Now it is a generator...

[John316]

We are looking at selling our 20KW EPS (with smart start). Does anybody know how much it is worth? We are talking about selling it and then downsizing to two smaller ones, simply because we are converting the bus now, and this is the best time. Since we have only the roof airs, we are talking about going with the two generators. That way if we are in the middle of the desert out west, have a full day of driving ahead of us, and it is 110 outside, and the generator quites, we can keep going. If it was a busload of guys, not problem. The problem is the ladies. They will wilt VERY quickly with no AC and those circumstances. Usually it is not an option for us to just stop and get a campground, because we have have to be somewhere on a schedule.

The 20KW is huge. We would like to keep it for our house backup, but we just can't justify it. Do you all know what it would go for?

Also, I would assume that the best places to list it is Craigslist, and Ebay. Is that right?

Thanks a lot.

God bless,

John

[Damn Yankee]

You could install a big inverter system to run the roof air from the alternator for less than the price of a small diesel generator let alone 2 of them for a worst case scenario that most likely will never happen.  Sometimes we think too much. I agree a 20kw generator is overkill for most of us where a 8 - 10kw is plenty. If your generator is already installed and paid for why not keep it, they are very dependable and seldom break.

[Airbag]

Simply do like the school districts do here in Tucson just open all the windows and suffer like we make our kids do here in the dessert, only a handfull of buses have AC. It's a real picnic with 78 kids and temps of 110 plus packed in a 40' steel box.

But I guess our kids just aren't worth much. They pay garbage truck drivers alot more.

Sorry for the rant, I'd go with the inverter idea. 

[Damn Yankee]

If I treated a wife like Tucson treats it's kids I'd be afraid of not waking up one morning....

[Blacksheep]

Why is it that you haven't converted the bus yet but insist that you need two of everything? For pete's sake, convert it and then if you find you need more, just add to what you started with or simply upgrade to bigger and better!
I don't think your 20 is too much! I have a 12.5 and if you want to trade, I'd be happy if yours was as good as mine is. You can NEVER have enough or too big, so I'm told!

Ace

[TomC]

I have a 10kw Powertech Diesel that runs all three of my roof airs fine, with power left over.  Two of the roof airs running usually are enough to keep the inside cool while driving.  Good Luck, TomC

[luvrbus]

John316, I would stay with 20 KW being you have 4 or 5 roof airs the 20kw is not that much larger that a 10kw in size.I have a 10kw Onan in the shop with very low hrs I will trade for the 20kw     good luck

[Busnut83]

To luvrbus,,,, how much do you want for the 10k onan.... I have a 4 onan and its time for more ??

[gfcgfc1]

I'm in the market for a water cooled dieel genset 10 - 20 k would be perfect.If ya'll want to make a deal let me know .Thank you , Glenn

[trailblazer2]

 John;
I have a 15 kw on my Coach ,and have had no problem at all. I am total electric,and I have plenty of power to spare. I was concerned about slabber,so I consulted a tech,and was told to put a good load on it
maybe once or twice a year. What part of the country do you live in ?
Bill

[John316]

Thanks for the replies. First off, in addition to our generator we have two, four thousand watt, Trace inverters, with a bank of four 8d (deep cycle) Trojan (maintenance free, what a blessing ) batteries. We are probably going to add another four to that. So we are thinking about tapping into our bus engine alternator. I think that will be just fine to take power off of it, since we just pulled the OTR air out of it (each of the fan took 60 amps, and there were three, I figure that should be enough). We will then be able to charge the batteries while going down the road, and we might put one or two of the roof airs so we can switch them to running off of the inverters.

Now onto the generator. At this point we won't be getting a backup generator. We are now deciding whether we stay with the 20kw, or whether we downsize to a 12kw or 14kw (EPS), with a quiet box (our current generator is a screamer ). Otherwise if we kept our current one, then we would build a quiet box for the generator, to make it more friendly.

Thanks for all of the input and advice.

God bless,

John

[belfert]

Some of these generator sizes being talked about seem awful big.  Even a 15K BTU rooftop doesn't take much more than 1500 watts once it is running.  I have a 8KW generator and I think I could pretty easily run 3 rooftops.  I suppose a 1500 watt water heater could push me over the top.

An all electric coach with an electric cooktop I could see needing 10 or 12KW, but 20KW seems like a waste unless you're running a bunch of electronics or something.

[John316]

belfert, each of our roof airs takes 15amps normally, maybe closer to 20amps on startup. We have five of them, but we should run all of them at onc. We will be all electric, so we want to make sure that we have enough power. That is why we are talking about, maybe downsizing to 12 or 14kw.

Thanks a lot for the help.

God bless,

John