Carburetor icing can be a problem with propane. There are pluses and minus's for all fuels. The only fuel that is without issues is electric......... oh wait, the power has gone out, so your electric generator isn't going to generate electricity. 
Diesel vs Propane Home Backup Generator
- Thread starter DaveFromMi
- Start date
im running a 14kw whole house genny at my place. it is hooked to a 500gal propane tank.What are your opinions on propane vs diesel for home backup generators? We have a 500 gallon propane tank and could upgrade to 1000 gallons. Looking for ~14 kW. Seems that diesel engines use less (volume) of fuel and would be cheaper to operate. Not sure about the long term prospects for propane or diesel.
Kubota makes a generator in the power range I am looking for.
Thanks in advance for your advice.
Kubota 14kW Diesel Generator GL Series | GL14000
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it comes on every weds for 20 mins of battery top off time & then whenever needed as the electric goes out.
in the past 6 years its only dropped down to 55% on the gauge.
that should pretty much tell you all you need to know about vs diesel. it doesnt get "old" or grow stuff in it, it doesnt expire... it just comes on & runs when it needs to.
now as to "usage" amount? it runs my entire home (about 4,000sqft) & the electric to my shop. thats heat pump, well pumps... everything.
when its running? it uses about 1lb per hour.
granted: as we have upgraded the home we have went to all LED lights, super high effic appliances & heat pump. as most people do when they replace things....
it stays 72* year round in our house. winter or summer, thats where the wife wants it.
that should give you some idea of what you can do.
Skeets, No Way, I love the P'burg....... But I've spent time there.
One thing about power outages, they don’t happen on a sunny afternoon, it’s usually at 3:30AM during an ice storm or wind storm. The Genny is seamless, auto on and off. Money well spent
BAP
Well-known member
Lifetime Member
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2012 Kubota 2920, 60MMM, FEL, BH65 48" Bush Hog, 60"Backblade, B2782B Snowblower
Bury the propane tank and line so that only a short piece of line is out of the ground right at the generator.
I was going to put in a 500 gallon in ground propane tank, until I learned from the insurance companies home inspection, that there is a surcharge for in ground propane tanks. It all boils down to maintenance or lack of concerning the anode bags. They need to be inspected yearly, and they have to be dug up to be inspected, so many people don't do it on a regular basis. Then the tank will rust out, and there is the possibility of a gas leak and explosion, so I was told. Don't know if that is the true facts, or it is just one more item that they use to jack up the premium.
I live in MT. Maybe not as cold as you think, but propane is a source for water heating and primary heating if we aren’t burning wood. You also could simply add a battery bank and inverter to tide you over for short periods.
I think you should determine how much power you are really going to use and can you reduce that by simply changes. After you figure that out, determine if you really need a high wattage generator or not.
For instance, LED tvs and light bulbs make a huge difference. Running a fireplace for a short period is also not an issue, and you can put a few items like modems/routers on a UPS for short term power outages.
If you are really expecting long periods of time without power, then I would consider net metering or similar and setup a way to provide your own power along with battery backup with Solar/Wind and sell it back to the electirc company.
From a practical matter, I think propane generators are probably less common.
I think you should determine how much power you are really going to use and can you reduce that by simply changes. After you figure that out, determine if you really need a high wattage generator or not.
For instance, LED tvs and light bulbs make a huge difference. Running a fireplace for a short period is also not an issue, and you can put a few items like modems/routers on a UPS for short term power outages.
If you are really expecting long periods of time without power, then I would consider net metering or similar and setup a way to provide your own power along with battery backup with Solar/Wind and sell it back to the electirc company.
From a practical matter, I think propane generators are probably less common.
Anybody price buying a 500 or 1000 underground recently? The propane suppliers want to rent them to you. Once you have company A's tank in the ground no one else will fill it. You are at the pricing mercy of your company. Buying your own frees you to shop.
The bad news is they are very hard to get these days.
The bad news is they are very hard to get these days.
When we bought our current house, I believed that to. However, it’s not really true. Most of the companies in the area that have reasonable prices always have reasonable prices. That means, you only have to get one to come out and swap the tank and pump from the old tank to the new tank. That’s what we did, and didn’t have to spend the money on a tank.
If the current company decides to go high, we simply call the next one to do the same process. It’s really unbelievably easy once you do it once and understand the process. Btw, we are still happy with our company and only had to do it once. The average price is about half what the old larger company charged.
That may be. I have a friend in town who had a 1000 gallon inground tank installed by a propane supplier. When he realized he was getting hosed he tried to get them to remove it. They wanted him to pay for all the costs of removal. Then he read his contract. Yep, he is on the hook for it.
Question is, how many gallons of each fuel, propane vs diesel, does the genny burn per hour. We had a 10 day, no power ice storm in February. Lady had a 250 gallon propane generator run out of fuel in 5 days and no propane trucks running so she was in the same boat with everyone else.
During an ice storm neither diesel trucks nor propane trucks are moving so we better have ample fuel to last thru the crisis. We need to make a decision on which genny will last the longest on the same amount of fuel while running an entire house. And how much fuel capacity should we buy in the first place.
I went cheap and bought a large gas powered generator. Have a 30 amp plug in in the garage. Made a cable with male plug ins on each side. Generator has a 30 amp connector. I plug in my generator (have to shut off breaker to the house in case power is restored) and it back feeds to the entire house. Just have to watch what I run at times.
fried1765
Well-known member
Equipment
Kubota L48 TLB, Ford 1920 FEL, Ford 8N, SCAG Liberty Z, Gravely Pro.
Standby: Some electrician on here is going to jump all over you, to explain you how treacherous this is!
I have been doing the same.......for 60+ years!
Poohbear
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L3301 HST, LA525, LP shredder, BB1566 box blade, QH10, Worksaver pallet fork
I put in a 22kw Honeywell/Generac with auto transfer useing propane on our new house this summer. I only have a 250 gal tank but thinking adding a 2nd tank. It auto exercises every other tues @ 11am.
I went 22kw as Costco has a super deal them. I was fixing to buy a 24kw from another place when our Son sent me the Costco info. Saved me $1200.
I went 22kw as Costco has a super deal them. I was fixing to buy a 24kw from another place when our Son sent me the Costco info. Saved me $1200.
Oh yeah, I get jumped on many times for telling folks about this. Oh well, works for me and others doing the same thing.Standby: Some electrician on here is going to jump all over you, to explain you how treacherous this is!
I have been doing the same.......for 60+ years!
Yep, some people are cavalier with other people's livesStandby: Some electrician on here is going to jump all over you, to explain you how treacherous this is!
I have been doing the same.......for 60+ years!
From an OSHA review:
... After Green left, Adams went up in an insulated lift to repair the damaged lines. Three of the lines (the neutral, the road phase, and the field phase) were broken. The fourth line (the central line) was sagging but intact (Tr. 61). Although Adams could have repaired the sagging central line without splicing it, he chose to cut the line. The line on which Adam was working was connected by a secondary line to a house at the end of Jackson Street (referred to at the hearing as “a doctor’s house”). The homeowner had connected a portable generator to the house’s circuitry which caused electrical energy to backfeed to the line Adams was splicing, energizing it. Adams was electrocuted when he cut the line (Tr. 40, 95, 222, 269). The company has no written work rule requiring employees working on de-energized lines to wear protective rubber gloves (Tr. 40, 44). Adams was wearing leather work gloves, but not rubber gloves that day.
...
Florida:
Polk County, Fl
Wednesday, September 2, 2009 10:12 AM EDT
A Bartow electric department employee escaped a brush with death Monday night when a downed line he was repairing became energized by a homeowner’s generator.
Eddie Watson, an apprentice lineman, was grasping a line while wearing leather gloves as he worked to repair a line that was brought down by a falling tree in Monday night’s fierce thunderstorm.
When a homeowner whose house was served by the line started up a generator, it sent a surge of power through the line, Interim Electric Dir. Eschol Radford said.
The electricity went through a transformer, stepping up the voltage from 110 volts generated by the generator to 7,200 volts, the transmission voltage. Usually, the transformer does just the opposite, stepping down voltage from 7,200 to 110 volts for service lines to homes.
“He was lucky,” Radford said of Watson.
“Fortunately, he had a young guy, Scott Harrison, a lineman helper, working with him. Scott knocked him off the line and probably saved his life.”
and if you would like to look more up: