Equipped To Survive Equipped To Survive® Presents
The Survival Forum
Where do you want to go on ETS?

Page 2 of 2 < 1 2
Topic Options
#256975 - 02/28/13 09:01 PM Re: Price Check: Standby Generator [Re: GarlyDog]
ILBob Offline
Old Hand

Registered: 02/05/10
Posts: 776
Loc: Northern IL
Originally Posted By: GarlyDog
I would be curious to know what it costs per hour to run a 15KW generator.

Before making a decision I suggest determining your household electricity usage. I know from my own measurements that our household runs on 1,100 - 2,500kw with spikes up to 10kw. I use a product from http://www.wattvision.com to keep track of our usage.

A less powerful generator will cost less per hour to run and give you more run time if you are connected to a finite fuel supply.



At full load a 15 kW generator needs about 170,000 BTU/hour of heat energy assuming a 30% efficiency ratio.

Gasoline is about 115,000 BTU/gallon
Diesel is about 130,000 BTU/gallon
Natural gas is 100,000 BTU/therm
Propane is about 92,000 BTU/gallon

depending on what fuel you use and what the fuel cost is in your area should tell you the answer to your question, at least pretty close.
_________________________
Warning - I am not an expert on anything having to do with this forum, but that won't stop me from saying what I think. smile

Bob

Top
#256978 - 02/28/13 10:06 PM Re: Price Check: Standby Generator [Re: ILBob]
bws48 Offline
Old Hand

Registered: 08/18/07
Posts: 831
Loc: Anne Arundel County, Maryland
Originally Posted By: ILBob

Natural gas is 100,000 BTU/therm


To put folks in the ballpark then, according to my last bill, I'm paying about .562 dollars per therm. If I multiply by 1.7 (to get to the 170,000 btu) I get .9554 dollars an hour to run a 15KW generator for an hour. But mine is 8kw, so call it about 40 percent less energy required, and my per hour cost is around .58 dollars an hour to run. Or $13.92 a day. Five gallons of gas in my old portaable generator (5kw) lasted about 12 hours. At local gas prices, that would be about 40 dollars a day. I have slightly over 110 hours on the stand-by generator so far.
_________________________
"Better is the enemy of good enough."

Top
#256979 - 02/28/13 10:46 PM Re: Price Check: Standby Generator [Re: bws48]
chaosmagnet Offline
Sheriff
Carpal Tunnel

Registered: 12/03/09
Posts: 3819
Loc: USA
Originally Posted By: bws48
To put folks in the ballpark then, according to my last bill, I'm paying about .562 dollars per therm. If I multiply by 1.7 (to get to the 170,000 btu) I get .9554 dollars an hour to run a 15KW generator for an hour. But mine is 8kw, so call it about 40 percent less energy required, and my per hour cost is around .58 dollars an hour to run. Or $13.92 a day. Five gallons of gas in my old portaable generator (5kw) lasted about 12 hours. At local gas prices, that would be about 40 dollars a day. I have slightly over 110 hours on the stand-by generator so far.


My one concern about a standby generator (besides the one about not being able to afford one laugh ) would be dependence on the gas company to reliably deliver fuel. Is it feasible to store fuel for a natural gas standby generator?


Edited by chaosmagnet (02/28/13 10:46 PM)
Edit Reason: added important words left out by traitorous brain

Top
#256980 - 02/28/13 11:08 PM Re: Price Check: Standby Generator [Re: chaosmagnet]
ILBob Offline
Old Hand

Registered: 02/05/10
Posts: 776
Loc: Northern IL
Originally Posted By: chaosmagnet

My one concern about a standby generator (besides the one about not being able to afford one laugh ) would be dependence on the gas company to reliably deliver fuel. Is it feasible to store fuel for a natural gas standby generator?


The problem with storing fuel is that it takes up a lot of room, and storing gasoline in quantity adds risk to your life, especially if done improperly. A bunch of 5 gallon cans of gas in the garage is not a safe thing to do. Diesel is much safer to store as it is not flammable.

NG is also much cheaper to run on than any other commonly available fuel. Many gas generators can be adapted to NG so they could run both ways. In fact many can be adapted to run propane as well so you can have 3 fuels available.

NG is the most reliable of all the utilities. It is not 100%, but it would be fairly easy to envision an event that would destroy your stockpile of gasoline or diesel that would not affect your NG supply.

I do not think there is a perfect answer to the fuel problem with generators.
_________________________
Warning - I am not an expert on anything having to do with this forum, but that won't stop me from saying what I think. smile

Bob

Top
Page 2 of 2 < 1 2



Moderator:  Alan_Romania, Blast, chaosmagnet, cliff 
March
Su M Tu W Th F Sa
1 2
3 4 5 6 7 8 9
10 11 12 13 14 15 16
17 18 19 20 21 22 23
24 25 26 27 28 29 30
31
Who's Online
1 registered (SRMC), 332 Guests and 70 Spiders online.
Key: Admin, Global Mod, Mod
Newest Members
GallenR, Jeebo, NicholasMarshall, Yadav, BenFoakes
5367 Registered Users
Newest Posts
What did you do today to prepare?
by dougwalkabout
Yesterday at 11:21 PM
Zippo Butane Inserts
by dougwalkabout
Yesterday at 11:11 PM
Question about a "Backyard Mutitool"
by Ren
03/17/24 01:00 AM
Problem in my WhatsApp configuration
by Chisel
03/09/24 01:55 PM
New Madrid Seismic Zone
by Jeanette_Isabelle
03/04/24 02:44 PM
EDC Reduction
by EchoingLaugh
03/02/24 04:12 PM
Using a Compass Without a Map
by KenK
02/28/24 12:22 AM
Newest Images
Tiny knife / wrench
Handmade knives
2"x2" Glass Signal Mirror, Retroreflective Mesh
Trade School Tool Kit
My Pocket Kit
Glossary
Test

WARNING & DISCLAIMER: SELECT AND USE OUTDOORS AND SURVIVAL EQUIPMENT, SUPPLIES AND TECHNIQUES AT YOUR OWN RISK. Information posted on this forum is not reviewed for accuracy and may not be reliable, use at your own risk. Please review the full WARNING & DISCLAIMER about information on this site.