We’re having an electrician come over tomorrow about installing a transfer switch/dedicated circuit so we can run the furnace blower, fridge etc. off our portable generator (and not have extension cords trailing around the house).
It’s a gas-powered generator that has come in handy for us on previous occasions (American Electric Power is notorious for outages). We had no problem during the last one running the fridge, lights and TV and microwave. You need to consult tables (i.e. online) indicating power requirements for various things so you don’t overload the generator. There are stabilizers for gas so you can keep some extra on hand.
The only gripe I have with our generator (and with generators in general) is they’re heavy and come with only two wheels, so you have to lift up the front end to haul them around. It’s a mystery to me why they’re not built with four wheels for easy hauling - is there an idiotic safety requirement that they have only two wheels so they can’t roll downhill or similarly stupid reasoning?
While you could get the generator to run this way I doubt that you could get the balance right. Though it is a constant RPM device it is not a constant load device, as more or less electrical power is drawn, throttle is adjusted to keep that constant speed.
If the load were constant, or the device didn’t care able stable power, it may be doable. But you would almost need a setup like using the generator to charge a battery and draw off that battery for electrical power (through a inverter) to make this in any way practical for emergency use.
Propane keeps nice, and the engine will wear longer, and the oil will stay cleaner. There are a few downsides:
-The engine will produce a bit less power for a given displacement. A generator designed for propane will account for this, a gas generator converted to propane will need to be de-rated a bit. That is not wholly bad, as it means that the electrical and mechanical parts will never be pushed to design limits.
-If you will want the generator for winter blizzards, beware that propane may fail to vaporize at bitter cold temperatures. Gasoline can have similar issues though. I have a small two-stroke genny that I have to block the cooling air intake on to keep it running in bitter cold weather.
-It may be harder to get propane bottles filled during a long outage. Also if you use the BBQ bottle, you may be running low when you need it. Hurricanes usually have a few days warning, but tornado, flooding, etc may happen with no useful warning time. Your car probably has enough gas in it at any given time to run a generator for days. Usually there is not such an accessible supply of propane.
Dual fuel is an option. There have been some propane conversion kits available in the past, not sure the current status, some leave the gasoline carb. intact for use if needed.
Conversions typically use the gasoline carb butterfly throttle to control speed. a propane carb with no throttle is placed upstream of the gasoline carb. Some conversions modify the gasoline carb by drilling out the jet, but these can’t be run on gasoline without replacing the carb.
A propane carb is just an upscaled version of a diaphram type gasoline carb. The propane is regulated to a skosh under the pressure ahead of a venturi, and the propane is drawn through an orifice by the depression at the venturi. Usually there is a button on the diaphram to force a prime for startup. No choke or other starting enrichment is needed, because the propane has no vaporization problems in a cold engine like gasoline does. The prime is just so there is something to burn on the first lick.
Based on what you said in post #16 I wouldn’t get to fancy or go to big. The refrigerator will stay cold for 2 or 3 hours if you keep the door closed and you won’t freeze to death in that amount of time either. If you get one that will run a couple of 110 circuits you should get by even the 28 hour outage.
Having said that if you are going to install a transfer switch for big or go home. About a quarter of the cost will be an electricians time.
Our 17.5 kwh generac uses about 3 gallons of gas per hour but has a 15 gallon tank. We are very rural and our outages last from 3 to 8 hours.
I hear that nowadays vehicles can have things called “brakes” and perhaps a new-fangled device like that could be added to a four-wheel generator.
And while you don’t have a problem with the 2-wheel design, our generator is quite heavy and it is unwieldy trying to lift the front end and drag it around without straining your back or scraping it against your body.