Natural Gas Generators for Home Use

THE BASIC FACTS YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT NATURAL GAS

More than half of the homes in the U.S. use natural gas (NG) for the heating. This makes gaseous-based systems the most common type of standby home generators. Let's first review some basic facts about this fuel. (If you are not interested in these details, just scroll down to the comparison chart). Technically speaking, NG is a flammable mixture of hydrocarbon gases, consisting primarily of methane. It is a fossil fuel found in reservoirs underneath the earth. Unlike oil, in US this fuel comes primarily from North America.

For commercial use NG goes through a processing that removes practically all materials other than methane. Purified NG can be pressurized and stored underground for future use. NG is transported through interstate pipelines at high pressures anywhere from 200 to 1500 pounds per square inch (psi). From the transmission lines NG goes to gate stations that reduce its pressure for distribution systems typically to 100-200 psi. The distribution system pipes called mains carry NG from the gate stations to customer districts, where district regulators further reduce the pressure for end users.

The individual customers such as homes or buildings get depressurized NG delivered via small-diameter pipes (0.5-1.5"), called "services". Large industrial, commercial, and electric generation customers sometimes receive pressurized NG directly from interstate pipelines. The household appliances are designed to operate typically at 0.1-0.2 psi and normally include a regulator to drop the incoming line pressure to this level. Natural gas pressure at many homes served by old lines is 0.2-0.3 psi. Newer service lines may operate at 2-50 psi. For these systems, the gas meter includes a regulator that reduces the incoming pressure to 0.2-0.25 psi. Most generators for homes or commercial use are currently designed to work from standard gas pressure 0.18-0.25 psi (5 to 7 inches of water column), so you should not have problem with this. However, occasionally some high power models may need a higher fuel pressure.

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