On 11/12/2011 7:23 PM, Bill Horne wrote:
Since my furnace and hot water heater both use natural gas, I'm
interested in using*that* to fuel a generator, but (as I wrote before),
I'm looking for cost figures that will help me to make an informed
decision about the most cost-effective fuel.

This is, of course, a complicated calculation: natural gas is more
convenient, but limits the genset to one location. Diesel is (so I've
heard) less expensive than gas, but the genset will cost more
initially.

If you are reading this, and*YOU* have bought or used any of the
options I've listed, please make your opinion known.

I converted a 1967 Dodge 1/2 ton pick up truck with a slant
6 cylinder engine to run dual fuel. Propane and Gasoline. It
came in quite handy while dealing with the manufactured gas
crisis. "No gasoline? No problem, I'll fill it with propane."

I currently own a Honda 4500 watt genset. That's my "portable".
I'll keep it running on gasoline as designed. It runs for
about 4 hours with a full tank and an 80% load. For the record,
I run premium grade gasoline and add Stabil to it.

The Empire 12 KW genset with the Wisconsin VF4D engine runs on
gas, but I've decided to convert it to natural gas as the
standby set for the house. (Looks like the conversion setup for
that will cost $277.) But it will run continuously and I don't
have to deal with fuel storage.

At my previous location, fuel storage was an issue, I had to
maintain about 10 each 5 gallon cans. Which included dumping
them into the car periodically and refilling them with fresh
gasoline.

My question would be "In the event of a widespread failure,
what is going to go away first? Gasoline supplies, piped
natural gas or trucked Propane." And decide which fuel to
use based on that.

For what it's worth, the AT&T sites I used to go to (Which
were sold to American Tower) used diesel generator sets.

And one other tidbit. I refuse to use Arco Gasoline. It tends
to dissolve rubber bits and gaskets in generator engines.

Jeff-1.0
wa6fwi

--
"Everything from Crackers to Coffins"