If you HAVE to have power that PTO generator is a nice HAVEPOWERANYWHERE tool. Not very fuel efficient, but weighed against losing 1500 hens in the heat or a year’s meat/veggies in a freezer, it’s a no-brainer.
Optionally a clever person CAN readily muffle/suppress the exhaust-side noise from a typical gas-powered generator either for convenience/sanity or OPSEC. Attic fibreglass insulation and a few left-over drop ceiling panels make a fine acoustic baffle box. You just have to be mindful of heat dissipation.
ALSO the quality of the power coming out of a generator from ANY provider in the consumer category can be pretty dirty and variable. The easy dual-purpose fix is to plug in a couple UPSs (uninterruptible power supplies) that would normally protect a PC/server or home entertainment in your home on a day to day basis. Plugging these in in-between your Home Depot generator and your fridge and freezer WILL save them from what generators just naturally do. Be sure to have UPSs with sufficient Wattage/current throughput.
Lastly have a couple of the 2500 watt inverters that attach to your vehicles’ 12 volt batteries (one per vehicle). They produce *pretty good* power (generally square wave but steadier than a gas generator) so you don’t need the in-line UPS’s line conditioner a gas generator REQUIRES, and they can also go anywhere. A car or diesel truck burns fewer gallons per hour than an idling or set-throttle PTO generator, but will of course provide less power.
And from an OPSEC standpoint, and idling car driving 2500 steady watts of power to your freezer and fridge can’t be heard 50 feet away.
Options.
>> Not very fuel efficient, but weighed against losing 1500 hens in the heat or a year’s meat/veggies in a freezer, it’s a no-brainer.
That’s what I was thinking. Its normal use would be occasional, when I need power out in the field; and then I have it in case of a serious power outage.
You’re right, fuel efficiency is a minus with a PTO setup. An offsetting plus is the fact that a dedicated generator engine is yet another piece of equipment to maintain (and test and run once in awhile and store and etc.) whereas there’s always a couple tractors around — that I already have to maintain. I KNOW they will start, and fuel for them is kept on hand naturally.
Another plus is that stockpiling diesel is safer, more efficient, and all-around easier. Plus I use enough to keep the stock fresh.
You have good points re: the car-operated small inverter for that “special” kind of emergency. ;-) Thanks for pointing that out.