Just remember for them to work when needed generators must be tested and maintained. Diesel needs to be tested and treated. Then with propane you could have delivery problems and a tank to hold that much would be large and expensive.
Had one customer location with the big diesel back up generator set up. Would work mostly fine during routine run tests. When the transfer switch tried to spin it up automatically, it would usually fail. Took way too long for the vendor to find that bug but at least we had juice. In this part of the world propane is very common in trailer parks, weekend homes and warehouses so keeping the tank full doesn't sound like weakest link in the plan. As far as I can tell from running fork lifts, ya get about the same mileage from the same size tank NG vs propane.
Diving down the rabbit hole for a bit: Looks like above ground tanks range from $500 ish for 120 gal cans to $1500 for the monster 500 gallon. Not horrible in the context of what the generator and xfer switch is gonna cost. Retail residential propane is about $2.50 / gal right now. Generac says an 11kw generator will burn 2 gal/hr at full load but ya really gotta dig. Lost interest before getting to the answer about gallons per KwH based on fuel type. Rough estimate to run my entire house (electric heat pump) on propane looks like $8-10k installed and $8-10 in fuel per hour. Bugging out for a hotel with power is way cheaper.
We bought our 500gal propane tank used a few years ago off Craig's List for $350. It was ugly, needed paint. Still see them on there regularly from $400 to $750 depending on condition. Smaller ones are quite a bit less money. Propane has been $1.30 +/-, but I haven't checked the last month or two.
I'm gonna keep my eye out for another cheap 500gal tank. That way we have plenty of capacity for whatever may come. $500 or so is cheap insurance even if we don't really need that much capacity.
What's the story on age and certification of those tanks? I've got an upright rental and luckily the only thing running off it is the tube heater in my shop but my property isn't always accessible in the winter so sometimes you have you have to keep the heat down to stretch it out between refills.
my younger brother in Houston needed a generator and bought a Ryobi at Home Depot. In helping find out what manufacturers engine it had (Honda GX390) I came upon this online seller
and was surprised to find that Ryobi also factory makes 6300 watt ($433) and 700 watt ($151) propane fueled units
The little cheap 700 watt propane unit left me wanting to pull out the Kill-A-Watt meter and measure what the total of the circulating fan and downdraft fan is, plus the temporary period when the ignitor power draw is on.
I was real close to buying the parallel combo kit for $699, which seemed too good to be true. I am not sure that website is legit? The prices seem way to good, and the store is not accepting payment?
my younger brother in Houston needed a generator and bought a Ryobi at Home Depot. In helping find out what manufacturers engine it had (Honda GX390) I came upon this online seller
and was surprised to find that Ryobi also factory makes 6300 watt ($433) and 700 watt ($151) propane fueled units
The little cheap 700 watt propane unit left me wanting to pull out the Kill-A-Watt meter and measure what the total of the circulating fan and downdraft fan is, plus the temporary period when the ignitor power draw is on.
I was real close to buying the parallel combo kit for $699, which seemed too good to be true. I am not sure that website is legit? The prices seem way to good, and the store is not accepting payment?
Did you see where they are located? Japan...which means run
1941 Taylorcraft 1968 Charger 1994 Wrangler 1998 Wrangler 2008 Kia Rio 2017 Jetta
I didn't do 4 years and 9 months of Graduate School to be called Mister!
Re: Turning off power
[Re: 5thAve]
#2890388 02/19/2110:05 AM02/19/2110:05 AM
On the initial fill, as long as the original tag is on the tank, they check it for leaks and you're good to go. If you run out of propane (or maybe get to a very low amount) or add propane appliances, they want to check the appliances for leaks. That's about it.
Since we own the tank, we can buy propane from anyone. But the prices don't vary that much between suppliers other than once in a while someone will be quite a bit higher than everyone else for whatever reason.
Suppliers want to deliver a minimum of 200gals or they will up charge. The wife went back and averaged the last 4 years of propane use and we have averaged 40gals a month and the average price has been $1.25 a gallon. We certainly have used more than 40gals this month because I had a back-up furnace in the shop running to keep it from getting too cold overnight. I have a large wood burner in the shop so I don't normally run the propane furnace there, but it's been so cold lately, so.....
We have needed 2 deliveries a year on the tank and I would just feel better if we could go longer between fills. That way we could pick even more optimum price points and should be able to get through just about anything that the weather or our government's incompetence can throw at us.
And I used to cut and split my own wood out of our woods. But now I just go to one of the local saw mills when they have a large pile of trimmings and they load my trailer with their loader for $25. Mostly hardwood and it burns good. I don't know if I'm getting smarter or lazier in my old age.
my younger brother in Houston needed a generator and bought a Ryobi at Home Depot. In helping find out what manufacturers engine it had (Honda GX390) I came upon this online seller
and was surprised to find that Ryobi also factory makes 6300 watt ($433) and 700 watt ($151) propane fueled units
The little cheap 700 watt propane unit left me wanting to pull out the Kill-A-Watt meter and measure what the total of the circulating fan and downdraft fan is, plus the temporary period when the ignitor power draw is on.
I was real close to buying the parallel combo kit for $699, which seemed too good to be true. I am not sure that website is legit? The prices seem way to good, and the store is not accepting payment?
I have not bought from them.
It certainly would not hurt to print those descriptions out and take then to Home Depot order desk and see the HD prices on the equivalent Ryobi items.
Re: Turning off power
[Re: 360view]
#2890476 02/19/2112:59 PM02/19/2112:59 PM
my younger brother in Houston needed a generator and bought a Ryobi at Home Depot. In helping find out what manufacturers engine it had (Honda GX390) I came upon this online seller
and was surprised to find that Ryobi also factory makes 6300 watt ($433) and 700 watt ($151) propane fueled units
The little cheap 700 watt propane unit left me wanting to pull out the Kill-A-Watt meter and measure what the total of the circulating fan and downdraft fan is, plus the temporary period when the ignitor power draw is on.
I was real close to buying the parallel combo kit for $699, which seemed too good to be true. I am not sure that website is legit? The prices seem way to good, and the store is not accepting payment?
Did you see where they are located? Japan...which means run
I don't think anyone but Home Depot can sell Ryobi products.
Re: Turning off power
[Re: 340Cuda]
#2890603 02/19/2104:24 PM02/19/2104:24 PM
On the initial fill, as long as the original tag is on the tank, they check it for leaks and you're good to go. If you run out of propane (or maybe get to a very low amount) or add propane appliances, they want to check the appliances for leaks. That's about it.
Since we own the tank, we can buy propane from anyone. But the prices don't vary that much between suppliers other than once in a while someone will be quite a bit higher than everyone else for whatever reason.
Suppliers want to deliver a minimum of 200gals or they will up charge. The wife went back and averaged the last 4 years of propane use and we have averaged 40gals a month and the average price has been $1.25 a gallon. We certainly have used more than 40gals this month because I had a back-up furnace in the shop running to keep it from getting too cold overnight. I have a large wood burner in the shop so I don't normally run the propane furnace there, but it's been so cold lately, so.....
We have needed 2 deliveries a year on the tank and I would just feel better if we could go longer between fills. That way we could pick even more optimum price points and should be able to get through just about anything that the weather or our government's incompetence can throw at us.
And I used to cut and split my own wood out of our woods. But now I just go to one of the local saw mills when they have a large pile of trimmings and they load my trailer with their loader for $25. Mostly hardwood and it burns good. I don't know if I'm getting smarter or lazier in my old age.
