On Sun, Nov 16, 2014 at 10:34 AM, John Jason Jordan <[email protected]> wrote: > On Sun, 16 Nov 2014 09:29:11 -0800 > Denis Heidtmann <[email protected]> dijo: > >>How much power do you need for all the electronics you want to run >>during a power outage? I suspect this is much lower than the 7KW >>produced by the GX 390. Does or will DMC convert a much smaller >>inverter generator to gas? Have you looked into conversion kits? (I >>too would be interested in a natural gas fueled generator.) > > CMD will convert a lot of generators to natural gas for you. You send > them just the carburetor and they return it as a tri-fuel carburetor. > This voids the warranty (except for Yamaha engines), but if you already > have an older generator that is out of warranty anyway, then it might > make sense. CMD is not the only one out there that will provide this > service, plus you can buy kits online and just do the conversion > yourself. > > As for the amount of power you need, bear in mind that electric motors > (think refrigerator and freezer) take two or three times as much power > when starting up. Consider also that, with the exception of inverter > type generators, the Hz is controlled by the engine speed, so if the > engine lugs down because the generator is near the top of its rated > capacity your power will not be as clean. And there is also the matter > of convenience. A 2,000 watt generator is enough to run a refrigerator > or freezer, but not a lot of other things that you want to keep running > at the same time. I don't want to have shut down all my computers and > peripherals in order to run the refrigerator a couple times a day. > > [Pro natural gas rant] > As for natural gas, it's the only fuel option that makes sense if you > have natural gas in your house. Schlepping around gallons of gasoline > and/or storing it is a PITA and dangerous as well. If someone from the > fire department sees that you have 20+ gallons of gas stored in your > garage you're probably going to get a reaction. And even if you are > willing to put up with storage issues, bear in mind that you have to > recycle it continually through your car lest it turn into explosive > sludge. And it will gum up your carburetor unless you run the engine > dry after using it. > > In 1998 I took out a building permit to demolish the garage that was > falling down and build a new one adjacent to the house. At that time I > also took out an electrical permit to add a new service entrance and to > rewire the house, and a mechanical permit to move the gas meter and > switch the water heater and range to gas, and to add an outdoor gas > connection to the patio behind the house. While chatting with the > inspector about the gas connections he mentioned that I would not have > needed a permit if no more than ten feet of new gas line had been > added. I don't know if that is still true, but I must say that working > with natural gas lines is very easy. The only thing you need is a > pressure tester, which are inexpensive and available at the box stores. > [End rant]
I assumed you already had a generator which could produce power OK for the refrigerator and furnace. Then you could add a small inverter-style to power your e-toys. But that brings to mind--can you take dirty power from a generator, power an inverter, and get clean power? But I am choosing inconvenience over $ for my solution. The idea of natural gas is appealing, but getting it to an outside weather-protected site would not be easy. How long can you run a generator on propane? -Denis _______________________________________________ PLUG mailing list [email protected] http://lists.pdxlinux.org/mailman/listinfo/plug
