Pelican brain trust...generator info?

[pwd72s]

I have a friend who has a diesel sprinter van/motor home thing...generator problems. Here's an email I just got. Told him I know zilch about power generators, said I'd ask here, ship him the link. Thanks in advance....

I’m in Elkhart sorting out the Generator……the Onan that I thought I wanted turned out to be a real dud, and very electronic which required only the Onan dealer to figure out when it crumped. Heard a Lamborghinis run last Friday but it was way to loud. Not a lot of small diesels to choose from. Looking at a Kubota engine and a local wound generator that has a very good sine wave of pure electricity without all the interruptions and garbage that will damage electronics I guess? Will leave here in about a week. Its been in the 30’s at night and cold. Still in the 70’s at home and I miss the warm weather already. No snow yet thought.



Hope you had a good weekend. Later, Rog

[widgeon13]

What does he want to know? I have a 15kw Generac and my neighbor has a 12 kw Onan, they have both been reliable and do the job for which they are designed.

[red-beard]

go here and be done with it

Generators | Northern Tool + Equipment

Seriously. Do you want reliable, or do you want home built garbage? This is your electricity we're talking about.

[porsche4life]

How big is he talking? For it to have a Kubota diesel on it it must be a sizeable one. Only thing that would worry me is trying to find parts for the generator itself. That motor is bullet proof though....


Now for other stuff you can't go wrong with a Honda on small stuff or a Kohler on the bigger stuff.

[nostatic]

Sure you don't want a gererator instead?

[red-beard]

Notice, Northern tool sells the generator heads as well as full generators.

How big a generator is your buddy looking to build? What is the plan for it? Continuous generation or standby?

Most engines are not designed for long term continous operation. Lets say a car engine is designed for 100K miles. If you travel 50 mph, this is 2000 hours. That is 1/4 of a year continous operation. Even if it is 300K or 400K, that means an engine rebuild every year. Better have 2 generators, and plan to do a lot of rebuilding.

[red-beard]

Originally Posted by nostatic

Sure you don't want a gererator instead?

[porsche4life]

Originally Posted by red-beard

Notice, Northern tool sells the generator heads as well as full generators.

How big a generator is your buddy looking to build? What is the plan for it? Continuous generation or standby?

Most engines are not designed for long term continous operation. Lets say a car engine is designed for 100K miles. If you travel 50 mph, this is 2000 hours. That is 1/4 of a year continous operation. Even if it is 300K or 400K, that means an engine rebuild every year. Better have 2 generators, and plan to do a lot of rebuilding.

This is one of the benefits of the diesel engine... That engine is up to the task... the head on that one is what bothers me.

[MT930]

I am guessing being in Elkhart it's a RV genset for the camper or motor home.

The Onan's are the standard for gas engines they work fine. The Kubota diesel are better but twice the $$



I have a Kohler 10KVW 300AMP 500 Hours it's just getting broken in.

Onan / Subaru are good and very common Gen engines for RV's

[pwd72s]

Originally Posted by MT930

I am guessing being in Elkhart it's a RV genset for the camper or motor home.

The Onan's are the standard for gas engines they work fine. The Kubota diesel are better but twice the $$



I have a Kohler 10KVW 300AMP 500 Hours it's just getting broken in.

Onan / Subaru are good and very common Gen engines for RV's

Yeah...Roger lives in Florida, so I'm assuming from the cryptic email that he's already out there..."on the road".

[svandamme]

tell your friend to get rid of that generator, and to get a gererator instead

[GH85Carrera]

I have been wanting one of the Generac models that runs on natural gas.

[porsche4life]

Glen I have been trying to talk my dad into one of those. They are so fast on the transition that you only notice a flicker in the power....


But he has a welder with that big of a generator on it already.... Just have to pull the truck around and plug it in.....

[Joeaksa]

Originally Posted by GH85Carrera

I have been wanting one of the Generac models that runs on natural gas.

Friend has one on natural gas. Runs a lot cleaner than normal fuel.

[svandamme]

Look no further this link has all the information

[GH85Carrera]

The cool part of Natural Gas is that is is always there. No need to refill the tank.

[pwd72s]

Update! More from Roger...so any more from the braintrust here?

I’ll provide a little more detail and perhaps they can come up with some ideas which I haven’t considered. I have a Mercedes based freightliner diesel van. I want to stay all diesel or electric in the van and don’t want to mess with either gasoline or LPG. I had originally chosen the Onan diesel 3.2 KW generator which initially looked ideal, but in talking with Onan repair folks and an Onan representative, I was advised that the engine shouldn’t be run over 8 hours at a time, and oil should be changed every 50 hours. I would be working for the generator! It also is apparently so electronic that only Onan can diagnose problems its problems, when the unit fouls up. scrapped that idea and will not install that unit. I need only about 3 KW power from the generator which is adequate for running the Carrier roof top low profile A/C (which incidentally won’t be manufactured after Dec 2/09 and is perhaps the best of the small RV air conditioners) It’s not widely used in the RV industry which is extremely manufacturing cost competative sensitive. The Lamborhini I heard run was a 5 KW and supposed to be one of the best most bullet proof around, but way too noisy. Size wise it was ok. Kubota puts out a 6.9 HP water cooled engine, EA Series, which must be run thru a serpentine belt arrangement which is doable, if the noise level is OK in the van. I won’t know for sure until we hear it run unless someone has experience with this engine. It is being placed in properly ventilated compartment inside the van under the galley counter. I have considered the Powertech unit which mounts underneath the van and its fine except that water, snow and crud can get to the mechanism and trash the unit. So I will have the unit we select mounted inside, in a specially built and insulated box with air being supplied and discharged by a bilge pump, probably running the water cooled portion if it’s water cooled, off the vans radiator, as is the Espar Hydronic heater, so that should work fine. I will need to run the unit as much as 18 hours or more at a stretch, and need the peace of mind that when I leave the van with the dog inside, all will work as intended. I don’t know of any small diesel generator that comes as an already constructed unit and will do the job. As far as the electrical generating part of the unit, there is a good manufacture locally who can build the generating unit, which as previously mentioned puts out a very clean sine wave of power. I don’t want a cheaply built Chinese knockoff. I’m really open to suggestions and alternative ideas. Thanks again. Rog

[pwd72s]

Bump...nobody here has more advice on this?

[red-beard]

He wants to continously produce power. He is already correct, he will be working for the generator.

18 hrs per day is a lot for what most of us would buy. He needs to look to derated industrial engines and a very high end generator. In the end, it will be far cheaper to buy electricty.

[dhoward]

Is it just me, or does he just ramble on a lot? What are the actual requirements for size, load (peak/cont), fuel, accesibility of cooling media i.e., ambient air / radiator etc. Is this a replacement for a 'crumped' (whatever that means OEM unit?

I'm corn-fused...