Service garages do thsi sort of thing all the time when they work on cars. In fact most have a hole in the door or wall where a steel flex pipe carries the exhaust outside. Of course they only run the cars for a short time.
Nick, I think that's one experiment that you should try. With your own generator.
What happens is, dumb-asses put water or ice-encrusted turkeys in the hot oil, which bursts into steam. The tiny little steam explosion atomized little puffs of oil, which promptly burst into flames, and suddenly your turkey fryer is doing double-duty as a rocket engine.
YOu can do the same trick by dumping a tablespoon of water into a frypan while frying bacon, if you feel like dying painfully.
I have hooked up a generator in the dark during the rain (outside) and I can tell you it is not the same thing as doing it for practice on a nice sunny day.
I am reminidng you to remember the human factors. You will be tired and under stress.
If you do everything perfectly you may be able to run the gen in the basement. If you make a mistake it could be a big problem, fire CO whatever.
Do you trust yoursefl to do it exactly right in the dark and under stress?
Mark
A water storage tank is probably cheaper than a generator.
We don't assume stupidity because OP is a stranger, we assume stupidity because OP wants to do a stupid thing. to wit: running a generator in the basement.
There are ways to run an engine in a basement safely. All of those ways are more work and more money than finding a different solution to the problem.
The problem is CO. It's odorless, colorless and undetectable unlike the remaining fumes that the generator exhaust pushes out, which are quite smelly. It'll also collect in "pockets" and one won't know they're breathing it, even after the generator is turned off. Look up CO poisoning if you'd like more details on its effects, etc.
The fan would help, but not eliminate the CO problem. CO could still collect in the furnace compartments, any 3-sided enclosure the fan doesn't evacuate. Less dangerous with a fan, but still not eliminated.
Isn't there any way you could locate the generator where you could push it outside a door, close the door, and hopefully not get the exhause pushed back into the basement?
If you really have to have it inside like that, then get hold of an exhaust kit to vent the exhaust thru a door or the wall to the outside. It's not foolproof, but it'd be a lot better.
I'd vote for a way to get it jsut outside a door to run it. Maybe in its own enclosure you could push it into when you need it. Then you also wouldn't have the issue of having fuel leaks, spills, oil leaks, overflows, etc. in the basement. Plus, if a generator ever goes whooey-belly-up on you, it's quite likely to emit so much and so strong smoke that you may not be able toget to it to shut it down or fight a small blaze around it because of the smoke. I had a lawn tractor barf its oily guts onto my driveway a couple summers ago because it overheated and I'd hate to have had that in my basement: No fire, but a tremendous, harsh billowing cloud of smoke flew up around it for about 5 minutes until it cooled enough and the smoke started to disperse. No flames, but the muffler was well coated with oil when I could get near it again.
I'd seriously opt for some method to at least get it outside a door. Maybe a quick, cheap little covered space for it with enough sides to keep the snow out. Doesn't matter if it runs 5 minutes at a time or 5 hours.
HTH,
Pop
Speak for yourself, blatherskite. There is no "rest of us" on a ng.
OK, then here's the solution. Get a battery backup for the pump. IF you only need it for 5 minutes and a 2k genny can run the pump, a battery backup can certainlyu handle it. End of fuss and stupid ideas. You're beginning to look like a troll and this thread's about to completely turn on you.
ARE you trolling?
2000i in : the basement and make zero smoke and just a little smell. I just need a : 220V generator. I dont see the big deal about running it for a moment - : after all how long does it take a well pump to provide 100 galons? : : dean :
Your postings might make more sense with more context. If you are talking about "waste heat," burning 1.08 gallons of gasoline with a fuel value of
135K Btu in 4 hours at the 1600 W rated load makes 6.4 kWh (21.8K Btu) of electricity and 113.2K Btu of heat, 100(113.2K/135K) = 84% of the total. We can safely recover almost all of that with an EU2000 in the basement.I already answered that concern from you. The top is better: warm gases rise and counterflow heat exchangers are more efficient and condensation will not occur until the pipe enters the water heater. It may be time to ignore you now.
Outside the building. Keep up!
Nick
Sure, but it won't do much for his 240v pump. That is the whole point of it, he needs 240v for pump alone.
The easiest, safest solution is the proper extension cord to the garage.
IF the garage is detached from the house.
Yes, in the small town where I grew up, most of the downtown was heated by a single steam plant when I was a kid. By the time I was a teenager, the steam plant was gone.
Yes you can. No you should not.
If this is only to run a well pump during short power outages you could look at a 12 v battery (car or boat) and an inverter. Much safer.
It may be feasible for you to use one of the windows as a hatch to access the generator in a nice housing outside.
That works here.
I don't own an EU2000, but I wouldn't hesitate, with a 1 meg resistor.
Nick
Ok all, OP back again. I thank you all for convincing me that my original idea was indeed rather stupid. I was not trolling. I am not even sure what that means. I apologize if I lashed out at some of you.
What I'll do is get another generator, one that's 240V, and when the time comes I'll just have to carry/wheel it outside over to the basement window and run a cable through the window. It may never happen, or not so much to be a big pain - better than not having water though.
Thanks for the ideas and comments.
Dean
It doesn't matter how big your basement is. One gallon of gasoline vaporised is roughly equivalent to 10 sticks of dynamite. Enough to open all of the windows in your house with tremendous heat.
Or, your family could come trudging through the snow to see your headstone and wish you had just put a water storage tank in the basement. OR, if you need running water, put a tank in the attic and let gravity do it's thing.
Tom in KY, Just Say No.
Well of course there is, silly. Everyone else besides the original dipshit is "the rest of us". Simple, no?
Are you related to that halfwit, or something?
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