Hi folks, I sent Ken an injector line heater for testing...
Here's what Ken had to say...
We are on the 3rd day of 24/7 running on the lister. The outside temps are running below zero. The temp in the gen shed is in the 50's. I have been running the line heater you sent me the entire time. I have noticed that the engine seems to have a bit more power, is runninmg very smooth, and the "Carbon Knock" that should have arrived by now hasn't. I strongly believe that the line heater is doing a very goood job!!
Best regards .... Ken
Last night it was -28*(f) and the barrel heater for the VO supply failed. The Fattywagon Line Heater kept working and the generator kept running until the oil in the barrel thickened so much the pump would not move it. The Line Heater protected the engine from ever getting way too cold VO. I restarted on diesel, turned on the heaters in the barrel and was able to switch back to WVO within an hour. As of 5am today the generator has been running 24/7 since last Tuesday at 5am (72hrs). The only time is was down was during the failure of the VO heat, less then 30 minutes.
Ken Gardner
The temperatures have climed up out of the sub-zeros, 10 above last night for a low. A real heat wave is predicted for today at above 30*
The Lister/generator ran 139 hours, 24/7 with the only time down needed for changing the VO filter and check engine oil. It burned right at 31 gallons of oil on this run. Most of the time it was running between 80-90% of full throttle providing power to the electric heaters in our cabin.
After my last long 24/7 run of 3 days the engine had carboned up to the point that the exhaust valve had hung open and was burned. I replaced it and cleaned up the head and piston. By the end of that run it also had a "Carbon Knock" caused by the build up of carbon on the head and piston.
This time John of
www.fattywagons.com had blessed me with a fuel line heater. It heats the line between the IP and injector. Now there is no "Carbon Knock", the valves move freely, and the engine started right up this morning, no problem. In the past I would have to at least taken the head off and most likely clean the carbon out, and perhaps freed up the valves, but not this time. I believe that the reason is because the Fattywagon Fuel Line heater added the extra boost of heat just before the injector resulting in a far better burn, thus no carbon buildup.
Ken Gardner
If anyone is interested I sell the injector line heater for $18
www.fattywagons.com