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Choosing a Generator

C

Coug

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yeah, a load bank makes doing test runs and cleaning out the system much easier for diesels.

For your Generac though, it will run thousands of hours no problem without ever being load banked. It's always nice to know exactly how much load it can take, but unless you plan to be pushing that level it's kind of a moot point.
 
H

HamAndEggs

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Currently my DIY "load bank" is turning all my AC's on, and the oven. In summer its easy, just do it when I'm cooking dinner and crank the AC

In winter, I don't really want to crank the AC! Shame I don't have an EV, that would be a decent load bank and I could actually use the power

Maybe I should change gears, I wonder if I could build something in a similar package as something like an MEP 802a with a Honda EU3000is, and some lifepo4 batteries. Have it be able to supply 10kw from battery, and have the generator just charge the batteries at 2800w. Could also then have the provision to add some temporary solar panels during the day and just lay them in the yard. The batteries/solar would also then give me time to do a quick oil change during a long outage

Would sure love to do something with the 13kw of solar potential on the roof, but darn are big batteries expensive.
 
K

kayak1

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HamAndEggs said:
Currently my DIY "load bank" is turning all my AC's on, and the oven. In summer its easy, just do it when I'm cooking dinner and crank the AC

In winter, I don't really want to crank the AC! Shame I don't have an EV, that would be a decent load bank and I could actually use the power

Maybe I should change gears, I wonder if I could build something in a similar package as something like an MEP 802a with a Honda EU3000is, and some lifepo4 batteries. Have it be able to supply 10kw from battery, and have the generator just charge the batteries at 2800w. Could also then have the provision to add some temporary solar panels during the day and just lay them in the yard. The batteries/solar would also then give me time to do a quick oil change during a long outage

Would sure love to do something with the 13kw of solar potential on the roof, but darn are big batteries expensive.
Click to expand...
MY MEP-802a is replacing a Honda eu2000i that was paired with an Outback Power PSX-240 Auto Transformer to provide 240 power my inverter requires.
 
H

HamAndEggs

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I've been doing some calculation here. Gallons per hour are a bit of an estimate for the MEP-1030, but if anyone has legit numbers for 3kw of load, I'd love to see them. But boy oh boy. Perhaps I need to rethink my fuel storage ideas.

The Generac load at 6.25kw is assuming I'm living my life like normal. Large liquid cooled generator, unlimited fuel. No reason not to

On the cheap Champion portable I estimated the 3kw fuel usage from comparing the 100% load fuel usage and the 25% load fuel usage. I'd be limiting my power usage because I'm on a limited supply of fuel. Same with the MEP

Suddenly, Diesel makes sense even if I don't have a vehicle to use it

1655329374478.png
 
nextalcupfan

nextalcupfan

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HamAndEggs said:
The Generac load at 6.25kw is assuming I'm living my life like normal. Large liquid cooled generator, unlimited fuel. No reason not to
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I'm afraid one of the big contributors to the massive power issues Texas faced in early 2021 was Natural Gas lines freezing stopping flow to both power plants and homes.

But I guess that's part of the reason why you are getting another generator with a different fuel source.
 
H

HamAndEggs

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nextalcupfan said:
I'm afraid one of the big contributors to the massive power issues Texas faced in early 2021 was Natural Gas lines freezing stopping flow to both power plants and homes.

But I guess that's part of the reason why you are getting another generator with a different fuel source.
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To my knowledge, and as far as I could ever find. there was no natural gas outages to homes

Just recently I read an article about how they prioritized residential NG over power plants to prevent deaths from cold, and issues with having to relight pilot lights in the middle of a freeze

I've been looking since the freeze happened, and I could never find a single verifiable report of the NG being out for anyone other than for usual issues, or people ASSUMING their NG was out because they thought their stove would work without power

But, I would love a really good backup to the Generac, if nothing else but to handle times when the Generac could be down for whatever reason
 
nextalcupfan

nextalcupfan

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HamAndEggs said:
To my knowledge, and as far as I could ever find. there was no natural gas outages to homes

Just recently I read an article about how they prioritized residential NG over power plants to prevent deaths from cold, and issues with having to relight pilot lights in the middle of a freeze

I've been looking since the freeze happened, and I could never find a single verifiable report of the NG being out for anyone other than for usual issues, or people ASSUMING their NG was out because they thought their stove would work without power

But, I would love a really good backup to the Generac, if nothing else but to handle times when the Generac could be down for whatever reason
Click to expand...
Ahh I was unaware about this article.

My only other thing is you should probably re-do your fuel burn calculations.
According to the TM full load is 0.55 GPH, from my own experience with my 803a minimum fuel burn is slightly over half of full fuel burn.
So my guess is at 0% load an 802a will consume roughly 0.3 GPH, at 3kW (48% load at 1.0pf) you're probably looking at a fuel burn of 0.37-0.40 GPH.

I remember someone did a very comprehensive fuel burn test over a 24h period, I'll do a bit of digging and see if I can pull up the thread.
 
Light in the Dark

Light in the Dark

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The Lister in the 802 is not the world's most advanced (and efficient) engine... definitely an old school engine compared to the Kubota in the 1030. That does have some benefits though, outside of fuel burn.
 
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