Generator Sizing for 550sqft Cabin?

[Olympus]

Hey guys, I know this is probably not the best place to post this question but I trust everyone's experience and knowledge here. I'm looking at buying 85 acres for hunting and it has a pretty decent little cabin on the property. The cabin has county water, but no power which seemed odd to me. The seller has an easement to the property through someone else's property and he says that person will not allow any of their trees to be cut down in order to get power back to the seller's property.

So the seller has it set up for a generator for power. I'm pretty sure there is nothing 220V in the cabin, only 110v. The only electric draw besides lights is a small window unit a/c. I'm thinking a 002A might be overkill for something this small though. I'm not really crazy about having a big loud generator running all the time and burning unnecessary fuel. Can someone give me some advice or suggestions? I just really wish I could get regular electric service to the cabin.

 

[DieselAddict]

If you are running mostly lights can you do a solar/battery setup for that and maybe a MEP-831 to run the window AC?

 

[porkysplace]

Look into having the electric line buried , it costs a little more up front but it is less likely to have power outages.Without knowing the size of the air conditioner a 5-7k honda or similar should work , they can also be upgraded to run on propane and are fairly quiet.

 

[DieselGenAC]

Build a DC system for power storage (battery bank, solar panels, solar charger). Combine this with an AC system for typical household power [inverter w/ onboard charger for batteries (Outback) and a small diesel generator (531A)]. If you want a real challenge, try to put together a DC generator to directly charge the batteries along with some sort of voltage sensor system or processor to tell the generator to start/stop depending on battery state of charge. This is where the real fuel savings can be found.

 

[Recovry4x4]

Solar for lights and small accessories. The trucking industry has lots of cool 12V appliances. Unless you plan on some unusually large A/C, a Honda EU2000 would fit the bill nice. Super quiet ans very efficient.

 

[Olympus]

I think solar won't be an option. It's pretty heavily wooded.

 

[DieselGenAC]

That is what chainsaws are for. You get firewood as a bonus for cold winter nights.

 

[Jbulach]

Having underground electric bored in with a directional drill might be worth considering. No above ground/tree disturbance necessary


M925A2 with dump hoist

 

[Olympus]

Yes, trenched or bored electric service would be my top choice. But the neighbor's property who the easement is through my not allow that through the easement.

 

[Isaac-1]

Ok, strictly generator solutions, I would still pick a DC battery bank for lights and other small loads. As to which generator to pick if you are looking at the military surplus stuff the MEP-002a is probably overkill, but still a reasonable choice although a bit thirsty if you can keep it far enough away from the cabin that it will not drive you crazy (say 75-100 ft with a wall to deflect sound between you and the generator), the Yanmar retrofit MEP-016D or MEP-016E are 2 more good choices. The MEP-016D uses the same Yanmar L70 engine as the MEP-831, and can often be found much cheaper, of course it lacks the nice TQG housing, which should not be an issue in this case. I will warn you though that in my limited experience it seems the instrumentation cabinet on the MEP-016D retrofits tended to receive little or no attention during the Yanmar diesel retrofit process. So many otherwise good sets have non functioning volt/amp/hour meters. Another nice thing about the L70 powered generators is they do tend to sip fuel at light loads, expect something less than 1/4 gallon of diesel per hour.

 

[87Nassaublue]

I agree with the guys, a little 016E might be perfect for you. The yanmar engines are much quieter than the onan engines. Check the current draw of all your items and make sure you have enough KW to support it.

On another note, I would get a copy of that easement and read it in detail before I'd consider buying that property. I'd want to know what you can and can't do. You might find that the other owner has already granted permission to run the lines. You might find there are other restrictions.

 

[richingalveston]

I really like the little Hondas. I run a 5500 btu roof top unit on my rv with one Honda eu2000. I have two and can parallel them together when more is needed but I mostly run just one. I can run one of my basement 15000 btu units with both plus the tv and any other accessories.

your cabin is probably more efficient than my 96 holiday rambler.

LED lights are awesome. get an rv oven/stove and propane water heater and you can bring the generator for the ac, that is all you will need it for.
RV stuff will help. you can get a 2 way fridge so when you leave it will stay running on propane. One 6lb size bottle last about a month.

with the acreage you have it sounds like power will be a long run. The cost of underground will be 2 to 3 times the overhead. For the money you can install a very nice off grid system with solor and generator charging.

my best recommendation would be for an electric start generator that you can start from inside when you need it. It could be something you need to start and stop many times a day depending on what appliance you are trying to use.

 

[Olympus]

Lots of good info for me here fellas. Thank you very much!

 

[86m1028]

I would do more research on the "easement".
An easement is just that than easement !
The owner might not have any say in what or how something is run thru it.

 

[Chief_919]

I would do more research on the "easement".
An easement is just that than easement !
The owner might not have any say in what or how something is run thru it.

This.

I have never seen an easement for utilities that didn't allow for whatever tree cutting or earthmoving was required to run them, and continued maintenance after.

 

[Jbulach]

Yes, sounds as if the easement is not legal or doesn't exist. Or at least the neighbor is hostile towards change to the neighborhood, and also may not welcome the noise from a generator.
I'd feel him out in person and see if owning the property is going to be a hassle.


M925A2 with dump hoist

 

[Olympus]

The current owner had used a generator before without complaint. The cabin is a good ways away from the neighbor, you just have to drive through their property to access this man's property.

I have called the county recorder of deeds office and left a message to find more out about the easement.

 

[Isaac-1]

I also like the little Honda inverter generators, I have a little Honda EU1000, however in this case I think you would likely be better off with diesel since it stores so much better than modern gasoline. As to access easements, there are all sorts out there. Several decades ago my grandfather bought 40 acres of wooded land that had been foreclosed on which only had a 1/4 mile long foot traffic access easement along a creek (he bought it to use for hunting)

 

[Triple Jim]

Not being an easement expert, I'm not sure, but there may be an access easement that doesn't provide for running utilities.

I like the solar solution for the low power stuff, but obviously one has to be willing to cut a few trees.

 

[porkysplace]

The current owner had used a generator before without complaint. The cabin is a good ways away from the neighbor, you just have to drive through their property to access this man's property.

I have called the county recorder of deeds office and left a message to find more out about the easement.

You may want to contact the power company also , they may have a clause in the power agreement for his property to provide service trough his property to neighboring properties . When I checked into have power run to my hunting property it was one of the first things they mentioned as even with a deeded easement for public untilities the power company runs their lines the shortest distance they can .