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Best type of generators

equiqed

Member
I know diesel generators are reliable but how can you get away with that much diesel fuel and not get caught. What about hydro generators or solar panels ?
 

watts

ohms
Veteran
I think by law you can carry 90-100 gallons of diesel in your truck unless you have special permits to purchase and transport more. But basically you just buy a 90 gallon external tank with pump, go to gas stations and fill up. You don't have to go to the same gas station each time. Pretty simple really, but yes it requires more work and maintenance than most people realize. The bigger your grow, the more fuel you will be using of course.
 

Snauseberry

Member
You would need so many solar panels to run a decent sized grow. Also, in california you are only permitted to use enough panels to cover your average usage the year before. I guess if you already have a high bill you would just need the extra space for all the panels. Which id assume could look suspicious.



As far as generators go, i did the math recently and it woud only be worth it if you are running 15-20k in lights. And diesel would be the only way to go. The bigger the generator, the more efficient they get. Hope this helps
 

120Octane

Member
Look into GENERAC. You can use natural gas or propane or diesel fuel depending on the size. They sell a TON of back up emergency gens from 5K to 20Kwatt an hour, for residential so when the power goes out you have power. The thing about Generac is they do MORE than res housing back up units which fire up 10 seconds typically after no power in the breaker panel and shut off when the power is back on the main service automaticlly.

They will make a gen system to fit your needs. Need 100K watt per hour, they got ya covered. If your needing smaller units like say a 5K watt or up to 20K watt for house back up unit to run 24 hours a day 7 days a week they can make you a switch gear unit to go along with your generators.

What this does is use 2 generators. Lets say A and B generator.

A runs for 12 hours then switches to B.The switch panel knows at 11 hours and 55 minutes( as example this can be designed to your needs) to fire B up. At 11 hours and 59 minutes it does a diagnostic check to make sure that B has proper oil temp and oil pressure, knows the Voltage coming off B is correct, knows the Amps coming of of B is correct. At 12 hours it shuts A off and switches the panel to allow B to provide power in a very quick time frame so you or your equipment does not see a power blip, it is seamless.

Lets say something happens to the B generator while it is running and could destroy itself, or damage the system because of the amount of AMPS or volts being produced. The switch panel will automaticlly shut down B generator and fire A up and resume power production.

You can go into L!owes and buy a 20k watt hour unit for around 4500$, this is a rough number it will vary depending on where you are at. If the gen set up was being used to power a grow 24-7 you need to have 2 generators so they last.

You can run 1 non stop for short period of time but cant do it for months on end. I would just look up generac and call them direct and tell them what your needs are.This woudl be the Voltage, and Amps and the Kwatt an hour. Be sure to give yourself a lil xtra Kwatt than you need so you can expand out if need it. Never know may want to run Under Current for you moms and need 2KW more down the road.

When you call them to spec what yo need just say it will be used in a remote area for a vacation home in rural area during the summer. The differance between propane and natural gas is the orfice in the supply hose to feed the generators.It takes more propane to do same amount of work as natural gas but tell them will run on propane and you can change the orfice for natural gas if you are able to use natural gas.


Lets say that I know where 2 20K an hour gens are at with switch gear that use natural gas and other than routine maintance( oil changes, air filters) has ran for 3 years non stop. Generac is the only ones that make everything in house engines, stators, housings, electronics package all of it. Alot of it is how many amps you need and what voltage, need 400V,220V,110V. How much of wich do you need. If going this route may aswell run as much on 220V as you can. For instance you can run 5 1K lites on 15 amps @ 220V where you can run 1 1K lite @ 110V on 15 amps.
 

stoned-trout

if it smells like fish
Veteran
when I had a genny .I had a home heating fuel truck come and fill up...cheaper than buying diesel at the gas station ...I had several bigass tanks...I also got to lock in a set price for the year and no hauling fuel...yeehaw...been into solar and the cost is huge , I added some marine wind generators too but only for the house not growing..hydro only works if ya got running water ...hydro is doable in the right situation....
 

equiqed

Member
Isn't having a lot of fuel delivered all the time more suspicious? Unless you have a personal connect to the fuel company or you live in a very remote area. How much can they deliver at a time?
 
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