Lessons from this year's snowmageddon

[RalphVa]

Not a massive snow, but a very wet 9 inches that downed A LOT of trees and limbs. Power and internet were both out for just over 3 days.

Here are some lessons learned:

o Generator tank is only good for 50 gallons, not 60 that I thought we had. Ran out of fuel after 70 hours this morning. Managed to only get 50 gallons back in before full to the top.
o Hugh fuel consumption in really cold weather with 2 heat pumps running (not the big 4 ton one) vs. earlier usages through 159 hours. Now have 74 more hours on the near 10 year clock. Early fuel consumption in non heat/non AC weather was only 0.23-0.3 gph. This recent rate was about 0.67: higher than the 0.6 gph on the JD 2025R, but the Isuzu is only about 20 hp. It's all in loading.
o Gotta remember to leave one carriage house door disconnected from power lifter. Have a cable gizmo with a key to remove and pull cable to disconnect it, but far better to have had it disconnected in "up" position before the storm. Big mistake in building the carriage house was not providing a people door to the main floor.
o Also a good idea to leave screen out and the one window unlocked.
o Had to make 2 trips to get 35 gallons of fuel today in 7 containers. We're getting too old for this. Gotta research other ways of getting fuel. Still like diesel over propane alternative.

Ten year maintenance is coming up this little 12.5 kw Isuzu. Gotta get all new filters. Have M1 0w30 ESP ordered for the oil change. Be a challenge to get the old coolant out from rad and engine block without spilling a lot on the adjacent garden area. Sucked the oil out with an oil extractor at 50 hours.

 

[Doughknob]

A couple tesla power walls would help u out

 

[RalphVa]

A couple tesla power walls would help u out

I don't think those go for 74 hours. Think they're only good for around 4 or so.

 

[Ken45101]

Check with local farm fuel suppliers, they will deliver reduced tax diesel to your place but they may have a 100 or 200 gallon minimum.

Ken

 

[s219]

I use a 55 gal transfer tank to shuttle diesel to my generator (and the rest of the time it's used for tractor and RTV).

 

[japody]

I use a 55 gal transfer tank to shuttle diesel to my generator (and the rest of the time it's used for tractor and RTV).

You have a diesel gen? Is it whole house? Can you provide details? I'm looking into a 20kw system alternatives.

Thanks.

 

[RickB]

He said it was a 12.5kw Isuzu powered unit coming up on 10 years old.

 

[5030]

My 30 KW diesel draws off my 500 gallon bulk tank. It's a Generac with a JD diesel engine., 3 phase and single phase.

 

[RalphVa]

You have a diesel gen? Is it whole house? Can you provide details? I'm looking into a 20kw system alternatives.

Thanks.

Got the little gem Isuzu 12.5 kw generator from Central Maine Diesel. Will be contacting them again this year to get coolant and filters for the 10 year maintenance.

Had plenty of data from how much a 4.4 kw generator would run before we bought this one. Bought a GenTran 200 amp panel with transfer switch. It also has 4 circuits with some external circuitry to only allow them to come on if there's room in the generator. Works great to allow use of hot water heater and clothes dryer. Ran 2 heat pumps without electric coil backup allowed to come on. One (the ductless one) does not have a backup.

Have a second 200 amp panel that isn't on the generator that normally runs the carriage house and 4 ton heat pump plus a few other minor circuits.

An electrician installed the Isuzu and moved circuit breakers around between those 2 panels. Figuring out those 4 Gen Tran circuits was tricky. Had to call Gen Tran 2 or 3 times about those.

Ours is a 4,400 sq ft all electric house. You'd have to have a huge house to require 20 kw unless you want everything on it to run.

We had a couple "whole house" generator people come out. They wanted to put in a 30 to 40 kw diesel generator. Would use a huge amount of fuel and mostly would sit and might go into wet stacking. Our normal average usage is about 2.5 kw. In this very cold weather, it was obviously a lot higher than this, probably closer to the 12.5 kw max on the Isuzu.

 

[RalphVa]

Thinking about getting a pallet and some bolt-on pallet forks (maybe get pallet forks with new tractor planned for this year). Put sides on the pallet. Use grounding straps at service station to put on each 5 gallon container on the pallet to ground to metal on the truck while fueling in bed of the truck. Use pallet forks to lift out of back of truck and carry to fence where generator is. Use 12v or hand pump to transfer from containers to diesel tank. LOTS less expensive than buying anything else.

Would just remove and redo the pallet on my carryall that I seldom use now since I don't have the big garden down below to haul mulch to. Picture attached.

Got a Terra pump on order from Lowes. Wasn't in yesterday. Not sure it has a long enough line to get from fence to generator. Also have a 12v oil extractor pump bought from Northern Tool.