Q:I was also wondering what you but in them for them to work (gas, electricity etc.)

Well just like electricity entering your house from the power company, the power from The power from your gas generator is the same thing. How much you run the generator is the same as running your light Or treadmill. However since power from the company is more steady and subsides, it's cheaper to be on the grid than to generate your own electricity especially with today's high gas prices.

Q:I Live In Westchester NY, and ever since the Nuclear power plant in Japan went into meltdown I've been pretty worried about what would happen if Indian Point went into meltdown. Now Hurricane Irene is coming, Is it strong enough to cause a meltdown? Thanks in advance

Nobody knows for sure. Anyone who gives a definitive yes or no at this point in time is only making an educated guess. What we do know for sure is that if any chain of events (including not being able to get diesel generators to cool the reactors) leads to a situation not foreseen in the worst-case scenario of the emergency plan (as in the case of Fukushima), then meltdown can occur. Can hurricane Irene cause a chain of events not expected in the Indian Point emergency plan? We don't know, but we hope not. However, if meltdown occurs for whatever reason, obviously it would not make sense to state, the situation in Japan shows how safe nuclear power is. Also, statements such as Fukushima has harmed no one and isn't expected to either only make sense within the context of acute radiation exposure as it is easy to observe if/when a person drops dead after being exposed to high levels in or near the plant. It is not possible to prove the effects of low-level, long-term, internal, localized radiation exposure from the Fukushima situation until enough time has passed and studies have been conducted, unfortunately. What we do know for sure is that it MAY cause harm - as evidenced by the evacuation zones and food bans. It is a fact that radiation levels in adults (breast milk in women) and children (thyroid) have increased. Also, increased nosebleeds, stubborn cases of diarrhoea, and flu-like symptoms in children are also being reported by doctors in Japan. As the Fukushima situation is no longer a headline story, the sites below are excellent resources to keep up with the latest developments. I hope this helps.

Q:From what I understand, when the earthquake struck, the nuclear reactors had shut down (control rods were inserted). As a result, the power coming from the steam turbine generators were shut off.At the same time, the earthquake had knocked out Japan's power grid, so power coming from outside the power plant was out.Then the emergency diesel generators went into effect, but was knocked out an hour later as well, and people suspect it was from the tsunami.Would the disaster still have happened if they kept the steam turbine generators running (which means never shutting down the reactor via control rods), and water pumping, instead of shutting it down and letting the backup power direct the emergency cooling?

if hte control rods had not be inserted it would of catastrophic. the reactors would be working at 100% and no one can shut it down becasue there is no power. left for too long and unable to stop the reaction, it could lead to an actual meltdown like at the Chernobyl. there's a good reason why during any emergency the control rods are inserted. its standard protocol since the very first nuclear reactor experiments back in the late 1930s under some gym in the eastern USA. you want to shut down the most dangerous thing first, the one that has the most potential for catastrophe before doing anything else.

Q:husband is looking for something that he can use for power that is more economical. (no natural gas lines)

No, not if you are talking about running this all the time 24/7, if this is what you are implying to here. You can not run a home on any generator as cheap as the utility company sells it for. Now if you are referring to a back up system just in case power goes off then yes propane is not bad as far as the cost goes. With the prices of fuels Propane for me right now is less expensive then diesel fuel is, which diesel gen set would be a good option as well. If you are talking about a total electric home with heat you are talking a big generator anyway I would not use anything less then a 23.5 kw or larger if you are in a cold climate. depends on your actual demand but if you have electric heat they use a lot. As compared to a home with gas heat and they can get by with some as small as 9 .5 kw to get them by. If you want to check in to green or free power solar does help as well as a windmill. The initial cost is very expensive to start though.

Q:HelloI am doing a question on my homework and im being asked to determine how long a tank of gas on a diesel generator would last a family if one tank produced 20kW of electricity. This family uses 2.052kWh of electricity every day. The problem i have run into is that i don't know how to determine how long tha tank can last with only those values, i have a feeling im missing something very obvious here. Any help would be great.Thanks!

You do seem to be missing some information here. 20kW of electricity is an amount of power, not an amount of energy. The other answerers assumed that you meant 20kWh, if that is what you meant than their answers are correct.

Q:China Diesel older generator. Hasn't been used for years, however, supposedly started biannually. Someone messed with the wiring. rewired much of the controls and all meters appear to be working. Have 240V no load, when applying a load to one leg, the 120V drops to 0V. Suspect the exciter not working. located the the 4 Stator cables and 2 smaller wires coming from generator. Suspect the 2 smaller are the excitation wires. According to the poorly edited Chinese to English manual. I have no idea which is F+ or F- and how important will it be to get this correct when applying the 12V as suggested in the trouble shooting guide??

If you are seeing a voltage with no load, there is at least some residual magnetism in the field. Flashing the field probably wouldn't make any difference. I'd look for an open field winding or bad regulator if your machine uses brushes. If your machine is brushless, check for an open exciter winding, bad regulator, shorted or open diodes in the rotating field or open windings in the rotating field. There's a good chance that you can find decent troubleshooting advice for your generator on the smokstak forum. Fieldlines is another good resource. Don

Q:I have an idea, if a steam locomotive's boiler was heated by a metal heater instead of a fire, how much less maintance would be needed as it does not produce any ash or soot because it has no fire.

And WHAT pray tell is going to heat your metal heater?

Q:A. Chernobyl, UkraineB. Middletown, PennsylvaniaC. Ottawa, Canada

A. It actually should be Chalk River Canada that is where the atomic research centre is , not Ottawa.They had 2 accidents one in 1952 and another in 1958. The first was a partial meltdown due to lack of cooling , the 2nd was an explosion, contaminating millions of gallons of water in the basement of the facility. 600 military personnel from Canada and USA where involved in the cleanup. Officially nobody died from the accident or health side effects after which is suspicious I would think. Having said this Chernobyl I believe is the worst disaster since it was a complete meltdown of the reactor and many people died then and to this day because of the decontaminated region.

Q:For 100Kw generator, what will be minimum/ maximum loadfor its safe operation.

The maximum load will be given by the exhaust temperature, regardless of the nameplate rating. There is a maximum steady state temperature, which can be exceeded for short periods, say, 10 to 20 %, given by the engine mfr. The minimum load for an engine which runs at constant speed, i.e., a power generator, is about 50%. Below that it starts to shake dangerously. . .

Q:I'm a student majoring in Architecture one of my class, Building Utilities, needs me to survey a high rise building. In my team, we divided the parts bc there are so many and one of my job is to electricity. Can someone explain to me the meaning of phase, R.P.M, power factor, and (especially) their respective units/numbers from this picture

Phase is 3Φ 4W, which means three phase, four wires. Three wires for each of the phases and one wire for the neutral. There are two ways to connect 3 phase generators, ywe which looks like the letter Y (3 or 4 wires) or delta which looks like a triangle (3 wires). Voltage is 380/220V, which means a wye-connected generator with two voltages available. For heavy loads like heating and motors, a line voltage of 380V, measured across two of the phases, is available. For light loads like lights and outlets, a phase voltage of 220V, measured across a phase to neutral, is available. The use of 380V means smaller conductors can be used. When the generator spins at 1500rpm (revolutions per minute), the output frequency is 50Hz. N 120 f / P P 120 f / N 120 * 50 Hz / 1500 4. The generator has 4 poles per phase. Since it is an even number, the generator is a synchronous generator. Prime is the Apparent Power S in kVA that the generator set is capable of providing for an unlimited number of hours per year. In this case 600kVA. But as a Standby Generator (Emergency) operated less than 500 hours/year, the apparent power S is 660kVA. Current is 1003A. This is the rated current that can be supplied to the building at 380/220V. S √(3) V_LINE I_LINE I_LINE S / (√(3) V_LINE) 660kVA / ( √(3) * 380V) 1003A Power factor 0.8 lagging, which means at worst case the loads attached to it can have a power factor greater than 0.8. Power factor P / S. P S * pf 660kVA * 0.8 528kW The Real Power P or W loads the generator can supply are 528kW. So it can supply 5280 100W light bulbs, for example. If power factor is 1, 660kW could be supplied. There should be an electrical switchboard close to the generator, which will have labels showing how power is fed throughout the building. Everything else is specific to the device (Model, Serial, etc). Probably too much information for you, but when you are trying to understand something too much is better than too little.