I've got a bit of experience running generators on gas, diesel, and propane. I've had all three kinds over the last 30 years. They were all good in their own fashion and they all had their downsides as well. It's a long story.

The Generac portable i'm currently running has plenty of output for the times when it's needed. The thing is that most of the time it only has to idle along a 3600 rpm to meet demand. It will run about 18 hours on a full tank. I would expect it to consume 1 gph + at it's full rated of load of 8 kw but it's never been there. Not even close.

Regular 87 octane ethanol blended gas is okay to use. I just prefer to use the 90 octane non-ethanol in all of my small engines. The ethanol blend is fine for fuel injected engines but it's destructive to carburetors if used for any length of time. Additionally ... i've seen it begin to undergo phase separation after 30 days in storage even with a fuel stabilizer added.



Diesel is a much safer fuel but it's not good in cold weather. That would be especially so with a simple diesel like the one pictured above. No glow plugs or block heater ? You would need a really big battery to crank it hard enough to build up enough heat to ignite the fuel in the cylinder. With the wintertime temps in Canada ... it might not ignite at all. That ... or the fuel would gel on you. Diesel mixed with cooking oil would be even worse in the cold. You probably wouldn't want to run that below 40 deg F.

An old diesel can be loud and the exhaust is pretty disagreeable.

Most whole house battery backups are lithium sealed batteries these days. Interesting side note ... the new Ford f-150 lightning has a factory option now. You can plug your truck in to charge up your electric truck batteries from utility power as you normally would. You can also plug your truck into your house to run everything when the power goes out.

Propane to run my generator on even the coldest days running for hours on end was never an issue. Gee ... i could go out there to start it at 0 deg F. and it would fire right up on the first or second pull. Way better than gasoline or diesel in that regard. The trick to having it run well in the cold is to run the numbers and design your propane tank installation correctly from the get-go. A 20 lb BBQ sized tank ? Not gonna happen. Three -100 lb. propane cylinders pigtailed together on each side of the regulator ? No problem.