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"David E." <deisenberg6@optonline.spam.begone.net> wrote:
>Anyone,
>
>Our suburban home has experienced several power outages during the last
>year, and we're considering the purchase of a home backup generator. The
>longest outage we've had was three full days, but some of our neighbors have
>had outages of up to five days (!). We have natural gas heat, but because of
>the small size of our property, a permanently-installed generator is going
>to prove very costly to install (if it's even possible, given the noise and
>setback requirements in our town).
>
Can't imagine what the noise issue is with a properly muffled motor. Its not
like you would be running this thing every night anyway. Permanently installed
backup gensets aren't cheap though.
>So I happened to be cleaning our grill today, which runs directly off a gas
>pipe running outside of the house, and as I was disconnecting the hose for
>the grill... I started to wonder. Is there such a thing as a natural gas
>powered *portable* generator that I could wheel out of the garage and plug
>directly into an exterior gas pipe? That would eliminate the need for many
>permits, and would bypass many restrictions. The idea of running off natural
>gas, rather than gasoline, has tremendous appeal to me.
>
Google is your friend. Natural gas generator brings up 2,160,000 hits. Here's
just one that meets your requirements:
<http://www.shop.com/op/~NorthStar_Generator_151_13_HP,_8000_Watt,_Trifuel-prod-5628031-7973240?sourceid=57>
>Our house isn't large (3 bedrooms). My guess is that in an emergency
>situation, we could get away with something like 9 or 10 KW. We would want
>an electrician to install an exterior power receptacle running to a transfer
>switch, so that I wouldn't have to run extension cords (and so that I could
>power our forced-air furnace).
>
You won't need replacement service. Just a few key lights, the fridge and the
furnace fan. 10KW would seem to be serious overkill. Yes, an electrician and a
transfer switch would be essential.
>Does this concept make sense? I am a newbie at this, but after all these
>outages, I am being forced to become an expert!
>
It's expensive backup. Wouldn't surprise me if the install costs would be more
than the genset and that won't be cheap.
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Re: Natural gas powered *portable* generator?
