Propane tank size for my 4000 watt inverter generator

[Shadowrider]

I had a friend that did exactly what you did.
He said he hopes he never has to fetch that many 5 gallon jugs of gas ever again.

A day or two is one thing, but a week+ is another.

I was also helping my mother at the time who was going through chemo. Luckily she had a Generac whole house system that is "fully automatic" and runs the entire house. It was a Godsend for her and worth every penny she paid for it in just that one storm. I only had to shut it down to check the oil once a day and add a bit every couple of days with one oil/filter change towards the end of the outage. They all burn a little oil so that needs to be checked daily, especially if they are loaded up pretty good. Also you need to change the oil at 100 hours of runtime or 200 if running on NG (50 hours on gasoline) and using and using a full synthetic oil. There's a reason they put low oil level cutoffs on these things.

 

[Firpo]

My 22KW will burn around 1.65 gallons of propane an hour at 25% load which is likely all we’d really be using for the most part. Not like everything is going to kick on at once but you do want to make sure you have enough storage capacity to get you through.

 

[p238shooter]

Century Products is just one of many who have a kit for propane or natural gas for your generator. They are easy to install, and you can pour in a can of gas anytime you want to run it off of that if you needed to take it elsewhere.. I have a 5500W I used during an ice storm with a propane kit addition. Standard BBQ bottle ran about 6 hours running a frig, freezer, and the blower fan on my propane central heater. I keep meaning to tap into my tank line to the house for an easier connection but have not gotten around to it. Fortunately I have a nurse tank option on my 500gal propane tank and can easily refill my own bottles in just a few min.. Good luck to you finding something that works well for you

 

[eaglerjs]

your propane generator will run on natural gas. I ran my for just under 100 hrs after fathers day wind storm. I bought a natural gas conversion kit for propane grill. I did have to adjust the regulator up on pressure to keep the lights from dimming win the a/c kicked on. it worked fine and cheaper then any other fuel. good luck

 

[Parks 788]

As some others have said. For home use during storm outages, having to buy and refill 20# tanks would bring the suck. Especially for more than a couple days. the 4K watt unit will more than likely only be able to produce a bit more than 3K continous watts, fair bit less than using gasoline. Can't imagine if you're in a single family home you can't find room for at least a 100# vertical tank as @TerryMiller mentioned. With a 4K watt generator hooked to a home I bet you be continuously running 3/4 load or more full time whick will suck the fuel. If it were me I'd be looking for the biggest tank you can find/afford/place, that being a 250 gallon tank. Emergency or not, the more fuel you have onsite the easier and happier you'll be when the storm hits the fan. I have a 24KW Generac and the reasons above are why I went with a 1000 gallon tank. Tank is for generator only. If generator is used wisely I should get close to 3 weeks of run time on 1000 gallons (800 gallons)

 

[crrcboatz]

your propane generator will run on natural gas. I ran my for just under 100 hrs after fathers day wind storm. I bought a natural gas conversion kit for propane grill. I did have to adjust the regulator up on pressure to keep the lights from dimming win the a/c kicked on. it worked fine and cheaper then any other fuel. good luck

What size is yours?

 

[HKP7M13]

Another thing to keep in mind is all of the smaller propane tanks have a expiration date and will need to be tested or replaced before they will refill them. Everything has a trade off between expense, convenience, capacity, and efficiency. Medium sized inverter generators that are duel fuel will be fuel efficient, relatively quiet, and handle what electrical load you will need to satisfy for a shorter time. For max convenience install a whole house system and be glad you did when the next big ice storm hits. It is all about the money.

 

[eaglerjs]

generator is 10kw but less on propane and ng.