Portable Generator

[crawford 111]

this is for my house and rv for back up

EGO PST3041 3000W Nexus Portable Power Statio w/ 4

 

[Isaac-1]

Now how do you recharge it?

 

[crawford 111]

400 watt solar panels or 120 volts or 12 volt from truck the last to will take much longer. panels 5 hours from almost dead. But I do have spare batterys which will replace worn one, With e go I have a spare one with the leave blower, the chain saw, string trimmer. will be looking at the zero turn mower electric power.

 

[Alontheway]

He recharges it with his generator which he has to have to run the AC unit. Pretty much the biggest reason most of us have generators is to run the air conditioner. We can get by without a way to recharge the batteries if the vehicle alternator or the solar panels fail, but for the AC unit a gen is needed.
All other electric items have substitutes, but the AC is just not one of those...

At $1,400, if the EGO does the same thing with the same wattage / amp hours as a Jackery or similar item then great as it serves double duty for power tools too. I do not think it does. 3000 watts I assume is the inverter, but 4 x 5amp/hr batteries (20 amp hours? what voltage, 40?) is not going to compete with the 100 amp/hr units at similar prices.

 

[crawford 111]

my warranty is 3 years the Jackery is 1 year is battery pack fails you toss it in garbage mine slide battery out replace it. which ever-one fails

 

[crawford 111]

I guess

Alontheway he doesn't know what solar panels do LOL​

 

[Isaac-1]

Still it does not look like much bang for the buck if the specs are right with 4 5AH batteries, I just bought 420AH of 12V LiFePo4 batteries last month for $1492 delivered. (I already had 400W of solar and a 2000 watt pure sine wave inverter)

 

[John From Detroit]

What is the appeal for an RV gen that runs on propane?
Any generator almost can be modified to run on propane, natural gas or gasoline. This is all done at the carb. The rest of the engine doesn't care unless you are using a two-stroke mix.

There are a couple of "advantages" to propane depending on the RV.
First: for a Trailer. Often you have Propane but not Gasoline in the tanks Though I do admit that generators suck a lot of propane.

Second, because Propane has not quite the "kick" of vaporized gasoline, the generator is not as loud.

Finally.. IF you do not use the generator often gas can turn to Varnish and clog metering jets and such or break down and damage the engine in other ways.. Diesel can grow algae and clog up the works (Seen it happen with my own eyes. and not just the generator gut the RV's main motor, Thankfully it was only the filter that got clogged and a new filter, and a bottle of algae be gone and he was good to go. Beautiful vintage (over 25 years old) blue bird motor home)

Propane lasts a long. long, (several years long if not forever) time.

On the down side, and it is a BIG!!! down side

With a gasoline genny.. If I run low on fuel I can grab my 5 Gallon can and hop in the run-about to the nearest working fuel pump. With a Propane Generator... Well that's not always possible (If the tank is mounted for example and it's not all that recommended to haul luggable bottles in a car) and it may be a lot, lot farther (or not) to the Propane refill station.

 

[Alontheway]

^ I mean... What is the appeal for the OP. If he plans to use the gen once per year or use it every weekend. The reason he is considering dual fuel matters alone.
With dual fuel, can you just run it on propane a number of minutes and purge the gasoline?

Crawford, he probably does not know about solar, but he did not say why he needed a gen so IDK if it would help.

He asked where the best place to buy is like the retail location had any bearing at all on the quality of the generator. It all seems nonsense as the generator is exactly the same anywhere it is sold. Price is the main difference. Most retailers are restricted to how low they can price an items by the manufacturer or the distributor anyway.
That said, still the best place to buy is where they have the most generous return/warranty policy and that has is nation-wide.
That said, maybe you prefer support the small mom/pop stores to counter the cabal....
These open ended questions with no specifics get all kinds of random discussions.

 

[DutchmenSport]

As stated above, one thing to consider, if you are considering propane? Propane generators use a LOT of propane. From everything I've read, they will drain a 30 gallon propane tank in your RV, like .... within hours.

Personally, I have not found any application where I wished my generators were propane instead of gas. I suppose if I somehow wired them directly to run as a whole house generator, that would be different, only for convenience and the need to refill the gas every 16 hours.

This is something you should really ask yourself before purchasing.... When, why, how often, and under what conditions would you use propane to power your portable generator instead of using gasoline? And ... how readily available and convenient will it be when your generator runs out of propane to refill it?


HOWEVER! On the other side of the coin ... it is nice to have options ... gas or propane? Because you just never know!

 

[ziplock]

Beautiful vintage (over 25 years old) blue bird motor home)

Gee those are pretty and they must hold their value:

https://www.rvtrader.com/listing/1999-Blue-Bird-43LXI---WANDERLODGE-5018206099

 

[JayArr]

From everything I've read, they will drain a 30 gallon propane tank in your RV, like .... within hours.

I think what DutchmanSport read was false. Mine has never drained my tank that fast and it's an older 4000W Briggs and Stratton.

My genny is plumbed directly into the propane system of the trailer. I have two 30 lb removable tanks with the switchover so I have lots of time to fill any tank that empties.

My opinion is the opposite of Dutchman, why would anyone want to carry gasoline and refill a tank when they already have a supply of propane fuel onboard.

 

[ziplock]

Do you have to drive somewhere to fill the propane tanks or just walk up the path to the propane spot at the campground?

 

[JayArr]

We're travellers not campers, rarely in one spot more than 2-3 days so we move around a lot. I usually pass a propane refill center at least once a day. Since the second tank will last for days and days it's pretty easy for me to have the empty tank filled when I pull in for gas for the Envoy tow vehicle.

It would be different for an RV since there may only be one tank and it would also be different if you parked in one spot all the time and had to move the RV to refill the built in tank BUT if you're boondocking and using the genny to replenish batteries you're probably going to run out of water or fill your grey tank long before you run out of propane so you're probably moving around anyway.

The OP has the name Fatherof4 so I'm guessing water will be more of a concern than emptying the propane tank.

Good Luck Fatherof4 - I would choose Sams Club only because there is no way to talk to Amazon if there is a problem.

 

[John From Detroit]

Gee those are pretty and they must hold their value:

https://www.rvtrader.com/listing/1999-Blue-Bird-43LXI---WANDERLODGE-5018206099

One of the fun weeks there were two BB's parked side by side. The vintage one I mentioned above and one of the last made... Other than a strip of plastic on the front that had suffered from exposure to the sun they looked identical.. That's one nice coach. Well 2 nice coaches in this case.

 

[Ex-Calif]

My opinion is the opposite of Dutchman, why would anyone want to carry gasoline and refill a tank when they already have a supply of propane fuel onboard.

Propane generator makes a lot of sense for a TT when you are already carrying propane.

Gas makes sense in a gas RV when you are already carrying gas.

Diesel generator makes sense if you have a diesel RV.

Lots of boats have diesel generators for this reason.

I guess I am at a loss for why one would need the complexity of dual fuel but whatever blows your skirt up. For me the drawback is that propane is not the densest way to store energy but if it's a TT there is a lot to be said for not having to store jerry cans of gasoline in the rig.

 

[Gary RV_Wizard]

Propane as a fuel is clean and easier/safer to store and handle than gasoline. You don't have to worry about storage time (shelf life) like you do for gasoline, so has some advantage as an occasional or emergency-use fuel.

Dual fuel simply gives you more options for obtaining fuel in remote areas or emergency circumstances. It doesn't really add much complexity - basically just a propane regulator/adapter for a standard DOT LP bottle.

Propane yields less usable energy than gasoline, so yes the generator consumes more fuel to produce a given level of power. The Westinghouse generator in question here has a 10% lower wattage rating when running on propane fuel, 3330 vs 3700 continuous and 4050 vs 4500 max.

Propane generators use a LOT of propane. From everything I've read, they will drain a 30 gallon propane tank in your RV, like .... within hours.

I think this is somewhat overstated, plus it maybe refers to a 30 lb tank rather than 30 gallon. The Westinghouse is rated to run 22 hours at 25% load with a common 20# (3.7 gallon) LP bottle. At 100% load, that would indeed drop to around 5.5 hours. A 30 gallon LP tank (which isn't portable at all) would probably last a couple days even at 100% load.

Westinghouse spec sheet.

 

[Ex-Calif]

As I think outside the RV world a dual fuel generator would be an awesome idea for a property where one is off the city gas grid and has a giant propane tank for the house. Especially in Hurricane zones like Florida. For short term outages gas is fine but if the outage is long term gas supplies become a problem and it would be cool to be able to tap into a giant propane tank.

Fortunately/Unfortunately for me I am going all electric on my new home so am not gonna have that option.

For RVs they definitely have a degree of allure for reasons Gary mentions. The trade off is complexity and weight of carrying the extra fuel type which is obviously a trade off.

 

[TonyL]

I am carrying a pair of ~2000 watt dual fuel Champion units at 38 lbs each.

We have Champion 2000 watt units but not duel fuel.
Just wish there was a remote start/stop facility on them like their bigger brothers.

 

[John From Detroit]

We have Champion 2000 watt units but not duel fuel.
Just wish there was a remote start/stop facility on them like their bigger brothers.

You need to train Junior and bring him along. You know like a 1960's television remote.
John can you tune it to channel 6? (Ask as a question but we all know it was a command)