garden tractor mounted generator

[bobcatdan]

I have been kicking around the idea of buying a generator for emergency power outage, mostly in case if it happened in winter to keep the house warm. This would be a down the list purchase, just thinking about for now. I recently got my new garden tractor, a Simplicity Legacy xl. I ended up with the model that comes standard with a cute little 3 pt and a standard size 540 rear PTO. No real use for them other then the tow hitch I made to use tractor as a little Capacity truck to move trailers. I got to thinking, what if I bought a generator head and made a mount to fit the tractor. Specs say I have 18 PTO HP to work with. I haven't really looked around at heads, but I can't imagine 18 HP couldn't provide enough to keep the furnace and some lights going. I haven't worked the tractor enough to know fuel consumption on the 27 HP Kawasaki V twin gasser to know if I'd have good run time yet out of a six gallon tank. That could be a deal breaker right there. I see the lack of portability, but I see ease of storage. Also yet another engine I don't have to worry about. Or would I be better running it off my Farmall H? I know rated PTO power is very similar, I think H's are maybe rated about 24.

 

[AA/FC]

1 horsepower equals 746 watts of electricity. So... 18HP X 746 = 13,428 watts at your PTO. That's if everything is 100% efficient... which it isn't. I doubt you would want to run your 27HP engine to power a few lights and the blower motor in your furnace. A 2000 watt Honda generator would be much quieter and far more fuel efficient. One other thing to consider is PTO shaft RPM and generator RPM. I don't know much about generators but I believe correct RPM is crucial to maintain 60 hertz of A/C electricity. A few things to think about anyway....

 

[theoldwizard1]

PTO generators are cool ... if you really need the power.

As stated a 2000 watt generator will run a gas fired furnace and a couple of lights or TV. 3.0-4.0KW will run a whole house (no 240V appliances) with a little bit of load management (don't run the microwave, toaster and the coffee pot at the same time).

 

[bobcatdan]

This what I'm wondering if this is an idea worth thinking about or not. I know they make generator heads designed to run off of a 540 rpm PTO, so I'm not talking about taking a head designed to run at 3600 rpm directly from a engine's shaft. A starting point was looking at northern. For my HP range, looks like I can get about 8000 watts. That's where the efficiency comes in. Does it really make dollar and cents to do this?

 

[Rookie2]

You can buy a used generator and mount it on a trailer. I'm not sure if the governor on the tractor will keep the voltage and HZ from hunting when a heavier load is dropped on it.

 

[bobcatdan]

The idea of me buying any generator at all is hard to justify if it can be at all. I have pretty much no use for one. This is completely thinking in the worse case sanario what if type of thing. Where the idea took off for me was this is something that could easily sit for years. Even if I start it twice a year, what's to say it won't start when needed the most. Where as the tractor will be run regularly so it starting shouldn't be in doubt. I have a lot of projects around the house, so if I buy anything, it isn't happening soon. Just something I'm pondering.

 

[Kevin54]

Back in '05, my parents had a hell of an ice storm hit there area. They went and bought a McCullough Generator 7000 watts. I have used it once to check a well that we don't use. The generator runs off of gas and is either 110 or 220. Last year I tried to get it running, it fired a few times, then the carb needed cleaned. Late last year I went to fire it up and the cord pulled out of it.

I've often wondered if I could rob it of parts and run it off of the rear PTO on my Cub CUT. Other than that, it just sets around. year after year. Do you drain it dry and let everything dry out as far as the seals, or keep gas in it an put Stabil in it? I'd just as soon sell it as very rarely does our power go out except for a couple of hours. The tractor is always around, and always running, so I'd rather have something that runs off of it.

I'm very interested to see where this thread goes. I'd love to rob parts and have a generator that would run off the PTO instead of having something that I have to constantly see if it will fire up or not.

 

[Bobcat753]

This one would be a perfect fit. Has plenty of wattage and the right PTO RPM's.
http://www.northerntool.com/shop/tools/product_200308467_200308467

 

[jkwilson]

Your PTO isn't going to spin fast enough to power a generator, and it probably can't deliver anywhere close to 18HP to the PTO Especially through the 6:1 or so pulley ratio you'd need to get close. The frequency of the power is determined by motor RPM, and it needs to be steady even when the load changes.

 

[Farmall450]

We have a Win-power, runs good on the Super MD. Haven't actually used it for the house since we just got it this summer and a 220 homelite is next to the compressor in the garage, pretty easy to setup and get going.

 

[larry_g]

If you have an outage and your generator isn't on the tractor already,
You have to find it
Hopefully it will be taking up prime space in your garage and easily be found.
you have to mount it.
You have to have full gas reserves in a tractor you usually don't care about fuel reserves.
Your battery must be charged. None of this 'whoops, I left the lights on' daily grind stuff.
It is raining or being miserable and you must now drive the tractor to your electrical box in the **** weather of your choice.
You have to pull the manual switch required to cut you off from the grid... Probably in the dark.
You have to plug it in.
You have to leave the tractor in the weather until the weather is over.
Did I mention it's three am and freezing rain?
Reverse the above when the risks is over.

I'm not going to do it.

Other than the red above how it different with another 10k generator?

lg
no neat sig line

 

[jackfork]

I looked into getting one after we lost power for two weeks due to an ice storm a few years ago. Cost wise I couldn't justify it at the time. With the cost of diesel and the cost of the machine it didn't seem feasible. What with our 6.5k generator working good enough for us to get by with.

 

[bobcatdan]

A used specific use generator sits there and turns itself on when the power goes out and turns itself off when the power comes back on.
$1500 on craigslist, ng or propane powered. Solar trickle charger on the starter battery.

I will not argue those are nice, but so past overkill for my application, it doesn't even factor in. I use to do the maintance on one for a customer. Don't know its output, but it had a ford V10 in it, for their house. ( I know they make much much smaller ones, just thought people would get a kick out of a V10 powered generator for a home.)

 

[Rookie2]

Your PTO isn't going to spin fast enough to power a generator, and it probably can't deliver anywhere close to 18HP to the PTO Especially through the 6:1 or so pulley ratio you'd need to get close. The frequency of the power is determined by motor RPM, and it needs to be steady even when the load changes.

PTO generators have an overdrive gearbox that spins the 540 up to either 1800rpm (4 pole gen set) or 3600 rpm for a 2 pole gen set. Stills takes a lot of HP to hold the load.

 

[jwh]

A V-10 Ford powered generaror for a house? Wow! I bet it's an Onan. Got one of them at the firehouse. The few times we've needed it it has done a great job.

 

[decableguy2000]

How offten does your power go out? and for how long? we live in rural area and or lights blink once in awhile. We have gone a few days with out power but they are few and far between. I have atractor but can't justify the cost of a PTO Gen. 5K's are cheap enough around here. It your cash and do what you want with it, dont worry what the hive has to say. I know in may area there are several on my road alone and just about every other house has a tractor and don't know anyone with a PTO gen.

Jeremy

 

[redmondjp]

A V-10 Ford powered generaror for a house? Wow! I bet it's an Onan. Got one of them at the firehouse. The few times we've needed it it has done a great job.

And you don't even want to know how much fuel it uses per hour!

People don't really think about this - you want your backup generator to be just as big as it needs to be, and no more. With that said, however, if you have motor loads, especially larger motors (3/4HP and larger), the generator needs to be sized large enough to be able to start the motors.

And consider propane or a dual-fuel setup. Propane can sit and not go bad for essentially forever. Propane will never clog up a carb.

Tons of things to consider on generators, and everything has been covered on the interwebs.

If it is not maintained, or is not reliable, or you don't have sufficient good fuel stored for it, you might as well not even have it.

 

[Flivver250]

I always use the assumption of 2hp for every 1KW of continuous power. Depending on how you wire it in, 5KW can run a lot. I have the circuit breaker set so I can select the well pump, HVAC, refrigerator, kitchen lights, stove etc. Can't do everything all at once, but with a little selective usage, all I need can be accomplished. I have 2 Honda generators, a 5k and a 6.5. Always wanted back up for the back up.

 

[Spudland_Dave]

I bought a 10k JD PTO unit...used it for 2 hours and returned it. Kicker here is Engine RPM to get 540 @ the PTO. with 37hp on tap, I had no HP issue, power was solid, but having my machine sitting at PTO RPM for hours on end was not my idea of taking care of my equipment...so I sold it and got a Kubota 6500 watt Diesel Genset. Best thing I ever did.

 

[gte718p]

I bought a 10k JD PTO unit...used it for 2 hours and returned it. Kicker here is Engine RPM to get 540 @ the PTO. with 37hp on tap, I had no HP issue, power was solid, but having my machine sitting at PTO RPM for hours on end was not my idea of taking care of my equipment...so I sold it and got a Kubota 6500 watt Diesel Genset. Best thing I ever did.

Every piece of AG equipment I've ever dealt with was designed to run the PTO for hours on end. Its the entire reason to have the PTO.

 

[bobcatdan]

Well I have come to end of the road of pondering this for the time being. I need to get run time under load to get the true feel of my fuel consumption. I see that as the number 1 problem to my idea. I was at the dealer this morning to get some filters and posed the question to him. He easily saw the point of not having another engine sitting around, but like me thought fuel consumption could be a problem. So over all he didn't poo poo the idea, I just need more info.

 

[Spudland_Dave]

Every piece of AG equipment I've ever dealt with was designed to run the PTO for hours on end. Its the entire reason to have the PTO.

No doubt, that's correct...but the key difference here is hours on end at load, variations on load, etc. I have no moral dilemma running it for 3 hours straight on my blower...on the farm (Real Farm) we ran tractors ALL Day long at harvest, but they just didn't sit there tached right out. Plus we often flipped the pto to the 1000 rpm side and ran a 6 spline adaptor so we could run it at "half speed" and still have 540rpm.

Cars are meant to be run at 2,000rpm for hours on end up and down the road, but would you park one in your driveway for 4 hours with a brick on the pedal?

 

[Farmall450]

No doubt, that's correct...but the key difference here is hours on end at load, variations on load, etc. I have no moral dilemma running it for 3 hours straight on my blower...on the farm (Real Farm) we ran tractors ALL Day long at harvest, but they just didn't sit there tached right out. Plus we often flipped the pto to the 1000 rpm side and ran a 6 spline adaptor so we could run it at "half speed" and still have 540rpm.

Cars are meant to be run at 2,000rpm for hours on end up and down the road, but would you park one in your driveway for 4 hours with a brick on the pedal?

True, but tractors don't need the ram air from going 55 mph either. I don't see it any different than brush hogging at high engine speed?