Generac Portable Generator Conversion to NG

G'day gents and Merry St. Patrick's day. I have a Generac GP7500E that takes care of all the essentials during a power outage. Been thinking for years to get a NG conversion kit as I have a stub very near to where I feed my house. This "event" has me thinking down that path again. There is some Q&A on the Generac site but no BTDT.

Have any of you done a conversion? I see kits for ~ $150 but would love to have some first hand feedback (good or bad) before jumping in. What say ye?

Cheers,

Mark

I looked into this several years ago and found several videos on how to do it. I never followed through as BGE reworked the grid near us and we haven't had a power outage since then. Try searching youtube.

I can say this, storing Propane is easier than storing gas.
I think the cost per KwH is more for propane but since I already store several tanks for grille and outdoor heater, No sweat.

Question related to this. I have a 1000 gal propane tank for the house. Who would I talk to in order to add a tap either at the house or at the tank to run a portable generator?
Plumber? or some sort of gas expert? Who would that be?

Thanks John. Yeah I have looked at the videos. Pretty straight forward. Guess I'm wondering about reliability/quality of the retro kits. PEPCO did same here and I think I have had one short power outage since the purchase ~ 10 years ago. Now that I have said that out loud, I'm doomed

Melnic said:

I can say this, storing Propane is easier than storing gas.
I think the cost per KwH is more for propane but since I already store several tanks for grille and outdoor heater, No sweat.

Question related to this. I have a 1000 gal propane tank for the house. Who would I talk to in order to add a tap either at the house or at the tank to run a portable generator?
Plumber? or some sort of gas expert? Who would that be?

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Plumber who can do gasfitting

From what I’ve read, the conversion for NG and propane is slightly different in terms of the parts used. Of course, I read that on the internet so it must be right.

The conversion unit I was looking at was Tri something or other and allowed you to use either gasoline, natural gas or propane. As I recall, the kit was around $200 and contained everything you needed to allow the generator to use any of the three fuels.

I installed one on my 10K Gen. if you have a NG BBQ gas feed you are golden in an emergency. The one i used was an older type that you put stud extenders on air breather studs. (I got lucky and didn't have to cut the frame) the conversion kits they have now are thinner . Its called a snorkel tri fuel conversion kit. both versions are very easy to install.

In general it is find a trifuel carb online that meets the power requirements of your generator. That's usually what you need. Then its going to be mild fitting work. If you are lucky, someone makes one specific to your generac model.

Propane is cheaper per KWH, but not by a lot. Depends on gas/propane prices at any given time. Unless you are trying to run your house for ages on something, it isn't much of a consideration (and if you were going to do that, you should use diesel anyway. Or solar and battery, which is a TON cheaper in the long run).

The advantage is less frequent fueling and the fuel can be stored effectively indefinitely without going bad. Also longer run time between oil changes and no chance of the carb gunking up.

It is a MUCH more expensive initial setup though. However, a couple of 100lb propane tanks and an automatic cut-over valve on something like a 4kw (on propane) generator with what would likely be a typical house load means you can probably run that for about a week straight. If you are shutting it down over night, that's likely more like 11-12 days. If you rationed it running it only 3hrs a day (morning, afternoon and evening) you could easily get 6-8 weeks out of it.

Gas on the other hand, you'd need about 34 gallons of gas. Not insurmountable at all, but that is a lot of 5 gallon gas cans...

And that is a TON to keep on hand, just in case. I'd like to get a 4-5kw dual fuel generator so I CAN set it up with a pair of 100# bottles and auto-cut over. Then it makes it easy enough to have a couple/few spare 20lbs bottles and a couple of 30# bottles also on hand. If a gas station is closed/out of power, you can probably still buy a new 20lb propane bottle from somewhere. And you can always use gas if its easy enough to get to a gas station and its still open and save the propane as the last resort.

The downside is, you are probably looking at around $150 for a 100# propane bottle and around $50-60 a refill. Plus a major PITA because you are talking handling a tank that weighs around 80lbs empty and 180lbs full. So you are talking the generator, plus about $300+ for a pair of 100# bottles, plus another $30-50 for the cutover valve. You might want a cover for the bottles also.

Or you can use a couple of 30# bottles, which still gets you a pretty long run time compared to the tank of gas and some nice "just in case" fuel on hand always for your generator. Easily a couple of weeks running it only occasionally.

By comparison I've got 10 gallons in cans right now and I'll be running out to fill up two more 5-gallon cans (really they are 5.5 gallon cans) and topping off one of the existing ones as I plan to fill my mower and generator to the brim soon. I use stabil in the gas and never had issues even with 9-12 month old gas. But mowing my lawn uses about 1.5 gallons for the whole stinking ~2 or so acres that needs mowing. So I use about 20 gallons for the entire mowing season since I don't always mow it every week.

Before I got the extra cans, I usually used one 5 gallon can and once it was empty I'd go fill it up and use the one that had been full. That way I had 5 gallons on hand. For the next...while, I'll fill everything and plan to rotate through the cans always keeping 3 full over the course of the mowing season.

Now compare that to propane and I keep on hand about the equivalent of a single 100# bottle up to maybe a 100# and a 20# depending on where I am on using my 5-gallon cans. My personal plan is to get the dual fuel generator and a pair of 30# bottles, cover and cut-over valve and if/when I can, I might get 100# tanks. I also might not and decide that 30# tanks are the way to go, and get a second set of two and keep those in my shed and live with just that, plus the couple of 20# bottles I use for my grill and for my banjo burner for brewing and also keep those gas cans full and rotate through them.

Gives me stuff to so I can keep the carb dry, quick hookup the generator and fire it up if I have a short power outage and worry about switching to gas if it is really extended and I have the spare 30# tanks in the shed to boot.

Oh and it allows me to have a spare generator, keeping my gas only 3.2kw generator (it can handle my house, but I have to be careful about what runs. Upside to oil heat and oil water heat).

the thing with running a large portable like mine is you can't run continuously. its not meant to. it needs to rest also even though it has a automatic low oil warning don`t trust it check you oil often. another tip build yourself a soundproof box (with venting) the less noticeable the better. During Hurricane Sandy jerkoffs were stealing generators at night. their tipoff was loud gens. and extention chords(as quiet gens were the hardwired whole house type) also aside from a chain and lock find an inconspicuous spot on your gen and cable clamp a 1/8 ss cable. it won't be noticed in the dark. in the rush the thieves will cut the lock/chain. give about 6ft of lead ...when the try their getaway the cable will cause them to drop the gen ...they will only think about getting the **** out of dodge without getting their asses shotsaving you a generator...cheap little anti theft feature.

Melnic said:

I can say this, storing Propane is easier than storing gas.
I think the cost per KwH is more for propane but since I already store several tanks for grille and outdoor heater, No sweat.

Question related to this. I have a 1000 gal propane tank for the house. Who would I talk to in order to add a tap either at the house or at the tank to run a portable generator?
Plumber? or some sort of gas expert? Who would that be?

Click to expand...

We used a licensed plumber, a gasfitter, as it were, to do the hookups, and a licensed electrician to install and connect the switching panel, and the country came out and inspected the work. I would guess that your homeowner's insurance company would want this sort of work to be done by licensed technicians and inspected, but that's just a guess.

Pope414 said:

the thing with running a large portable like mine is you can't run continuously. its not meant to. it needs to rest also even though it has a automatic low oil warning don`t trust it check you oil often. another tip build yourself a soundproof box (with venting) the less noticeable the better. During Hurricane Sandy jerkoffs were stealing generators at night. their tipoff was loud gens. and extention chords(as quiet gens were the hardwired whole house type) also aside from a chain and lock find an inconspicuous spot on your gen and cable clamp a 1/8 ss cable. it won't be noticed in the dark. in the rush the thieves will cut the lock/chain. give about 6ft of lead ...when the try their getaway the cable will cause them to drop the gen ...they will only think about getting the **** out of dodge without getting their asses shotsaving you a generator...cheap little anti theft feature.

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There is that. I would not run one at night personally. Well, not much past dark and it would be lots of fun trying to wheel my generator down my driveway or across the lawn the 200yds to the street. Going to have a hard time missing someone pulling up my driveway even with their lights off to try to steal it.

I don’t leave it out at night.

Lousy Shot said:

We used a licensed plumber, a gasfitter, as it were, to do the hookups, and a licensed electrician to install and connect the switching panel, and the country came out and inspected the work. I would guess that your homeowner's insurance company would want this sort of work to be done by licensed technicians and inspected, but that's just a guess.

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It’s not a guess. They will.

And your county almost certainly requires it to be inspected. The permits are probably only $30-70 for the gas permit and then the same for the electrical. Of course plus what the tradesman will charge (at a guess you are talking $300-800 for the gas work and $800-2000 for the electrical).

For mine I don’t have a big tank, so no gas fitting and the electrical was easy and cheap to install a whole panel manual transfer switch and the generator hookup.

Then again I would not recommend doing the work yourself unless you’ve done extensive electrical work. I’ve been doing mine for pushing 2 decades now (mostly permitted work) from little projects to very large additions and replacing panels. So my out of pocket cost was about $100 (not including the generator).

Mine is a tri-fuel set-up (NG, Propane, Gasoline) I start with NG since I have a NG grill, had a couple additional quick connects added outside. From there, if the NG goes off, switch to propane (I have several 35# forklift tanks) and if I can't get those refilled during an event, final back-up is gasoline.

I got my conversion kit here: http://www.centralmainediesel.com/

Pope414 said:

the thing with running a large portable like mine is you can't run continuously. its not meant to. it needs to rest also even though it has a automatic low oil warning don`t trust it check you oil often. another tip build yourself a soundproof box (with venting) the less noticeable the better. During Hurricane Sandy jerkoffs were stealing generators at night. their tipoff was loud gens. and extention chords(as quiet gens were the hardwired whole house type) also aside from a chain and lock find an inconspicuous spot on your gen and cable clamp a 1/8 ss cable. it won't be noticed in the dark. in the rush the thieves will cut the lock/chain. give about 6ft of lead ...when the try their getaway the cable will cause them to drop the gen ...they will only think about getting the **** out of dodge without getting their asses shotsaving you a generator...cheap little anti theft feature.

Click to expand...

One of the nice things about the surplus military generators is they are designed for continuous use. One of the down sides are they are quite heavy for what they are rated for, I.E. 5kw commercial compared to 5 kw military. If one has the space, a trailer mounted unit stored “out back” and brought up to the house when needed is one of the best ways to use them.

I just recently replaced my 10KW Military genset from 1943. It still worked awesome (powered by a 4 cyl. Willys Jeep engine) But it was very thirsty - over 1 GPH at moderate load. That's a lot of gas.

Maybe getting off track here for this thread BUT any suggestions on a full home gen. sys? I have a 4400 watt. portable and the outside box for plug in cords. Im looking for a stand alone home sys. Haven't heard much good about the Generac sys. Know a guy that sold them for years and he adviser me against that brand.

Quasar said:

Maybe getting off track here for this thread BUT any suggestions on a full home gen. sys? I have a 4400 watt. portable and the outside box for plug in cords. Im looking for a stand alone home sys. Haven't heard much good about the Generac sys. Know a guy that sold them for years and he adviser me against that brand.

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research will show... They are cheaper, popular thus so. The home versions have alot of complaints. Apparently the live on Commercial stuff, blow off residential support.

Not that I have a lot of experience but I have a 22.5kw Generac...never a problem. Honda has a good name as well. Honeywell is made by Generac.

I like HONDA... Motorcycles I've had were bullet proof. $$ top end stuff. Anyone Owen Kohler, Champion, Yamaha?