[kyle1337]

I'm looking for my first generator. It needs to be able to power at minimum an electric stove 2 friderators for a 3bdrm 2bth home(I HATE electric stoves).

I really would like a multifuel generator for this purpose. When I was in the army I was a tanker and drove and operatated the M1A1 Abrams tank, I found the jet engines to be very unique in that they can run off of jet fuel JP8 I think(primary fuel) Diesel fuel, Unleaded fuel, karosene, high octane alcohol and basically anything else combustible in an emergency. I'm trying to find a generator that will do the same thing if I run out of diesel, I can keep other things to run it off of. I found only one generator online that will run off of only three LP gas, natural gas(which we don't have out here) and gasoline. I'd like to find a true multi fuel generator. Lemme know what you have and what it runs off of thanks!

 

[tankman1989]

A diesel engine can run on Heating oil, Kerosene, vegetable oil (possibly available as waste from a local restaurant deep fryer) and obviously diesel. If your house is heated with heating oil then you may be able to use your fuel tank to supply the generator. Also depending upon where you live you might be able to find a farmer to buy agro-diesel (which is not taxed and $1-1.50/gal cheaper).

 

[kyle1337]

Oh okay, I didn't know a diesel engine/generator could run on that stuff. Thanks for the info.

 

[Mortimer]

Most diesel engines require some mods to run off of pure vegetable oil. You will probably need a way to pre-heat the oil first, or run off regular diesel for several minutes to get the engine hot before switching to veggie oil.

 

[MikeK]

Most diesel engines require some mods to run off of pure vegetable oil. You will probably need a way to pre-heat the oil first, or run off regular diesel for several minutes to get the engine hot before switching to veggie oil.

You can run straight veggie oil in a diesel generator, but it needs to be started and stopped on diesel, and the oil needs heated. This is complex in a vehicle, which requires engine heat to heat the oil before you can use it. But I've experimented with my own diesel generator and you can simply heat the oil in a tank with a fire underneath it before switching over to it. If the tank is close enough that the oil doesn't cool before entering the engine, it'll run fine. This means either insulated lines, or using exhaust heat to keep the lines hot.

If you have the ability to produce limited amounts of biodiesel, you can use it to start and stop the generator, while running it on veggie oil the rest of the time. Oil crops aren't hard to grow or process.

As for the multi fuel jet engines in the original post, a jet engine (and most turbine engines) can run on almost anything if you can get it to ignite in the engine and sustain a burn. Piston engines are pickier about their fuel.

Today "multi fuel" mostly means gas plus various ethanol blends. To me, when I hear "multi fuel" I always think "diesel and what?" because diesel is really the only sustainable way to go. This country should have dumped gas engines in vehicles and gone exclusively diesel decades back. We wouldn't be in the fuel crisis as deeply as we are if we had done that.