One of my goals, now that the house is paid off, is to install a generator that will power the home during power outages,,, which I believe are going to get more frequent. I want to be able to power everything we use now including the A/C, and have been thinking about a diesel,,, MB ?,,,, setup. Any experience in what to look for ?

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95 SL500 Smoke Silver, Parchment 64K
07 E350 4matic Station Wagon White 34K
02 E320 4Matic Silver/grey 80K
05 F150 Silver 44K

The MB diesels are not governed above 1000rpm. You would have a tough time keeping the RPMs in the exact spot you need.

Something like a Cummins 4BT or Isuzu 4HEI would be better.

A good friend of mine recently installed a Generac natural gas unit. The benefit of natural gas is that you have a readily available supply at all times. With diesel, you'd need a large storage tank if you expect the unit to run for a week.

It's quite an good setup. The generator has it's own subpanel with the circuits that you wish to power during a power outage. When the power goes off.......the generator immediately starts and provides power to those circuits.

The generator also starts itself once per week and runs for 10 minutes or so.

The cost was quite reasonable.........about $3K or so if you install it yourself.

Of course, you could do it much cheaper, with a small gasoline powered unit that you manually connect to the box when you need it........but........it's marginal at best.

Listeroid if you want good ole engineering made in india(quality is still good) a child could rebuild one of thse suckers...

Why do you think they will get more frequent? Are you in some rural area with spotty service?

I would think a generator that could put out 100 amps and 220 volts would be expensive to buy and operate.

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MB-less

Research says that natural gas may not provide the pressure you need if you are in an outlying area, but the concept is very good. I will have to check into the details. Diesel just appeals to me for the durability and economy. Storage is not a problem for me, but does diesel fuel go bad after a period of time like gasoline ?

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95 SL500 Smoke Silver, Parchment 64K
07 E350 4matic Station Wagon White 34K
02 E320 4Matic Silver/grey 80K
05 F150 Silver 44K

We are in a rural area and have had outages over the years, but in all honesty I believe the country is headed towards more outages for a number of reasons. I definately want a system that will power the house the way it is, which I believe will take 30 to 50 KW's.

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95 SL500 Smoke Silver, Parchment 64K
07 E350 4matic Station Wagon White 34K
02 E320 4Matic Silver/grey 80K
05 F150 Silver 44K

I have a 20kw Natural Gas/Propane it is quiet and efficient enough if the power is out long enough to start costing the big bucks I have much bigger problems, since I already have $10,000 is the generator I figure I'm already there so I don't worry about the consumption too much. Out power went out during the heatwave and my 8 tons of AC baby I was chillin.

The best route is to buy the transfer switch and seperate 100 amp sub panel.

You need to AMP your house out I have two 200 amp (400 amp) services and 20 KW gets me by just fine.

Sounds like a good setup. We did a job on a big house in Palo Alto -- built the house on the front part of the lot while the owners lived in their 4 bed guest house (?!) in the back. It was a big lot, about 2 acres. They had a 4 cyl. diesel generator, I believe it was around 150Kw, contained in a sound dampening house, about 15'x10,' back next to the guest house. It came on automatically once a week also, for about 20 minutes, or as long as it took to top off the battery bank. It was supposedly setup to provide seamless power in the event of an outage, w/ the batteries and an inverter covering the break between outage and generator start-up.

Can't tell you what it cost but I'm guessing way more than $3K.

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1986 300SDL, 362K
1984 300D, 138K

Pete,

People here on the Southeast coast are installing the natural gas powered
gensets ... spotty power recovery by the Southern Company and / or
Hurricanes.

But , My local Atlanta Natural Gas serviceman tells me that MANY prople on
the outlying islands are installing the N.G. gensets at ground level. ...
Storm surge/ genset under water/ plenty of natural gas/ BUT no power.

If there is any possibility of flash flooding where you are ... get that sucker
up to at least the 25ft. level.

Almost no chance of flooding on the hill we live on, but the N.G. setup sounds good except for the durability thing.

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95 SL500 Smoke Silver, Parchment 64K
07 E350 4matic Station Wagon White 34K
02 E320 4Matic Silver/grey 80K
05 F150 Silver 44K

If you can store 275 gallons, then you're all set with a diesel powered unit. It will last almost forever.

I believe that Generac also makes a diesel powered unit for about the same cost. You'll probably not get a better deal that includes the switch.

The Generac name keeps coming up, so it is definately a unit I want to look at.

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95 SL500 Smoke Silver, Parchment 64K
07 E350 4matic Station Wagon White 34K
02 E320 4Matic Silver/grey 80K
05 F150 Silver 44K

I've got a 12.5k generator on my Bluebird Wanderlodge motorhome. It's a Perkins 4-108 diesel. Nice thing about it, I can take it where I need it.

Kerry

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1977 300d 70k--sold 08
1985 300TD 185k+
1984 307d 126k--sold 8/03
1985 409d 65k--sold 06
1984 300SD 315k--daughter's car
1979 300SD 122k--sold 2/11
1999 Fuso FG Expedition Camper
1993 GMC Sierra 6.5 TD 4x4
1982 Bluebird Wanderlodge CAT 3208--Sold 2/13