Natural gas generator?

My spouse and I are older folks, thus much more likely to shelter in place than to bug out, although we are pretty well-prepared for both scenarios. We are considering purchasing a non-portable generator, the kind that comes on automatically when your home power goes out, and runs on natural gas. Since this is not an inexpensive purchase, we are considering it carefully before purchasing, and have viewed several videos about them on various websites. If any of you have experience with one of these generators, or otherwise have knowledge of them, we would appreciate any input/advice you can offer. Thanks in advance!

A friend of mine had one of these installed. It worked really well and when the power went out during a storm it came on immediately.

Now that said, In a shtf scenario, If the grid went down the natural gas suppliers would not be able to supply the gas to operate the generator. This of coarse would be an extreme occurance. In a smaller scenario like a storm, this would operate just fine and be a worthwhile investment.

reply to post by NazcaP


You may consider a system that runs off of Tanked LP (Propand gas) rather than Natural Gas just in case the NG delivery system ever gets disabled as mentioned by the poster ahead of me.

Lots of options for tank sizes and placement. Fill it up and forget about until you need it.

www.godfreypropane.com...

reply to post by jibeho


Jeez man great idea. Wish I had thought of that. I wonder if they make one like that. I've never heard of one.

Natural gas appliances are usually pretty easy to convert to propane.

reply to post by lonegurkha


Most of Kohler's units can be converted to run NG or LP. Lots of options
kohlerpower.com...

Check this portable unit out.. Its a tri fuel...LP, Natural Gas or Gasoline
www.yamaha-propane-natural-gas-generators.com...

For Portable units propane is the way to go because Propane has a much longer shelf life than traditional crappy ethanol blend fuels. Store a couple of cylinders and you're set..

Wow thanks for the info and links. That yahama one may solve my delima about which one to buy.

Thanks to everyone for your input. This helps us a lot!

You may want to look into co-gen units since they are now being scaled down to home use size. Co-gen units are generators that also use the waste heat from the engine and exhaust to produce heat and sometimes hot water for the building. Because of this they are able to boast efficiencies in the mid 90%

I've helped out on DIY projects where homeowners build a co-gen unit out of a regular generator by enclosing it in a "dog house" and circulating the air between the dog house and main building. An adjustable vent directs the flow to main building or to the outside to provide temperature control. They extend the muffler out of the the doghouse (usually into a hole in the ground to further reduce noise) and mount a water coil to it. The coil is fed to the main building and into a small radiator with a fan providing further collection of wastet heat. Instead of a radiator a manifold can be placed into a tank to provide hot water.

reply to post by NazcaP


We have one in the water plant that I work in. Natural gas is the way to go, unless you want battery banks running your house.