In the last ten years or so our office has purchased a lot of homes with some form of back-up power.
In one case a home near Maple and Wagner had a priority circuit system that was replaced with a whole house system.
At an inspection yesterday we saw a dangerous non-interlocked system.
We’ve seen all kinds, big, small, safe, unsafe, automatic switchover, manual switchover, gas-powered, propane powered, and natural gas-powered.
But every one of them was set up for a single type of fuel.
This has always been a concern of mine because none of the back-up fuels is perfect and in an emergency, any particular type of fuel might be in short supply.
Fortunately, there is an option that allows most generators to be adapted to multiple fuels. A company called US Carburetion produces kits that will allow a generator to use multiple types of fuel. They have produced products like this for a long time.
Their current line is called the “Motor Snorkel” and here is a video of the installation process on a medium-sized portable generator:
If you have experience with one of these installations please share your thoughts in a comment below!