Generators for Home Natural Gas: Find Yours Today

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Discussion Overview

The discussion revolves around selecting an appropriate generator for home use powered by natural gas, specifically focusing on the requirements for continuous operation. Participants explore various aspects including energy needs, gas availability, and potential systems for heating and cooling.

Discussion Character

  • Exploratory
  • Technical explanation
  • Debate/contested
  • Homework-related

Main Points Raised

  • One participant seeks advice on what type of generator is needed for continuous use, emphasizing their ownership of natural gas resources.
  • Another suggests considering a small spark ignition cogeneration unit that utilizes waste heat, while also questioning the participant about their gas availability and power needs.
  • There is a discussion about the importance of knowing the household's energy consumption, with one participant providing their monthly kWh usage as a reference.
  • Concerns are raised about the safety of connecting systems to existing boilers, with a warning issued to ensure proper knowledge before making such connections.
  • Several participants inquire about the logistics of extracting natural gas, including the need for permits and equipment to manage gas pressure.
  • One participant mentions the potential costs of large generators and suggests that converting diesel generators to natural gas could be a viable option.
  • There is a question about the participant's energy bills, with some expressing skepticism about the reported consumption figures.
  • A participant shares their background in property law, clarifying their ownership of mineral rights and expressing gratitude for the community's assistance.

Areas of Agreement / Disagreement

Participants express a range of views on the requirements and considerations for using natural gas for home power generation. There is no consensus on the best approach or specific generator type, and multiple competing ideas are presented.

Contextual Notes

Participants highlight the need for detailed knowledge about energy consumption, safety precautions, and the complexities involved in extracting and utilizing natural gas. Some assumptions about the feasibility of certain systems remain unverified.

jdeere724
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Hi! I am trying to figure out what kind of generator I need for my home. I am the sole owner to the natural gas under my property and I want to run my house on it's own power. What kind of generator do I need for continuous use?
 
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How much gas is available? How much power do you need? You could install a small spark ignition cogeneration unit and make use of the heat too.
 
brewnog said:
How much gas is available?{/QUOTE]

I'm not sure. I am having someone come out to examine the area next week.


How much power do you need?

Actually that's what I'm trying to put a figure on. I only need power for a single family house. 4 LCD televisions, cable internet with five computers, refrigerator, heating

You could install a small spark ignition cogeneration unit and make use of the heat too.

You mean hook the furnace up to the gas line? I'm considering that. Please don't take these questions to be stupid, I am new to this but determined to run on my own power and have the cash up front to do so. Thanks.
 
How about air conditioning? Do you have one and what size is it? Is your heating electric? What is the capacity? Can you at least tell us how many kWh your house uses in a month? (it is on your electric bill).

Cogen uses the waste heat from the generator itself to produce heat (not a separate furnace). You may actually want to do both, since a household generator may not generate enough waste heat to heat your house in winter (depending on where you live...).

After all that, I can't imagine it is a trivial exercise to capture the natural gas that may be lurking under your house...
 
How the hell did you manage to get mineral rights?
 
If I am reading my bill correctly it provides a month by month history of my energy consumption over the past two years. My highest energy consumption this year so far was February at 1,176 kwh and my highest usage in the past two years was last July at 1,565 kwh.

The mineral rights were never separated from the property. I am an attorney and property law is my field. Power generation isn't, but I appreciate the help I'm getting from everyone here.
 
Please, don't connect ANYTHING to your boiler unless you absolutely know what you're doing, which (no offence!) you don't.
 
jdeere724 said:
Hi! I am trying to figure out what kind of generator I need for my home. I am the sole owner to the natural gas under my property and I want to run my house on it's own power. What kind of generator do I need for continuous use?

Wow, what an interesting topic. I can't imaging having the ability to supply your own gas.

A few questions for you:
How will you get it out of the ground? I assume a well needs to be drilled. Do you need some sort of permit to operate your own gas plant? I assume either a pressure regulator, or a pump to increase the gas pressure will be needed.

As far as a generator is concerned, you will need to add up all the electrical loads in your house to figure out how big of one you will need. Most houses have 200 amp service where I live, that is 44000 watts total at 220 V. So roughly you would need a 44kW generator for that kind of service. It would need to be continuous duty, not one of the standby ones. I am assuming a unit like that would be pretty expensive since most large gensets are diesel fueled. I have heard of companies that convert large diesels to natural gas for this very reason. You could us the electricity to run a split heat pump system for heat and A/C. You could burn the gas in a furnace for heat too.

That probably was not much help, but keep us informed where your research takes you!

Just for example: http://www.electricgeneratorsdirect.com/natural_gas.php
here are some standby natural gas generators, probably not rated for continuous use.
 
jdeere724 said:
If I am reading my bill correctly it provides a month by month history of my energy consumption over the past two years. My highest energy consumption this year so far was February at 1,176 kwh and my highest usage in the past two years was last July at 1,565 kwh.
That is pretty high unless you have a very large house. Are your electric bill on the order of hundreds or thousands of dollars? Maybe you missed a decimal point and it was 156.5, if your bill is in the hundreds...
 
  • #10
jdeere724 said:
The mineral rights were never separated from the property. I am an attorney and property law is my field. Power generation isn't, but I appreciate the help I'm getting from everyone here.

Yeah, I have a small property which I retain all mineral rights.
In my case, though, there are no worthwhile resources. Darn!
 

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