How long will generator run on propane tank

[@bdwillis8284]

I have a class c motorhome with a Cummins 3600 watt propane generator. 81 pound onboard tank. Lasts 50 hours continuous with generator running. Generator off furnace running I get three weeks. Just cooking on stove and oven about a year. Refrigerator, hot water heater and stove about 6 months. Thanks, great video

[@SuperRobkar]

@@bdwillis8284 thanks for watching, and good information you provided!

[@jcrjr383]

Thanks exactly what i wanted to know.

[@macmcleod1188]

Be aware that the quantity of gas in a propane tank can vary by where you buy it. If the tank is about $20 it probably has 3.5 gal. If the tank is about $15.00 it probably has around 2.5 to 3 gallons. If you go to a propane refill station, you'll pay $3.75 cents per gallon. If you have an actual 30 gallon tank in your backyard that they must come out and refill, it's going to run roughly 5 days.

[@SuperRobkar]

@@macmcleod1188 good info, thanks for sharing

[@macmcleod1188]

@@SuperRobkar yes if you go to the U-Haul store you can fill a tank with an exact amount of propane and then you'll know how how many hours you are getting per gallon.

[@robertkeller9828]

30 gallons NOT 30 LBS. THANKS for emphasizing that. 10p lb tank btw is 26.7 gallons slap full. You're talking Around 100 bux for 5 days not including oil changes. Really shpuldn't run one of these for longer than 8 hours max before shutting down to check oil and cool down. Get on natty gas and go whole house commercial for longer term outages and reliability (9 to 16k investment)

[@macmcleod1188]

@@robertkeller9828 need to consider that running a generator and only adding oil for a week is only going to take about a third of its life. And since you're talking about a $500 object, you're only talking about spending an extra $130. And since generators last for about 2000 hours you're reducing the life to maybe 1300 to 1400 hours by changing the oil less frequently. Meanwhile changing the oil frequently is going to cost you about $5 extra every time you change the oil. And 26 oil changes is $130.

[@hermancm]

I see LP weighs 4.2lbs per gallon. I’ve been looking into a way I can use propane for my Firman WHO3242 generator for a reasonable cost, currently to fill a 20lb tank it costs $5.70/g, a 100lb tank $4 a gallon, my 500g tank- last summer fill, $1.29/g and lots of run time if I go that route. I heat with free wood so I don’t use much propane from the big tank so I think I’ll do that.

[@SuperRobkar]

I’d probably go that last route too, just make sure you have proper regulators and all is hooked up correctly and certified. You don’t want any issues with a tank that large

[@macmcleod1188]

U-Haul charges about three dollars and 75 cents per gallon.

[@Skyfall-sv8df]

Nice. Where did you get the manifold setup?

[@bobjeffrey8863]

My Costco FURMAN ( the big boy) a 20 lb tank lasted 6 .5 Hours running 3 Frigs and whole house We did a load of wash and dried it.. AND our Furman only cost $ 699 vs a Honda at $ 2,500-3000

[@SuperRobkar]

Impressive. I prefer the inverter generators as they are very quiet.

[@andreyanderson8798]

How many hours you have on your generator? I converted my EU3000 to run on propane. It worked fine up about 600 hours, then stopped. Took it to a dealer, the valves needed to be reset. And then every 150 hours needed to be taken to a dealer for valves reset. I got tired of taking it to a dealer, at about 900 hours switched it to run on gas. It has almost 2000 hours now with zero issues. A tech told me that to run it on propane I need different valves.

[@SuperRobkar]

@@andreyanderson8798 as long as you run the propane lean you should be fine, it’s when the propane is running rich it will burn things , i.e valve and or piston. Exact opposite of running gasoline. If you run gasoline rich it has a cooling effect, if you run gasoline engine lean, it runs hotter. I’m not aware of propane specific valves for the eu3000.

[@charliebecker2216]

So the generator was used to only power ac units ? Which was 1/3 generator capacity so if u had to use 80-90% u would use double the amount of propane. So 1-2 propane tanks a day to keep ac, lights and refrigerators going. U could probably run generator 8-12 duty cycle.

[@SuperRobkar]

It was connected to the house, so whatever else was on, lights, computers, ceiling fans, fridge, but you are correct, if I was maxed out, prob need two 20 lb tanks. I did end up buying a larger 100 lb tank

[@drrobotnikmeanbeanma]

What's the names of the lightest and the most quietest 4,000w gas generators with electric start and or Remote start that can use gas or propane ?

[@joshfleet5]

Honda

[@neilgordo4654]

Honda

[@IntensDays-yt7hy]

What up so how many gallons of gas would that of taken? Seems like propane is the way to go. If power went out for a extended period I'd rather store that then gas(therapeutically speaking I don't have a backup system yet, still looking into all options). And much easier refueling with propane rather then refiling it with gas....two 40 gallons tanks could get a few days...depends on price or the tanks and if it's cheaper to buy or rent

[@ChaJ67]

I crunched some numbers for my dual fuel generator and came up with the following: 15 lbs propane tank is = 1.9 gallons of gasoline in terms of run time. From the looks of it with the numbers he puts out, this Honda generator probably has about the same burn rate ratio. As for propane around where I live, doing tank swaps is ~$27 per 15 lbs propane tank. However, a local filling station when filling at least 30 lbs propane tanks you bring to them is far cheaper. I mean half the price per lb of propane or less. When dealing with larger propane tanks, there is the question of how do you transport and store these tanks? A fully fueled 30 lbs propane tank weighs over 50 lbs. When you start talking about running for days off a propane tank, you start getting into maybe they come out to your place to fill up the massive stationary tank you have setup. I suppose if you already have a large propane tank because you don't have natural gas, then you are good to go. At least with my generator and older fridge with no soft start capabilities setup for it, the fridge draws enough on start when the generator is on ECO mode to cause my UPS for my computer setup to trip. With ECO mode off, the generator can swallow the surge. This leads me to think the real reason for an ECO mode switch is to have the generator run with enough kinetic energy overhead to handle single phase motor hard starts. Without the fridge, ECO mode works fine in terms of not having any voltage sags as my A/C is inverter based, so starts very softly. Of course this means to make everything happy on your inverter generator, you may need to burn the fuel faster when dealing with hard start appliances. A 30 lbs propane tank should run my place all day with some inverter based A/C action on a hot day. Maybe something to consider for a house or large apartment, which I have done, is the cool room concept were one room has a window based or portable dual hose air conditioner. Normally, you run this room cooler than the rest of the house as it will be the room you spend the most time in on hot summer days. Especially with a portable unit, while usually not as nice as other solutions in some ways such as noise, it could be moved between rooms without too much effort. In an emergency situation, you will have a room to go to that the generator can power if you can't power a whole house central A/C system. When you get to this scale, consider running some electronic equipment, and running a refrigerator, then a 30 lbs propane tank becomes an all day solution, even in the summer.

[@macmcleod1188]

2 40 gallon tanks should run a system for about 40 days. So perhaps you meant two 40 lb tanks? That would run your system about 2 days.

[@macmcleod1188]

You should be able to refill at U-Haul for 375 per gallon

[@markdavis9586]

Nice kit where did u purchase it ?

[@SuperRobkar]

Nash fuel. I got mine on eBay it was about 60

[@macmcleod1188]

Quick tip: never turn on a propane tank fast. That will cause its safety valve to seize or freeze. You just barely crack it open until you can hear the gas moving. Then wait a couple seconds and open it another half turn and start your generator. Once your generator is running, then open the valve several more turns.

[@cajun3197]

How does that inverter unit handle your dryer?

[@SuperRobkar]

The heating element is 5300 watts, should be able to handle, but I wouldn’t use the generator for the dryer, I’d air dry them

[@cajun3197]

@@SuperRobkar yea I would too I was just curious. Thanks

[@stevecooper2873]

_2000_ watts for central air? 7000 is about average. What brand is yours ??

[@SuperRobkar]

It’s a Goodman, I think it’s only 2 ton, I bet yours is a 5 ton.

[@macmcleod1188]

In my experience central air conditioning units run between 2400 w and 3000 w for a 2000 square foot house. So I would expect that a unit consuming 7,000 Watts was on a house that was over 4,000 square feet.

[@Trev811]

Dude add the black line between the first reg and the garretts reg not between the garretts reg and the gen you will have better fuel efficiency

[@billcoltharp]

What’s a Garrett?

[@thomasgibson8025]

Do you understand the purpose of the Garetts safety diaphram?

[@Trev811]

Yes I do and I didn't tell you to take it out just to move it closer to the generator

[@rdance3]

What are the specs on that power cord? It looks like your running off a 110 outlet.

[@SuperRobkar]

30 amp 10 ga 120/240 cord

[@rdance3]

Is it something you built? @@SuperRobkar

[@SuperRobkar]

@@rdance3 no I think that’s a generac generator cord

[@aliasgertayabali5260]

The most important point is that it's a Honda period. Other brands will not perform in no way near to this,as for power delivery, noise and efficiency. You get what you pay.

[@TheOnlyOneStanding8079]

How long can it run a refrigerator

[@SuperRobkar]

I’d bet about 15 hours tops . If you only have a frig get a smaller Gen or a portable lifepo4 battery with inverter

[@robertkeller9828]

12 ho 0:47 urs at half load. Long as your "disastor" lasts no more than half-a-day, you'll be "fine" (SMH!)

[@SuperRobkar]

@@robertkeller9828 I think you are missing the point.,these,tanks,can be had,just. About anywhere where as gasoline might not be as readily available in a disaster

[@jerryhughes5380]

I think you need a minimum 100 pound LPG tank to power this size generator.

[@SuperRobkar]

You did watch the video, yes?

[@jerryhughes5380]

@@SuperRobkar yes I did. You need 1000 BTU’s per horsepower to properly run the engine. . Running the engine on less than rated RPMs can cause additional wear on piston rings, camshaft lobes, push rods and valves. You can’t get that rate of delivery from a small tank even if you are using the right size lpg orifice.

[@SuperRobkar]

@@jerryhughes5380 if this were a fixed speed generator and I was maxing out the watts being used, then I’d agree with you. But that’s not the case here.

[@jerryhughes5380]

@@SuperRobkar enjoy your generator, while it lasts.

[@williamzee7748]

Can’t hear you when generator on….🤦‍♂️🙅‍♂️