Generac home standby generators

[Pat]

Gary, I don't know where Boonville is but hope you can visit. I have sent you the particulars. I'm roughly south southeast of OKC 50 miles.

If you will have a few minutes to spare, you are welcome to try your luck in any of the ponds. One of the partners in the GC firm doing my house does some catch and release bass fishing and pulled in a couple 3-4 pounders in about 10-15 minutes from the pond just behind the new house building site.

Pat

[SimS]

Gentlemen;
I have been following this thread in hopes of getting some more info on standby system for my home. Anyway the technology and magic quote closed a long open synapse in my old brain. It was one of Arthur C. Clarke's Law. Here they are. I particularly like the last addendum!


Arthur C. Clarke Laws

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In the book Profiles of the Future: An Inquiry into the Limits of the Possible Arthur C. Clarke states his three Laws, which are formulated as follows:

Clarke's First Law:
"When a distinguished but elderly scientist states that something is possible he is almost certainly right. When he states that something is impossible, he is very probably wrong."

Clarke defines the adjective 'elderly' as :"In physics, mathematics and astronautics it means over thirty; in other disciplines, senile decay is sometimes postponed to the forties. There are of course, glorious exceptions; but as every researcher just out of college knows, scientists of over fifty are good for nothing but board meetings, and should at all costs be kept out of the laboratory". (in Profiles of the Future.)


Clarke's Second Law:
"The only way of discovering the limits of the possible is to venture a little way past them into the impossible."


Clarke's Third Law:
"Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic."

Thought he wrote after the laws that "Since three laws was sufficient for both the Isaacs - Newton and Asimov - I have decided to stop here", he continued to write laws, as we can see in the Appendix 2 of The Odissey File where he states the Clarke's 69th Law:

"Reading computer manuals without the hardware is as frustrating as reading sex manuals without the software."

[Pat]

SimS, Thanks so much for the clarification by way of repeating Clarke's laws. It is like a self fullfilling prophecy, if you are too old and feeble to recall the source of the quote then you just might be described by it. Still, if I could get into a lab, I'd have fun. How old was Edison when he quit producing?

OK, to help this contribute to your quest for genset info... If you install a genset that starts automatically on loss of commercial power then you need to set it up such that it does not shut off immediately when commercial power is restored. A look at the nature of power interruptions shows that frequently power goes off and on a few times in a short period of time before it "stays on." Anyway, to handle most practical situations it is good to NOT let the genset shut off before it has run the manufacturers minimum exercise time (typically the length of time a genset is programmed to run when it self starts, usually once a week.) I believe Gary said his Generac was set to run for 12 minutes, once a week.

Often sucessive glitches in the power (short random off/on cycles in the supplied power) will be avoided if you let the genset run for a while. Most of my experience with automatic backup power systems is not directly equivalent to the needs of a homeowner. I was involved with systems that ran off of commercial power and kept banks of NiCad batts charged. The batts ran inverters to make regular AC to power remote located computer installations. It was a thunderstorm prone area with many commercial power interruptions. The computer equipment never new when commercial power failed. If commercial power went down long enough for the batts to sag a bit, then the genset fired up and ran until commercial power was restored for at least 15 minutes.

Frequently commercial power would be on and off several times before it was on for 15 consecutive minutes but if it was up for 15 minutes it was usually up for a good while, except for the next lightning generated difficulty. We had a Deutz V-6 air cooled diesel powered genset on Mt. Tiefort Army NTC (National Trainng Center) where desert tank warfare was practiced in prep for Desert Storm, Iraq, etc. Some other telemetry support power stations ran 12.5 Kw Onan air cooled diesels with much the same programing logic.

The only "standard" installation I dealt with was a 12.5 Kw Onan air cooled diesel I built into an equipment package (computer controled microwave spectrum analysis station) that went on board a deuce and a half truck. It had a reqular manual transfer switch for onboard versus "shore" power.

Again, thanks for the Clarke clarification.

Pat

[GaryM]

Thanks for the correction! And welcome to Country by Net!

I've read so much science fiction, starting about 1955 or so, that many of the storys start to run together. But it sounded like it could have been RH's line.

[GaryM]

Pat,

Just teasing about the visit, at least for now. Booneville MO is about 20 miles West of where I-70 crosses the Missouri River, West of Colombia MO. Columbia Mo is about in the middle of the state. Booneville is the home of Glenn Martin Engineering, makers of my soon to be installed 70' tower.

BTW, I ordered a set of those "Easy Change System" draftarm adaptors. Have you been following those threads on TBN? They should be delivered Friday or Monday. They should make swapping implements a little easier.

[Pat]

Gary, Good one! I was the perfect straight man. Oh well, I was looking forward to your visit. Who knows maybe some other time.

I don't recall Glen Martin towers but I haven't kept up to date on that hardware. Rohn and other "old line" manufacturers but not GM. What kind of sky wires you gonna hang up there at 70 ft?

I hadn't been following the "Easy Change System" draftarm adaptor threads on TBN and this is the first I heard of it. I will log in over there and check it out as easier is better. I would have bought one of those quick change interface gadgets (they aren't too expensive) but I am concerned with their durability and mechanical slop. I am hoping that having my implements on castor wheeled storage fixtures on a smooth concrete floor will make wrestling to interchange them a whole lot easier. I finally hung up my auger, literally. By suspending it from a rope from the overhead it is way easier to attach/detach.

Note to tractor users: Do not operate your tractor with one or more engine covers removed in brushy areas or when handling materials that could conceivably swing in and contact any engine compartment contents that might be damaged. Kubota radiators are quite expensive and the plastic upper tank is NOT a separately available item. Radiator comes with new shroud etc whether yo need it or not. Bah... humbug. [img]/forums/images/icons/mad.gif[/img]

Congratulaltions on your tower, I have never owned my own but have been to the top of some communal whoppers at mountaintop repeater sites. Designed a de-icer to be installed on top of one at a site that had lots of ice and wind that frequently destroyed co-linear verticals (VHF). Bicycle inner tubes and aquarium pumps.

I had hoped to buy an obsolete oil derrick, dismantle it, labeling all the pieces, and reassemble it on my property. I wanted to put 2-3 observation platforms on it at different heights with a set of stairs. Of course it would also be festooned with an array of ham antennae and be crowned with a beam. Unfortunately my needs are not coincident with the appropriate phase of the boom/bust cycle in the oil industry and I missed out. Probablilities are low of fulfilling that wish. I also missed out on the cheap cable, sucker rod, and pipe used to make miles and miles of good fences in this region.

Pat

[GaryM]

Pat,

You can see the Easy Change System here: www.greenwellmfg.com.

Maybe we should move to the hobby forum to talk about towers and such? I'll start a thread there titled "ham radio tower".

I'm sure your deicer was similar to the deicer boots used on the DC-3 and similar. Inflate and deflate, thereby removing the ice before it has a chance to get too thick.

[Pat]

Gary, Give me a hint... I searched 12 different ways and never got a sniff of the Easy Change System for lower arms, even when I spelled things correctly.

Pat

[GaryM]

Check here: http://www.tractorbynet.com/forums/s...rue#Post313164

And here: http://www.tractorbynet.com/forums/s...art=1&vc=1

And here: http://www.tractorbynet.com/forums/s...rue#Post313095

[Inspector507]

Gary,
Let me know how you like the Easy Change System........I'm real interested in them as well.

Jerry