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Author Topic: Concerns About My First Real Test  (Read 7823 times)

Listerational

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Concerns About My First Real Test
« on: September 11, 2018, 01:10:10 AM »
Hello Everyone,

Hope you all are well.

I installed a Powerline 10/1 about 6 years ago and I may finally have the opportunity to give it a real test.  I could not have gone this far without the help of the nice folks on this forum.

We may be getting hit by a hurricane here in NC and may be without power for several days. I have never run the generator longer than about an hour so I am a little hesitant to run it 24 / 7 especially during the times that I am not there to monitor it. My wife will be there.  I have never run more than a couple of baseboard heaters in order to exercise the generator and now I am going to run lights, computers, TV, fans, freezer, refrigerator, etc. I understand about managing load because I install generator transfer kits for a living. I am mostly worried about the generator getting hot, about it suddenly cutting off and damaging electronics, about it catching on fire (it is in my garage).
Should my biggest concern be the generator overheating? I believe that I measured 200+ degrees on the generator once. I have a huge liquid radiator mounted a little higher than the generator however I do not have a circulator.
Should I take steps to protect the electronics in the house? That would mean protecting most everything because about everything has a PC board in it.
I once damaged the board on our gaspack one freezing cold winter when I did not give the gas generator enough time to warm up. Once it warmed up the setting of the throttle was mismatched and the generator cut off. When that happened it damaged the gaspack.
The generator has a 7kw head, is there a way to estimate how many gallons of fuel it will consume? This way I can refill the tank before it runs out.

Thanks for letting me put my thoughts on paper. If you would not mind making a recommendation or two I would appreciate it.

Best regards,

Jim

mike90045

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Re: Concerns About My First Real Test
« Reply #1 on: September 11, 2018, 05:47:43 AM »
For my battery recharging with 6/1, I have a runtime of 60-90 minutes, 2x a day.  That gets a 30 gal thermosiphon tank up to about 170F, at about a 2500w load on the alternator.

I do not let the listeroid engine run un-attended for more than a couple minutes.   

For longterm house power, I run a eu2000 with an extended run tank.

Do you have power monitoring gear, to see what your load is ?   What size is your alternator 5kw ? 7kw?

BruceM

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Re: Concerns About My First Real Test
« Reply #2 on: September 11, 2018, 06:15:57 AM »
My Listeroid 6/1 is very remote so I added a custom monitoring and shut down system.  That said, the only time it's done an emergency shutdown in the last 3000 hrs is for low oil... I forget to check it and I have the low sensor set pretty high.

Assuming you did a decent job of setting it up I think you should give her a workout; you may even get it broken in properly.  A plugged in power monitor with frequency should be sufficient to keep from overload-  just see what the frequency drop is for the most load she handles easily with clean exhaust, and note the approximate watts.   Making a list of approximate watts for various loads for her would also be helpful for manual power management. With that and the frequency readout, she'll learn fast.






38ac

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Re: Concerns About My First Real Test
« Reply #3 on: September 11, 2018, 12:22:57 PM »
Hard for me to make reverent comment about the installation when I  have not seen it.  Some are nicely done and some are a wreck waiting to happen.
Planning hind sight being 20/20 we will leave that alone but I would worry about an untested set running 24/7 also. The generator suddenly cutting off should not be your worry however slowing down for whatever reason and thus losing voltage and hrz should be. What Bruce said about the wife X2.  Buy a Kill o Watt meter at Home Depot and plug it in where she will walk by it often. Teach her what the acceptable ranges are and write them on a piece of paper and tape it to the wall beside the meter.  Teach her to listen to the engine. My wife is about as mechanically inclined as nothing but because she likes to have power so she very quickly learned to listen to the exhaust note of the 1115 China diesel 15KW set and watch the kilowatt meter. I also told her to go out and take a look and call me if ANYTHING looked or sounded out of place. If your wife isn't going to get all of that then personally I would shut it off when not around,  her inconvenience during the times you are not there will be greatly magnified by no power whatsoever or burned up electronics.

It has been 4 years since we had an outage long enough to use our set but I exercise it monthly. I usually let it run at part throttle for a bit to warm up then throttle it up to speed. One time I got busy after I started it  so I  didnt bring the RPMs up. The wife came out of the house and said, You better check that generator,it doesn't sound right!
I was pretty proud of her for that ;D

Fuel usage varies with demand placed on the engine. Our 1115 set doesn't work very hard with us living pretty much normally and runs almost everything in the house with very little usage management while burning about a quart per hour. Your 10/1 should be in that same range with a stiff loading. Take that loading down to 2-3KW and usage should be about a little over a pint per hour.
« Last Edit: September 11, 2018, 12:26:43 PM by 38ac »
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Listerational

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Re: Concerns About My First Real Test
« Reply #4 on: September 11, 2018, 12:54:54 PM »

Thanks,

These are all awesome suggestions. I will definitely blow a fan on the radiator, good idea. I will plug in my kilowatt / frequency meter and have her watch it.

I appreciate the help. I will sleep good tonight.

Best,

Jim

PS. The head is a 7kw.

dax021

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Re: Concerns About My First Real Test
« Reply #5 on: September 11, 2018, 03:44:35 PM »
You know, I normally switch off when Glort starts ranting, but I must be honest, his is the best advice so far.  Stop worrying, these things are designed to run for extended periods.  What I would do is not wait for the hurricane, but load the thing as much as possible now and run for at least 12hrs while you're there.  If nothing goes wrong - test passsed.  Now you will know how much oil and fuel it uses and will be prepared and confident when the hurricane does hit

Listerational

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Re: Concerns About My First Real Test
« Reply #6 on: September 11, 2018, 09:51:51 PM »
Good idea. Thanks for the tip.....

guest23837

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Re: Concerns About My First Real Test
« Reply #7 on: September 12, 2018, 12:15:26 AM »
In fairness to Glort he's no Penelope Pitstop, no help I've just broken a nail! He's old school seems to just try it if it works great learn from it same as if it doesn't work. There's usually a little nugget of wisdom

dax021

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Re: Concerns About My First Real Test
« Reply #8 on: September 12, 2018, 06:20:40 PM »
hey, no offence meant towards Glort.  I've learnt a hell of a lot from his posts

guest23837

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Re: Concerns About My First Real Test
« Reply #9 on: September 12, 2018, 11:45:05 PM »
hey, no offence meant towards Glort.  I've learnt a hell of a lot from his posts

Watch some of his youtube videos and you'll learn what NOT to do as well!

mikenash

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Re: Concerns About My First Real Test
« Reply #10 on: September 13, 2018, 04:26:15 AM »
Yes, I was just watching him pointlessly disagreeing with each aspect of one of my recent posts (a very non-controversial one about a CS on our TradeMe online sales forum down here at the Bottom of the World)

I guess in the past I may have been upset, but, realising the poor chap both mental health issues, poor self-restraint skills,  a personality disorder and is chronically unable to watch anyone buy anything without exclaiming "You're a moron for paying that much!" - all I can do is laugh

Keep the videos coming.  When my grandchildren need to be taught about the perils of playing with fire, they are excellent

dax021

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Re: Concerns About My First Real Test
« Reply #11 on: September 13, 2018, 08:24:38 AM »
I've watched quite a few and enjoyed them.  Glort, in all seriousness, keep the posts coming, it was just my cheeky South African humour taking dig at you.  I still have a lot to learn and don't want to piss too many people off. 

ajaffa1

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Re: Concerns About My First Real Test
« Reply #12 on: September 17, 2018, 12:13:16 PM »
Good day Listerational, while my forum friends have played games with each other and offered you some good advice I`m more interested in how you are. Did you get hit by the storm, did you and your wife go OK is there anything that the forum members can do to help?

Bob

dax021

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Re: Concerns About My First Real Test
« Reply #13 on: September 17, 2018, 03:13:10 PM »
Also been waiting for some news.  Hope all is well.

38ac

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Re: Concerns About My First Real Test
« Reply #14 on: September 18, 2018, 03:14:22 PM »
Yes, I was just watching him pointlessly disagreeing with each aspect of one of my recent posts (a very non-controversial one about a CS on our TradeMe online sales forum down here at the Bottom of the World)

I guess in the past I may have been upset, but, realising the poor chap both mental health issues, poor self-restraint skills,  a personality disorder and is chronically unable to watch anyone buy anything without exclaiming "You're a moron for paying that much!" - all I can do is laugh

Keep the videos coming.  When my grandchildren need to be taught about the perils of playing with fire, they are excellent

Well some of Glort's  attributes may come in handy as he tries to save the micro cogeneration site?  Sadly mostly by his lonesome at this point and time BUT I am thinking if they can just get one other guy with as much to say as he does that the site will be saved just on the traffic created by those  two people ;D ;D ;D  Plus it would give him a place to write novels other than here ;D ;D Seriously there is a lot of good information over there about to be lost I kinda hope that site stays up as I use it for reference now and then and combining it with this one doesn't seem to be an option.
« Last Edit: September 18, 2018, 03:20:22 PM by 38ac »
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