Binnie has not posted here since he passed away last fall. There is one mystery solved. The family is telling me that he ordered?/paid? a real Lister from England, and it is somewhere?/shipped?/UK?/Canada?... if anyone has any information, I will forward it to the family.

Thanks!

Randy

Thanks, Bill. I am looking for something to get the biodiesel up into the fuel tank above the engine (for gravity feed).

Although, first I have to make some... still looking for the lye, and still working on getting some spoiled (past expiry date) or used oil.

I have (solar panels and) batteries at my unheated camper... not too good in the cold... heating cost not worth it... just started thinking of running the whole thing on the generator on biodiesel. I could use all the electric heat I want. The propane heater burns my eyes after a day or so, and the electricity is 32 cents down there in winter.

G'day, Ray:

I like what you posted (top post). I avoid (on several important topics) proof (mostly bullshit), scientific evidence (distorted bullshit), and political rhetoric (bullshit piled higher and deeper).

Anyone who cannot see that things have changed on this planet and that things are at a critical point is blind, and as you say, and this was on my mind today, it confronts their sense of security. Don't make me give up anythying.

So... this being the arena that it is, what better thing could "we" do than to burn biodiesel (virtually non-polluting, good for the engine), which is the one thing we all share: an interest in Listers, Listeroids, ChangFas, and the like.

I ranted today elsewhere about the fact that diesel engines are being made obsolete, or rather "illegal"... on a pump in NY I saw a notice that 2007 vehicles cannot use the low-sulfur diesel (illegal, it says, and will harm the engine). VW and others will not release 2007 diesel vehicles.

The vegetable oil engine, one of the best solutions to the problems you post about... is being made "illegal"... the vegetable oil engine is the diesel engine.

Weird, eh?

Well, I started calling local electricians who surely know local code and the practical aspects of a transfer switch.

I have only reached one of the local electricians, and he wants to put in the type of switch that requires pre-selecting circuits. I do not want to do that. I want to transfer the entry, in full. He thinks $300 is expensive for the box with xx circuits... I told him the box I was looking at was $1,200, so that he would know that I understood that... yep, moving 200 amps is moving 200 amps... big stuff.

He did not say I was an asshole lunatic, but he wanted to. The only reason he did not is this a small town and I was referred by a mutual friend. I had looked around hydroquebec.com and did find the pages about don't stand in a bucket of water with your finger in a socket. This is about as advanced as it gets here. I did refer Mr. Electrician to the Saskatchewan document which contains a clear schematic for a safe whole-system transfer. His reply: we are in Quebec!

You got that right. The backwaters of Quebec.

He said that Hydro Quebec (after people did all kinds of stupid stuff with generators in 1998, The Ice Storm) wants people to submit plans for their generator hook-up, for their approval. He says the electricians do not do that. They just do a safe installation, but he has never heard of a whole-box transfer and is not interested in learning and is not interested in having a peon non-electrician know anything he does not know.

Leaving Quebec, via Internet or motor vehicle, you learn a lot about "other places". Quebec is infamously xenophobic, and I hate experiences like talking to this electrician... so I bought a stove plug and some heavy cable. Frig them all!!!

BioBill and FuddyDuddy:

For 3 short posts, that was highly informative, and so was my journey around the PS (Power Service) site. For heaters, what type of heater goes into a fuel tank? Is there one made for that? Have you adapted something? I am thinking that once running (generator for occasional use), heat is available (either from electric heater run by the gen-set, or from coolant heat from the gen-set). Prior to start-up, there may be no electricity available to heat the fuel.

I am starting to believe tales I have heard of people lighting fires under their engines, to heat the fuel in the tanks.

Odd comparison but, when my wood stove is running, it is "pre-heating" and drying wood that is in the house. To start a fire cold from wood stored outside is slower, more difficult.

I am starting to think of using a portable propane heater to pre-heat an enclosed space with the generator in it (shed, carport, etc.)... just enough to get it up and running.

 

Procrustes: Looking forward to your update on inspection/arrival/use.

Ontario is the place where code is quoted (often here). Quebec is a few inches away, and a few light-years behind.

My Coleman has the neutral/ground combined, and they have explained to me how to use that set-up (wire it, get it into the house). The new rig, on an ST head, has an independent neutral line. So, the neutral is not bound to the ground, and in Quebec, I do not know if the neutral is rigged the same way as it is in Ontario. I doubt that Hydro Quebec has anyone who can

a) Answer the question.
b) Speak English.

So, I would prefer a 3-pole switch... I would rather disconnect Hydro Quebed than phone them for info. They might capture my number and send a tax auditor, municipal inspector, or whatever... just to be miserable (hey, he speaks English and wants to disconnect US, the Gods of Hydroelectric power).

I do not think I would be using plugs/outlets. I would rather use the whole-house switch.

Cutler-Hammer ... distributed in Canada by eatonelectrical.ca who have one page for all transfer switches, and have no details except distributor names and phone numbers. The local distributor knows zip about the products and cannot find that box by its model number: DT224URK-NPS, which may be for US only (took the model # from Harbor Freight).

So... I asked the distributor to look for any 200-amp transfer switch, whether they have them in stock or not, what prices... then maybe I can go look at the thing. If it is sold here, it would (probably, maybe, likely, who knows?) conform to code.

In Canada, 100-amp, $1000.00

200 amp, $1,200