I'm looking to buy a 50-100 KW Generator. Need some help selecting fuel and model.

[Lazyman]

Snype, how close is your nearest neighbor? If it's less than a mile I honestly wouldn't even think about it. My buddy had a neighbor from 4 miles away pound on his door at 6 AM to "turn that fucking genny off!" That was just with a little 10KW diesel in an insulated shed.

 

[Snype]

Thanks for all the responses! I'm looking for info for generators not solar panels. I did some research before I made this post so I'm well aware of the costs. I'm also aware of the costs that I'll get with 150 pounds every 3 months at 6k a pound in my area if I went with 100KW. That will make up for my expenses and a lot more. I'm making a move to anther state after the summer to run at least 50 KW and less than 100 plants in a big barn on about 50 acres of land. I was going to go the outdoor approach but it doesn't seem worth it to me. The Generator seems like the way to go after all the planning that I've done. I think that it is very strange that Lazy said his friends neighbor can hear his Generator 4 miles away. That's kind of hard to believe, can anyone else verify that? Sam, you've been a great help on this subject. I skimmed through the posts so far cause I just woke up but I'll read through it more after I eat breakfast. Thanks everyone for their help! As Sam said, "Solar Panels "

 

[dtfsux]

When dealing with several pounds, you wont get retail.

50KW and less than a 100 plants? I guess it can be done, its just a waste of time, space and energy IMO.


good luck

 

[Snype]

When dealing with several pounds, you wont get retail.

50KW and less than a 100 plants? I guess it can be done, its just a waste of time, space and energy IMO.


good luck

That's not retail, it's wholesale in my area and I can sell them all day. Come out to Boston and see what it's like with all the colleges. Organic pounds of top grade are going for 8K wholesale and there's not even close to enough of it. I can easily get rid of 100 pound at 5600 to 6k out here. Ever seen the movie Blow, things haven't changed out here. Look around at some sites using Under Currents. Saw a really nice 64 site Under Current system with 60 x 1000 Watt HPS. Shit was off the hook and now I'm motivated to get it started. I see a lot of growers now growing 1-2 plants per light and still getting around .75 Grams per Watt. Makes more sense to me to do state time instead of Fed time.

 

[Lazyman]

I'd probably advise you to break the grow into smaller chunks, do a 20kw here, 20kw there. If one big thing goes wrong at a big op all your eggs are in one basket and you have nothing. With smaller ops it's more work and money, but better able to survive long-term. I know several guys with 3,7, 10 houses they grow at, keep them distinct so nothing can connect them together, and even if one gets busted the others survive.

I also don't understand the appeal of 50 lights and 100 plants, but that's just my opinion.

I'm gonna have to try those Doubleds MPB tubs one of these grows...

 

[good drown]

hey dtf, if you are who i think you are, now you really need to chime in why this is a horrible idea.
if you plan on selling 100 lbs to college kids at 6k a pop, well, more power to you. i really do not see that happening for that long before you get arrested.
the engines are loud as fuck. when you are out in the middle of nowhere, its amazing how far sound travels when there is no competing noise.

 

[joe fresh]

just thaught id post when using gennys or any piece of equipment that is large and very noisy there is a good way to cure this problem. costly but very effective.

dig a hole 12 feet deep, and 8x8 wide, make a cement foundation on the floor and a cement floor, make sure the walls are 12" thick and the floor is also 12" thick, make sure to put adequate amounts of rebar to make sure this is durable for a long time, then insulate the inside walls with poly-urethane insulation, or any insulation thats fire resistant. then put the genny/noisy equipment in the well insulated hole. next is building the top. basically you need 3 holes, one for the gas input, one for the air intake, and one for the exhaust. so basically you put another 12" thick cement roof on the top of the genny, with three holes with the proper piping for exhaust, air intake, and gas input(trap door for servicing might be usefull)

then make sure you leave enough room for atleast 2 feet of dirt on top, this will guarantee that you wont hear anything from even 5 feet away

 

[Snype]

I'd probably advise you to break the grow into smaller chunks, do a 20kw here, 20kw there. If one big thing goes wrong at a big op all your eggs are in one basket and you have nothing. With smaller ops it's more work and money, but better able to survive long-term. I know several guys with 3,7, 10 houses they grow at, keep them distinct so nothing can connect them together, and even if one gets busted the others survive.

I also don't understand the appeal of 50 lights and 100 plants, but that's just my opinion.

I'm gonna have to try those Doubleds MPB tubs one of these grows...

Yeah Lazy I feel you. I already do that and have been doing it for over 10 years and it's getting to be a big pain in the ass. When I leave to run this new OP, I'll give these locations to friends and take a cut. I feel what you are saying though and it has been a dream of mine to have a lot of lights at 1 location. I appreciate the help that you have given. Thanks!

hey dtf, if you are who i think you are, now you really need to chime in why this is a horrible idea.
if you plan on selling 100 lbs to college kids at 6k a pop, well, more power to you. i really do not see that happening for that long before you get arrested.
the engines are loud as fuck. when you are out in the middle of nowhere, its amazing how far sound travels when there is no competing noise.

I've been selling pounds to college kids for 17 years and yeah I get arrested sometimes but that's part of the business. I'm willing to do the time for my crimes. I'm not as familiar with noise as you are so thanks for those details. I'm going to dig a hole like the other poster said.

just thaught id post when using gennys or any piece of equipment that is large and very noisy there is a good way to cure this problem. costly but very effective.

dig a hole 12 feet deep, and 8x8 wide, make a cement foundation on the floor and a cement floor, make sure the walls are 12" thick and the floor is also 12" thick, make sure to put adequate amounts of rebar to make sure this is durable for a long time, then insulate the inside walls with poly-urethane insulation, or any insulation thats fire resistant. then put the genny/noisy equipment in the well insulated hole. next is building the top. basically you need 3 holes, one for the gas input, one for the air intake, and one for the exhaust. so basically you put another 12" thick cement roof on the top of the genny, with three holes with the proper piping for exhaust, air intake, and gas input(trap door for servicing might be usefull)

then make sure you leave enough room for atleast 2 feet of dirt on top, this will guarantee that you wont hear anything from even 5 feet away

Joe, Thank you for those details! This is what I will do. Let me get some dementions and draw it out and show it to you to see what you think. I want to cover all angles and in case of a lot of rain, I don't want any water getting in. Thanks!

 

[good drown]

well like i said, more power too you, if you are willing to do the time, fuck yea man, do the crime!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
the hole is a must, but even that wont be enough. id get some dogs also, keep people away

 

[Aeroguerilla]

i am in the process of setting one of these up 60k max for everything. ill make a list and total for yall.

 

[Snype]

i am in the process of setting one of these up 60k max for everything. ill make a list and total for yall.

Nice Aero! I'll look forward to the list!

 

[Lazyman]

just thaught id post when using gennys or any piece of equipment that is large and very noisy there is a good way to cure this problem. costly but very effective.

dig a hole 12 feet deep, and 8x8 wide, make a cement foundation on the floor and a cement floor, make sure the walls are 12" thick and the floor is also 12" thick, make sure to put adequate amounts of rebar to make sure this is durable for a long time, then insulate the inside walls with poly-urethane insulation, or any insulation thats fire resistant. then put the genny/noisy equipment in the well insulated hole. next is building the top. basically you need 3 holes, one for the gas input, one for the air intake, and one for the exhaust. so basically you put another 12" thick cement roof on the top of the genny, with three holes with the proper piping for exhaust, air intake, and gas input(trap door for servicing might be usefull)

then make sure you leave enough room for atleast 2 feet of dirt on top, this will guarantee that you wont hear anything from even 5 feet away

\

LOL, I take it you haven't ever done this before, as if you had you'd know:

That 12" thick cement roof needs to be built by a structural engineer or you'll fuck it up and it will kill you. Steel i-beams etc, spaced properly to support the massive weight of the concrete and soil load. Do you know how much 1 cubic yard of mud weighs? lol

Diesel gennies require weekly oil changes, and at least 1 rebuild a year. They also have to be removed and replaced periodically. Not feasible with an underground buried unit, let alone one with a building on top of it.

The exhaust will still smell, will still make noise, and will still consume a shitload of diesel. The exhaust is where most of the noise comes from, and as someone mentioned above, in a nice quiet country place sound carries for miles since there is no noise to drown it out.

It's highly unlikely that it will be cheaper to do the genny than to pay for power. I did the math once and came up with approximately $.87 per kwh, double what my power costs. That is just the running cost, not including the initial investment.

Fuel: Given that you can go through 100 gallons of diesel a day, how are you going to fuel the thing? You gonna have a fuel company bring it to you? If so they'll be mighty suspicious if you call for a refill every 3 days. Most guys have to rotate several fuel companies to even make it look like heavy use instead of ridiculous use. You'll still have fuel trucks at your place all the time.

Considering the huge initial investment for the genny, not to mention the price of even farm diesel, Ag power form the power company might be a more feasible option for Snype. I'm not saying gennies can't be done, but they aren't very popular for the reasons listed above. I hope it helps!

 

[joe fresh]

hey lazyman...i got 23 years as a carpenter working in footings and foundations and concrete flooring, theres nothing you could tell me that i dont already know.

i was just giving the basic outline of what to do, not plans on how to build it.

and yes the underground method does work to contain the noise, but not the exhaust or smell of the exhaust, but with proprly insulated silencer exhaust pipe you could pull it off. another solution for the exhaust is to run the exhaust pipe horizontally 6" underground to a location that is safe.



, but like you said, ppl who dont know.......

 

[NiteTiger]

Gotta be awesome to avoid the fuel costs - Put your genny grow on a farm, grow soy, power your grow with your soy oil

 

[gdtrfb]

Fuel: Given that you can go through 100 gallons of diesel a day, how are you going to fuel the thing? You gonna have a fuel company bring it to you?

considering i'm unsure as to the statute of limitations, i'll just say that...some guy, not me, but some guy would advise that this situation is like many others - having the right contacts means everything. a couple of farmers over-ordering beyond what they need with the pretext that...some guy....has a friend w/ a trucking business looking to avoid some tax overhead...well, it doesn't negate the delivery man, but it makes him a helluva lot less frequent.

 

[good drown]

the guy i knows know lives off the grid got solar panals, batteries, and a diesel generator. he then got 4 local restaurants to have him pick up the oil for free, instead of paying a service to pick up the oil. he had to spend some money on a filtering system, but then it was game on.

 

[statusquo]

"I've been selling pounds to college kids for 17 years and yeah I get arrested sometimes but that's part of the business."

I have been selling elbows for four years and have never even had an encounter with an LEO. It's not hard to sell to anyone and make copious amounts of short term cash. It IS hard to sell slowly but surely and be picky about your clients. It pays off much better in the long run both for your health and your wallet (lawyers/getting robbed etc can be very expensive and stressful)

 

[Sam the Caveman]

I beg to differ lazyman

well, I agree with you about burying the genny, you'd be better off with sound deadening material in a small room.

weekly oil changes; most of the diesel generators I've looked at have 500 hour oil change requirements, thats about every 3 weeks running it non-stop.

smelly exhaust; maybe on an old diesel with high amounts of sulfur in the diesel. Just about every source of diesel now is ultra-low sulfur, even farm diesel.

Loud at 1 mile; maybe if there is no vegetation or sound barrier between point A and B. some companies build enclosures for the generators they sell with sound deadening materials and run the exhaust through more than one muffler. Some enclosures claim 70 db at 30 feet.

fuel; a perkins 100kw genny burns about 7 gallons an hour at full load, so yeah, a lot of fuel will be burnt, but delivery trucks have a 9000 gallon capacity, which will give you about 2 months run time.

13k a month sounds like a lot to spend on diesel, but with it you could power 120kw of bloom area. A harvest of that magnitude will make 13k a small drop in the bucket.

So what if you have to buy a new genny every other year, its only 20k, you'll be harvesting at least 100 lbs a month., at least $400k a month.

In the grand scheme the costs are minor for the genny.

 

[Ras Mason]

Ever watched the movie: The UNION, the buisness behind getting high?

Buddy had train cars buried in the fucking BC boondocks, still got caught cause of the DIesel truck needed to fill that shit.

Multiple 20 k's are better. And practice getting 2 pounds per 1kw instead.

But good luck to you still, i always love seeing people making it and succeeding.
Peace

 

[joe fresh]

Ever watched the movie: The UNION, the buisness behind getting high?

Buddy had train cars buried in the fucking BC boondocks, still got caught cause of the DIesel truck needed to fill that shit.

Multiple 20 k's are better. And practice getting 2 pounds per 1kw instead.

But good luck to you still, i always love seeing people making it and succeeding.
Peace

great documentary