Propane or LNG?

[Bruce(OR)]

Greetings one and all. The wife and I are going to be putting a generator in some time in the near future and wonder if this should be run on
LNG or Propane? Our well is about 500' down with electric heat.
We usually run the wood stove when power goes out and this whole house genny has been a long time coming.
Chances are it will be a Home Depot or Lowe's Generac unit, but then again?
This will get wired in by an electrician with an auto switch routine.
Thanks in advance!!

 

[David G]

I would go with what you have available, do not want special tank for it.

LNG seems odd, would think it is NG or Propane.

 

[MikeJM]

I 2nd that stick with what fuel you have available. Something to consider with NG is the flow rate available may not be enough to support a generators demand.

 

[timcasbolt]

(quoted from post at 16:58:18 05/14/19) Greetings one and all. The wife and I are going to be putting a generator in some time in the near future and wonder if this should be run on
LNG or Propane? Our well is about 500' down with electric heat.
We usually run the wood stove when power goes out and this whole house genny has been a long time coming.
Chances are it will be a Home Depot or Lowe's Generac unit, but then again?
This will get wired in by an electrician with an auto switch routine.
Thanks in advance!!

I'd prefer natural gas over propane, because it is usually working even when the power is out. If that was an option for me.

 

[JMOR]

(quoted from post at 12:02:46 05/14/19) I would go with what you have available, do not want special tank for it.

LNG seems odd, would think it is NG or Propane.

et he means NG and not LNG. LNG long term storage is a 'bit' of a problem.

 

[Ellis Kinney]

I have a 500 gallon propane bottle buried near the yard. so I tapped another line into that and ran it to my generator. If you live in the country you probably have propane. Ellis

 

[Billy Shafer]

There is NG Natural Gas
LP Liquid Propane
P Propane
LNG is liquid natural gas. Something you don't want around the house.

 

[Dan in North Houston]

and if all your neighbors install natural gas generators in the future, there might be problems in the future.

 

[Bob - MI]

Going through the process of selecting a generator and an installer.

Have found lots of bad press on line about Generac poor service. Sales guy says that's because they sell more units than anyone else so they would have more negative reviews. Not buying that.

My house is 2200 sq ft 2-story and I am looking to install a 12kw Briggs & Stratton with a 200 amp SE rated smart transfer switch. This allows you to add priority modules which will favor certain circuits that you select. All this lets you get a smaller output generator that can handle the loads better. I have natural gas and will be going with that. Propane gives more output from the generator but like others have said I am going with the source that won't be interrupted.

I have been shopping at many different sites but the best I have found is Electric Generators Direct. Extremely helpful folks and the pricing is good. They can help you find an installer in your area.
Electric Generators Direct

 

[Russ from MN]

Your right Billy! I just googled LNG and it's really complicated, and they don't really give you a vapor pressure. I understand the tankers that transport it have insulated tanks and whatever boils off the use to propel the ship. I'm not sure what motor vehicles that run on it do. When I used to ride on Super Shuttle in Phoenix the vans ran on LNG, 25 years ago.

 

[timcasbolt]

(quoted from post at 19:50:14 05/14/19) Your right Billy! I just googled LNG and it's really complicated, and they don't really give you a vapor pressure. I understand the tankers that transport it have insulated tanks and whatever boils off the use to propel the ship. I'm not sure what motor vehicles that run on it do. When I used to ride on Super Shuttle in Phoenix the vans ran on LNG, 25 years ago.

I've only heard of cars running on compressed natural gas.

 

[Russ from MN]

Last winter during a cold spell one of the N suburbs of Minneapolis MN had it's NG shut off for awhile. I like NG but I would be more confident with a 500 gal tank of propane!

 

[1130Leo]

Propane would be only choice if you do not have Natural gas to your home, LNG is way way more expensive.

 

[Keith True]

Russ,they probably ran on CNG.LNG has to be taken down to about 250 degrees below zero to liquify,it re-gasses when the temp comes up.I had to take some classes in cryogenics years ago when i was going to haul some.That was how the trailers were going to keep it cool from point A to point B.I discovered it was not a job I wanted to have anything to do with.It is transported as LNG,then bottled up as CNG.I think Chicago is running their garbage truck fleet on CNG.They went to it a few years ago,last I knew it seemed to be working out,but that could have changed.

 

[guido]

Hello Bruce(OR),


If you have natural gas in the house its a no brainer. Less BTU'S for your buck, BUT piece of mind with the auto setup. If you have to buy it in bottles, then you need to see which is the best supply of the product,

Guido.

 

[guido]

Hello Billy Shafer,

In the old country (ITALY), my mom cooked with natural gas. The bottle was the size of a B tank for acetylene, if I recall correctly. never saw a white gas cylinder. That was CNG, and our community rash trucks run an CNG here,


Guido.

 

[circus]

Natural gas cost less than half that of propane. No brainer if you have a pipe coming to your house. LGN?

 

[showcrop]

Bruce, hopefully you have noticed how fortunate we are here at YT to have Billy Shafer as our generator expert. His knowledge comes from working for years with thousands of generators and systems of all brands and types, while most of us have experience with just 2 or 3.

 

[Billy Shafer]

Bob I have been dealing with Generac since 1980. So I can tell you a few things.
The reason they sell so many. Is because they sell cheap and will make anybody. And I mean ANYBODY a dealer. But they fail to tell you their are two classes of dealers. They have the.

Service dealer who can do all repairs needed.
Then there is the sales dealer. Who can only sale. No repair parts no service.
So if you buy from the sales dealer who is local. And the service dealer is 100 miles away. You either take it to him or you pay him to come to you. Don't count on warranty.

Ask the Generac guy you talked to. If he will guarantee. 24 hour parts and service. Will cover all warranty claims. Don't be alarmed when he starts to stutter.

 

[Billy Shafer]

Yes I have and some I wish I had never seen.

Try sitting in west Texas on a hill top in July. Trying to fix a generator you have never heard of. Looking at a Chinese manual you
can't read.

 

[jm.]

Bruce , opinions is what this board is all about and I certainly respect Billy Shaffers experience, Seven years ago I was in the same place as you. New house 10 miles from nowhere and at the end of utility line. We went with a 20kw Generac powered by propane. We were already having the propane installed for gas logs . We have had three outages of over 72 hours and many short outages. Somewhere around 350 hours now trouble free. Generac now has a 7 year warranty and any new dealers they sign up (short of box stores) has to be a servicing dealer. Several more of the folks in this remote area have had good experience also . So all is not bad with Generac. I think Billy will tell you , you can never go too big but sure can go too small. Transfer switch will hit and this unit start in about 12 seconds, sure is nice. Photo before the gas was connected.

 

[Billy Shafer]

jm is correct Generac has built some good units. My main problem with them has always been. The support from the factory. It can be spotty at best. Very hard to tell a new owner his warranty is voided. Before it even goes in service.

 

[WESnIL]

We were in a similar situation to you several months ago. After much searching I settled on a Champion with a 200 amp whole house transfer switch on propane, our only choice as a fuel source. I purchased it online and a local electrician installed it. He also sells Generac and tried to get me to purchase that brand but I did not like what I read/heard/saw. After the installation the contractor says the Champion is quieter; he really likes the 24 volt starting feature and the bird wing design on the doors make for easy servicing. A neighbor, who is a retired electrician, says in his working days Generac was junk but have improved some over the years. Only time will tell if we made the correct choice.

 

[Billy Shafer]

jm is correct. Add up your total load and get a generator. With a little more power. If you need 10 kw get a 15 kw unit. Better to have a little more power than not enough.

 

[Married2Allis]

Northern Tool is also a good choice, very good quality and great tech support. Don't know if you have an unlimited budget, but if you have wood heat already ofcourse that will cut your power requirements way down. Could get by with a 10kw generator or less.

 

[d13series1]

Bob, I too am looking after bailing the sump during the last outage here at the base of the thumb. Have to wait until the clay dries out before I can do any thing, but so far B&S seems to be where I'm going, installed by a crew from Imlay City, they do a lot of commercial work so ought to have some skills, nice thing is service 20 miles up the road. Let me know how your stuff turns out.

 

[Leroy]

Only read a couple of posts. Answers don't add to what I thour question was Natrual gas powered or propane powered.? If propane is only avaible that is what you would have to use. If natural gas is avaible chances are you would noy be allowed to set a propane tank, So would that not be easy to figure there. Was not your usage figure just to say you need a big unit and not a small unit? Way off on what question was?

 

[Bob - MI]

Thanks for the reply. Stay tuned on this one.

 

[Bob - MI]

Great input. The local guy's new store hours are posted at M,W,F 11:00~4:00

The place is deserted at the normal hours or days that somebody might need assistance.

I am guessing he's a "sales" dealer. Gave me a ballpark estimate of $8,000 to install one. Seems like a lot for a generator that I can buy for $3500.00 most anywhere.

Thanks for the response.