pclausen
Veteran Member
I live in Virginia and was without power for 4 days after the storm that came through the mid-Atlantic Friday night. I currently have a 8kw "whole house" Generac generator with a 100A automatic transfer switch. Running 4 days straight just about killed it. It is leaking oil bad now, eating about one quart every 4 hours. The unit is from 1996 and has 350 hours on it. It is plumbed into a 500 gallon in ground LP tank.
I have salt water fish tanks, so I have to keep the generator running 24/7 or fish/corals would start dying within hours. That 8kw unit also runs the well pump, fridges and freezers, furnace and a lot of computer/tv/entertainment stuff. I have a 14 month old daughter and my wife is 34 weeks pregnant with a 2nd girl. To say she was upset with the heat due to no A/C and temps close to 100 and high humidity would be the understatement of the year.
My folks house down the street also was without power for 4 days, and they have a Generac Guardian 15KW generator that I installed for them back in 2008 or so. It also burned oil (didn't leak like mine) but due to bad rings or valves I'm guessing. It would shut down after 8 hours due to low oil. I would then top it back up, and have a really hard time getting it to start again. In fact, I could no longer get it to start the morning of day 3. My mother is 78, and the heat was really hard on her. Her generator was setup to run their 4ton A/C unit, but after day 1, it would no longer come on.
So I'm pretty much done with these air cooled non-continuous run generators and am looking at alternatives. I know that Generac offer liquid cooled units, but I think I want to steer clear of that brand going forward.
So I came across this John Deere 30kw generator:
Description as follows:
Continuous-duty diesel engine that operates at 1800 RPM and comes with a muffler and 4 point vibration mounts for quieter operation. This unit features a 2.4L John Deere 4024TF turbo charged diesel engine, electronic governor (0.5% frequency control), electronic engine controls (including snapshot diagnostic data), cast iron crankcase with reborable liners, full flow lube oil filteration, brushless generator end (fan-cooled), solid state automatic voltage regulator w/ stability adjustment and underspeed protection, turbocharged aspiration, electronic fuel controller, extended 500-hour oil change and filter interval, single-side service points, liquid cooling, residential-grade muffler, replaceable foam air filter element, heavy steel skid base and control panel w/ hour meter.
The combo you see above runs $8,799 from generatorsales.com, which seems like a good deal for a liquid cooled 30kw diesel generator. I'm curious if anyone had any experience with the JD 4024TF engine? Its interim tier4 btw.
Since its diesel, I was planning on getting the optional trailer with a 250 gallon fuel tank. The generator consumes 1.3 gal/hr at 50% load. I anticipate using well under 50% at most times, so I'm thinking maybe 0.75 gal/hr, which would give me a run time of about 14 days, which should be plenty I would think.
Here's the trailer with the 250 gallon tank:
The dual axle trailer w/ the 250 gallon tank adds $6,375 to the cost, but I feel this a much more flexible option than going with just the 250 gallon sub-base and sound attenuated enclose for $3,495.
I would then also add the two wire auto start option for $375:
And the 200A transfer switch for $1,295:
So the grand total for everything comes to $16,844, which seems very competitive to other 30kw liquid cooled options, let alone something that is tow-able with a 250 gallon tank.
I have 400A service to my house. Basically I have a 400A meter base on the outside that goes to a pair of 200A C&H panels on the inside. I was thinking I would consolidate all my critical circuits into one of the 200A panels and put the transfer switch between it and the meter base. I would love to be able to run both 200A panels off the generator, but that would mean a 400A transfer switch I think, which would be a lot more money.
Here's what I got to work with on the inside:
The metal box in the middle the where the cables are feed from the 400A meter base outside on the opposite side of the wall. Off to the right is my current 100A transfer switch and 100A sub-panel. Those would both go away and be replaced with the 200A transfer switch.
And the meter base on the outside:
So I figured I'd just pull out the 3 cables feeding the one 200A panel and run new cables to the transfer switch, and then trim the cables I cut out for the run between the transfer switch back to the 200A panel.
I have salt water fish tanks, so I have to keep the generator running 24/7 or fish/corals would start dying within hours. That 8kw unit also runs the well pump, fridges and freezers, furnace and a lot of computer/tv/entertainment stuff. I have a 14 month old daughter and my wife is 34 weeks pregnant with a 2nd girl. To say she was upset with the heat due to no A/C and temps close to 100 and high humidity would be the understatement of the year.
My folks house down the street also was without power for 4 days, and they have a Generac Guardian 15KW generator that I installed for them back in 2008 or so. It also burned oil (didn't leak like mine) but due to bad rings or valves I'm guessing. It would shut down after 8 hours due to low oil. I would then top it back up, and have a really hard time getting it to start again. In fact, I could no longer get it to start the morning of day 3. My mother is 78, and the heat was really hard on her. Her generator was setup to run their 4ton A/C unit, but after day 1, it would no longer come on.
So I'm pretty much done with these air cooled non-continuous run generators and am looking at alternatives. I know that Generac offer liquid cooled units, but I think I want to steer clear of that brand going forward.
So I came across this John Deere 30kw generator:
Description as follows:
Continuous-duty diesel engine that operates at 1800 RPM and comes with a muffler and 4 point vibration mounts for quieter operation. This unit features a 2.4L John Deere 4024TF turbo charged diesel engine, electronic governor (0.5% frequency control), electronic engine controls (including snapshot diagnostic data), cast iron crankcase with reborable liners, full flow lube oil filteration, brushless generator end (fan-cooled), solid state automatic voltage regulator w/ stability adjustment and underspeed protection, turbocharged aspiration, electronic fuel controller, extended 500-hour oil change and filter interval, single-side service points, liquid cooling, residential-grade muffler, replaceable foam air filter element, heavy steel skid base and control panel w/ hour meter.
The combo you see above runs $8,799 from generatorsales.com, which seems like a good deal for a liquid cooled 30kw diesel generator. I'm curious if anyone had any experience with the JD 4024TF engine? Its interim tier4 btw.
Since its diesel, I was planning on getting the optional trailer with a 250 gallon fuel tank. The generator consumes 1.3 gal/hr at 50% load. I anticipate using well under 50% at most times, so I'm thinking maybe 0.75 gal/hr, which would give me a run time of about 14 days, which should be plenty I would think.
Here's the trailer with the 250 gallon tank:
The dual axle trailer w/ the 250 gallon tank adds $6,375 to the cost, but I feel this a much more flexible option than going with just the 250 gallon sub-base and sound attenuated enclose for $3,495.
I would then also add the two wire auto start option for $375:
And the 200A transfer switch for $1,295:
So the grand total for everything comes to $16,844, which seems very competitive to other 30kw liquid cooled options, let alone something that is tow-able with a 250 gallon tank.
I have 400A service to my house. Basically I have a 400A meter base on the outside that goes to a pair of 200A C&H panels on the inside. I was thinking I would consolidate all my critical circuits into one of the 200A panels and put the transfer switch between it and the meter base. I would love to be able to run both 200A panels off the generator, but that would mean a 400A transfer switch I think, which would be a lot more money.
Here's what I got to work with on the inside:
The metal box in the middle the where the cables are feed from the 400A meter base outside on the opposite side of the wall. Off to the right is my current 100A transfer switch and 100A sub-panel. Those would both go away and be replaced with the 200A transfer switch.
And the meter base on the outside:
So I figured I'd just pull out the 3 cables feeding the one 200A panel and run new cables to the transfer switch, and then trim the cables I cut out for the run between the transfer switch back to the 200A panel.
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