PTO Generators: Winco

fishdoc · Sep 15, 2005

( Fishdoc,

Don't know what your motivation for having a generator is, but if you are looking for electricity after a nasty storm like Katrina, don't forget that you will NEED your tractor to clear trees & debris & you can't power your house at the same time.

We get by with a 8500 surge, 5500 sustained gas generator I bought 2 days after the storm. Wish it were bigger, but it is what I could find. We've been on it ever since & we are thankful for what it can do.

Jack )

I was thinking a really long cord so I could do both! /forums/images/graemlins/laugh.gif

v8dave · Sep 16, 2005

( . . . OK, here's my question .... my water well pump is 240v, 3-phase, so can I mount a 3-phase converter on the pallet, that can be plugged into the PTO generator and hotwired to the pump to get water in an emergency???? )

Why not buy a 3-phase PTO generator? Check the specs, you may find the product you are looking at may be "reconnectable." Which means they can be hooked up to supply either 120/240 1-phase or 120/208 3-phase. Most of the time they are advertised as 3-phase units reconnectable as 1-phase.

eno · Sep 16, 2005

I got this one http://www.northerntool.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/ProductDisplay?storeId=6970&productId=36914&R=36914 to run with my bx, very nice unit.

slowrev · Sep 16, 2005

"Don't know what your motivation for having a generator is, but if you are looking for electricity after a nasty storm like Katrina, don't forget that you will NEED your tractor to clear trees & debris & you can't power your house at the same time."
//

Sounds like a good reason to get another tractor /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif

Ben

EastTexFrank · Sep 16, 2005

( Don't cha hate it when someone hi-jacks a thread? )

Yea, I'm sorry about that but I did apologise. /forums/images/graemlins/blush.gif /forums/images/graemlins/blush.gif /forums/images/graemlins/blush.gif

Most of the 3-phase switchable PTO generators that I've found are a lot larger than my 18 PTO hp will comfortably run and a lot more expensive than I can reasonably justify to the CFO for the occasional outage. I guess that I'm just going to have to give up on that idea and make do with a single phase unit. The model that Soundguy and Eno have looks interesting and reasonable. I should be able to get 9 or 10 kW out of that with my B2400.

John_Mc · Sep 16, 2005

What's cheaper &/or easier... buy a 3 phase generator (or a 3 phase converter), or just replace your well pump with a 240 volt single phase unit?

By replacing your well pump, you'd have something that just about any generator could run (at least any with a 240 volt output).

John Mc

vetteman · Sep 16, 2005

I have this same generator and run it with my Kubota 4310 We can run the whole house and our horse barn with no problems just like we had elctric from the power co. And I paid the price that you did.

40_acre_mule · Sep 20, 2005

Fishdoc,

I received my Northstar 13kw pto generator ($1100) from Northern Tool 3 days before Katrina slammed into us.
We were without power for 2 1/2 weeks.
The Northstar worked like a charm. It ran everything in the house, although we had to alternate between the well pump and the air conditioner. Still, we only ran it for six or seven hours a day to conserve fuel (6am-8am, 12-2pm, 6pm-9pm). We didn't know when we would be able to buy fuel again. My Kubota burned right around 1 gallon per hour to run it.
I didn't have time to build a nice setup for the gen, but still, it was easy to disconnect. Mostly, you just disconnect the pto shaft. If I hadn't been so busy patching my roof, my daughter's roof, and several other family/neighbors roofs, it would have been easy to use the tractor for clean-up.
The only other thing I need to do is get a large diesel storage tank for just such occasions. A 100 or 200 gallon tank would have greatly eased my mind concerning fuel availablility during the first few days after the storm. It was a week before we found a gas station where the wait wasn't 5 or 6 hours.
I had a meter pan with a transfer switch installed when we built the house in anticipation of buying a generator. Still, it is relatively easy to create a disconnect circuit (as long as your meter box has a main breaker between the meter and the breakers that service the A/C, house, electric stove, etc.).
I can also see myself using the pto generator to run power tools out in the field away from the house.

SkyPup · Sep 20, 2005

I run that same generator off my Kubota L-3130 and it works great. I keep 60 gallons of diesel tanked up on hand at all times for power outages

cart99 · Sep 21, 2005

What are the advantages to purchasing a PTO driven unit as opposed to a stand-alone? It seems to me that by the time you add a PTO shaft and a cart, the PTO units cost about the same as stand-alone.

I guess one of the major advantages to PTO unit is fuel savings, but what about the extra hours on the tractor?

Opinions?