More data eh?
Okay, all 3 units were purchased new.  Ages ranged from 5 to 15 years.  They were all reasonably good quality brand name units.  The failures occurred at entirely different times but always after running for several days on Roid power.  I am normally careful to only switch my transfer switch when the generator is up and running but on one occasion, I did run out of fuel which caused a "soft" power down.  I'm primarily thinking about the THD issue.  During our last major power outage (when I lost the last fridge), I did have a data-logging Fluke DMM connected and it showed that I didn't have any significant voltage or frequency excursions (beyond what one would normally expect from such a generator anyway).  I did not perform a post-mortum on the refrigerators or attempt to have them repaired.  (wife thought it was a great excuse to get new stuff).  One unit started getting very noisy right before it quit working and the other two failed while I wasn't around.   Guess that's about all the factual data I have.  Either the poor power quality did contribute to their demise or it was just coincidence that they finally failed when they did.

Chris

Anyone have any feedback regarding the possibility that power from an ST head could be damaging refrigerator compressors?
I've had three refrigerators die now and each time, it was after a couple of days running on my Lister genny with an ST head.  Voltages and freqs were quite good as measured by my DMM (around 125VAC and 59-61hz depending on load).  Seems like too much to be just a coincidence....
thanks
Chris

Same situation here.  Tried all of the sat options over the years and they all suck bigtime!  Since I absolutely have to have reliable high speed net for work, I finally put up a tower at my house with a point-to-point wireless bridge to a water tower 10 miles away which I'd been granted use of for antenna placement, then another wireless link from there to another site where I could get Cox cable internet access at.  It was a little complicated and expensive to install, but I now have lightning fast reliable net.
If anyone wants further details, just ask. 


Chris

Yup. Sounds a little worse than what I experienced, but not anything surprising....

BTW, I have decided that I need to sell my trailer-mounted generator rig.  If anyone is interested, I posted details in the "for sale" section.  Hate to part with it, but sometimes ya just gotta do stuff you don't want to.

Chris

I run a controls and automation company.  Used to be entirely focused on the telecom and energy industries, but about 10 years ago (having been burned multiple times ), I re-focused on municipal work.  I now work mainly on water and wastewater treatment facilities.  When was the last time you ever heard of a turd laundry going bankrupt or a water plant burning down?
Yes, I AM hiring.  Always looking for very qualified controls/instrumentation people with a lot of hands-on mechanical and electrical skills.  We're absolutely swamped and I'm currently turning down 75% of the work that's coming at me.  Took a long time and a lot of hard work to get the reputation we have and I'm not going to risk it by getting in over my head (okay, I already am or I wouldn't be working this many hours....)

Chris

I have not had any time to pursue the idea further.  Been working 80+ hours a week for the last few months and dealing with total chaos with customers due to the economy.  In my "spare" time, I'm still trying to finish building my new house :-)
I still am very interested in tinkering with this concept, but sadly, it's #52356 on the priority list at the moment.
chris

Glad to see this topic has sparked some creative discussion and ideas !
First: yes! fuses everywhere and rated far below useful values for initial testing.

I hadn't considered a squirrel cage "slave" to a primary "master".  Will two ST heads "lock" to each other if operated in parallel ?
Thanks for reminding me about Bill's book WGB.  I've read it cover to cover, but hadn't picked it up in several years and totally forgot I had it.  Looks like he does talk a bit about paralleling, but not in a lot of detail.  I'll have to re-read it all again to see if I'm missing crucial data.
Steve, I suspect that a mechanical coupling is probably the most functional technique and as you mention, has a couple possibly valuable perks.  Unfortunately, it doesn't peg out my cool-O-meter like a "big boy toy" multiple parallel generator electrical connection does  :-) The concept of locking multiple generators in sync with the crankshafts offset to make even power pulses is an entire fascinating discussion just by itself!
There's really just one huge problem with this whole idea: if I do get two generators operating in sync and load sharing, I'm just gonna be itching to try three (or more) and my wife is gonna kill me!
So Jens, when should I expect the offer to come help move these beasties?
Chris

Just uploaded a batch of pictures of the giant old generators to the listerenginegallery.  Not exactly sure how to link them here though.  Sadly, even though this powerplant has been maintained in fully operational condition, it sounds like they are going to scrap the whole thing out before long.  Just too expensive to maintain and not used enough to justify.  I could probably have them all in trade for my company executing a couple of projects for the city, but I don't have anywhere to put them even if I could figure out how to move them



Chris