bought a gas generator for myLiFePO power station

[6zfshdb]

I actually do get some advantage from the waste heat generated by my Kubota GL11000. It's installed inside the garage with a thru wall exhaust. It's liquid cooled and the heat from the radiator keeps the garage warm during winter power outages. No advantage during warm weather though since I have to keep the doors & windows open.

 

[sc00ter]

Keep in mind that a gasoline engine is just like an ebike motor, and is most efficient at about 80% of it's maximum output.

This is the generator that I wanna get,..


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It runs for 3 hours at maximum output (900 watts continuous), so if all things are equal, it should run 4 times longer at 25% output, but it only lasts just over twice as long.



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It's only about 30 pounds with gas, so it's easy to carry, and it's just under 50cc so I can use it legally as a bicycle engine.

It is more than the 500 Watt Canadian ebike limit, but if it's powering the ebike with 500 Watts, and charging a battery with the remaining 400 Watts, I might be able to float through the legal gray area.

I bought one of those Honda generators a few years ago, put it in a Tupperware tub and have NEVER used it. Have no idea how it works. I think the wife and I are going to do a Generac natural gas back up.

A co-worker said to run the Honda because the poles could sag or something if left unused. I don't even have any large capacity fuel cans anymore.

 

[spokewrench]

If you can also take advantage of the heat they produce, pretty efficient!

That 5,000 W diesel is water cooled. I guess that coolant could be piped to an indoor heater. For each W of electricity, it produces approximately 5 W of waste heat. I don't know if it would prevent colds, but a 25 kW heater is nothing to sneeze at!

 

[Roamers]

I guess the heat that could be piped to an indoor heate

Not quite as efficient as @6zfshdb 's setup.