16 replies to this topic

[Talntedmrgreen]

Our outages occur for the rare weather event....winds or ice that drop trees and limbs, or more likely, drunks hitting utility poles around 7am. No hurricanes or earthquakes here. Generally, outages occur at random, for hours to a day, or during the stormy months when thunderboomrs roll through. A tornado is an extremely rare occurance.

I think since Michigan has a very high forest and brewery density, the random rural outages are hard to avoid.

[trowel]

Have both gas and diesel, will be upgrading to diesel prime mover someday soon, diesel replaced gas but kept gas for back-up.

Depends on the model, make and Mfg of gennies, for portability/lightness can't beat the simple gas powered ones but limited lifespand.

Fine line between portability, max Kw produced and durability to longevity, fuel consumption and most of all,...planing ahead.

Figure roughly how much Min Kw needed, limit yourself to necessity, pump for water, furnace for heat, lights, stove, figure how many gallons per hour for gas or diesel per day. Never run a genset at 100 % load for days on ends, will burn it out, 50 % to 75 % load to the max Kw produced, also remember surge watts, electric motors surge watts are double for start up.

fuel consumption will lighten a wallet/bank account quick, keep it low, never know, power could be out for weeks.

Age of the unit and parts avalibility is a big factor, 9 times out of 10 when things go wrong in a power outage parts stores are closed, now were are you going to get parts ? durability/dependability a big factor during a outage, not like a mower, GT or tractor.

Better to have and not need then need and not have.

The choice in the end is yours.