One day soon, I am going to have to restart my genset. It needs two new batteries, and the lift fuel pump replaced.
The diesel is several years old, but I put plenty of algacide in, and it still looks clear.
Since I first started staying at the farm more or less full time, the power situation has improved.
The first improvement came after the power company found me driving along the main dirt road shooting tree limbs down that would touch the power lines in a wind storm.
They were fairly polite about it, I was holding a gun at the time, but did ask what would happen if I accidentally shot down the power line.
I informed them that I was not trying to shoot the powerline down, so there was zero chance of that happening.
But, if it did, how was that any different than the limbs doing it?
But, it did spur them into action, and they sent out the cutters and mowers and cleared off the right of way.
Then, last year, they finally got enough customers on the line that they had to up the feed voltage, so we all got new transformers and a lot of the iffy connections got cleaned up.
So, other than a log truck taking down a pole a month or so ago, the power has been pretty reliable.
However, hurricane season is here, and I may lose it all one of these days.
My genset is old, but at 100KW, it has no problem running everything here.
If I were starting from scratch, I would go with a self contained genset like I have now.
There are lots out there available. But, for someone with good fab skills, and some spare horsepower, a generator head might be cheaper.
Northern sells some. This is their biggest, head only, I think.
http://www.northerntool.com/shop/tools/product_8795_8795
For someone with a tractor, they sell some PTO generators that are larger. But you start getting into the price range of a whole system then.
I keep seeing where it looks like gensets are hard to get. And they may well be, I have not tried to buy one lately.
But, in checking some of my bookmarks from when I was pricing one for a friend, they still seem to be available.
For instance, this outfit seems to have plenty. Not sure about the prices, since it has been a couple of years since I was pricing them.
http://www.generatorjoe.net/store.asp
The diesel is several years old, but I put plenty of algacide in, and it still looks clear.
Since I first started staying at the farm more or less full time, the power situation has improved.
The first improvement came after the power company found me driving along the main dirt road shooting tree limbs down that would touch the power lines in a wind storm.
They were fairly polite about it, I was holding a gun at the time, but did ask what would happen if I accidentally shot down the power line.
I informed them that I was not trying to shoot the powerline down, so there was zero chance of that happening.
But, if it did, how was that any different than the limbs doing it?
But, it did spur them into action, and they sent out the cutters and mowers and cleared off the right of way.
Then, last year, they finally got enough customers on the line that they had to up the feed voltage, so we all got new transformers and a lot of the iffy connections got cleaned up.
So, other than a log truck taking down a pole a month or so ago, the power has been pretty reliable.
However, hurricane season is here, and I may lose it all one of these days.
My genset is old, but at 100KW, it has no problem running everything here.
If I were starting from scratch, I would go with a self contained genset like I have now.
There are lots out there available. But, for someone with good fab skills, and some spare horsepower, a generator head might be cheaper.
Northern sells some. This is their biggest, head only, I think.
http://www.northerntool.com/shop/tools/product_8795_8795
For someone with a tractor, they sell some PTO generators that are larger. But you start getting into the price range of a whole system then.
I keep seeing where it looks like gensets are hard to get. And they may well be, I have not tried to buy one lately.
But, in checking some of my bookmarks from when I was pricing one for a friend, they still seem to be available.
For instance, this outfit seems to have plenty. Not sure about the prices, since it has been a couple of years since I was pricing them.
http://www.generatorjoe.net/store.asp
He loves rides in the truck, even in hot weather, but I am sure the wind makes all the difference.
