Flooding in Ohio was RE: [AT] stiff tractor day (OT) and ramble

[Billy Hood]

Cecil
Your comment about 50 gallons a day brings memories of my old LeRoi generator.  When we were farrowing 360 sows in underground house, we had to have backup power.  We had a 1930's LeRoi generator with a hand crank 6 cyl gas engine.  This was 18KW 3 ph and had an old Corp of Eng tag on it.  It always cranked and I had a schedule to crank it every Monday about 7 am and let it run a 15 hp motor for half an hour.  The only drawback was it only had about a 5 gallon tank (square tank under cowling and was sure it was the stock factory OEM).  it would burn 10-14 gal/hr under load of farrowing house and nursery.  We had a 75 gal stainless tank that we picked up junk somewhere and I would put it in the loader bucket of the 1520 JD and suspend it over the generator.  A 1/4" fuel line with needle valve was dropped into the little oem tank and a drip was alllowed that fed the tank without overflow--KISS.  I bought an army portable 12kw generator with 3/53 Detroitfor the feedmill--we ground feed every day.    It used diesel, but not like the gas LeRoi.  It was always hard to start in cold weather and could have used an overhaul.  I later bought a 20KW PTO at an auction for $200 and used it for the feed mill in place of the 3/53 powered one.  Always had to make sure I had gas and diesel in the tanks in case of power failure.  Usually ran the PTO generator with 3020 propane and we had 2 500 gal nurse tanks for it.

If I needed backup power today, I think I would go back to PTO.  I work on the automatic controls for a couple of generators used at a school facility and large greenhouse complex and there is always something to give you a headache.   Sometimes wish, we could live completely off the grid and no telephones, computers, or utility bills.
Bear
  ----- Original Message ----- 
  From: CBear81438 at aol.com<mailto:CBear81438 at aol.com> 
  Ran for a week on a 15 KW generator (gas)  6 cyl continental engine,  used 60 
  gallons a day.