How is your cold starting

[magnicon]

Hi from the land where nothing works ie 1/2 mile outside the M25 uk.Its -6 celsius outside at the moment,I make that 28.7 fahrenheit.Worried about the amount of antifreeze in my toy I went for a cold start. High compression and O/load tripped .4 compressions later 42584 burst into life...result.ran for an hour with 2 kw on her and am now feeling rather pleased with myself,and warmer.How is everyone elses cold starting ?.

[contaucreek]

Oh my God -6 !!!    I'll go out and fire the 16/2 this winter for you when it's -30c and I'll let you know     

[Combustor]

          Have a different problem here.  Burn my fingers on the crank handle of my VA if I leave it in the sun.  However it will start from cold on straight transformer oil, which is about as thick as ATF,  and is fine on WVO with a small dash of Jet-A1 to thin it. Round 40c  with occasional thunderstorms here in the Kimberley, but waiting for some proper rain soon,  Regards  Combustor.

[MoeK]

Here is some data on cold starting I collected last year. It gets pretty cold where I am, but I am very impressed with the CS.
I have British 10/2 attached to a 6KW PMG. The gen set is located in a generator hut that is well covered, dry, but not well insulated. It is situated in  British Columbia at about 3500ft.

There are no glow plugs installed on the system and the oil is Shell Rotella. There is no electric starting system. The air intake does not have a filter and an elbow is placed at the end of the intake pipe and situated so that it points towards the floor.


Observations:

Down to -10C, the engine turns relatively easily and starts without any form of heating . It does take a few revolutions for it to get up to speed.

At -15C, the engine is much harder to crank and It will not start without heating the intake air. I heated the intake air using a small hurricane lantern that I hang from the intake such that the top of the lantern is just below the elbow at the end of the intake. It takes about 10 mins of heating to get the engine to go.

From -15C to -25C, it is impossible to crank the engine to gain the necessary momentum to go over even one compression cycle. The oil is like honey. Both the crankcase and the intake need to be heated. For this purpose I used a camping stove that runs on white gas. I had to heat the crankcase for about 25 mins. At this point it was possible to gain sufficient momentum but it would not start. Then I placed the stove under the intake elbow and left it there for another 10 mins. The engine fires but I need to keep the heater in place for a few revolutions in order to get the system to go.

At -20C and below, if the crankcase is not heated and heat is only applied to the intake, the block is so cold that moist air entering the intake will freeze inside the cylinder and prevent the engine from turning at all. So applying heat to the intake alone can be problematic unless one can crank the engine.

[magnicon]

Thanks Gents,I always wanted to know how these engines coped with extreme conditions.One more question,are you all running big heavy flywheels or the spoked pattern?.

[westcoaster]

At -20C and below, if the crankcase is not heated and heat is only applied to the intake, the block is so cold that moist air entering the intake will freeze inside the cylinder and prevent the engine from turning at all. So applying heat to the intake alone can be problematic unless one can crank the engine.

Would you not be better off extending your horizontal intake pipe and setting up your white gas stove under the horizontal intake pipe? (heat the pipe alone rather than the air going into the pipe) I am thinking you would not get as much condensation from the combustion in the lantern going up and into the intake.

[LowGear]

Hi MoeK,

I'm surprised that no one has found fault with your:

....The air intake does not have a filter.....

It's my understanding that Ford doubled the life expectancy of the Model T engine just by putting air filters on them.  OK, your engine isn't going down early twentieth century roads but, still, I am shocked.

Casey

[mike90045]

Maybe sucking the occasional stray goose thru the intake, is the easiest way to grease the pipe. 

[Eugen]

Hi from the land where nothing works ie 1/2 mile outside the M25 uk.Its -6 celsius outside at the moment,I make that 28.7 fahrenheit.Worried about the amount of antifreeze in my toy I went for a cold start. High compression and O/load tripped .4 compressions later 42584 burst into life...result.ran for an hour with 2 kw on her and am now feeling rather pleased with myself,and warmer.How is everyone elses cold starting ?.

I use the true and tried method in my part of the world were -30C is not at all unusual, it is an in line 110v heater that is on a timer, 4 hrs on 4hrs off whenever the temperature gets below -20c. If the temperature is above the -20C I use my home made 12V start system and get her up to to 600+ rev. for less than a minute and away she goes.

The in-line heater can be seen in my photo gallery.

Eugen

[t19]

Maybe sucking the occasional stray goose thru the intake, is the easiest way to grease the pipe. 

If I could find a woman that could do that or suck start a Harley I would happily call her wife

[t19]

I have a 10/1 Listeroid.. runs the heavy Generator Wheels.

[listerdiesel]

I haven't been out to try the Ruston lately as we are too busy at the factory to have much play time, but we've had -11 C on a couple of occasions with below -20 C in some remote parts. It is going to be the coldest december since records began in the UK.

The best way to ensure starting in cold weather is to provide an engine block heater and insulation for the engine house, plus 5W oil. A drop of White Spirit in the diesel will also help prevent waxing. Cold climate countries will already have this added, but in the UK they were caught out a bit by the cold snap.

The Ruston is drained out and double-sheeted, but still is outside with no building cover.

I intend to give it a run over the break, but we are back at work on Monday so it may be the New Year before I get out there.

Happy Xmas to all,

Peter

[Lister Rob]

 hi guys, i have a lister 6-1 in a shed and in winter down to -20 sometimes here in northern canada  i don,t have a problem starting my engine and the colder it gets i thing it is easier to start. have to keep my fingers crossed but she hasn,t let me down yet. take care Lister Rob.

[Stan]

There was some discussion a couple of years ago and the consensus was that if a small propane plumber's torch was lit and directed into the intake manifold, it would heat up the air being sucked into the cylinder enough to make it much easier to initiate combustion in very cold conditions.  This rather elegant solution fits very well into the kiss realm of problem solutions especially as it takes no electricity.  Being, my reason for having a Lister powered generator is for emergency use when the power is out.  It would be unfortunate to have a potentially dead battery, mains powered engine heater,  or other electrical aid to starting that could fail in a power outage, necessitating waiting for the power to come on to be able to start the generator.

Caveat.....I havent' tried it yet myself, but many reported it worked very well, that is if you can turn the cold engine over by hand as some have already stated.
Stan in (Canadian) Kimberley (a cold ski resort)

[xyzer]

The propane torch is a handy item! I use it to start my pellet stove, it is much better than the fire jell and other goop they make. I have never tried it but if it ever gets so cold around here I figured I could put the torch on low and warm the crankcase for a time then do the intake trick. I have saved all of the side burners I never use on the worn out barbies I toss thinking I coud use that to heat the crankcase in the cold times. Propane can be a handy item.........