diesel for home

am considering options between various types of gen's and have given this unit some serious consideration
before I place order, would like to hear any comments, pro and con if anyone cares to reply
the use of this unit is a storm related backup and has enough power to take care of all my essential needs for house
10K watts with 9500 continuous, electric start, cabinet enclosed, 2 cylinder, low speed, low noise, for $3995.
http://www.generatorsales.com/order/03971.asp?page=3971

In article , "guido" wrote:

am considering options between various types of gen's and have given this .... before I place order, would like to hear any comments, pro and con if anyone .... the use of this unit is a storm related backup and has enough power to take .... 10K watts with 9500 continuous, electric start, cabinet enclosed, 2 cylinder, low speed, low noise, for $3995.
http://www.generatorsales.com/order/03971.asp?page=3971

Exactly what made you think this is "low speed"? Specs say 3600 RPM, which is a two-pole generator head, and "high speed" by the normal conventions of what we mean by that when we discuss generators. Cute box and all, but not a low speed unit. Specific fuel consumption is also high (and very high at partial loads for a diesel) as compared to the actual low-speed Isuzu units the same place sells (for more money).
ie, it burns 1.07 GPH to produce 9500 watts, and 0.82 GPH to produce 4750 watts. The 1800 RPM Isuzu (~$5000 without a housing - if you can't buy a shed or doghouse for a lot less than their ~$2000 price for the housing, you don't have any decent shed builders) burns 0.82 GPH to produce 10000 watts, and 0.42 GPH to produce 5000 watts. Do the math.
As usual, pay when you buy or pay when you own.
If you will be using it so little that fuel consumption disparity that large does not matter, you might as well spend a lot less for a unit that will run on LPG, as the fuel stores better, and your total budget will be ahead by spending more on fuel that's barely used and less on a generator that's barely used.
-- Cats, coffee, chocolate...vices to live by

guido wrote:

am considering options between various types of gen's and have given this unit some serious consideration
before I place order, would like to hear any comments, pro and con if anyone cares to reply
the use of this unit is a storm related backup and has enough power to take care of all my essential needs for house
10K watts with 9500 continuous, electric start, cabinet enclosed, 2 cylinder, low speed, low noise, for $3995.
http://www.generatorsales.com/order/03971.asp?page=3971

Ok, first, as the other guy said, no, this is high-speed unit. Not considered optimum.
The description bothers me a bit, the "features" it has... "deep stiff crankcase" as opposed to the shallow wobbly ones other generators have... "sky-hook" ie, how they get it on, and then off, the truck. And mentioning the box and the muffler, twice ;-). I'm suprised they didn't mention that the generator uses "state of the art passive solar ignition assistance", ie, the black paint on the top gets hot in the sun.
Seriously, though. There's one main line of questioning you need to ask them. Who would fix it when it breaks during the seemingly short (for a diesel) 2 year motor warranty? Where are they? Who pays them?
I have one client who had to pay 150$ an hour (inclusive of travel) for a generator mechanic to come to his place to fix his genset. He then had to fight with the manufacturer to get the money back.
Check these things before you need them!
DJ

"guido" wrote in message

am considering options between various types of gen's and have given this unit some serious consideration
before I place order, would like to hear any comments, pro and con if anyone cares to reply
the use of this unit is a storm related backup and has enough power to take care of all my essential needs for house
10K watts with 9500 continuous, electric start, cabinet enclosed, 2 cylinder, low speed, low noise, for $3995.
http://www.generatorsales.com/order/03971.asp?page=3971

Seems like overkill to me. A third of that price would buy you a good air-cooled model with a lifespan that would probably exceed the sum total of all your power outages by a factor of 50.

"guido" wrote in message

am considering options between various types of gen's and have given this unit some serious consideration
before I place order, would like to hear any comments, pro and con if anyone cares to reply

I would want to know who makes the engine and where you buy parts for it. Since they don't bother to mention the manufacturer of the engine, I fear that you are not going to be comfortable with their answer.
Vaughn

In article , "guido" wrote:

10K watts with 9500 continuous, electric start, cabinet enclosed, 2 cylinder, low speed, low noise, for $3995.

It is NOT a low speed unit.....it IS a 3600Rpm Unit.....Notice that the Warrentee for the genend is only one year.....typical for two pole genends.

"guido" wrote in message

am considering options between various types of gen's and have given this unit some serious consideration
before I place order, would like to hear any comments, pro and con if anyone cares to reply
the use of this unit is a storm related backup and has enough power to take care of all my essential needs for house
10K watts with 9500 continuous, electric start, cabinet enclosed, 2 cylinder, low speed, low noise, for $3995.

3600 rpm is *not* low speed, but for a water cooled diesel generator, the price is not bad.

http://www.generatorsales.com/order/03971.asp?page=3971

suppose that you need to run the unit for 14 days. do you have storage for that much fuel? Where would you get a new supply in an emergency?
How would you rotate the fuel to keep it fresh if you stored it?
The answers to these questions, plus the lower costs of initial purchase are what lead to propane, ng, gasoline tri-fuel units.
A 250 gallon propane tank will last thru many emergencies. And the fuel can be stored virtually indefinitely.
If you are truly only using the unit only for backup then the initial cost will dominate over fuel costs, but fuel avalabilty will become the biggest constraint when you need it.
guido wrote:

am considering options between various types of gen's and have given this unit some serious consideration
before I place order, would like to hear any comments, pro and con if anyone cares to reply
the use of this unit is a storm related backup and has enough power to take care of all my essential needs for house
10K watts with 9500 continuous, electric start, cabinet enclosed, 2 cylinder, low speed, low noise, for $3995.
http://www.generatorsales.com/order/03971.asp?page=3971

For ocasional use or storms my first choise would Ng-Propane hooked to my house Ng or Propane supply. There are Tri fuel units Gasolene Ng-Propane. Deisel and gasolene dont store well for extened periods. As others pointed out who fixes it, are parts and experianced techs readily avalaible. Generac and other US units are well suported and come in Ng-Propane versions. If you are all electric a seperate propane tank is not that expensive. A slow speed long life unit is 1800 rpm not 3600 rpm.

In article , "philkryder" wrote:

suppose that you need to run the unit for 14 days. do you have storage for that much fuel? Where would you get a new supply in an emergency?
How would you rotate the fuel to keep it fresh if you stored it?
The answers to these questions, plus the lower costs of initial purchase are what lead to propane, ng, gasoline tri-fuel units.
A 250 gallon propane tank will last thru many emergencies. And the fuel can be stored virtually indefinitely.
If you are truly only using the unit only for backup then the initial cost will dominate over fuel costs, but fuel avalabilty will become the biggest constraint when you need it.

Diesel will last "Forever" in 55 Gallon Drums. I have burned #1 and #2 diesel from 55 Gallon drums that were filled in World War II, (over 50 years ago) in my Gensets.
Depending on the size of the genset, a 55 gallon drum will power a 10Kw load for a "LONG time".
Diesel Gensets will always out preform Gasious (Trifuel, LPG, NG, Gasoline) Gensets, when both have Constant Rpm PrimeMovers, in Fuel Used/Generated Power.
Diesel engines can burn just about anything, from Keorsene, all the way down to heated Bunker C fuels, including Veggie Oil, and BioDiesel.
Me running diesel gensets, every day, for a couple of decades.....

Me - It seems clear to me that you are not the typical user. I'm sure that well stored diesel fuel can last virtually forever.
But, the thought of handling a 500 pound drum of fuel or finding Bunker fuel in the middle of an extended emergency, just doesn't seem like "a good time." Though, you sound like the kind of person who can and does do things like that routinely.
And changing Diesel fuel filters and priming air-locked injection pumps, while standard procedure for you, are well, messy and dirty.
Certainly, if you run diesel gensets everyday, the fuel cost payback makes it all worth while.
But For emergency uses... Compare that with an LP tank, filled by a vendor, that you can access just with a simple push-pull connector. And no fuel filters to buy and change. And you can buy a second backup generator for less than the cost of the first diesel unit...
Me wrote:

In article , "philkryder" wrote:
suppose that you need to run the unit for 14 days. do you have storage for that much fuel? Where would you get a new supply in an emergency?
How would you rotate the fuel to keep it fresh if you stored it?
The answers to these questions, plus the lower costs of initial purchase are what lead to propane, ng, gasoline tri-fuel units.
A 250 gallon propane tank will last thru many emergencies. And the fuel can be stored virtually indefinitely.
If you are truly only using the unit only for backup then the initial cost will dominate over fuel costs, but fuel avalabilty will become the biggest constraint when you need it.
Diesel will last "Forever" in 55 Gallon Drums. I have burned #1 and #2 diesel from 55 Gallon drums that were filled in World War II, (over 50 years ago) in my Gensets.
Depending on the size of the genset, a 55 gallon drum will power a 10Kw load for a "LONG time".
Diesel Gensets will always out preform Gasious (Trifuel, LPG, NG, Gasoline) Gensets, when both have Constant Rpm PrimeMovers, in Fuel Used/Generated Power.
Diesel engines can burn just about anything, from Keorsene, all the way down to heated Bunker C fuels, including Veggie Oil, and BioDiesel.
Me running diesel gensets, every day, for a couple of decades.....

philkryder wrote:

Me - It seems clear to me that you are not the typical user.

LOL. I think that can be said of most of us here :-) -- derek