Natural Gas Generator

[tobi]

I am planning to buy a generator but I am a concerned about being able to store enough gasoline to run it for long periods of time. Does anyone have an opinion on a natural gas generator? If SHTF, what is your confidence that natural gas will still be available? I considered propane but putting a tank in my yard is impractical.

 

[Spudgunr]

My opinion (not first hand) is that it is a great idea. You could also go dual fuel and go primarily natural gas. For backup you could also keep 20lb tanks or 100lb tanks of propane. If you get something big though it will go through a lot of propane. A 10hp engine would run through a 20lb tank in probably 4-5 hours. A couple 100lb propane tanks for backup would be easily stored though.

 

[Cynical]

Natural gas or L.P?

 

[Throwsstones]

I've got a generator that you can run it with gas, lp,or natural gas. Honda

 

[1911Shooter]

I am an electrician and if I had to recommend one I would say go with natural gas. Propane is impractical if you don't have a large source. If you have natural gas in your area do it. I would recommend sticking with a good name brand generator like kohler, generac, or guardian. You also want to make sure that it comes with an automatic transfer switch with a short delay. I would have this professionally installed also. This is not a do it yourself project. Be cautious of who you hire to do it cause you can back feed the lines and get someone seriously hurt. If you have any other questions please feel free to pm me.

 

[Snapdragon]

We have a natural gas backup generator, and it has come in handy dozens of times in power outages. There have probably been four or five times that the power has been out for at least a couple of days, and we were the only ones in the neighborhood still running.

I don't know if it will do any good if there is a natural disaster or a holocaust, but it's worth it just for the convenience alone.

 

[catfishjn69]

can you get a "plug in" for natural gas? I was thinking about getting a smaller generator that was tri fuel but really dont want to leave it outside hooked up to natural gas all the time. didnt know if they mad a quick connect for it.

 

[churchmouse]

I am planning to buy a generator but I am a concerned about being able to store enough gasoline to run it for long periods of time. Does anyone have an opinion on a natural gas generator? If SHTF, what is your confidence that natural gas will still be available? I considered propane but putting a tank in my yard is impractical.

If SHTF how will the gas continue to flow. Water and electricity as well. If the infrastructure fails that NG Genny will be no better than a boat anchor.

Horrible idea. Go diesel or gas.

 

[The Keymaster]

If SHTF how will the gas continue to flow. Water and electricity as well. If the infrastructure fails that NG Genny will be no better than a boat anchor.

Horrible idea. Go diesel or gas.

Well, unless you have an unlimited source for diesel or gas, you will be no better off. Bottom line, a generator will be fine for many scenarios, but it will likely be useless an a true SHTF situation, especially in an urban area. Solar or wind with backup batteries will be a better option for SHTF. We have a natural gas generator at our house, and an LP generator at our bug out location with 2 - 500 gallon tanks. We are looking into wind at the bug out, as even 1000 gallons of LP is insufficient long term.

 

[churchmouse]

Well, unless you have an unlimited source for diesel or gas, you will be no better off. Bottom line, a generator will be fine for many scenarios, but it will likely be useless an a true SHTF situation, especially in an urban area. Solar or wind with backup batteries will be a better option for SHTF. We have a natural gas generator at our house, and an LP generator at our bug out location with 2 - 500 gallon tanks. We are looking into wind at the bug out, as even 1000 gallons of LP is insufficient long term.

True but in a true SHTF scenario the utility's will be one of the first to fail. Everything is driven by electricity these days. Our gas is delivered by pipeline and regulated/distributed by pumps and valves that are, again, electric. If the grid fails what then....no power no NG. That would be the first to fail.
Localized power outage is another issue completely but OP mentions SHTF. In this, that genny would be useless.
We have gas gennys. We also have enough gas stored back and means to acquire more if need be. We also have a good sized battery back up. No solar on it as yet but it will run the lights for a good while. Even with this nothing is forever. Just a stop gap.

The BOL has both propane and Gasoline stored. Gas has to be rotated out over time and we do this. When ever we go to the BOL we take 5 or 10 Gallons of fresh fuel and put that amount in the rig. Fuel is near fresh. We do the same at home.
LP is mainly for cooking.

 

[Brandon]

What kind of SHTF idea are we planning for?
For me gas fits my ideas of a shtf scenario, it has it's down falls as does every other fuel source mentioned. Wind is great if it is windy, not sure how the small wind generators work, but if it is like the big ones they will stop if it is to windy. Solar, great as long as it's not in a storm, if it's cloudy will you get enough of a charge? Lp, storage limits, NG, will the supplier be able to supply or are the lines ruptured somewhere? Gas/diesel, can you keep enough?

 

[shibumiseeker]

What kind of SHTF idea are we planning for?
For me gas fits my ideas of a shtf scenario, it has it's down falls as does every other fuel source mentioned. Wind is great if it is windy, not sure how the small wind generators work, but if it is like the big ones they will stop if it is to windy. Solar, great as long as it's not in a storm, if it's cloudy will you get enough of a charge? Lp, storage limits, NG, will the supplier be able to supply or are the lines ruptured somewhere? Gas/diesel, can you keep enough?

It also depends on your mission.

I have enough gasoline stored to power my generators through their service lives. But I am also off-grid, my house is designed to be off-grid, and my power requirement for the entire house and shop is a fraction what the typical home is. And if you walked into the house you'd never know it is off-grid.

So even without the solar panels, I could burn only about a gallon a day of fuel and not notice any difference.

But that is a very different mission than keeping an all-electric house operating normally through short term outages. For that a NG or propane fueled backup generator is preferrable, because the generator there will be burning through 5-10 gallons of fuel a day. No big deal for a weeklong power outage, but a really big deal for long term survivalism.

For intermediate term use, a battery bank and inverter-charger that is hooked to critical circuits in the house and linked to a backup generator is the optimal solution. Normally the grid keeps the batteries topped off which drastically increases their life. But if the power goes out you have a few hours to deal with getting the generator going. And then when the generator is going you only have to run it a few hours a day to charge the batteries back up and power circuits at the same time. This is MUCH more efficient than having a generator running 24/7.

 

[The Keymaster]

The nice thing about the largest generation of generators is load sensing technology. My Generacs run at an RPM based on load requirements. The Generac I replaced 2 years ago ran full speed all the time. it is a real fuel saver.

 

[tobi]

Does anyone know about the natural gas distribution system? I see what appears to be backup generators at natural gas pumping stations that I believe are NG powered?? Is the system more self sufficient than we may believe? I understand the NG still has to be pulled from the ground, but once it is, can the NG generators keep the NG flowing?

 

[shibumiseeker]

Natural gas will basically keep flowing much longer than the power grid. It's much more robust and less prone to infrastructure collapse. The big weak points in the system are the fact that a very few major pipelines supply most of the system and once it has problems it is also much more difficult to repair. It's not a bad choice for short term backup power (up to a week or so), but the issue with it is that if the NG fails you are stuck with a generator you can't readily fuel, which is why dual or tri-fuel generators are better overall.

 

[catfishjn69]

Planning on buying a generator in the next month and definitly want to go tri fuel. but still wandering if there is a "quick connect" for the natural gas you can install. Ideally I want to have a portable generator that I can take with me, but for normal power outages I can run off natural gas. any suggestions
Fish

 

[churchmouse]

Planning on buying a generator in the next month and definitly want to go tri fuel. but still wandering if there is a "quick connect" for the natural gas you can install. Ideally I want to have a portable generator that I can take with me, but for normal power outages I can run off natural gas. any suggestions
Fish

You can rig up a quick connect but you there has to be a positive shut off valve between it and the supply. The offer male dummy plugs for the female disconnect that basically plug in like the male hose end and offer a positive cap. Even with the plug the code states a valve has to be in place.

 

[eldirector]

I've also been looking at a NG generator for the house. Around here, power interruptions are not uncommon, but gas rarely goes out. Have an auto-cut-over would be really nice, and would likely cover me for the vast majority of outages. Won't help much when the zombies come, but that isn't what it is for.

I'm also picking up a small diesel genset that can run things like the well pump and freezer, and will stock up on (more) fuel. A backup to a backup, and just darn handy, too.

 

[shibumiseeker]

I've also been looking at a NG generator for the house. Around here, power interruptions are not uncommon, but gas rarely goes out. Have an auto-cut-over would be really nice, and would likely cover me for the vast majority of outages. Won't help much when the zombies come, but that isn't what it is for.

I'm also picking up a small diesel genset that can run things like the well pump and freezer, and will stock up on (more) fuel. A backup to a backup, and just darn handy, too.

I've been off-grid for two decades. I have five generators, 4 battery banks, 4 inverters, and 1.5kW in solar, plus plugs to put the truck and car batteries and engines into any of the household and shop battery banks. Also various other forms of power generation I have played with over the years (pedal power, thermo-electric, wind) I don't believe in "backups," I believe in multiple redundant sources.

No matter what, I WILL have power.

 

[churchmouse]

ZOMBIES.......really, where.......