Sawyer Rob
Super Member
About a year ago, nat gas here was off for days, because of a fire.
I don't have nat gas, so it didn't affect me.
SR
I don't have nat gas, so it didn't affect me.
SR
Your last generator Maintenance Run
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You're in a relatively cold location for the US Lou, how did you find the cold-start performance on those propane vehicles ?
Natgas ticks off a lot of boxes, but first you need it local. Up here, there are rural areas that have high-pressure Natgas lines running through them, but until the local building density is high enough, you often won't have it running into your house/farm.
I've been on natgas for about 15 years now (heating, no gen yet). Availability has been great (zero outage for me), and I can't recall ever hearing about shortages in Canada. Depending where you are, shortages can happen..... Putin often threaten parts of Europe with that every Winter or two.
Natgas line breaks that make the news are usually due to local underground construction. One drunk hit a house not that long ago, that was a bad one. One Hollywood-stunt style accident I know of near here a few Winters back was a car coming loose off the back of a tow truck, going off road into a farm field and clipping off one of those small natgas lines that surfaces in fields here and there - miraculously, zero injuries from that one, just a minor local outage happened.
There are safety issues with any fuel. What I like about natgas vs. propane is that it is lighter than air; propane will pool. If it's readily deliverable, what I like about propane for local captive storage is it's long-term stability (compared to gasoline or diesel).
Know the Devil you Dance With.......
Rgds, D.
Natgas ticks off a lot of boxes, but first you need it local. Up here, there are rural areas that have high-pressure Natgas lines running through them, but until the local building density is high enough, you often won't have it running into your house/farm.
I've been on natgas for about 15 years now (heating, no gen yet). Availability has been great (zero outage for me), and I can't recall ever hearing about shortages in Canada. Depending where you are, shortages can happen..... Putin often threaten parts of Europe with that every Winter or two.
Natgas line breaks that make the news are usually due to local underground construction. One drunk hit a house not that long ago, that was a bad one. One Hollywood-stunt style accident I know of near here a few Winters back was a car coming loose off the back of a tow truck, going off road into a farm field and clipping off one of those small natgas lines that surfaces in fields here and there - miraculously, zero injuries from that one, just a minor local outage happened.
There are safety issues with any fuel. What I like about natgas vs. propane is that it is lighter than air; propane will pool. If it's readily deliverable, what I like about propane for local captive storage is it's long-term stability (compared to gasoline or diesel).
Know the Devil you Dance With.......
Rgds, D.
Was that a compressor station down SR, or was it just a long-burning building fire and they shut down the area as a precaution ?
Rgds, D.
LouNY
Super Star Member
- Joined
- Jul 4, 2015
- Messages
- 12,291
- Location
- Greenwich, NY
- Tractor
- Branson 8050, IH 574, Oliver 1550 Diesel Utility (traded in on Branson) NH 8160. Kioti CK2620SECH
As far as the trucks at the time I was living in West Texas but working from Texas to Wyoming.
One winter in Wyoming I did plug in a block heater on the truck which would warm the vaporizer also,
so I had no problems. I did travel back once for Christmas to NY with the truck and the worst was finding stations to fill a motor vehicle.
The tractors on propane worked good they had a vapor bypass to get started in the cold .
You would run off a vapor feed till warmed up then switch to the vaporizer, real cold colder then minus teens they would give some problems till warmed up at times.
That was back when "thief" hoses were common on your large tanks, that was just a bottom draw line in the tank to a valve and hose, screw the hose to the tank open the valve then open the tank vent till liquid spit out close the vent and the main valve and the tank was full loosen the hose bleed pressure down and done.
Sawyer Rob
Super Member
It was a compressor station...
A couple winters ago, there was a propane shortage, folks who depend on it couldn't get it, and ran out of heat for days...
That didn't affect me either...
SR
Rare, but all equipment can fail..... electricity sub-stations go down too.
A nice jag of cured and dry firewood, not much to go wrong there :thumbsup:.
At least with propane, you have the option to go to large tanks, and fill off-season. That was a big demand surge that winter, but some of it was just scalping.
Rgds, D.
Chilliwack Murray
Gold Member
Overall reliability of natural gas delivery must be improving as they stopped allowing it as a fuel source for life safety generators in 1989 but have been allowing it now for about 10 years in most of Canada. These units typically have more sophisticated fuel systems and somewhat better reliability than home standby units however from a reliability standpoint, diesel is still king.
As for after treatment, most areas don’t require def catalyst systems and all the add ons unless it is mobile equipment. This actually means the identical diesel genset installed in a high rise building requires little or sometimes no after treatment but mounted on a trailer as a rental gets the full meal deal. Speaking for the Canadian market though, I’m not up on the US EPA regs.
Of course government can spend your money like no one else and actually spec a $450k after treatment systems put on $500k gensets even though they are not required by law. Add the disposal and replacement of 1000 gallons of DEF every year to the maintenance cost since it has a very limited shelf life. Ranting again.
As for after treatment, most areas don’t require def catalyst systems and all the add ons unless it is mobile equipment. This actually means the identical diesel genset installed in a high rise building requires little or sometimes no after treatment but mounted on a trailer as a rental gets the full meal deal. Speaking for the Canadian market though, I’m not up on the US EPA regs.
Of course government can spend your money like no one else and actually spec a $450k after treatment systems put on $500k gensets even though they are not required by law. Add the disposal and replacement of 1000 gallons of DEF every year to the maintenance cost since it has a very limited shelf life. Ranting again.
Done my share myself...... Rants are welcome, so long as they are informative, or at least, entertaining ! 
Natgas uptime seems good here, but this is not a significant 'quake zone.
Glad to hear the stationary stuff has been left alone so far. DEF systems detract from reliability - I'll gladly trade a miniscule amount of potential air quality, to help ensure that lights stay on in hospitals etc....
I learned a long time ago..... never under-estimate the capability of a govt to burn money :fiery:
Rgds, D.
Natgas uptime seems good here, but this is not a significant 'quake zone.
Glad to hear the stationary stuff has been left alone so far. DEF systems detract from reliability - I'll gladly trade a miniscule amount of potential air quality, to help ensure that lights stay on in hospitals etc....
I learned a long time ago..... never under-estimate the capability of a govt to burn money :fiery:
Rgds, D.
90cummins
Veteran Member
I have a Generac PTO 25 generator that I want to buy some spare parts for specifically brushes.
Anyone know where to look?
I know Generac was sold and split up but cannot find where the PTO division went.
Thanks
90cummins
Anyone know where to look?
I know Generac was sold and split up but cannot find where the PTO division went.
Thanks
90cummins
