Home Forums Miscellaneous Topics Rural Living PTO Generators.

Alternator actually, The cattle chute need some welding, so Jake hooked up the generator I bought in late spring of 1975.

When I moved here from the farm a little over ten years ago, I was determined to get a big enough PTO unit to power the whole place by just hooking it up and flipping the switch.

But....I mentioned it to a guy who works for the local power company and he said not to bother with it. Turns out that I am on a main trunk line and they always have to get that running first during an outage in order to get everything else up and going. And he was right. I don't think the power has been off for more than two hours total in the years we have been here.

So I put that dream to rest.

However, I do have a portable that is big enough to run a stick welder if I ever feel the need.

Neat little rig, Richard.

Do y'all use it very often?

Sure glad I got my welder/generator. Handy for welding jobs and gives power enough to run what we need in an emergency.

Thos things seem like a great idea till you use it...my dad bought one to power the farm...ran it with a 4430.. The fuel it eats just isn't worth it...I have a multi quip with a 50 and 30 amp service...it uses about 10-12 gal in 24 hrs..under full load

Huh??


If you need the power, it dont really matter how much it costs. Sometimes.

That is a lot fuel cost running a tractor for what you get. I looked at them and then bought a 7500W Gas motor generator that works for emergencies.I ran it last week for three days during our blizzard when the power was out .

I guess it makes a difference where you live.....and how many watts you can live with.


12 gallons aint nothing.

Where do you live, Dubai?

I agree that cost is inconsequential.

This coming from someone that's been through hurricanes and seen what widespread, long term outages can do.

When your cows are out of water, what will you spend to water them?

When you have two freezers full of frozen meat, does letting all of it rot sound like a good idea compared to 10-12 gallons of gasoline/diesel?

I was thinking about getting one for when the power is out. My house is electric heat. My electrician tells anyone with a generator to use it 3 or 4 times a year whether you need it or not.

After the last hurricane threat here last summer, I got a welder/generator. Needed one anyway. It gets used regularly.

We used to run that generator with an H Farmall. Now it's mostly a Farmall 706 diesel. I don't think I've ever run it overnight. 6Am, to 9Pm.

I ran my 7500 W one for three days. It used about 5 gallons of gas very 8 hours running about 50% .I kept the well pump running,stock tank heater going, two gas fire place fans, fan on gas water heater, refrigerator, TV, a few lights and I plugged the freezer in when I didn't need the pump running
.
If power outages were common, then I would get a Generac 12KW and set it up to run on Natural gas with an auto kick on switch

Haha !!!! We're the last pole on a rural co-op line. Power outages are a way of life. We've freakin HAD IT...... there's a Generac 16kw NG on the way with a 200A ATS.

DONE pizzing with the lousy service.

Should do it.

I have often wondered about that.


We do not have access to NG out here, not even a farm tap.


All our NG is delivered through big compressors. The pressure in the field is too low to transport far.


I believe that the compressors are reliant on electricity now....in some capacity.


Always thought a propane generator would be better in that regard.

I do believe Generac has NG or propane generators

I converted my engine drive Miller welder generator to run on liquid withdrawal propane. I use my forklift tanks on it—no more bad gas and carburetor rebuilds.

Being in construction, I have seen many stationary generators installed for buildings. Every generator manufacturer can supply diesel, NG propane or gasoline.

We ran our diesel 25 kw generator for 16 hours per day for 5 days this winter. We were lucky, people 40 miles to the north of us were out for weeks. Their small cooperative (4000 customers) suffered through the worst storm in their 81 year history. At one point, not one customer had power, the co-op had 150 miles of line on the ground and it will cost them $10-12 million.

Pretty much. The dairy farm I worked for as a kid used a PTO backup generator. I remember the IH 986 purring for days on end running that thing on many occasions.

They must be pretty trouble free too because they are still using it 25 years later, and it looked old when I was a kid.

My brother has one of those PTO generators. He’s in rural western Ks and waters 200 cattle in a feed lot on an electric well pump. When the power goes out he has a problem very quickly and needs the generator to pump water for cattle.

Yep,some fuel is cheap when 150 cows need a drink.
75 want their teets pulled, and there is $1200 worth of milk that needs kept cold.

When in that situation, a pto generator can't be beat.
It doesnt need any attention when unneeded, the tractor is always being used and maintained, it will start, it will run.
You probably even have backup tractors if one has problems.