PTO's

[kellys_eye]

..or Power Take Off units for the uninitiated.

Has anyone got experience of these? They are stand-alone alternator units that couple to tractors that have 'universal' rear couplings (normally used to power towed machinery).

PTO's have ENORMOUS capacity for power output and seem to be very competitively priced as far as power generation is concerned.

Of course you need a tractor....... but there should be methods to couple one to a small car (universal joint coupling to driven axle????) with the appropriate reduction gearing.

[bigpaul]

wife has some farming experience and used this in her work.
power is not something top of my list post SHTF.

[Straight Shooter]

We powered a gig at a farm one time using this method and the tractor , totally brilliant are worked like a charm powered up all the PA ,lights and everything else with NO problems at all , buy an old tractor KE if you have room a small one will do the job most pto s are standard universal design , but I am sure you could adapt a coupling for even a stationary engine like a d type Lister .

[bigpaul]

little grey Fergie??

[Straight Shooter]

Yes BP exactly I have owned three of them ......Old but very reliable as well as great on fuel tvo or diesel even better , I curse the day I let them go ! .

[kellys_eye]

A friend has a little Jap tractor - quite the collectors item I'm told though I have no knowledge of what the market is like so, ho hum. Anyway, his little machine, cute as it is, has a 'massive' 37hp engine!!!!

I'd give it 25hp at the PTO perhaps (??) but even that is good for a circa 20kW genset. That kind of power could supply our little village (12 properties) with some careful management so maybe a 'community' purchase might be suggested. Who knows?

Right now (I think) tractors command a higher price than I'd be prepared to pay for a simple genset solution - yeah, they can obviously be used for other purposes but I'm not into aggro-working on such a scale. Again, as a community it might get some traction (pun intended).

However, the idea of a PTO system will be useful to some and I'm not sure how well known this is as a solution to a community power requirement hence the suggestion.

[CharlesHarris]

Maybe if nobody in your village has a well pump, forced air heat or a deep freeze, and they stagger starting loads of refrigeration compressors, etc. A small farm here uses 12Kw as a planning standard, a single-family detached dwelling with well pump, central heat and AC, refrigerator and freezer 5 Kw.

[kellys_eye]

Simple life here!

We have a private (gravity fed) water supply for the village, private sewage to match. Most properties are users of wood stoves and AC would be WONDERFUL if we had the weather to use it!

Many of the village properties are actually LIMITED to 6kW from the mains supply so live accordingly and I reckon we could all survive on 1kW per household on a 24/7 basis with some proper training. The 12 houses could easily run off a 20kW PTO.

[Mortblanc]

By the time you ran that current from the genset to the end of your "village" it would not have enough amperage to spin the blade on a skill saw.

Been there, done that!

A 1000w genset can be purchased for less than 100 pounds, set one outside each caravan and let the occupants decide how to best use their fuel.

You said before that you have two inverter generators so why is a PTO even a consideration.

It really seems that using that fuel and the hours on the tractor engine to put in next year's crop would be a more valuable use of resources.

I am with BP on this one, why is everyone so obsessed with keeping the lights on? You say you have wood heat and cooking, water and sewer, a simple 100w solar setup will provide lighting power, especially with LED bulbs.

[Skean Dhude]

Everyone seems obsessed because light is seen as a sight of civilisation. Personally, my power will be used for keeping the freezers on till we have run down the freezer stock, powering radios and lights very rarely.