Natural Gas REQUIREMENTS for GENERATOR - 8 IMPORTANT Questions Answered
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- Опубліковано 6 жов 2024
- Have questions about natural Gas Generator this video will answer them in under 10 minutes.
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Natural Gas Quick Connect for A Generator
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35 years of experience and I agree with everything this man has to say. Just remember bigger is always better.
Just want to say thank you for that of all the comments I get this was one of the nicest really appreciate it
I believe the m3 to ft3 conversion should be x35.3, not x8. My meter max NG flow is 7.1 m3/hr or 250.7 ft3/hr. Thanks for a wonderful overview video on several specific considerations. Even as someone very experienced in this area, the practical advice was very useful.
What about a flow regulator? From what I understand a lot of generators don't stop allowing the flow if they shut off
Most houses have 1/2' piping for water heaters and BBQ and that is because they are less than 55,000 BTU
The difference in volume from 1/2" 3/4' to 1" is profound. The reason most go 1/2" because it is cheap.
For example a 1/2" line at 40 ponds pressure a house is 8" water column so less than a pound, your thumb could cover the 1/2" piping and stop the flow of gas, 3/4" you cannot, 1" it will blow you skin off. This is at 40 times the pressure of a house hold pressure.
What? How did you get to 40 pounds in your example? We are talking about low pressure gas, aren't we?
Great, to the point, video. Thank you. One question..:If I understood you correctly you said to convert from Cubic Meters (In Canada) to Cubic Feet you multiply times 8. I believe the correct multiplier is 35.315. (1 Cubic Meter = 35.315 Cubic Feet)
Did you put a regulator on your gas line feed?
Great video, straight to the point. Job well done.
My question is, can I use use gas line with a T from the 1" pipe supplying the furnace and water heater or I have to get separate line from the meter? (14k Generator)
You need to look at the supply pipe tables to see how much capacity your 1" pipe from the meter can supply for the distances of your situation. Personally I would not recommend any homeowner doing NG supply pipe work anyways, so you could just have a qualified pipefitter do it.
Thanks Tim this is the best video I have ever seen I wish I seen this before my installation thanks know I have to do it over thanks
Nice video Tim, you answered all my questions, but one. I was advised that if I convert my portable generator to run on Natural Gas, I can't run it for 24 hrs. a day or for multiple days. Why is that? What's the difference between a Coller/Generac Natural Gas generator vs a portable generator running for 1 day or multiple days? Thanks in advance for your time and information per this matter.
I think that may because it will need a oil change every X amount of hours, mine is every 50, check your manual.
Great video! Simple and to the point. I have not checked all your video's, If you have not done one some people do not understand THD, Total harmonic distortion.
I haven’t done one yet but I will. Thabsk for the great suggestion
Thanks Tim. I had a Generac installer at my house today. He said the gas line plumbing distance calculation starts from the meter, not wherever I tie into the line. Does that sound correct to you? Thanks
Yes, that is true overall if I understand your question. For example, if you have 20 feet of 1/2 or 3/4 pipe running from the meter to the tee for your generator you need to combine that with the gas line from the tee to your generator to calculate supply capacity and make sure it is sufficient.
Great video (s)!! I've really learned a lot from watching your channel. Hurricane Beryl put me in the generator market but I'm on a tight budget and trying to figure out the bare minimum I can get by with. All I need to run during an outage is (1) Whirlpool Fridge/Freezer, (2) A Window or Portable A/C Unit for my master bedroom/bathroom that I can separate from rest of house, (3) Internet Modem/Router, and various (4) lights, charging stations, 50" TV, etc. I would like to be self-sustainable for 4-5 days with these being powered. Now, I have friends with whole home Generacs that weren't able to power their regular A/Cs because of Natural Gas flow issues here in Texas - one bought a window unit and that worked. I would need to pay someone to do a NG hookup and then about a 40 foot line to be able to put the gen in my back yard (meter is at the front side corner of my house). That would be the easiest, but I can buy canisters for either gasoline or propane, just not sure where I will store them. Would like your recommendation on the best/cheapest way to get'er done :)
I’m in the Houston area and went through Beryl, too. We wired our home for a generator about a year ago. About 9 years ago I bought a Predator 9000 on sale for a great price. It proved to be a workhorse and ran everything in our home except for the AC. We have a window unit, too. That setup worked great when we used it before. We made the commitment within the past year and bought the Generac 17500 portable which ran everything including the central air. From it, we ran an electrical line to our neighbors home and ran everything for them as well except for their AC. Hope this helps. Please note that our big generator does not have a natural gas conversation kit from the manufacturer. There is a conversion kit that’s after market. Blue Flame of Houston will do a conversion to run on propane or natural gas.
I highly recommend the Tri-fuel DuroMax 15000, which is a $1000 cheaper than the generac. If you go with the duel fuel DuroMax 13000, it’s even cheaper. Hope this gives you options
@@Beau26102 Thank you. I'll look into those. Hope your house was spared tree damage like mine had. Has to be the world record of Level 1 hurricane ;)
I also live in Houston and If you can catch it on sale, Costco had a Firman T07573 TRI Fuel on sale for $699 I bought it right before Beryl as a backup. I was without power for 6 days and it worked great. Great deal for the price.
@@TheCreepa69 What do you run it on? For me, it would be easier to get gasoline but I'd prefer to run it off Propane to keep it clean. I just don't have any propane tanks so that would be an added expense (I have four 6 gallon gas cans).
@@WinningWithWarchildI ran it in gasoline those 6 days. I have four 5 gallon tanks. I do have 4 propane tanks as well, 1-40gl, 2-30g, and 1-20gl. I’m still working on setting up a designated gas line for my generator. Next week I plan on buying a soft start for my AC unit to help reduce the amps my AC pulls by almost half. In general the option of having 3 sources of fuel is a big plus.
What about a pressure regulator? My home's meter supplies 25 PSI, but my gas line hose and Firman generator are rated at 1/2 PSI.
Thanks for you great information. Now I know the supply rate and pressure. 😊
Thank you Tim. I will share this with my husband for our future desire. Great info.
Thanks potpourri
Hi Tim- great information.
One question that is unclear is whether you can a fitting at the generator that can switch between propane and NG?
Great information Tim. I am purchasing a Westinghouse 12500 peak Tri-fuel generator. My natural gas quick connect that I use for my grill is approximately 75 feet from where my generator will need to run. What recommendations can you give me regarding size/width of line to use to make sure that I get sufficient gas to the generator? Where can I find a 75-100 ft flexible line for this type of application. Thanks for your help.
Looking for similar information. Trying to run whole house with all gas appliances and a 2.5ton hvac. Would like to keep generator as far from the house as I can so looking at similar distances on a hose or line
Gas line hoses depend on codes. I did a 25 foot hose. Ten feet away from a window with the exhaust pointed away from your house should be sufficient
I just bought a 70ft 3/4" hose from Amazon. Going from gas meter to backyard. Hope this will be enough gas to keep my Genmax inverter powered. I heard our gas meter needs to be upgraded the regulator. I will try first and see what happens. If so, then I will have to upgrade my gas meter regulator for $350
At 3/4” that should be plenty to power an inverter.
@@LL-mt2nz you think i can use 1/2 inch hose and quick connect a 50' and 25' together?
Do I need a quick disconnect on both ends of hose in order to purge the line?
Great video.. can you explain why people are against using a heavy duty garden hose for natural gas. I have one cut to length I need. Besides leaks that I think I can prevent. Is there any other reason I shouldn't use. Bc I don't think the psi is high enough to bust
My gas outlet is 1/2", my generator inlet is 3/4". Should get 25 feet 1/2" gas hose and then a 1/2 - 3/4 adapter for the generator? OR should I get a 1/2 - 3/4 adapter at the outlet and then a 3/4" gas hose? Basically, should the adapter be placed at the gas outlet or the generator inlet?
I just received my Firman 07571 gen. Due to distances, I'll need a 3/4 inch gas hose. I can't find an adapter from 3/4 to 3/8. Can you please recco one with a link? Is the 3/8 a female flare? What's the other end?
Hello what was your distance??
Great video, thanks for posting it! I just purchased a Westinghouse tri-fuel generator (WGen9500TFc). Having a professional install piping & valves for natural gas. The quick connect hose supplied by Westinghouse is setup to connect to the generator, and then the other end of the hose would screw into the valve feed from the gas coming from the meter. Seems I'd have to either leave the hose outside, or unscrew it after each use if I used it that way? My plumber is suggesting we install a fitting so that we can screw the hose into the generator, and then use the quick connect hose end, to connect to the valve feed from the meter. This way the hose would always be connected / with the generator - when needed. Makes sense to me, do you see any downsides? Just makes me wonder why Westinghouse set it up this way. 🤷♂
i think that would be fine. is there any reason they don't want to put a quick connect on both ends so you can store it safely unattached
I just bought the same unit. Do you know the BTU requirements for NG option on the 9500FTc?
Thanks for your reply, and yes quick connect is on both ends 👍
What if . . . you don't have Nat. Gas service at your residence but you know
there is service in the area ?
Is it feasible and/or expensive to bring to your residence ?
So do you mean tap into it store it in a container and travel to your house I’m sure it can be done like they used to use large balloons for wood gas storage but not ideal or safe or legal :) if you mean get it installed ahead of time by your gas company it usually isn’t too bad especially if you are signing up to be a customer they usually supply the meter cheaper no cost
@@TOOLMANTIMSWORKSHOP Not at all -
I meant to have the service extended to ones residence or residential area/neighborhood .
Tim if I go to my Lowes outlet, what do I ask the employee for to adapter a quick release fitting at the generator end of the natural gas hose and what's the size of that adapter?
The one difficult part is the adapter that comes off the gnerator it’s a 3/8” flared fitting you need something to fit there that will take a quick release fitting. Also if you can put the quick release male end on the generator I did it backwards in this video and it makes it safer if you do it that way
Do you suggest upsizing when nearing capacity due to longer distances? Going about 145ft and 1" should be more than enough supply but to go up to 1-1/4" it wouldn't cost too much more. . . ?
I ran this 100 feet away, maybe more on a standard 3/8” natural gas line no issues
Great Video! Very detailed and helpful!
Tim,
Super helpful video. I appreciated your response to my last question as well. Just the facts, no feelings involved.
I’ve just about got everything I need, but I am double checking that my meter can supply my natural gas needs for my house.
Don’t know how to attach a picture of it here, but my gas meter label says Gas/Air Capacity 250/195 CFH @ 1/2” W.C.
Seems to me this might say that this meter can supply 250 ft.³ per hour of natural gas?
Don’t know why the air capacity is listed there or what that’s about.
Thanks for any help!
is there a limit to how long the electrical cable from the generator to the transfer switch plug in can be?
Do they make small natural gas inverter generators? The only ones I can find are the large tri-fuel ones.
There isn’t much out there but there is an option to convert them for sure
@@TOOLMANTIMSWORKSHOP Thanks I will look into that. Didn't think it was an option.
Other than the weight, not much downside of the larger generators. Then at least you have a 50 A / 240 V output. The additional cost is not very much for the larger generators.
@@WeaponOut Yes, my main concern was the weight but also the fuel consumption when my output needs were minimal (less than 3000 watts)
Awesome information dump Tim!
Thanks Jon
Hey Tim,, so i hooked up 3/8 quick connects to my propane hose.. and put a reducer from 1/2 to 3/8 QC on the NG line hose.. did you fine that the connection on the generator leaks when you wiggle the fitting? that doesnt seem right or safe.. whats your experience with it
Mine isn’t lose and doesent leak like that. I wonder if you have the wrong style but I’m not sure. The fitting in the gen is a tapered fitting I think but I’m not sure and on the road for a while take a pic of the fitting into your local hvac shop and see if they can figure it out
I have the same question as @T4JQ3L: I'll need a 3/4-inch gas hose. I can't find an adapter from 3/4 to 3/8. Can you please recco one with a link? Is the 3/8 a female flare? What's the other end?
So I had to go to my local hvac dealer to get one because it was so hard to find a proper one of those on amazon. It was cheap and quick for that but everything else was way cheaper on Amazon
Thank you for the very informative video. I'm still dealing with a bit of confusion. I'm currently looking at buying a generator, perhaps a T04073 which needs up to 60000BTU, to power part of the house in the event of a power outage.
Unfortunately for me, my BBQ's quick connect is a 1/2" pipe that forks off the 3/4" line inside the house near the furnace, and runs probably 25-30 feet inside the house before reaching the outside wall. If I add another 20 feet, that puts me at at least 50 feet total, which should be enough per the chart displayed at 7:37 in the video. Also, the chart provided in the video specifies "metallic pipe", whereas the other charts I've found online show much lower BTU values for 50ft runs (around 45000BTU). So now I'm wondering if I should put a quick connect just after the meter and run my 20-25ft hose from there, or if I should just use my 25 feet 1/2" from the barbecue's quick connect and hope it's sufficient.
Trying to figure this out is quite complicated considering the weird setup of my house, and gas guys are ridiculously expensive here. Can't get one for less than $600 for a visit.
I have a 1/2” gas line for BBQ. After adding hose I won’t have enough gas according this information
Planning to buy the exact firman you have..tri fuel..so this was very informative. Thank you so much..I will show my hubby as well😊.
Thanks for the kind words, if you haven't seen them I have a few vidoes all about the firman here on my channel.
@@TOOLMANTIMSWORKSHOP The firman has one of the worst power qualities out there... look up the THD (total harmonic distortion).
@@treadless_co this is true at full load, which is the only figure that is reported in the specs, but I wonder what the THD is at lower load like 50% load.
I have a question which will sound silly but I need to know: does the natural gas line have to be connected to the meter outside directly or can it be connected to a tee off the gas line in the basement
so the line can go through the basement to another location?
hey katay no question is silly if you are willing to ask. Sorry I missed your questions a week ago but caught it now, no it doens't have to connect at the meter it can totally run off an existing T as long as you make sure the line behind it is supplying enough gas for you generator.
I have Duromax xp1200 , what line I need for natural gas ?
Great video. Thanks. Do you know if and 18kw portable gen will accept an ng conversion kit? Thanks
I have a Nat Gas Generator, a Nat Gas stove and oven which do not vent to the outside. Can you run A Nat Gas Gen in the basement? Windows open or windows closed?.....since my kitch appliances dont vent to the outside, why would the Nat Gas Gen need to be vented outside?
So why do the people in my neighborhood who have the GENERAC permanent natural gas generators, they are right next to their house? Not 20 feet away.
Great video!
I have a gas line in my laundry room that is supposed to be for my dry but is not in use. How can i figure out if it will supply my generator with enough natural gas to run it?
Yes it will work! But........... its limited in how many horsepower/wattage it will support. It might work with a little 2000watt generator. There is another video where dude hooked his 7000watt generator to a 3/4inch quick connect 100ft hose. He got 5,000watts comfortably 6,000watts peak.
GREAT video! Thanks for doing it.
What size hose would ne needed for a 100ft distance of gas meter to generator?
Most likely at least 1.25", depending on how much of a 'water column' in pressure is needed by the generator. IF you have a N gas generator, check with the manufacturer as to how many inches of water column it needs to run, plus what dia pipe for your distance.
I have a Powerland 10,000 tri fuel generator. The manual does not list the BTU consumption. Is there a way to find this out without the manual?
How do i convert a generac 6500 gasoline genefator to natural gas? Please help
Try this site they have all the conversion kits you could need I haven’t messed with an genrac but it can’t be too difficult
centuryfuelproducts.com/generators/conversion-kits/generac-generator-propane-conversions-and-natural-gas-conversion-kits
Ya the man. Thanks
Well done Tim, thank you for getting to the point and being basic, instead of using a bunch of charts and crap... subscribed :o) Would a conversion kit have pretty much the same requirements? Mine is just gas and propane but plan to add a natural gas kit.. since in my area that is least expensive of the 3 fuels
@TOOLMANTIMSWORKSHOP Do you need a regulator for the NG going into your generator? Or is it built into the generator already?
If the generator is a tri-fuel, then the onboard regulator should handle it without anything additional. If you’re trying to use NG on a dual fuel generator, you’ll probably need a conversion kit which provides a separate NG regulator. But, some people claim that they can run NG directly into the propane connection on a dual fuel and it will run.
@@markymark8665 it may run, but probably at significantly reduced output since LPG contains 2.5x the energy per volume of NG. Having a NG setting most certainly causes more fuel to be delivered at a given set of operating conditions.
Your gas meter is the regulator.
@@WeaponOut- this is not entirely correct. If you generator doesn’t have a regulator and it stops running while you’re running natural gas then the gas will continue to flow to the generator and be dangerous. That’s why you need a regulator on the generator side.
Thx
Does the gas turn to liquid under pressure before it combust in an internal combustion engine?
No. It remains a gas.
Thanks.... Very helpful.....
Most welcome!
Any issues with NG powering on your firman?
None, but with LPG and NG I found that I didn't need to use the choke despite the instructions saying to for LPG and NG (no choke on cold start makes sense to me given they are gaseous fuels, not liquid fuels).
Tim! Super helpful. One question, ref taping or not taping the 3/8” barbed flared male fitting on the Firman…in this video I’m commenting on, you said “flared brass fitting” requires no tape, bc the fitting needs to ‘bottom out’. But in your other video (ua-cam.com/video/GDuipkRdZBc/v-deo.html&feature=sharec) you clearly show yellow tape on that 3/8” brass generator fitting when you put the quick disconnect on it.
Teach me, Sinsei. Why is yellow tape on that one, but not recommended on this video’s?
Thanks, Tim!!
you are very observant, I made a mistake when i taped it and have since changed that. I am actually in the process of redoing my nat gas hook up video, so yes you shouldn't tape those fittings, i have learned tons as I have gone on my youtube journey.
What happens when city loses electricity , which happens oftren in a disaster you lose natural gas . Propane is the best way
90 % of people think they can run their generator on ng especially if its 100 feet from meter you need a 2 lb regulator
Btw thanks for this informative video.
Thanks for sharing. Sent you an email.
Natural gas for generator
5:41. Why would I do that? 😂
🙏💙
Nooooo, the other way around: convert it to cubic-meters.
Can this burn hydrogen
Probably, the Hindenburg could even burn hydrogen. NG is CH4, so it would probably run, but not necessarily properly and not at proper power output without carefully tuning some things. Could also pose significant safety risks. Would not recommend trying.
Nobody is using a generator at 20 feet away from home
Good way for it to start rolling away