14/1 New Setup Recommendations

[ColoSolarSupply]

I just purchased a 14/1 Ashwamegh from Rocky Mountain Power Supply and I'm outfitting it and "hopefully" installing it within the next week.  I'm pretty new to this type of engine/setup, but not to generator maintnance, rebuild, troubleshooting, rigging... you get the point.  I'm trying to do this as right as possible the first time.  Maybe for the last time??

We live off-grid in Idaho Springs, CO.  We have an Outback inverter system 2(3648 inverters 7.2kw) and apprx 4200 watts of solar capacity on zomeworks trackers.  We also have an outdoor concrete spa and a wood boiler that we use to heat it and the house.  Our house is heated via radiant floors with Tekmar controllers and a Buderus wall-hung boiler for back-up.  We dont live nearly as energy efficent as an off-grid home should...  but hey you got to keep the spa pump going as much as possible.  Priorities, priorities.


Here is where I'm at:

1) Purchased a 14/1, 23" flywheel, Ashwamegh from RMPS  (very helpful...  even with my lack of knowledge)
2) Purchased an 8 groove 11.25 inch pulley from RMPS
3) Purchased an ST12kw head from Joel   
  I know the 14/1 will only put out about 7-8kw at our elevation 8,600' but I wanted to get an upsize for surge, life, and /or future engine increase.  I'll be running this unit apprx 8-10hrs a day in the winter and when needed in the summer.

Mounting -  I'm planning on pouring a cube 30" deep(20" sub-grade)x53"longx30"wide.  It will have 1.5" polystyrene between the cube and sub surface soil.  It will only be apprx 12-18" from a walkout foundation wall.  Any idea if this proximity is a problem?  It will be completely enclosed in a sound deadened (house attached) room apprx 8' high 5'deep and 8' long.  I'm planning on building a frame out of 3" square, 3/16" tube and bolting this directly to the slab without the use of grout.  I will sleeve the bolts in pvc for the top 4-6" to allow for elongation, etc.  Any ideas on how to really deaden the noise with drywall, eggcrates, etc?

Cooling -I'm going to pipe the coolant thru our wood boiler via a closed loop constant circulation with 100% PPG Coolant.  The wood boiler usually maintains a temp of 130degrees (max 150degrees).  I'm thinking this will keep it warm for easy starts and when running it should heat up the 170 gallon wood boiler to heat the house, hot tub, etc.  Any idea what type of heat I could expect to gain from the enginge?

Gauges -  I'd like to mount some large analog gauges but having a hard time finding any antique looking, big cool ones.  Any suggestions what a good assortment should monitor would be helpful.   I have a killawatt for elec monit.

48volt dc charging -  In addition to the direct AC from the st12, I want to incorporate a 48vdc charging source running off of the st12 in parralel with the house loads.  If I have a large load need that bogs the engine, I can manually drop the ac source coming thru my inverters and then run the load off of batteries (3,600ah VRLA bank) and have a 48vdc charger also providing amps.  I can provide more AC kw's from my inverters than I believe the st12 will be capable of.

Fuel Supply - I want to mount a 55 gal drum to gravity feed diesel for now.  In the future I would like to run a coolant heated blend or SVO... but one step at a time.

Exhaust - I want something quiet and safe.  Because of the common house/generator room wall I want something that wont leak ever. (right)  Does anyone have a photo of a buried drum exhaust? Does it need to be buried?

Thanks for any suggestions!  This forum is great and helped me avoid several pitfalls already.  Ed

[hotater]

CSS---

Welcome aboard.  It sounds like you're well equipt, but it surprises me anything around Idaho Springs is still off grid.  I did a lot of exploring up there forty years ago when it was still 4x4 to St. Mary's glacier.

I have my 6-1 exhaust running into a 24" dia x 36" long concrete culvert pipe stood on end and partial sealed at the top.   My next will be a 'pepper can' made (in the shape of a dragon's head) from a propane bottle.   It could be my dim hearing that does it, but I 'hear' the low frequency thump more than a standard muffler, hence the propane bottle 'muffler' this time.  If you have an area of no echo, point the muffler that way and I can't hear it....you might.   

[cujet]

Well, I live in Florida, so any heat is not a good thing here. I have found that an automotive rad of about 20 by 20 inches w/fan is just barely enough to shed the heat of a 16/2 lister. In any case, I would think your heat gain would be roughly equal in KW to the power the engine is producing.

These engines really have a thump due to the combustion event. Isolating that is probably going to be the biggest issue. They are not that noisy when muffled, so I think that will be a secondary concern. My suggestion is to get it away from the house as far as you can. You will be able to feel the ground vibrate for a good distance from these engines.

I think a 48V generator head can be coupled in much the same way as the ST head. I have seen them at surpluscenter.com from time to time. They are generally based on aircraft starter/generators. The lifespan of those is about 2000 hours between brush/bearing changes. Not sure that would be a good long tern operation. Unfortunatly I do not know of any other 48V gen heads. You could, of course, use the ST to provide power to the battery chargers. Not sure the losses would be all that horrible for short term use.

I use a Midas muffler. It is fairly good with regard to keeping this thing quiet.

I am not sure you will get 7KW out of this setup at your altitude. Remember the HP lapse rate is about 3% per thousand feet. You can probably count on abotu 11HP or maybe a bit less. The 11HP gensets I have seen (I have one) will make about 5000 watts all day long and about 6000 watts at peak output. Obviously 746 w/hp is an ideal number. There are some belt losses and gen head losses. I think the ST head has a peak eff number of about 78-82 %. Could be wrong there?

Sounds like you have a fantastic setup! I like it!



Chris

[rmchambers]

I've seen people ask about turbocharging or supercharging but never seen it in pictures but might someone at a high elevation be able to hook up some sort of turbo device or supercharging device to run off the belt to give a little extra HP at the higher elevations?

I would think the increase in HP would outweigh the parasitic loss to the blower and might allow for a higher amount of usable energy being delivered to the ST head.  Of course fuel use would go up accordingly.

Perhaps a blower assembly using an automotive A/C clutch could be put on for the times when load outstrips supply.  flick the switch and engage the blower and let the engine think it's at sea level for the high load period.

Robert

[buickanddeere]

  A properly sized exhaust driven centrifical blower would be the most efficeint. Ideally the intake manifold pressure can be higher than the exhaust manifold pressure.
  As for stand alone generation, would not a 14/2 deliever a truer 60HZ sine wave than a 14/1? I've seen a 975 rpm twin flicker on 1800 rpm generator at some load levels yet be smooth on other load amounts.
  Coolant temps of 195F plus, 210F/220F better are required for clean combustion and long engine life. A themostat will be required. Some time ago somebody mentioned the obvious and sugested a reverse flow cooling system ( cool in the cylinder head and hot out the cylinder). A much superior system except it won't thermo syphon. 
  May as well run a double jacket 12ft copper pipe heat exchanger with the exhaust up the inside pipe. Lots of heat there and easy to copper wire brush the soot out. Reducing the gas's heat and the long chamber will take the edge of the exhaust "putt".