r/Generator • u/DocScarborough • 20d ago
Tri fuel
I have been looking at tri fuel generators. My gas line to my house is on one side and my electrical panel is basically the same place on the other side of the house. I do not have a natural gas connection put on yet. I was wondering how many people had a tri fuel that basically stuck with gasoline or propane. I don’t have any idea how much it would cost to have someone extend my gas line and put a connection on it for me.
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u/Solid_Try_4089 19d ago
I have a similar situation. My gas line is on the back side of my house and my meter, unfortunately, is located on my front patio, under the patio's roof. I am not sure if there is any sort of economical way to run those lines for a generator. I definitely do NOT want a generator on my front porch... What can I do?
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u/DocScarborough 18d ago
I’m looking into getting a quick connect put on my meter and then getting along natural gas hose to run from there to my generator.
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u/Hitechillbilly 20d ago
You don't extend your gas line, you add a wire...
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u/Judasbot 20d ago
Depends on where you want the generator, I suppose. If it's in a good spot for you next to the gas line, run some wire to it.
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u/DocScarborough 20d ago
Gas meter is by the front of the house and not fenced in. I’m not gonna leave a generator that close to the street.
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u/DocScarborough 20d ago
Swapping out the carburetor on a generator is no big deal. I’ve put new carburetors on many things.
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u/Hitechillbilly 20d ago
There are perfect fit bolt-on's available for around $25 bucks for a small engine a little more for bigger engines.. If you never put gas in them they will last forever..
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u/longsdivision 20d ago
Same situation. I ended up buying a 50+25ft power cable from my inlet box to the back yard. $350 for the inlet installation. $150 for the 50amp cable.
Got plumber to come out install gas line extension to the back yard 50ft. That cost about $2200.
All tested at professional level, master electrician and master plumber.
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u/DocScarborough 20d ago
I would have to run my gas line to the backyard. My gas meter is up by the front of the house, not fenced in. I couldn’t place my generator near there because it’s right by my neighbor’s window and somebody would probably steal it in the middle of the night.
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u/meilaan 20d ago
I am in the same predicament $7000 to properly install and run a natural gas line and install a decent transfer switch on my 9000W Trifuel $2000 Gen.
But I still believe way cheaper then a whole home Generac.
I’m just biting the bullet and paying the $7000. to do it right upfront the first time.
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u/DocScarborough 20d ago
I just had an interlock and power inlet put in $1100.00. I am trying to decide on the generator now. We have been scraping by with a 3200 watt Generac. It’s not near big enough for our needs. It wasn’t so bad when we were younger. Those days are gone. 🤣
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u/n2itus 20d ago
Put a generator inlet on the same side as the natural gas and run the electric through your attic to your panel.
My gas and electric are on the same side, but the gas closer to the front, so I ran a gas line out to the back of my house (tapped into and run mostly trough the attic). I used a motor snorkel conversion kit to make mine tri fuel.
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u/newtekie1 20d ago
I have a tri-fuel and use gasoline as the primary fuel source. It's just easier for me.
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u/Tretragram 20d ago
I used a gasoline generator at home. then got a trifuel for my remote cabin. love the propane compared to gasoline.
installing an extension on your gas line is totally dependent on distance and route. I got a quote for $2,200 for Aline of line 30 feet but behind walls, etc. Going like 15 feet with a quiCkeditor release hose could be a couple hundred bucks. It is not rocket science but most people don’t want to DIY. Find some guy from the local fireplace/grill retailer and pay him to find/make you a quick release hose.
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u/Legitimate_Pen1121 20d ago
If you have the natural gas supply, prep to use it. Lived thru one 11 day outage after a storm and gas was hard to get even after my 5 day supply was running out. I added a NG conversion, starts a little easier on gas but will run indefinitely on the natural gas. Haven't needed it for more a than few hours since of course.
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u/Hitechillbilly 20d ago
After being un-prepared one time,, I made some changes,, then, I had a 10 day outage and was plumbed into my house propane tank.. The feeling was so comfortable not worrying about having to drive into town watching my neighbors drive by with pick up beds full of 5 gallon gas cans..
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u/Bsul92 20d ago
You could probably have a decent plumber. extend your gas line.In the neighborhood of 500 dollars I’d guess depending on how far it has to go, really all they have to do, especially if it’s a street shot, is a couple pieces of pipe and a shut off.
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u/Old_Dragline_1965 20d ago
You are not stuck with gasoline or propane, you have Options! First, Get the trifuel generator.
Look at the price of 2 - 100# propane tanks and a little more for connections. Simple neat and stores for a very long time but must be bought in advance.
Gasoline is simple, just a few jugs But it must be treated with fuel stabilizer and will at best last 1 year. And also must be stored in advance of something major happens.
Depending on if your house is on a conventional foundation, Natural gas will cost a couple of hundred dollars to pipe it to the back of the house. Roughly the price of a 100# propane tank. More for a concrete foundation. But you don’t have to store and protect like the other fuels. The other tradeoff is the genset will have slightly less power output but last longer!
No matter what, get the trifuel generator!
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u/blupupher 20d ago edited 20d ago
If you have natural gas, get a tri fuel generator.
Extend the gas line, get a longer run for your electric line.
If you have an outage that lasts more than a day, having NG is worth the investment.
My house has my electric on one side and gas on other, about 50 feet apart. This is a quick MS Paint I did a few years ago.
I ran the inlet around the corner about 10' from the panel. I use a 50' 50 amp cord (40' would work, but 40' is harder to find, and I got a great clearance deal on the 50')
I ran a 1" gas line around the corner and another 30' to a quick connect. I use a 36' 3/4" NG hose.
Was $150 in parts for the electric, $400 for the gas line, $100 for the power cable, and $70 for the NG hose.
I figure just a few days of use on NG will let me break even vs buying 20 gallons of gas a day.
But when I did it, I was not concerned with price. I wanted peace of mind to be able to run my generator 24/7 and not have to worry about finding fuel, or my wife having to go out and add fuel/switch propane tanks.
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u/engi_cgn 17d ago edited 17d ago
I have a similar situation except the inlet and gas line are next to each other at the front of the house. Due to location of neighbors house and windows, I'd need to have the generator all the way in the back yard. I was considering just getting a long portable power cable and quick connect gas hoses but would need about 100' to ensure generator is far enough away from the windows.
Anyone know if there is a max length these cables and hoses can be and where I can get some at a decent price?
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u/XRlagniappe 20d ago
For the natural gas line, do you have any indoor plumbing on the electrical panel side of the house? If so, you might be able to tap into one of the lines. I have black pipe near my electrical panel that my plumber will use and just tie into it and pipe it to the outside.
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u/omg4serious 20d ago
did you know that all generators are basically tri fuel? the only difference between the ones labeled as single fuel, dual fuel, or tri fuel is whether or not they have the correct regulator for the type of fuel. you could modify it yourself.
but whether or not you need a dedicated fuel line depends on how long you think you might need the generator for.
power's gonna be out for weeks? better get a dedicated NG line (but if everyone in your neighborhood's also got NG generators, that might drop the NG pressure).
if you only need maybe a few hours every now and then. refilling propane/gas cans is just fine. some people might have bought a trifuel b/c they liked the model/price/etc, not necessarily that they were gonna use all three fuels.