Back-Up Generators: Only 14 Hr Service?

[CuriouslyGeorge]

An EE (whose speciality is communications, not power) asked me if I knew why all residential generators have a rating of about 14 hrs. He thought this meant it should not be operated for more than 14 hrs non-stop. My brother-in-law (civil eng.) says operation is limited by the fuel tank capacity. Hence, it could operate 14-hrs non-stop without refueling.

The latter makes more sense. Is this correct?
- Curiously George

 

[IRstuff]

I should hope so, otherwise, we're talking about spending about $500 for each outage, which is clearly absurd.

Additionally, what would you do if the blackout lasted for more than 14 hrs, go out and buy another generator?

TTFN

 

[MikeHalloran]

One commodity that was in very short supply after Hurricane Andrew was motor oil. Gensets, especially new ones, consume a lot of it. Maybe the 14 hours is an indirect limit on oil consumption?




Mike Halloran
NOT speaking for
DeAngelo Marine Exhaust Inc.
Ft. Lauderdale, FL, USA

 

[TBP]

Maybe it's a duty-cycle range, like for welding machines. Perhaps 14 hours out of 24? Run a couple of hours, off for an hour? If it's for residential emergency use only, I doubt most people would pay the money for an industrial grade unit that would stand-up to running 24-7.

 

[walkes]

Normally, with building codes the generator has a requirement to operate for a certain amount of time. That time is to determine the capacity of the fuel oil storage. In some cases emergency generators only require 4 hours of capacity.
14hrs is likely the average amount of downtime allowable before the utility companies are up and running again.