grumpyvette Posted September 8, 2008 Share Posted September 8, 2008 if your in one of the areas where hurricanes are a problem, and need a generator its a great time to add to your shop tools, they build good welders that are also good emergency generators I went thru several hurricanes with a portable back-up generator/welder like this (notice the shop welder/generator cost less than 10%) of what the wife wanted installed below... http://www.welders-direct.com/merchant2/merchant.mv?Screen=PROD&Store_Code=WD&Product_Code=K1419-5 it works great as both a shop welder and a generator, btw with the correct options you can TIG weld or ARC weld with it, its a GREAT TOOL!! but its noisy and requires you fill the 5 gallon tank and add a bit of oil every 8-9 hours,the wife loved the power but hated the noise...I was happy she was not.. my local power company had package deals available , I got the price for my generator as a special order from home depot,and it was about 22K alone, the power company wanted $35k to do a package deal,on a similar but cheaper version and a much smaller fuel tank,(I probably would have got cheaper components from them than I did picking parts individually)but I paid over $40k when I was all installed...btw its a large v6 auto engine spinning the generator Ive got a 45 K watt generator ,with aluminum housing (thats important as RUST is a big problem in florida)that cost a good bit,keep in mind the electrical hook up and permits and the cng/propane tank install,and permits filling it with 2000cf of gas and building a 8' x 6' 8" thick concrete mount pad and permits cost almost as much as the generator alone http://www.generac.com/Products/LiquidCooled/LiquidCooled.aspx that being said, its nice to have near instant reserve/replacement power durring any power loss, you can barely hear it run and it comes on within 45 seconds of the power dropping off, keep in mind IM out in the sticks and it usually took 2 weeks to get power restored and women don,t like camping out and eating bar-b-q or packaged food for every meal for two weeks thrust me I was happy with the welder/generator, Id paid $2500 for ,it was 100% the wifes idea to get a full blown near instant reserve power generator that allows everything in the house to run normally durring extended power outages...at that time I could afford it, so we figured it added to the house value and we got it to keep her happy, I don,t regret it,(keeping the wife happy) but I fully aggree that it was overly expensive Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PETEW Posted September 8, 2008 Share Posted September 8, 2008 Wow! 45 K Watts. What are you running off of that? When I was looking at whole house systems they were talking about 20 as the norm. 45 is a light industrial use generator. That thing must be huge! How long does a tank of propane last you with the 6 cylinder? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
grumpyvette Posted September 8, 2008 Author Share Posted September 8, 2008 Wow! 45 K Watts. What are you running off of that? When I was looking at whole house systems they were talking about 20 as the norm. 45 is a light industrial use generator. That thing must be huge! How long does a tank of propane last you with the 6 cylinder? it powers everything, in the house, and the combo mother-in-law quarters/pool house, my shop, air comditioners everything, theres about 4500 sq ft under air , a full tanks supposed to last more than two/three weeks but not expected to last a month,depends on how much stuffs drawing current , it takes up most of the 8' x 6' slab and its about 4 feet tall, about 7 feet long abour 3.5 feet wide Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cobra_Tim Posted September 8, 2008 Share Posted September 8, 2008 Grumpy, I work for the school district here in palm beach... You should see the generator we're putting out there at Seminole Ridge High School for our disaster recovery data center.... Over 800 Kv running off LP Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
grumpyvette Posted September 8, 2008 Author Share Posted September 8, 2008 well if your that close why not stop bye for coffee and a car b.s. session? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JMortensen Posted September 8, 2008 Share Posted September 8, 2008 Wow! 45 K Watts. What are you running off of that? When I was looking at whole house systems they were talking about 20 as the norm. 45 is a light industrial use generator. That thing must be huge! How long does a tank of propane last you with the 6 cylinder? I installed a 7KW generator last year for my 2200 sq ft house. It isn't big enough to power my shop and the house though. The electrician who did the wiring said don't run the microwave, dishwasher, etc all at the same time, but it will run all of the lights, computers, and TV, etc at the same time. Runs on natural gas, which is nice because you don't have to fill a cylinder. My neighbor got a 12KW so he can run it all at once, but I figured if the power was out that means a big storm and I'm probably not going to be spending too much time in the shop, and I really can't envision a need to wash dishes, run the microwave and blow dry all at the same time. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kiwi303 Posted September 8, 2008 Share Posted September 8, 2008 After a week with no power after snow brought down the lines this winter (our first at the new farm in the mountains) I'm seriously considering a 15Kw PTO generator to go on the back of the 35Hp tractor we have. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cobra_Tim Posted September 9, 2008 Share Posted September 9, 2008 well if your that close why not stop bye for coffee and a car b.s. session? I work on Forest Hill... Dont get out that way too often. Some day Daeron and myself (brothers) might have to take you up on that. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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