.
It has an auto transfer switch and runs on natural gas.
I think it's 16,000w and was the price of a big skimmer and some lights....

Didn't know you could get those thru Costco. Is that an online order? Never saw one in the Kelowna warehouse.

[PoonTang]

I actually have 2. a 650w honda that only weighs 40 lbs and runs for hours on a liter of fuel. Its enough to run all of the essentials on the tank and is super quiet when running just outside the sliding glass door. I also have a 2150w crappy tire model that really is just a rebadged mitsubishi Not so quiet or frugal but will run the whole tank + other stuff. I really bought this one for running stuff in my RV tho.

[MitchM]

Originally Posted by mike31154

Didn't know you could get those thru Costco. Is that an online order? Never saw one in the Kelowna warehouse.

The Calgary south warehouse had 4 on the shelf, 1 week later there was only the demo left, which I got. They went pretty fast.
Home Depot sells the same Generac generators, but the Costco price was $300 - $400 cheaper.

[mike31154]

Originally Posted by MitchM

The Calgary south warehouse had 4 on the shelf, 1 week later there was only the demo left, which I got. They went pretty fast.
Home Depot sells the same Generac generators, but the Costco price was $300 - $400 cheaper.

Very nice, thank you. I really like the idea of natural gas as a fuel. No need to worry about lugging fuel cans or fuel going bad as in a normal generator. Diesel was another option I was considering, but they're more difficult to find and tend to be more costly. With a diesel in a pinch you might be able to run it off vegetable oil.

[MitchM]

I use STA-BIL from Canadian Tire to keep fuel long periods (old generator, chainsaw, atv, tractor, etc.). Diesel or regular gas. Veg oil would gel up in the winter, wouldn't it?

[StirCrazy]

Originally Posted by MitchM

Veg oil would gel up in the winter, wouldn't it?

yup worse than diesel. it would turn in to a white solid.

Steve

[mike31154]

Yes, you'd need a heater to run veg oil or make your own biodiesel, but that gets a little complicated. You can also mix the veg oil and regular diesel up to a 50/50 ratio and it might work depending on your injector pump. This is just in an emergency I'm talking about though. Guys that have converted their diesel vehicle to WVO (waste vegetable oil) or regular VO will usually have two separate tank systems, one with WVO and the other with regular diesel. It incorporates a switch so that you start the vehicle with diesel, once it's running good, switch over to WVO and same idea before shutting off. You need to switch back to diesel to ensure all the fuel lines & injector pump are filled with diesel fuel before shutting down, or, as mentioned the WVO will turn to a solid in the winter.