Electric vs. generator for barn?

http://www.duropower.com/

..............These guys sell a Silent diesel genset for $1,495 or with free shipping ! They sell several different models as well . ,fordy

Water depth here is 4ft... You need to be down below the freeze line.

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Gary in Central Ohio

Depending on the distance, it might be cost effective to run it yourself. Rent a ditchwitch, Get yourself a big spool of "mobile home wire" and run the wires yourself. Depending on your state you may be able to wire it yourself.

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Gary in Central Ohio

I am doing the generator thing with my barn right now and have it wired where I can just plug the generator in and it provides power to lights and outlets until we can figure out what to do for permanent power. We are building a pole barn shop up the hill and plan on doing all the power at once so this is temporary but it works just fine. I have electric start on the generator so its not hard to start and its not very noisy but for long time use your going to be a lot more happy with running grid power.

In our case we are going to have to put up two power poles to reach the barn and then the shop and it isnt cheap so personally I think if you cant do it yourself the $1200 is a bargain compared to about 4k we are facing.

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www.salmonslayer-simplelife.blogspot.com

I'd get the power provider to run the line... they'd probably do it for free, just have another meter to make payments on.

IF I had an option of running a line to the barn for 1200, I'd get another meter... that 1200 would pay for ten years worth of meter fees (~$9/month for basic fee... and whatever electricity you consume). Also, no line losses if the utility company puts the wire in.

They'll even put lines underground here, if you want.

I most usually go the cheapest most efficient route...

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Luck is what happens when preparation meets opportunity. Seneca
Learning is not compulsory... neither is survival. W. Edwards Deming

Check into the cost of an extra meter with your power provider first. Here, any meter not on the house is "commercial", for which you pay 50% more for the base charge and the power. I had one on my barn/shop, and many times the monthly charge was a minimum of 30-40 bucks whether I used the building or not. Doesn't take but a few years to justify the cost of running a line from the house panel, which is what I eventually did.

As in all things, planning is the key. The time to have run your wire would have been when you had the ditchwich there, and were running the water line, running both in the same ditch.

We didn't know we were going to put a barn there when we ran the water lines to our house.....

They won't run a line here for a barn and put in a seperate meter. We pay $14 a month for the privilege of getting electricty. Seems a waste to pay that $14 twice a month, once for the house and then for the barn.

Run the power line. The power coming out of the electric grid is a very good, ecconomical buy. Gasoline, keeping engines tuned, the safety issues with fumes, noise, sparks, the hassle of trying to start a generator in the dark, blah....

Run the wires!

--->Paul

I say it's time for a wind powered generator.

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It's not good enough that we do our best; sometimes we have to do what's required. - Winston Churchill

Now that's an idea!

And if there's no wind when you need power, just stand outside and blow REAL hard.

You'd be better off spending the cash and running the power out there. Generator will get old quick and not save you much.

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Christine
Front Porch Indiana Blog
Come on up to the porch and sit a spell. We'll talk about the day's events and maybe even tell a story or two.

I just came home to find the electricity out and my generator running. it was out 2 hours and everything is still powered even the AC that I left on.

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God must have loved stupid people because he made so many of them.