From: ramrod@truthonly.com.Sword   
      
   Selection of a generator   
      
   I moved to the Australian tropics about 10 years ago, we have cyclones   
   (Hurricanes) here and so I decide to install a generator, as one cyclone hit   
   about 50 miles south of here and the power was off in parts for a month   
   (Snapped off power poles etc.) here the same cyclone left us without mains   
   power for a day, a second one left us without mains power for 4 days. First   
   cyclone was a cat 4 the second one a cat 5. The centre of the second one   
   almost went though the city.   
      
   Now I purchased a second hand 27 Kw 3 phase diesel  generator. Connected it   
   all up with a transfer switch.   
      
   The reason for the 27 Kw is that I have a 3 phase 6.5 HP air conditioning   
   unit. I decide I would need to run this. The start up current is around 100   
   amps (3 phase 415 volts 50 cycles)  The running current is under 15 amps per   
   phase.   
      
   So although I do not need 27 Kw for the house, but I do need that size to   
   start that air conditioning unit.   
      
   Now I have had second thoughts.   
      
   The cyclone where we had no power for 24 hours I used 73 litres of diesel   
   running it for 24 hours. Seventy thee litres,  that is about 20 US gallons   
   or about 16 UK gallons. That is no problem for a couple of days, but would   
   be a problem for a month.   
      
   So now I think I should have bought a much smaller unit just to power the   
   house. I do have a couple of room air conditioners in the house.   
      
   My second thought is that I should have purchased a generator that runs of   
   porta gas, (propane etc) rather than diesel, as both petrol (gasoline) and   
   diesel will degenerate over time.   
      
   I store 300 litres of diesel for the genny,   
   and I need to pump that out around every 12 months or so into my vehicle   
   over time and replace the fuel in the drums, if I were using porta gas that   
   would not be a problem.   
      
   As it is now I do have a petrol genny (4,7 Kw) on my motor home and so now   
   my plan is to run the diesel during the day and the petrol one during the   
   night in case of prolonged power failure.   
      
   Prior to buying the generators I found we were having some short power   
   failures, that is not the case now. I purchased a 24 volt 2.5 KW inverter, a   
   24 volt 40 amp battery charger and a set of batteries (4 x 6 volt 200 ampere   
   hour deep cycle) Yes it works but although the batteries cost $800.00, there   
   is not enough power in them to run the refrigerator/freezer all night, as it   
   is advised to only run the batteries down to around 50% discharge. Yes I   
   could buy more batteries and use that system of a night and charge them up   
   during the day, but as we have had 2 cyclones that put power out in 10 years   
   that I have been here, it is not a financial proposition, as batteries age   
   and need replacing even when not being used.   
      
   So my thoughts are to have a porta gas generator that can handle just the   
   house requitements and possibly one or two room air conditioners.   
      
   My generator runs at 1500 RPM, not 3000 (50 cycles), and that is the speed I   
   recommend as the 3000 RPM gennies tend to wear out more quickly, although in   
   general the fast ones tend to be cheaper to buy.   
      
   The generator speed for 60 cycles (US power) is 1800 and 3600.   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)