Jim,First of all, please install a transfer switch for your generator. Utility transformers work both directions, they take the high voltage feed and reduce it to usable levels, but they will also take the low-voltage feed from a generator and step it up to the utilities high voltage (typically 2400-volts or 7200-volts to ground). If the utility workers doesn't get a grounding jumper on the "energized by generator line", he may not be going home to his family that day or ever.Next, I have sold several pto generators in the last year. The 25kw I have available requires a minimum of 35 hp, but typically 2hp/kw is a good rule of thumb. A tractor with a good governer will help since a the load increases the more power the generator takes to turn. I started a 10/16hp (68-72-amp) fan motor on a drying bin with the 25kw being turned by a 110-hp tractor. Let me tell you that tractor lost some carbon build-up with that start, but it got the load turning. If the generator's rotor turns too fast the hertz frequency will be too high causing motor loads to turn too fast also and vice versa when it's slow. This is fine for resistive loads, ea. lights, stove, water heater, but may damage motor load over an extended run time, ea. refrideraton compressors, pumps, fans. The best way to keep the hertz in check for a average homeowner is with a 120v dial-type clock compared to a quartz clock. If the 120-volt clock gains time, the generator is running fast, if it looses time it is running slow.Getting back to generators, a pto generator will get you more KW/dollar usually. I like the idea of having a tractor, which is more apt to be fresh for running. A self-contained gen-set requires maintenance whether it has run or not. You will need too keep fresh fuel around for it and with a diesel, you may need to change between no. 1 and no. 2 when temps drop below freezing. There are factors to take into consideration with a generator like rotor speed and brush or brushless. The one's I sold were brushless and the rotor turned at 1800 rpm. Many brush-type and brushless turn at 3600 rpm, you tell me which one will run longer.

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