Types of generators to have on hand if things get bad.

[Henry W]

With all the unrest going on in the US if been thinking of making a bug out generator that will give enough power to run life support. I have the Yamaha 1000 watt inverter generator that has been a reliable unit with good fuel. But what about bad gasoline? Or what about gasoline mixed with oil, kerosene, jet fuel, diesel or other stuff?

The generator has to be light to move and easy to service.

I have two New in the box military standard engines. The Model Numbers are 1A08-4.
The engines I purchased about 7 years ago are manufactured by Teledyne.

http://saturnsurplus.com/engine/onecyl.htm

The weakest link on these engines is the carburetor float. They swell up with ethanol fuel. I called up Zenith Fuel Systems about 7 years ago. They made the carburetor's for lots of the military engines and spoke to an older gentleman about the float problem. He worked there for over 40 years and he remembered that they made brass floats in the beginning and the government did not want to invest in using brass floats. They needed to get the cost down. So the brass floats they had were put away. He went in the warehouse and found four of the original brass floats so I bought them. I tried one and they were an exact fit. These engines were intentionally under rated to 1-1/2 hp. I've heard that they are about 2-1/2 to 3 hp. These engines should put out enough for a compact setup. I believe the engines are set up to use a generator head that's set up for J609a mounting. The engines max recommended speed is 4000 rpm so I'm thinking of running direct.

Anyone else thinking of building something for hard times?

[playdiesel]

Where are you planning to go when you bug out? We live a rural area and have no plans to go anywhere.  My set wasn't really built for some armageddon scenerio but would serve the purpose and is already built and sitting in the shed. Nothing new or exciting about it, a Listeroid running a 5KW ST.  I heat my shop with waste oil and have a large supply at all times. Thus my plan should it be needed long term is to tap into the waste oil tank for power generation. At 5 gallons per day I can power my home for a couple years if my storage tanks are full.
My attitude about civil unrest situations is that if it gets bad enough that we do not have grid or food that we will have far bigger worries for out health and safety than generating power. Heck just watch people go nuts over little bumps in life's road! ,, Let alone end of civilization as we live it now. The average family has a few days worth of food and no ability to forage for it. Wanna guess how they will feed themselves?  Maybe they will have gold? Bring about 10 lbs of it of you want a slice of my last load of bread or that 19 lbs of gold MIGHT purchase one loaded of ammo, oh you don't have a weapon? Do you have a wheelbarrow full of gold to trade?

Best just hope it never happens and be properly prepared for the after life,,,,

[Henry W]

There are plenty of places where I can get away from large cities and towns. I know some good people. It would only take me 15 minutes to hitch up and bug out if a situation ever gets bad here. I have roughly a month supply of food. I can store 32 gallons of water. Have 12 gallons of Coleman white gas for cooking I have one single burner, one two burner Coleman stove, and one compact Optimus 8R stove.

People get the wrong idea. Most older people, including myself need to be around medical facilities. I'm talking about getting out of an area temporarily until a situation settles down. I always have a 90 day supply of medications stored away and the stock is rotated.

The pickup I'm using at this time has a 300 + mile range while hauling 7000 Lbs.

In North Carolina we get hit with tropical storms and hurricanes. There was a time when we first moved down here that we lost power for over two weeks. It was unpleasant, but we managed. At the time we had no generator and the electric stove was useless. Had no radio to hear what's going on. Cell towers were down. So I learned. I also learned that a 1000 watt generator is one of the handiest ones to have.

The Yamaha 1000 watt inverter generator fuel consumption was only .60 gallons in 10 hours. So 1-1/2 gallons of fuel to run it continuous is possible. Since I have one deep cycle battery and if I only use lights sparingly I only need to run the generator once or twice a day just to keep it fully charged. The refrigerator/ freezer can run on propane for over 30 days with two thirty pound tanks.

The refrigerator/freezer can run on 120 volts drawing 325 watts. So I have some options. The best thing is to install two solar panels on the roof.

The generator I'm thinking of building is one that will be brought out to operate when good fuels are not available. I'm looking at roughly $200.00 to complete.

[sailawayrb]

https://www.campingworld.com/alp-1000-watt-propane-powered-generator-122726.html?gclid=CjwKCAiAxp-ABhALEiwAXm6IyeakW1_zb36joWTFFgrynPkIVr8GD3ezI9kUa12N7PnGk-X4OTBUYRoCdIkQAvD_BwE&gclsrc=aw.ds

[Henry W]

Rob, it's nice but I don't need another 1000 watt inverter generator. Plus I don't want to be dependent on running on all propane. Want to try to keep propane for cooking and operating the refrigerator if needed.
I have a friend that has a power equipment shop that has lots of ethanol gas in a  couple 55 gallon drums. It came from power equipment that has not been drained.  Probably the ethanol separated by now. With 6 to 1 compression the engines I have, they should run on this fuel.

[Henry W]

Rob, I was thinking about the inverter generator you posted. I decided to look into a conversation kit for the Yamaha and there is one available. The only concern I would have is propane engines seem to run slightly hotter. The Yamaha 1000is has been a very reliable piece.  It's one of the few generators that I pretty much take any place. Before I started using it I purchased a filler cap with a magnet. I had to clean it regularly the first few oil changes. After a while there was very little steel or iron on it. To this day I don't have to add oil between changes. If I was into another one I would check that one out.

Thanks for posting it.