What's the best kind of generator, fuel-wise; propane, gas or diesel, for my home?

[Sun]

We are on the market for a generator, and are wondering which brand to get, and what kind of fuel is safest, easier to obtain, or better all around.

Also, which brands of generators are best?

[Cool Guy]

Sun, you should go solar.

[Ouderkirk]

propane doesn't get "stale" like gas or diesel

[JoeSixPack1]

We did a thread on this about 8 months ago. Lots of good info.

[Paladin2]

Natural gas, if you got it.

[Wingy]

Lol...Stand by...This will be good.

[HAL9000]

Google: fuel cell generator

[Lancer_N3502A]

Convert it to run on alcohol, then build a still.

[cripplecreek]

I've got a gasoline powered generator with a propane conversion. So far I haven't used propane with it, besides propane costs almost as much as gas lately.

[Paladin2]

Hydrogen, otherwise.

[ButThreeLeftsDo]

Honda. Very quiet.

[Paladin2]

Or:

Cold Fusion

[Blueflag]

Is this for seldom-happens, short duration outages?

Or anticipated, frequently happens long duration outages?

Do you want to run the house? Or just a few critical appliances and lights?

Will you want a portable generator so it can be used for jobs as well as household backup? ( I have a large portable that can power our vacation home as well as provide power for lotsa tools on a construction site)

Do you care about how quiet it is?

Are you planning to go "off grid", co-gen, or sell power back onto the grid?

Tell us more about how you plan to use the generator.

If it's just to run the fridge and a few lights when an ice storm knocks out power, then run down to Home Depot/ Lowes and buy an 8500W Honda powered gasoline 'portable'. That's my recommendation. 8500 watts can run our 3 bedroom vacation home if we are judicious about consumption. Ran that sucker for nearly three days straight once. AND it has helped build many a structure. No maintenance worries at all.

[carlr]

For practicality gasoline.

Should be easy to start if it is cold where you are and fuel can be purchased conveniently.

Whatever you get don`t put in your basement and try to pipe the exhaust outside.

[Ramtek57]

Well, it depends on what you are going to use it for. Long term generation of your own power, then diesel is the answer. If it is for emergency use, then you need the one that you will have fuel for. Like if you have a propane tank at your house, and some emergency happens where you electricity will be out for several days, then use propane. Just about any gasoline generator can be converted. If there is any experts out there, you may correct me.

You can buy stabilizer for gasoline and it will last for more than a year. They may even make a fuel stabilizer for diesel.

I live where Rita hit, SW LA. We were out of electricity for 2 weeks. I used a gasoline generator that I have mounted on our RV. I am thinking about buying a larger one that has 220 so I can run my water well pump. I have my own deep well here. Since I have my own propane tank, I will get one that can run on propane.

[_Jim]

For practicality gasoline.

GREAT idea if you don't use or service the thing for a year; 'gasoline', a light hyrdocarbon, will evaporate most of the lighter maerial leaving behind the HEAVIER componenets in a gooey, thick, carburetor clogging mess.

For a reliable, standby source, with autostart go with propane.

[Kirkwood]

Get a Tri-fuel generator.

[xcamel]

I have a BIG diesel, 55hp izusu (45KW 3-phase, 27KW single). Bought new in 1998, katolite tranfer switch, automatic weekly exerciser, runs 27 hours on a 24 gal red/bio diesel tank (B35 max).

The unit used to be sold on the multiquip whisperwatt MQ45 label, and a favorite with the film industry because they are so quiet. I fully power a 300 ac farm when the lines go down.

(not on trailer, pad mounted)

automatic run-up on brown-out, 8 second response to full power on power outage.

[Sun]

"Sun, you should go solar."

We're not rich. :)

[Sun]

How does gas or diesel get stale, and can't you use cooking oil as diesel in a pinch?