I have another take, although it is not applicable to most people's situation.
I use a Honda 2000. Rather than purchase a big expensive generator, and try to charge the batteries quickly, I run the small generator for more hours. It's very quiet and fuel efficient. Basically what I do when my batteries are low due to extended cloudy conditions, is to run the generator through the evening, taking the majority of that day's energy consumption off of the batteries, and putting it on the generator. After about 5 hours (and about a gallon of gas), I have not only removed most of a day's load from the batteries, I've put two day's worth of power into the batteries, for a three-day gain. This works great in my No. Cal temperate rainforest location (average of 65-70" of rain per year, all of it in the winter). This also allows me to have a very portable generator that I can take to use elsewhere on the homestead. This won't work in most cases, however, since my energy consumption is so low. I use less than 2kWh/day. I average about 15-20 hours/year on the generator. Not very American, am I? When I get that hydro unit installed, I probably won't need the generator at all. Then I can dump my 1942 Servel gas fridge, and go electric. Brian Teitelbaum AEE Solar -----Original Message----- From: re-wrenches-boun...@lists.re-wrenches.org [mailto:re-wrenches-boun...@lists.re-wrenches.org] On Behalf Of Travis Creswell Sent: Thursday, June 11, 2009 9:27 AM To: 'RE-wrenches' Subject: Re: [RE-wrenches] Propane Generator If I may humbly offer different opinion, I no longer specify 1800 RPM generators because they are ridiculously expensive to begin with and when the do break it's long after warranty and they are ridiculously expensive to fix. I've have been pleased with the 3600 RPM Kohler's. We've done numerous propane 12kW (which very nicely match up to a dual oven quad stack) and recently did a 17kW and other then a stuck fuel solenoid which was replaced under warranty by the local dealer at no charge they've been fine. It was completely off grid and we didn't catch any flax although we certainly did a few years ago so around here they seem to have slacked on the off grid no warranty thing. It boils down to simple math for me. We've inherited numerous 1800 RPM generators over the year. These customers have gotten $2000+ bills to replace to $5 relays (etc), some times within a few weeks of the last one. These 3600 RPM Kohlers cost less then $4k new including a pad, enclosure and shipping compared to a lot more for the 1800 RPM units. Put that $8k you save into PV and you'll very likely get 10+ trouble free years out of the 3600 RPM Kohlers. I've got several getting up to 5 yrs old now and they are still as strong as they were the day there were installed. They only get a few hundred hr's or year and a 1/3rd of those could be eliminated if the customers were better energy managers. Just my .02 and it may or may not work in anybody else's climate. Best, Travis Creswell Ozark Energy Services _______________________________________________ List sponsored by Home Power magazine List Address: RE-wrenches@lists.re-wrenches.org Options & settings: http://lists.re-wrenches.org/options.cgi/re-wrenches-re-wrenches.org List-Archive: http://lists.re-wrenches.org/pipermail/re-wrenches-re-wrenches.org List rules & etiquette: www.re-wrenches.org/etiquette.htm Check out participant bios: www.members.re-wrenches.org
