I heard that guy has 3000 hrs on his machine since december and has had no real problems other then water pump belts, and he is running his whole house on a 6/1 // st 5kw head.  how many have even tried to run their house on what they have created for more than 2 days? I would like to know.

Thanks for your input on oil burning.  This summer, when I have more time on my hands, I will build my waste oil purifing/ preheating refinery.  With this info I can cut my electrical operating costs in half. One thing i notice with my 6/1 is when I start it in the morning the gen head is putting out 57- 58 hz,  when fully warmed up, it is about 60- 60.5 hz.  With your micro processor controls, do you have a throttle solenoid for rack position?   What brand of controller do you use? and cost?  Thanks for all of your replies.  Has anyone heard of, or is running an ONEAC POWER CONDITIONER http://www.oneac.com to regulate power for sensitive equipment?  Could a person tie one of these on to any ST head and solve flicker/ hi/ lo surge and stabilize hz factor? that would be cool.  Talk to you later

I have approximatly 550 hrs on my GTC 6/1 gaining about 14 to 16 hrs daily.  That engine still slobbers black gunge from the threads at the exhaust manifold, a seam in a brand new ag tractor muffler, and the original muffler it came from (tailpipe).  There is a black puddle in the snow and spittle on anything else in the immediate vicinity.  Now I check the oil daily, and it doesn't go down much at all.  My coolant is mysteriously dissapearing.  I am not sure if the engine would have porosity in the casting of the head (have not yet pulled and inspected cause it is depended upon daily) Between cylinder and water jacket? or head gasket?  I add about a cup or cup and a have (didn't measure) about every 2 to 3 days.  One other question I have is, How much oil does one put in the crank case?  Up to the little slide filler hole? or does anybody pull the inspection cover off and see how much is in there and fill to according to what they think it should have in there?  My parts list book doesn't tell me the specs.  BTW there were no lines on the dipstick so what is safe? 1/4, 1/2" up?  My dipstick (when screwed in tightly) is about an index finger width above the bottom of the oil lake in the case. Now where this "lake" dribbles into the sump how wide should the oil fall be?  Also how in the world does any foriegn particles large or small fall into this sump when the dipper slings oil away from the sump?  I could be missing something or lots of things, need to be filled in.
Thanks,

Peterako,  I plan to have a very similar set as yours. At this time I am 100% reliant on the GTC 6/1. I have two kill a watt meters hooked up to my gen set (220 volt,  one meter on each 110 volt leg measuring usage)  I bought a 3000 watt inverter, but I think I wasted my $500. My battery bank was a little small, but I didn't use it for much or very long(12v X 105 ah X 3 pcs) Longeveity of the batteries didn't seem to be much.  Monitoring each cell, adding water, equalization charge is a time consuming pain in the butt.  So I am starting to look into other options for power maybe better or different type of battery.  Any way, I thought it would be easier to figure an average usage over time than to calculate watts x estimated usage less figureing out on/ off cycles and such.  My average khw usage is .156 to .223 watts per hour.  Not sure if that is right, allow me to explain:
2.11 kwh in 13.5 hours of generator run time.  That is just one day randomly picked.  But the fact of the matter is that is expensive juice.  My fuel usage estimate is about .708 liters an hour with diesel being .789 cents liter CND  .558 cents an hour to run at a small load.  13.5 hrs x .55 = $7.42 that day to run 2.11 kwh. Cost $3.51 /kwh.  Is my math correct? I hope not!  Grid life will almost be cheaper at $25,000 to bring it to me.  I am already effiecent to the max with lighting, appliances, and electric motors.  I use propane for stove, water heater and back up house heat.  Fire wood for any temp below -10 C.  Propane bill is approx $125 / month.

Searching for solutions with all of your help,  Thanks,
Kent

Could a Franz TP Oil Filter do an adequate job of cleaning oil on a 6/1 plumbed in line with the factory oil pump ( one squirt at a time) on the discharge side?  Also how many more hours if any, could you get out of an oil change with filtered oil?  The tag on my engine states oil changes every 250 hours with no filter. What say you?

You may also want to try finding the more common belts as they may be cheaper and easier to find.  My genny has twin 8 rib belts (99 3/4") from  a dodge cummings I believe.  The belts were $53.?? each.  Also finding a supplier with 2 from the same manufacturer (the exact same length when running ) may be a challenge.  My tensioner system is two pieces of threaded rod about 16" inches long so I can put a wide range of sizes on.  Alignment is a bit tricky but do able.  There is a tiny bit of slippage between the two but I call it tolerable.  The ST head seems to run better under load with the two belts.   The belts still viberate when loaded though.

I have a 5 kw ST head 6/1 GTC  engine.  I am running 240 volts from alternator.  I have one P3 kill a watt meter in series on each leg of output.  My voltage is at the high end 125v- 126v no load and about 56.7, 58.1, at times going down to 55.? at times of high load. Normal load, right now on one leg is 115.3 volts, 0.66 amps, 56.7hz.  Is there a problem with the head or is this just normal for the unit?  Slow clocks aren't much fun.  Also, has anybody wired in an ONEAC power conditioner to solve those flickery lights?

Thanks,