Jcoon
Silver Member
I will NEVER have natural gas available to me where I live, and even if it was available, coal is cheaper for me to heat with.
3-Point Hitch PTO Generator arrived today
- Thread starter GC1710
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cdaigle430
Veteran Member
Thats why I said I am lucky to have the option of the PTO generator. I always have backup plans. Not trying to push Generac one only showing my reasons for choosing it over the PTO generator. Also the cool thing about a NG generator is you can easily hookup a propane tank to it.
Whoa. You are looking at this entirely wrong. This is what you meant to say: "Pretty much confirms what I had previously discovered. Settles the issue. My Ford 1210 only has 13.5 PTO horse power. Not sufficient to safely power a 10k generator. Guess I'll need to start shopping for a larger tractor".
cdaigle430
Veteran Member
So far so good. I was fortunate because August 2016 I put bids out to replace my 50 year old number 2 oil hot water furnace with another. Just before I made my decisions I found work crews running pipes on my road. I live in the country and never expected to get NG lines run on my road. It wasnt slated for residential use at first, it was an asphalt company who ordered it not 5 miles from my home. I went back to bidding after I did some homework and found the best option for heating was NG so the bid was on for NG instead of number 2. The NG company ran it to my house for free and I was the first person in my town to get NG
I saved so much money on the Buderus NG furnace with 4 zones I had 3k left over and also bought the generator(only had to come up with another 2.5k). Everything went smooth as silk.
It was explained to my the sub\hub stations will never lose power because the generators are on NG as well.
Jcoon
Silver Member
Is there ever a chance of the lines in the ground breaking? Or there being a shortage to your house because of high demand?
I live in the adirondacks in the park, there will never be NG here, not enough people.
I live in the adirondacks in the park, there will never be NG here, not enough people.
cdaigle430
Veteran Member
For high demand-not on my road, so far Im the only residential customer with NG. The lines run across a state park to an asphalt\rock quarry. I also have the option of city sewer and water if needed but I have my own septic and water source. Our NG comes from Nova Scotia Canada so I am helping out the Canadians. If I ever ran into a problem I can quickly hookup propane tanks as my furnace and Generator are designed for both.
I live in between a State Park, a Golf Course and corn fields.
Wow this discussion really took off...sorry you had to get the wrath of how diesel engines run forever (they are a great engine). As others have said I don't worry about running diesel engines for extended periods (Marine Diesels get the crap kicked out of them, tractor diesels have it easy). I have lived in Indiana most of my life and maybe once had the power out for 6 hours....I figure maybe twice in the next 5 years I might need it for our home, I'm fine with running the tractor as needed for those occurrences. What I'm really excited about is the ability to run electric power off grid....say in the woods....weld on my boat lift at the dock....fix something that otherwise would need towed....those are the key uses this PTO generator will see. I had a little disposable income I wanted to spend on the tractor and it was either a hydraulic winch or a PTO generator....PTO generator won out. As for people who invest in a stand-alone home generator, a great system if you have the funds, however maintenance still must be done or paid to be done, and since I may have a power outage once every 3 years...that doesn't make sense for me. My tractor is always working because it does so much for me at any given chore, when the power does go out in an emergency I don't have to worry about an engine turning a generator...my tractor will be running.
LouNY
Super Star Member
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- Greenwich, NY
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- Branson 8050, IH 574, Oliver 1550 Diesel Utility (traded in on Branson) NH 8160. Kioti CK2620SECH
Works for me, hard to have too many :thumbsup:
grsthegreat
Super Star Member
i would never have an issue with leaving diesel tractor engines run for extended periods of time. I have 3 point mounted log splitter and have used those for 14 years without issues. ive used tractor mounted generators in the past and there great pieces of equipment. i wanted to get one for my tractor for working on my 30 acres, but in reality i usually have something else mounted on 3 point at the time. instead i opted for placing my portable in the bucket and running it out to the work area.
for my house i also opted for propane powered generac. i wanted my wife to have power if im out of town without any issues. she doesnt have to do a thing. no mater what source of backup power you have the fuel is always an issue. the last wind storm in our area left us 5 days without power. i had to cycle the generator to conserve fuel. our neighbors gas generator ran out of fuel and the gas stations in town couldnt pump fuel as they had no power. he had to drive 24 miles into larger town for fuel. i changed my propane tank to 1,000 gal buried tank after this storm
i only have 55 gal reserve of diesel on hand at any time. i only have maybe 10 gal of standard ethanol free on hand. both of those have shelf life issues. propane doesnt.
i do keep an eye out for a nice used pto generator and a used pto cement mixer on craigslist. would like both. but not in a hurry.
heck, i like to procrastinate on everything. I just finally tossed both of my old glass tube tv's last weekend and opted to get 2 new 40" flat screen smart tv's. im slow to change. good thing i waited though, as i got the tv's for $250 each for 1080 dpi sets. a few years ago they would have been WAY more.
for my house i also opted for propane powered generac. i wanted my wife to have power if im out of town without any issues. she doesnt have to do a thing. no mater what source of backup power you have the fuel is always an issue. the last wind storm in our area left us 5 days without power. i had to cycle the generator to conserve fuel. our neighbors gas generator ran out of fuel and the gas stations in town couldnt pump fuel as they had no power. he had to drive 24 miles into larger town for fuel. i changed my propane tank to 1,000 gal buried tank after this storm
i only have 55 gal reserve of diesel on hand at any time. i only have maybe 10 gal of standard ethanol free on hand. both of those have shelf life issues. propane doesnt.
i do keep an eye out for a nice used pto generator and a used pto cement mixer on craigslist. would like both. but not in a hurry.
heck, i like to procrastinate on everything. I just finally tossed both of my old glass tube tv's last weekend and opted to get 2 new 40" flat screen smart tv's. im slow to change. good thing i waited though, as i got the tv's for $250 each for 1080 dpi sets. a few years ago they would have been WAY more.
cdaigle430
Veteran Member
different for me....some more points I would like to make for those still on the fence....without my hot plug in cooold winter days my tractor will not start, then I kill the battery I cannot use jump starter. So if power goes out then what? NG\Propane does not need treatment and stores forever, will not gel up. My Home Generator has a battery tender and engine warmer always ready\running which ensures if power goes out it will start right up. It automatically exercises itself 2 times a month for 15 minutes each time. Cost me 120 usd for the year maintenance tune up for the generator that's it. In three years I will have to replace the battery but its cheaper than a tractor battery.
There are some drawbacks like the Generac made engine is only rated at 1000 hours....it is not a heavy duty generator in that it will not run for a month straight without issues. So if your off the grid its better to go liquid cooled NG\propane generator or diesel. I was even thinking about getting a retired military 15kw generator from ironplanet.com at one time but even those need a 12 hour cool down. At least now my system is all automatic...
grsthegreat
Super Star Member
generac engines are designed for 3000 hours of operation....more if maintained properly. so far this year i have 15 hours of generator use....if i double that ...thats still alot of years. i agree on using a liquid cooled or diesel if you talking about off grid or primary power. but for occasional power outage why spend the money on the LQ versions. i install lots of generators, and even i didnt op for the liquid cooled version.
300UGUY
Super Member
I've had a Generac 15KW propane generator since about 2002. We have had up to 16 days of no power, never more than 7 days at once. I don't know how many hours, but a lot. Been a great unit.
grsthegreat
Super Star Member
the biggest pain those older generacs had....no hour meter. what goof ball at generac didnt think to add an hour meter on a motor yet require maint at certain hours of run time.
300UGUY
Super Member
I meant 16 days per year of no power.
Nice being a 1%er
bartjoebob
Silver Member
Have you tried it yet? My GC1705 shuts off if I get off the seat with the rear PTO running. Do you have to bipass the shut off?
blackrams
Gold Member
Not a chance of moving onto a larger tractor. Knew what I wanted when I got the one I have. It still serves the original purpose. As I said, I was simply considering a PTO generator, the Onan I have is sufficient based on the last ten years of experience with Kentucky Utilities. Power doesn't or hasn't got out often and when it has, it was for a short period of time. The Onan is sufficient and, I still haven't won that lottery as yet. :dance1:
Rams
Jcoon
Silver Member
My new holland will run the PTO without me on the seat, but I cannot utilize the ESM (engine speed management) with the parking brake applied, so I have to either use the hand throttle or not set the parking brake.
