Be the shenanigans
you want to see in the world.
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"The future is something which everyone reaches at the rate of sixty minutes an hour, whatever he does, whoever he is." C.S. Lewis
"When the whole world is running towards a cliff, he who is running in the opposite direction appears to have lost his mind." C.S. Lewis
"You must be the change you want to see in the world." "First they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they fight you, then you win." --Mahatma Gandhi
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Some places need to be wild
Eric Hanson wrote: Diesel engines produce dirty electrical power unless run through a power conditioner which can be another installation chore (necessary for running electronics).
Eric
Learning slowly...
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Some places need to be wild
"The future is something which everyone reaches at the rate of sixty minutes an hour, whatever he does, whoever he is." C.S. Lewis
"When the whole world is running towards a cliff, he who is running in the opposite direction appears to have lost his mind." C.S. Lewis
Eric Hanson wrote:James,
When I stated “dirty power”, I was referring to Total Harmonic Distortion which is quite high on diesel generators without a power conditioner. The short of it is that diesel engines vibrate a lot and this vibration upsets the precise frequency of the ac power they produce.
Eric
Learning slowly...
How permies.com works
Matt McSpadden wrote: Uninterruptible power supply. Really its just a surge protector with a battery and a few bells and whistles. .
Learning slowly...
How permies.com works
James Alun wrote: Good point, I was thinking about server grade UPSs. The little single computer ones are little more than surge protectors with batteries. The “online” bit I said was to say that those actually convert ac to dc and back to ac again. You should be able to feed those the nastiest power and they will still output clean AC.
"The future is something which everyone reaches at the rate of sixty minutes an hour, whatever he does, whoever he is." C.S. Lewis
"When the whole world is running towards a cliff, he who is running in the opposite direction appears to have lost his mind." C.S. Lewis
Some places need to be wild
Eric Hanson wrote:Here is the way I see things:
Gasoline:
*Engine/gensets are cheap, ubiquitous, everywhere. Gasoline is very easy to find. Gasoline is fairly energy dense (lots of energy per unit of volume).
*Downsides: Gasoline gets stale quickly, fire hazard, energy density not as good as diesel
*Verdict: Lots of bang for your buck. May not be perfect, but hard to go wrong
Diesel:
*Diesel fuel is very energy dense. Diesel engines are very efficient. A tank of diesel will run a long time. Diesel lasts in storage much longer than gasoline
*Downsides: Diesel engines are EXPENSIVE! Diesel engines are NOISY (especially if run near a house). Diesel can be hard to start in the winter. Diesel engines produce dirty electrical power unless run through a power conditioner which can be another installation chore (necessary for running electronics).
*Verdict: Diesel is a great option if you need your fuel to last a very long time, but be careful about the electronics and starting during winter
Propane:
*Propane fuel lasts longer than you will, never goes stale. Propane burns very clean.
*Downsides: Propane is the least energetically dense fuel of the three by far. Worse, propane tanks don't really store as much as you might think.
*Verdict: Propane is great for a backup generator that might sit for years without running but not be the best for running every day.
If it were me attaching a generator to a solar setup for intermittent backup/boost power, I would forgo the propane generator as it would run out of fuel so quickly. Diesel sounds great as the fuel is less of a fire/explosive hazard than gasoline and diesel will run a long time on a small amount of fuel, but the generator is expensive and the power needs conditioning. Noise is also an issue. As much as I am a fan of diesel engines, it is hard to go wrong with a gasoline generator unless I will need to rely on a fuel supply for a VERY log time (go months without a refill).
My 2 cents
Eric
Some places need to be wild
K Eilander wrote:Which generator type is "better", diesel or propane(dual-fuel) as a backup power source for an offgrid system?
Also, since it may factor into it, which has the best/simplest homemade green fuel alternative?
Where the one generator would be running on biodiesel, and the other could (presumably) be run on woodgas.
What do you think? What would/did you all go with?
I found some pretty shells, some sea glass and this lovely tiny ad:
Switching from electric heat to a rocket mass heater reduces your carbon footprint as much as parking 7 cars
http://woodheat.net
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