UPS and generator interaction?

Mon Mar 29 20:08:39 UTC 2004

At 02:41 PM 3/29/2004, Doug Dever wrote:
>Previously, Daniel Senie (dts at senie.com) wrote:
> > An additional note: some of the small to mid-sized propane/natural gas
> > units come as packaged systems with a generator and transfer switch. These
> > can be a good value and work well too. Do some shopping.
> >
>
>The obvious caveat being that natural gas is one of those fuel sources
>often cut by public safety officials depending on circumstances.

I keep sufficient propane on-site for a week of operation of my genset at 
home. Certainly there are concerns with using street gas, but these can be 
overcome.

Gas does have significant advantages over diesel in terms of fuel not 
getting contaminated. For smaller sites especially, it makes a lot of sense.

Anyone approaching the question of getting a generator for a site needs to 
weigh a lot of factors. What's right for your site might not be the same as 
for someone else.

As for gas being cut by public safety, that can be a good thing. From what 
I read, #7 WTC may well have stayed up had it not been for the diesel 
stored there. If they'd been running from street gas, they'd have lost 
power, but maybe not lost the building. Sometimes it's a good thing to be 
able to interrupt the fuel source to a building that's on fire or 
threatened by fire. 