I love my 7.5 kw 2002 Onan

[scottjo02]

Here in Tulsa we just finished a week of widespread city power outage. A strong storm with clocked winds of 100mph downed many trees and 700 power poles. Along with out of state workers, the 3000 line workers have restored most of the 200,000 outages in the city. I feel so fortunate to have such a dependable, quiet, powerful generator with a full tank of diesel fuel in the coach. It allowed my wife and I to keep food cold and frozen, use lights, use fans and a small room air conditioner that I keep for just this purpose. I watched several neighbors go out and buy portable generators and then give up due to the noise and hassle of refueling with gasoline. My Onan has has just over 1000 hours and I keep it serviced on schedule just for this purpose and of course while traveling in the coach . 

I know many of you in hurricane areas have bigger stories to tell but here in our state this one is big. I also know all the discussions of hooking up a generator to house power but I do it very carefully and will continue when necessary.

Thanks again Cummins and Onan.

Scott

 

[jacwjames]

How many hours did you put on the generator and do you know the fuel consumption. 

Would be good to know down the road as the storms in our (E TN) area seems to be getting more severe and more frequent.  The storm fronts that come from the west seem to pack the bigger punch. 

[scottjo02]

Hi Jim

We shut it off at night so it just had about 70 hours. From my "calibrated" fuel gauge it used about 35 gallons. So about 1/2 gph. It really was just above an idle most of the time.

Scott

 

[BradHend]

Last year we had an intense rain storm which took out the power to our little town for about half a day.  I quickly realized the sump pit in the house was quickly filling, along with the neighbors on my street.  I pulled the coach onto the road (dead end quiet street) and about 6 of my neighbors and myself were all running our sump pumps of the coach genny.   I ensured all extension cords were plugged into a GFCI circuit of course, but boy was I the talk of the street for a while after that.  Saved their basements and a huge headache.  Neighbors down the way had a different outcome in their basements unfortunately.  
My Onan 5500 burns about 1 Gallon per hour under low to moderate load.  

Edited June 24, 2023 by BradHend

[JDCrow]

I can appreciate this! We are currently in the planning phase of a new home and new building for our business. Both will have propane/natural gas generators as backups. Not only for natural disasters, but I am beginning to worry about forced shutoffs due to power grid strains. 
 

Glad you are safe and sound through all that 

[Guest Ray Davis]

37 minutes ago, JDCrow said:

I am beginning to worry about forced shutoffs due to power grid strains. 
 

Yeah, here in Tex the power grid is smoking, so I've turned my thermostat up to 72 deg. It's really hot & humid here in East Tex.  West Coast folks are moving here and they can't take the heat.  ( don't tell, but I can't either )   Anyway, they want air cond and there goes our electric grid.  I also sometimes use my coach gen, but it won't heat or cool the house, so to stay comfortable I sometimes just move into it.   I really should break down and buy an emergency stand-by generator.                                  Maybe someday.

[cbr046]

There's an endurance motorcycle event that scheduled Tulsa for their first stop.  112 riders + about 2 dozen staff were headed from Pittsburgh to their electric-free Tulsa hotel when the storm hit.  It got down to finding volunteer homes for all the riders. complete chaos!  Fortunately by the time they got there power had been restored (100,000 still without power).  You can read about their exploits here - https://www.ironbuttrally.net/tulsa-time/

Tip of the hard hat to the line crews restoring power, sometimes . . . . many times, in adverse conditions. 

And no, I was not part of this rally.  I once rode 1,149 miles in 22 hours but 11,000+ miles in 11 days?  Not me!  Well, maybe if I had (a lot) more money . . . .

- bob

[scottjo02]

Bob

Now that sounds like one heck of a rally. Lets see, 24 hours per day minus 6 hours rest is 18 hours divided into 1000 miles is 55 mph average? I can not imagine completing it. Thanks for letting us read about it.

Scott

 

[dennis.mcdonaugh]

Two years ago we were without power for 3 days during a snow storm with temps near zero. We ran the generator and heater three straight days. We have a small propane tank so we kept the thermostat set in 60 and used an electric space heater to keep it warm. I don’t think the space heater could have warmed the coach by itself. The fuel gauge barely moved, but we used a quarter of a tank of propane. 

[jimc99999]

Last year we ended up boondocking in a parking lot for 6 days in the Jersey summer heat, 85-90F each day. I figured that was a good opportunity to test generator fuel usage, so I filled up at the nearest TA on the way and when we left. Drove 72 miles, ran the generator 106 hours, used 37 gallons of diesel. The coach gets around 8 mpg on flat easy driving like that, so figure 9 gallons for the Cummins and 28 for the Onan 7500. So 106 hours, 17 hrs/day, at least one AC was running for probably 70% of that time, and both AC units around 40% of those hours. Still had average usage around 0.26 gph. 

I thought idle usage would have been around 0.25 gph, so I'm surprised at the numbers. But I filled the tank to the top like I always do, and that truckstop is very flat, so it seems like there shouldn't be much variance related to coach being tilted right or left. My average fuel usage is 7.5 mpg over 25K miles and 1200 hours on the generator (3297 gallons total, almost $10K!).

[96 EVO]

On 6/24/2023 at 10:14 AM, Ray Davis said:

 I sometimes just move into it.  

That's what I do during the rare extended power failures here!

No tornado's to worry about, and no basement sump pump to keep powered.

[96 EVO]

On 6/24/2023 at 10:14 AM, Ray Davis said:

Yeah, here in Tex the power grid is smoking, so I've turned my thermostat up to 72 deg.  

72 deg 😲!

Suppose you'll be ok, as long as you keep an ice pack around your neck, and consume plenty of icy cold brews Ray 🤣!

[Guest Ray Davis]

1 hour ago, 96 EVO said:

72 deg 😲!

Suppose you'll be ok, as long as you keep an ice pack around your neck, and consume plenty of icy cold brews Ray 🤣!

Just kidding and I doubt I could get it down to 72 anyway.  It's well over 100 deg here.   I remember when we went to the movies to get relief from the heat.                  Those were the days.

[dl_racing427]

On 6/24/2023 at 12:06 PM, JDCrow said:

I can appreciate this! We are currently in the planning phase of a new home and new building for our business. Both will have propane/natural gas generators as backups. Not only for natural disasters, but I am beginning to worry about forced shutoffs due to power grid strains. 
 

Glad you are safe and sound through all that 

The trouble with natural gas, is you will likely lose that service in an extended widespread outage.
Propane generators use a LOT of fuel, and many people have found out you can't get those tanks filled in a crisis either.

I installed a 30kW diesel standby genset.  It has a base tank that holds around 140 gallons, and I have tanks with several hundred gallons more onsite.
And if it comes down to it, I can fill it with 5 gallon jugs if need be.
I also designed a way to disable it from inside the house during the night or when it's not needed.
We had a big storm shortly after I installed it, and power was out for 40 hours during a heat wave.
It ran 24 hours and used 14 gallons of diesel.  I'm very happy with that.

[JDCrow]

2 hours ago, dl_racing427 said:

The trouble with natural gas, is you will likely lose that service in an extended widespread outage.
Propane generators use a LOT of fuel, and many people have found out you can't get those tanks filled in a crisis either.

I installed a 30kW diesel standby genset.  It has a base tank that holds around 140 gallons, and I have tanks with several hundred gallons more onsite.
And if it comes down to it, I can fill it with 5 gallon jugs if need be.
I also designed a way to disable it from inside the house during the night or when it's not needed.
We had a big storm shortly after I installed it, and power was out for 40 hours during a heat wave.
It ran 24 hours and used 14 gallons of diesel.  I'm very happy with that.

That’s a thought. I haven’t priced that set up. Do you use your diesel frequently? We gel here from cold and it can get waxy as well. 

[dl_racing427]

2 hours ago, JDCrow said:

That’s a thought. I haven’t priced that set up. Do you use your diesel frequently? We gel here from cold and it can get waxy as well. 

I use off-road diesel for heat in my shop and one of my garages, and I treat my tanks with Power Service additive and a biocide.
I also have a diesel snake in the generator tank to prevent moisture accumulation.
It doesn't really get cold enough here to gel.

Edited June 27, 2023 by dl_racing427

[Guest Ray Davis]

13 hours ago, dl_racing427 said:

The trouble with natural gas, is you will likely lose that service in an extended widespread outage.
Propane generators use a LOT of fuel, and many people have found out you can't get those tanks filled in a crisis either.

I installed a 30kW diesel standby genset.  It has a base tank that holds around 140 gallons, and I have tanks with several hundred gallons more onsite.
And if it comes down to it, I can fill it with 5 gallon jugs if need be.
I also designed a way to disable it from inside the house during the night or when it's not needed.
We had a big storm shortly after I installed it, and power was out for 40 hours during a heat wave.
It ran 24 hours and used 14 gallons of diesel.  I'm very happy with that.

Fascinating,  sounds as tho you are prepared.  I love your sort of get-it-done ability.    Does your diesel keep for extended periods or do you rotate it out by burning it in the RV?    

[dl_racing427]

57 minutes ago, Ray Davis said:

Fascinating,  sounds as tho you are prepared.  I love your sort of get-it-done ability.    Does your diesel keep for extended periods or do you rotate it out by burning it in the RV?    

My heat in the garage and shop uses diesel, as well as my tractor and lawn mower, so I do rotate it slowly.
As long as kept dry and properly treated, diesel fuel can last several years.