20 KVW Jan Martin Generator

[Gary & Peggy Stevens]

Ok, so here is a question I wish Peg would have asked me, BEFORE we left the rally?

Approximatly how much diesel does a 20KVW generator burn in an hour?

If you know that answer, then is it worth burning the diesel generator in a road side park overnight, Rather than paying $30.00 or more for a hook up in a campground ?

Thanks.

Again, I can't tell eveybody what a fabulous time we had at the rally, Wait yes I can..... WE HAD A GREAT TIME ! :D

[VegasDogMan]

Gary:
Depends on the load and engine. Read your Owners Manual Specifications

A 20KW Kohler will burn 2.1GPH at full load and 1.7GPH at 75% load.

As I Remember our 17.5 PowerTech listed 0.9 GPH as consumption at 50% load or $2.00/hour with $4.00 Diesel

Enjoyed spending time with you and Peggy ar Rally.

Lee & Barb

[jack14r]

I have spent 4 days and nights in Sebring FL and I burned about 50 gallons with a 20K Kohler generator,I have done this twice with the same results.

[merle&louise]

That sounds about right; I use about 25 gallons when tailgating for 2 full days. We use a little bit more if LSU wins:D

[Ray Davis]

How much is your daily usage when tailgating? 8 hours, 12?

Just curious ...

[Gary & Peggy Stevens]

Thanks guys, it makes a $30.00 hook up in a campground look very reasonable, at least in cost effectiveness.

Gary S.

[merle&louise]

How much is your daily usage when tailgating? 8 hours, 12?

Just curious ...

Ray,

The generator runs 48 continuous hours.

[Ray Davis]

25 gallons for 48 hours of use. Wow, that's not bad, roughly 0.5 gallons per hour?

[Jon Wehrenberg]

Fuel use is directly proportional to the percent of power used. I am sure that with some looking on Google you could come up with some average diesel fuel consumption figures, and I typically see each kilowatt at about 2 HP (real round number).

Assuming somewhat average temperatures a typical AC unit probably is worth a kilowatt, add in some wattage for house lights, a refrigerator, maybe an aux air compressor, and your average HP might be around 10 to 14. I do not think a range of .5 to 1 gallon per hour would be out of the normal range.

I think I calculated one time on our old coach that we were using about .3 to .4 GPH, but we were only running it after we stopped driving for the day, up until our bed time so we weren't heating the HW tank, our batteries were charged, and we had a gas refrigerator.

[jack14r]

I also ran 24 hours a day for 4 days.

[Ray Davis]

Jack and Tuga,

Excuse me if this seems like a really stupid question, but I just gotta ask. Both of you have indicated that while boondocking, you ran your generator 24 hours a day. My question is "why would you run the generator all day?"

Instinctively I would have assumed that generators would be run "once-in-awhile", depending upon need for A/C or recharging batteries, or similar. I wouldn't have thought of running 24 hours a day. So, I was just a bit curious about it.

Ray

[MangoMike]

........wife

[Jon Wehrenberg]

Ray,

Let me tell you why we crank up the generator and run it.

Comfort.

We all paid a lot of money for our generators and we pay a lot of money in fuel to drag that weight around with us. We might as well use it. Otherwise do what your converter did with OTR and pull the generator out and use the bay for storage.

We crank up the ACs, turn on the TVs, light the lights, cook, and do all the energy usage we want because we are cranking out up to 20,000 watts. It is nice to not have to worry about the state of charge on the batteries, or to have to open windows to get comfortable, or to spend time at the electric panel worrying about what switches to turn off to keep from blowing a breaker or depleting the batteries.

Mango's answer was correct. This ain't camping.

[jack14r]

Ray,It was hot all day and only 70 or so overnight so I ran it 96 hours straight and then changed the oil and filters for another go.

[jack14r]

I left out that I have 2500 watt inverters and I must run the gen to run the AC.

[Ray Davis]

Jon, I certainly get the point about the usage. Just with me, I'd have probably not run it during the day when I was gone, and also probably not at night when going to bed. I personally am a light sleeper, and woudn't enjoy trying to sleep with a running generator.

But, I certainly understand now how others would ....

Ray

[jimblu]

When changing the filters recently on my 20KW with a Kubota , curiousity got the best of me and I ran it a few hours on a container graduated in ounces. 4/10 GPH with no load other than it's associated fan and pump. Light load of battery charging and one AC unit made very little difference. 12 gallons per day seems about right

It sure looks like a lot of fuel being used when measured in ounces.......

For comparison, my 6 KW Kubota diesel in another vehicle uses 3/10 GPH, about 8 gallons per day.

[merle&louise]

When changing the filters recently on my 20KW with a Kubota , curiousity got the best of me and I ran it a few hours on a container graduated in ounces. 4/10 GPH with no load other than it's associated fan and pump. Light load of battery charging and one AC unit made very little difference. 12 gallons per day seems about right

It sure looks like a lot of fuel being used when measured in ounces.......

For comparison, my 6 KW Kubota diesel in another vehicle uses 3/10 GPH, about 8 gallons per day.

Great post Jimblu, there has been some discussion on this forum about the economics of installing a smaller generator to save fuel. Your test just proved that it is not worth the investment. Thanks.

[jack14r]

It is great to see someone verify the usage of these big generators,I was surprised that mine did not burn a lot more than 50 gallons in 4days!The first trip I was sure that I must have made a mistake in caculating or filling up the tank after the weekend,but after the second trip I was sure that about .5 GPH was correct.