I'm researching my options for a backup generator. The biggest question at the moment is what fuel to use.
I like that propane stores very well and doesn't gel and burns nice and clean. We already have two 120 gallon propane tanks for heat and DHW.
I like the idea of being able to use WVO in a diesel.
I'd appreciate any comments from folks that have made a similar decision. Thanks!
Of course on a per gallon basis it's no secret that diesel fuel and kerosene can have approaching
50% more BTU's per gallon than propane. Did a Lot of looking into various fuels and what they could do years ago.
From a storage point of view my findings were different than most people because I recently
(8 months or so ago) used up the Last of my high-test (just before Katrina) Gasoline and it was still OK. It burnt like cheaper regular gas would. No stabilizers - no nothing. Vent-less containers.
I know a lot of the old timers said - No Way. Too bad what they say.
Also have put some time in on various Kerosene and New (grow your own) Vegetable Oil experiments / inventions. Like how to burn vegetable oil using a simple wick system if
anyone is interested.
Have some Kerosene in storage right now just to see what it does.
3 - 7 years old. One 6 gallon container is 14 years old. (Similar storage qualities to Diesel).
I was going to use the oldest of it to fire up some big brush piles last Fall. Put the flashlight to it and it still looked too clean to waste. Old stuff works great heating a well ventilated barn.
Perhaps my garage floors are magic or something.
It doesn't burn as clean or smell as good after X number of years but it still burns.
I have no idea why I have such extraordinary luck with storing fuels - just do.
Propane is super sweet if your money is right and I fool with it a little as well.
Valves REALLY Rusting shut after enough years can be a killer with propane if you don't take
proper care of business.
I know because of full tanks a customer gave me.
As far as 'outside the box' stuff Cords of Firewood (at least 160 gallons of Oil, or More, equivalent for a righteous cord) properly hidden and properly stored to run a small steam generator is very hard to compete with for people that have the resources.
For heat Corn Pellet stoves are Incredible if you can come up with the 2/3 of an acre in corn for
the average home set-up. There is a huge disparity in how much electric you will need to run the auger, blower, controls, etc. depending on who built it.
Wonder if anyone has started to use Corn in a semi-automated steam power generator set-up?
For decades some people have filtered large volumes of the Air Going OUTSIDE from
Indoor Grow rooms. (Leave it to the Chinese to retail huge filters cheap.)
Solar Systems and Wind Energy was always a big deal but never the Star of some shows only because they were looking for ways to generate power without saying 'Hey Look at me'.
'Put me on the Google Satellite Map high dollar List'.
I need the attention.
Of coarse in some areas huge arrays of solar panels are nothing. Where I live if anything ever
went wrong I suspect a truck with a few Troops in it would be pulling up for the
eminent domain "Save the Children's 'Donation' in short order.
Far fetched? Not according to the top experts testifying to Congress.
I'm not hung up on any of that stuff but I am well aware of the game. I wrote some of it with
home built emergency preparedness air & water purification systems, etc. in the past.
With the recent talk at OtherPower about some of the local thugs being afraid that you might have 'a little something' in South Africa it got me thinking of the old 'Incognito Power Gang' again.
That Multi-million dollar Charity installation Allen stayed at for a while down in the middle of the Legendary Zulu stronghold area of South Africa looks like it's out in the middle of thousands of acres of farm land.
Excellent Google Earth scope job of what they have and don't have down there.
It's about 5 miles to the DVD rental store in Camperdown that I figured was probably around someplace. However they have DSTV beaming Satellite TV and the latest Movies right into the place so there is no need to burn gas for video's - if your happening.
Chances are they have all kinds of little goodies from the hill and dale down there.
Bill Blake