Not really DIY per say, but any of you guys ever used a dual gas/propane generator? How does the output between the two different fuels compare as far as run time and output?
Not really DIY per say, but any of you guys ever used a dual gas/propane generator?
yes
Awesome.
Thanks bro.
The energy density of propane is about 75% of the energy density of gasoline (sauce: https://afdc.energy.gov/fuels/properties) so assuming that the generator is just as efficient with propane as it is gasoline it would likely run 3/4 as long on propane as it would with a equivalent amount of gasoline.
Owners manual may tell you
That was my rough guess. The propane is a great back fuel in that sense because I have 2 tanks anyway I use for my BBQ. Plus they're a bit safer to store than a bigass jerry can.
Yeah propane is easier to store as somebody who fills up 30+ gal of gasoline tanks during storm season. The initial investment on tanks is expensive, but it’s not bad to refill them.
Read up on runtime though. My 6kw generator will easily run through a 5gal can of gas overnight at like 1/3 load or maybe even less. It takes a lot of fuel to run em for an extended period of time. Part of me is tempted to get a smaller generator it I ever see a steal because I’m sure a 1500w guy would run the fridge and a couple fans on far less fuel.
how is propane easier to store when it has to be fricking pressurized in a steel can
Because shitty plastic gas cans are shitty and for the most part they’re 5gal max and annoying to pour.
In the garage, the cans also expand and contract with the heat and will frickin stink up the garage with gas fumes. I also had a 5gal plastic gas can split along the seams being stored in the garage, and it was an attached garage in Florida near the ocean so not like it gets above 90F.
Never heard of propane going bad after 6mos of storage either, although I have run 2+ year old gas with some stabilzer without issue. If you want to store a large amount of a liquid fuel like some 50gal+ container, a diesel generator would be superior.
Generacs with a big outdoor propane tank or a house with natural gas is the patrician choice.
>Because shitty plastic gas cans are shitty
Why not use steel ones then? I've got a plastic one for the chainsaw because these handy gas/oil combo ones only appear to be available in plastic, but other than that I avoid them like the plague.
>for the most part they’re 5gal max and annoying to pour.
True.
Yup, I run a 12KW generac hooked up to a 1,000 gallon tank.
Propane never goes bad, its the tanks that hold it that have a 'lifespan'.
Above ground tanks that's 30 years, below ground a good bit longer.
You can also combine tanks of like size because the pressure needs to be even.
Propane is so cheap and lasts so long that any White man with low time preference can make it work for them. Get out in front of the inflation and get yourself a gigantic tank of propane.
Just to add, feeling guilty because I know this to be true but you can take old propane tanks and jerry rig them to hold gasoline which also would stay good indefinitely.
Look on youtube there are crazy rednecks sealing up gasoline in propane tanks.
Propane tanks are impervious to humidity
This is why i have a 1500w inverter generator instead of a larger one. I used it after hurricane Ian to run my kitchen fridge, some lights, and some ceiling fans for 5 days straight. It used about 20 gallons. About 4-5 gallons every 24 hours. I always kek when i see somebody buy a 10kw generator and one 5 gallon jerry can before a hurricane. They will be out of fuel in 8 hours if they can even figure out to get it started.
Another advantage I just looked up.
>burn 25% more fuel to produce 12% less CO2
Big brain move there, OP
>CARB compliant
I want to make a joke about it being keto
But I'm sure it's a real stupid fricking EPA thing
>CARB
>EPA
Nah, i'm running my ancient frankendiesel generator on cooking oil until the end of time. No fricking TLA is going to tell me what to do
EPA has its own standards, CARB is california's mini-EPA
I have the Westy 12kw unit with dual fuel.
Rated 12kw surge/10.5kw continuous, on gasoline
10.5kw surge/9.5kw on propane.
I like to have the flexibility...
one grill-size tank on heavy usage gets me 4 hours +/- runtime
t. 50 gals gasoline and 55 gals propane on hand
OP here. Thanks for the info. I basically just need it for emergencies to run a fridge and a freezer fill of meat. The flexibility is definitely a plus.
I got one because they require little to no maintenance if you use propane. Propane is shelf stable so if you never use gas its always ready when you need it. Gas ones should be taken out and started every month and you have to stabilize the gas.
>started every month
Ehh, most generators have a fuel cutoff. I always shut it off and run the thing until the carb and lines are dry so there’s nothing sitting in the engine.
I agree with you on propane being nicer to store than liquid gasoline though, assuming you don’t mind the investment in tanks.
>any of you guys ever used a dual gas/propane generator?
nope
Propane is less energy dense, but consider that a generator is typically going to have a pretty small gas tank, so you'll get a longer run time out of a 20lb propane tank than you will if you fill up the generator with gas. Also, propane burns much cleaner so there's less maintenance to worry about.
OP’s generator he posted is probably at least 4gal of fuel, I bet runtime on the gasoline would be similar or a little better than a 20lb propane tank for a grill.
Propane would be based if you had a big restaurant sized tank.
Ah yeah, you're right, I didn't look at OP's image. In my case, I have a small inverter generator, and it gets significantly better runtime off of a tank of propane.
Based on anon’s 10.5kw/12kw generator, sounds like a 20lb propane tank probably runs about the same as 3gal of gasoline, maybe 4gal. Sounds nice on a little inverter
Sounds about right, my inverter is 1.2gal and gets ~6 hours on gas, ~17 on a 20lb tank.
>Not hooking it up to your natural gas line at home and never having to worry about storing gasoline or propane.
>being beholden to The Man for your energy storage
I shiggy diggy.
Imagine not having your own clandestine water tower and microturbine setup. ngmi
what are you running off the generator? Those things lie about their output and the low voltage rapes tools if/when they increase their draw sharply and also just in general
I only run propane in mine because it is EMERGENCY equipment. If the power goes out, I'll need the gen to work.
Personally I see the main advantage of propane being that the gas tank won't rust and the carb won't clog. You can stabilize gas, but it only does so much.
Despite the cost, I run propane because it means more margin for maintenance error. I can leave my cylinders around for years and not think about having to rotate or stabilize.
And of course if the propane runs out, I'll run gas.
Everyone should have dual fuel just in case you can't get one kinds of fuel. Gas pumps run on electricity; propane tanks can nurse using their pressure.
I'm on a service truck so I'm running a generator all the time, and I run propane because there's less bullshit to deal with than with gasoline. It's nice to have the option though.
What about that other blue generator? DuroMax. They make a trifuel.
Winco is another one.
Anyway, yep, good luck. Propane won't sit in the carb bowl and eat it.
Have you considered a UPS? Growatt or MPP or similar unit, plus a couple of 5kw batteries. Yes, it will cost more upfront, figure $550-850, plus $2.8k for lfpo batteries, max.
Takes power in, even via an ordinary extension cord, and you setup your outlet taps for your fridge etc. Again, you can go cheesy and use the other half of a heavy extension cord. Like a 10 gauge heavy duty cord with a 3-outlet splitter.
Hang the all-in-one on the wall next to your emergency appliances, stack your batteries, hook them up. You could have that up and running in a couple hours, programming it to UPS mode: it will keep the batteries topped-up, and transfer Loads to it's own inverter if the grid goes down.
10kw is the minimum recommended for a 3kw all-in-one. It will power a 400 watt continuous load, for 24hrs. That's about a fridge and a freezer, plus a few small other things, like charging your phone.. some LED lighting, a fan if it's summertime... at around 90°F.
>400W load for 24hrs
Bruh, batteries are great and all, but that’s like a couple gallons of gasoline max in a small generator. And honestly, I wouldn’t be surprised to see 20 years out of a generator that gets a few days of use every couple years for storm backup. I got an old beat up Generac running with like $50 in parts. That’s not going to happen with your $3500 UPS.
If you were talking about wanting to recharge some stuff on a 3 day car camping trip, maybe the batteries would work.
Not that anon, but firman makes some as well. We got a tri fuel one that can run the freezer, kitchen, sump and heating system. Haven't had an outage since getting it, but I run it for about 30-60 minutes every 6 months to make sure it's all in working order. So far it's just peace of mind, but i have faith in how bad the electric utility company is, so it will get used.
The UPS setup-up, above, provides an online or nearline power system, bypassing it's own storage and kicking in immediately when there is a power issue. What I find frequently, is it's those almost undetectable brownouts and surges that damage equipment over time.
For further coverage, for a full online UPS, add a Chargeverter -the name is really, a charging system sold by Signature Solar/EG4. The main all in one will handle the inverter task, running in online mode (not bypass), and the chargeverter will keep the batteries topped-up. The grid or generator is plugged into the chargeverter, charging the batteries as available, or needed. The All-in-one has a dry-contact relay to turn on generators that support it.
Even the Generac Brown-out kit, will not provide the kind of coverage I am talking about. An expensive power quality analyzer will show you the issues that you can't see, but damage your equipment.
I’m not running a server farm here, I’m just trying to keep my fridge cold after a hurricane.
it's the brownouts that kill those compressors. Unless it's a white chest freezer: I've seen those things continue to run, no problem, when every compressor from the walk-in to a beverage fridge lost it's compressor due to repeated brownouts.
i have a dual wesinghouse both 9.5 and 4k models
they are amazing generors
i have never used propane feature
on the flip side
you can get generators that run natural gas
u can run on compost gas
Not interested in compost gas stuff, but I'm planning to get a natural gas generator. Not getting whole house, just big enough to run the furnace blower and the fridge. So the NG generator runs the NG furnace, and good to go regardless of how bad the ice storms get.
>furnace blower and fridge
Get down on a proper transfer switch and panel. Lots of people do that and the panel only has like a couple circuits for the kitchen and the necessities. Certain brands of portable generators even have some module you can get that detects the power outage and fires up the electric start on the generator. I think some Westinghouse generators might have it. And there are parallel kits too if you wanted a second genny for those high demand moments.
Man I really want one of those Generacs.
>u can run on compost gas
This interests me. I've seen Africans using barrel-sized gas fermenters to make cooking fires. I bet you could scale up the process for off-the-grid power. I've also seen Chinese villagers stealing gas using giant balloons (seriously) so I guess that's all you need for storage.
>per say
why do you ESL morons even bother? drive off a cliff homosexual.
It's a mistake most often made by natives. Same as your vs you're.
t. ESL
Come on man, you know as well as I do that mistakes like that are a diamond dozen, especially with autocorrect. You miss one little button or skim over something too fast and wala, shit just happens bro, your fricked. Give the poor guy a brake.
I have a champion dual fuel. It always had a hard time starting on propane. But since carb got blocked, it runs on propane now lol. I keep some gas in an oil can to drop into the air cleaner and it starts on that.
>it's all shitty chinesium
drop the bowl
spray carb cleaner up the jet
clean bowl and reinstall
All engines w a carb have the same issue due to ethanol contamination in the fuel. Use Lucasoil, Startron, and some kind of stabilizer (like Marine Stabil).
Bacteria eat the ethanol which creates acid, that eats the bowl and clogs the jet.
Running gas fricking blows man, besides the stank you ever try to move a generator full of gas before?
The one you pictured is tiny so it might not make a difference, but I would 100% just go with propane, that's what all the big boys run.