need a good LP gas generator

[Kurt Forbes]

I have been looking for a good propane gas generator. Does anyone have any opinions about LP over regular gas and any experience with any particular lp gas generators.

Main reason I want LP is gas goes bad much easier than LP and during the aftermath of a hricane LP is MUCH easier to get than gasoline.

I have seen some of the generac units they are good. More input the better chance for a good decision.

Noise level is also a consideration.

[Bill Simmeth]

I put in a 15K LP Generac 2 weeks before Hurricane Isabel came through in 2003. The thing ran for 6-1/2 days straight (we have an underground 500 gal tank). I was very pleased. The neighbors were green, but we offered them in for showers. Three of them now have Generacs, too.

[Larry Browning]

Gee Kurt, I didn't know they made a machine that would generate LP gas. Silly me thought it was refined from natural gas. :D

[Bill Lewis]

I too have a 15 kW LP Generac stationary unit. We have a 1000 gallon underground LP tank. We bought ours after Isabel after losing power for 5 days. This unit is pretty darn quiet. Much more so than I thought it would be. It cycles once a week for 10 minutes to charge the battery and keep it in good running condition, sometimes we don't even notice it running. My neighbor never knew it was cycling until I pointed it out to him.

You can see the generator in the pictures from this thread (http://www.sawmillcreek.org/showthread.php?t=20704) I posted awhile back.

I went the extra step and laid a concrete pad for it which is not required. I did the entire install myself, except my neighbor provided the gas hookup (he is a master plumber). I spent about $200 for materials, and about $3k for the generator. Others in the neighborhood had their units installed and paid about $1600. There are at least 3 other 15kW units, and some larger units in the neighborhood, all Generac. So far I haven't heard any complaints, but we haven't had any major outages since the big install. I was home when it kicked in once, we thought the power came back on until I noticed the micorwave clock was dark.

[Ken Garlock]

Kurt, you might take a look at Go power.com (http://www.gopower.com/index.php) to get an idea of what is available. Personally, I think their prices are too high :(

Another place that has a good selection is Northern Tool (http://www.northerntool.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/CatDsp?storeId=6970&N=36)

[Don Baer]

A few years ago when California couldn't get enough electricity I looked into getting a Generator and converting it to run either on LP or natural gas. I found that there are kits out there to allow you to do this. I couldn't find the link that I was thinking of but here is a place where you can buy the conversion kits. The advantage I can see is you can set the engine up as a dual fuel to run either Gasoline or LP gas is you can use whatever you have available.



www.norwall.com/lpconvkits.htm (http://www.norwall.com/lpconvkits.htm)


I am sure there are other out there I'm just to lazey to find them

[Bill Lewis]

An interesting followup. We had one heck of a T-Storm last night around 1 a.m. I haven't seen the likes of one like this for some time. Of course it knocked out power until 10:30 today. The generator came on automatically kept us going the whole time. Even though it sits just outside and below the bedroom window, I found out it is possible to go back to sleep with it running. This is the first time I have tried to sleep with it on. I'll admit it was a fitful sleep, because I kept hoping the power would be restored and it would shut down and quit burning my LP gas. :) I didn't have much load on it so it porbably didn't burn all that much, but it was great to hear it shut down when power was restored.

Gotta love the power company though (Pepco) :rolleyes: . They took so much heat from Isabel that they have implemented a new telephone automated lying system. It doesn't matter what time you call in the outage, it will tell you that you should have power back an hour after the time you call.