So what your saying is, incandescent bulbs are more efficient that florescent bulbs when run by a generator? Is that true?

Where
 

Curious, I can not find a location?

Where are you?

I'm in Illinois, about fifteen miles east of St. Louis.

Matt, I'm not saying that incandescents are more efficient than florescents, but that the wattage ratings don't matter as much to me right now; I care about the current required.

Running a 13W florescent bulb will probably take the same amount of gasoline as running a 13W incandescent bulb, however the former puts a lot more current through the generator windings. Current is my limiting factor as I can buy more gasoline, but don't want to get a bigger generator.

Power factor is the cosine of the phase difference between the current and voltage on the circuit. A purely resistive load will have a power factor of 100% (1) as the current and voltage are perfectly in sync. Inductive or capacitive loads do not have this characteristic; there is a phase difference and the power factor is less than 1. The wattage consumed by an AC load is V*A*PF. You'll note that UPSs are rated in VA. The generator is limited by both power and amperage; I can draw 10HP and twenty continuous amps at about 240 volts. Amperage is a bigger problem than power for me, as most of the big loads are inductive.

As I suggested below, connecting the right size of capacitor to the circuit will correct an inductive power factor, and will reduct the current required from the source. This is common for industrial usage, where the client is charged more for running a bad power factor, but very uncommon for residential use where there is no financial advantage. There's still additional current running to the load, but it comes from the capacitor instead of from the mains.

So what you are saying (I think) is my theory of using the florescents to reduce watt consumption when my generator was running was in reality using the same or more watts than if I had left the incandescents in?

Talk about getting a bigger generator, I work for a Propane Company and we have hooked up virtually hundreds of the garden variety 15KW Home Depot stand-bys after Hurricane Izabelle went through Maryland three years ago. This last week, we set a new size record, 100KW on a single family residence. Don't know what he intends to light up but talk about overkill.

Not at all. I'm saying that there are two considerations, power and amperage, and they're not related in the way that most people think.

Using florescents will reduce the wattage, which means that you burn less gasoline. But they don't reduce the current requirement, which means that you can't run a bunch of them. In fact, they increase the current requirements (from my measurement), so you can't even run as many of them.

Given a constant voltage, amperage and wattage are related by the power factor. Incandescent lamps are nearly completely resistive, and have a power factor very close to 1. As I said, the power (wattage) that you can get is limited by both the power input and by the current capacity of the windings in the generator. You can't exceed either.

If you hooked a pure inductive or capacitive load to your mains, a lot of current would pass but no power would be consumed, as these have a power factor of zero. The meter disk would not turn. While pure inductive or capacitive loads do not exist, you can get pretty close. However, don't get the idea that this current flow can do you any good; as soon as you do any work with it, power is consumed and the power factor rises above zero.

Linesmen!
 

Two trucks are outside: a bucket and a pole auger. Apparently, they are going to replace the pole without disconnecting the wires from the adjacent poles. They have them suspended from the bucket now, and the auger is about to go to work.

I really hope they don't hit the gas line. It runs very close to the old pole.

There are now porch lights illuminated on the houses across the street. I assume that we now have power to the meter, although I haven't yet switched over.

We lost power almost seven days ago. The generator has been running for six straight days, only being shut down for refueling and oil changes.

The generator spins at 3600 rpm. It's spun more than 31 million revolutions. Once the crews are done reconnecting the other transformers on the block, I'm going back on the grid.

Glad to hear your back on the grid Matt.

Which grade of oil does your generator mfg. recommend?

I purchased a used Onan gas generator about 1 year ago (e-bay deal). I also back feed mine through my 50A load center in my garage. I have a tag on the outlet to remind me to manually disconnect the main breaker.

My generator puts out 6000W which is enough to power my entire house plus the neighbors sump pump provided my air conditioner is off. The only problem I noticed is that my garage door opener reverses, when I operate the door, like there is an obstruction when running off the generator.

Since my generator weighs a little over 200 lbs, I bought a heavy duty wagon style cart with pneumatic tires to allow me to wheel it around. I also have some 4 x 8 sheets of plywood handy incase I need to run the generator during a rain storm.

I purchased a siphon hose in case the power outage is large enough to effect the gas stations I can always siphon gas out of my van into my 5 gas storage containers.

They recommend 30 for temperatures above 40F, 5W-30 or 10W-30 for temperatures below 40. Or 5/10W-30 synthetic for all temperatures. I used Mobil 1 10W-30.

Thanks!

I was thinking of using Mobil 1 0W-40 since I have some laying around from my E320. My generator currently has Mobil 1 5W-30 but is has been about 1 year since I last changed the oil. My generator is normall run 5 minutes per month for testing.

Wow.. If it was a car with that many hours on it, traveling at highway speed... You have put like over 11K miles on that Gen set :eek:

How much fuel did you use?

Fuel
 

We used about sixty gallons of gasoline, or about ten gallons a day. That's pretty expensive for power, but so much better than going without.

The instructions claimed a ten hour runtime on five gallons at half load, and we were under half load for most of the time.

I'm considering finding a nice place to bolt this into the detached garage, with a pipe for the exhaust going outside. But even now, I can fire it up inside the garage for a short emergency, as long as I'm careful when I go in there to refuel it.