Has anyone used a generator?

[zenoonez]

If you had a way to power it cheaply like on methane from manure or wood-gas or something like that it could work.

 

[GrowerGoneWild]

The only way a generator would be worth it if is you were stealing the damn fuel. I have a very large generator and it would cost a fortune to run it 18 hours a day. For back up power there great but constant use and the price of all fuels it wouldn't make sence. I have seen large grow ops without electric available (to remote )useing generators growing huge amounts of pot but that was when the fuel prices were much lower. My generator is enclosed and the sound would not be an issue for me but i couldnt afford the fuel.

The diesel used by a 5.5 KW gen my friend uses is roughly 4 gallons a day. So yes it is expensive.

So a rough guestimate not including clone/mom wattage. And just calculating bloom wattage.

4 KW grow @ an average will put out .8 GPW. or 3200 grams @ a price of 6 dollars a wholesale gram.

So say we take a 60 day strain and average out fuel costs @ 400 bucks a month.

The running costs wont break you at those rough estimates.

Its not a good idea for those with small crops, or those in urban areas, but it may be the only way for those in remote locations.

 

[GrowerGoneWild]

If you had a way to power it cheaply like on methane from manure or wood-gas or something like that it could work.

You have to burn alot of wood just to make wood gas.

If you _had_ to or just happen to have a huge pile of wood to make wood gas, sure go for it.

Biofuels are expensive, or bulky.

 

[zenoonez]

You have to burn alot of wood just to make wood gas.

If you _had_ to or just happen to have a huge pile of wood to make wood gas, sure go for it.

Biofuels are expensive, or bulky.

Woodgas isn't that bad. When I was in high school a couple of friends and I along with one of their dads took an old toyota truck and ran it off of wood gas produced in a 50 gallon barrel. It would run about 4-5 hrs on it before having to empty the drum. It was pretty fun. You are right though, you would have to create some sort of automated system to feed wood in at a pace and some method for continuously removing the ashes. It could be done but it would be a pain in the rear end. I think methane would be a better option if you had access to the amount of raw manure it would take.

 

[kcbudz31]

sure you gotta clean and process the veg oil first but they pay people to haul that stuff away

not in my town, we may be a bit more liberal than most but a lot of people that converted to biodiesel in the past few years are now getting screwed cause they rolled the dice on the oil being free and now they have a huge bill from the bio conversion and nobody will give them oil or sell it cheap

plus most large chain restaurants have recognized that the oil is valuable energy and has recycling/pick up services, the era of 'beating the man' via bio is over

 

[GrowerGoneWild]

Woodgas isn't that bad. When I was in high school a couple of friends and I along with one of their dads took an old toyota truck and ran it off of wood gas produced in a 50 gallon barrel. It would run about 4-5 hrs on it before having to empty the drum.

I dont have anything against woodgas.

Ok at the very minimum 60 days of 2 50 gal drums of wood. Plus the wood to burn that wood.

Thats alot of wood to burn for power generation.

Anyways, thats a gasoline engine, I dont think woodgas is compatible with diesel generators, that needs hydraulic pressure to open those injectors.

 

[humboldtlocal]

Mine was burning forty gallons a day but what it was powering made the cost well worth it.

 

[zenoonez]

I dont have anything against woodgas.

Ok at the very minimum 60 days of 2 50 gal drums of wood. Plus the wood to burn that wood.

Thats alot of wood to burn for power generation.

Anyways, thats a gasoline engine, I dont think woodgas is compatible with diesel generators, that needs hydraulic pressure to open those injectors.

Oh no I understand man, it would be a lot of work to get a geny to run off of wood-gas for a long period of time no doubt. If I had the time and money to fiddle with it I might try but I don't. However, you wouldn't need a two step setup in having a fire to burn the wood to a high temp, you just need to pack a drum and light it from the bottom, let the engine suck the wood-gas in once it was to a point of sustaining flame and there you go. You are right though, you would have to cool the wood-gas and you would probably have to filter it somewhat for it not to gunk up the engine. It would be a ton of work. Again, biogas is a more viable option I think.

 

[jarff]

I have a 6Kw three cylinder Kubota that burns about 8 gallons a day at $4.00 gal. It runs at a steady 1800 rpm.and is good for about 10K hours before needing a re-build.It,s in a fairly sound proof shed.(i,m in the country so no neighbours nearby).I run it 12 hours a day with 8x600 watt ballasts,which gives me about 6 or 7 lb.every 55 days.
I bought the generator at a gov,t surplus for $4000 with less then 100 hours on it ,so it was new.I usually change the oil and filters every 50/75 hours at a cost of about $50.
In the long run it is very feasible and when it comes time to rebuild then no big cost to that.I can do the work myself.I can,t see running a gas gen.as they will not last long running at 3600 rpm...IMHO diesel is the only way to go.Fuel storage is easy with a 500 gallon storage tank,which is delivered to my tank,......If it were to break down in the middle of a grow then I can switch to grid power until I replaced or fixed the generator...
It works good for me.The cost is not prohibitve.I figure total cost for a grow may run $2500 which is basically the cost for 1 #.
Only thing is though it would almost be impossible to run a generator with neighbours nearby unless you have a very quiet unit.
jarff