Your last generator Maintenance Run

[Chilliwack Murray]

There are various. Firstly, Cummins bought Onan. Not a good thing (as usual) but it is what it is, as everyone says.

The one I have is the Cummins/Onan 7.5 Quiet Diesel (QD).

I guess you could put this thing in your basement (with a CO2 Detector) and with the exhaust being specially tuned, your neighbors would never hear it. It would be no louder than a vented furnace, and inside probably would be OK too.

Actually Cummins bought Onan all the way back in 1992 and changed the name to Cummins Power Generation and the sister company Newage became Cummins Generator Technologies. They kept the Onan name for the RV product line because of the brand recognition and almost fanatical following. (Fleetguard became Cummins Filtration, Holset Turbochargers became Cummins Turbo Technologies, etc)

On the topic of generators in basements, any generator installed in a dwelling needs to be done completely to code as the consequences of anything going wrong are extreme... Fire or death by CO poisoning. Both happen too often due to improper generator installations. There is truly no room for error here.

Get a reasonably quiet generator and install it outside with soft walls / bushes around it and you’ll barely know it’s there, but please don’t put it in any structure attached to a house.

 

[Industrial Toys]

I didn't know about Newage. Sad, that WAS a good company.

May be a stupid question, but in a sense, what's the difference between an oil furnace and a diesel generator in your basement if well installed?

 

[Chilliwack Murray]

A generator has moving parts, is more likely to vibrate things like the exhaust apart and cause a leak, generally consume more fuel and have much higher exhaust temperature than a furnace.

A true indoor generator is designed with some measure of fire safety in mind like a furnace but not a portable or RV unit however if there is a catastrophic failure like a rod through a block there will usually be fire. It happens with generators and when it does you rely on the fire separation of the room for protection. Generators often run to destruction as they are unattended and unless they lose oil pressure or overheat, the governor just keeps putting more fuel to it as it starts to seize.

A gas furnace isn’t likely to produce nearly the volume of CO that an engine will and the exhaust temperature is low enough that it can be fairly safely routed to a roof vent. Generator exhausts get hot - often 8-900 degrees making it a much greater risk.

On the topic of Newage (and Onan) I knew many of the people in service and design at the factory then and now. Until recently due to retirements it was many of the same people, just a different name on the paycheck. Cummins runs things their way now but they do have pretty noble ideals if you do a little research on it.

 

[ultrarunner]

I did the weekly maintenance run for a number of years at a small medical clinic... back in the 80's...

The single cylinder natural gas Winco Genset was in the basement... it did put out a lot of heat and was loud... the exhaust was Black Iron Pipe that ran some distance and eventually up through a small grate...

Never gave it another thought... basement was fully below grade... one set of wooden stairs down and the vertical access grate...

The room was for light storage, electric panels, Telco MPO and vacuum pump... when the clinic closed I was paid to remove the generator and 240v transfer switch and brought it home... never did anything with it because it's really is loud... only way I would be able to use it would be by making it much quieter...

My uncle had a WWII surplus genset and he built a concrete bunker into a hillside for it's permanent new home at his hunting cabin... it ran for decades.

Generator, Winco

 

[3930dave]

We should have some more generator talk before this becomes a political thread I think.

I read a short story when I was a kid, that started off with a young guy heading out in the bush with his Dad. First lesson, take the shirt off and let the mosquitoes bite you..... (oblique comment, that I'll get back to ).

Personally, I enjoy discussions wandering a natural course, and through a range of topics...... old cars, firewood, weather events (OK, that one is fairly well connected to gens), etc..... all good.

The challenge is knowing (on what seems to be a sliding-with-time scale) what gets deemed "political".

Like it or not, much of what starts in Cali, ends up being a major factor elsewhere. Regulations can pop up anywhere, but ur is usually the leading example - I think that there is good value with him and others continuing to post in this thread what their present and emerging Rules and Regs are <<<< It's really valuable information.

Much like that kid in the old short-story..... the big challenge is learning to not swat at them pesky skeetters ! So, the next time I think "ur, what are they planning to run things on out there, Unicorn Farts ?", I'm gonna do my best to send that as a PM . Or, just post a lot of .

I threw down post #1 here, sort of as an expanded "refrigerator note"..... simple reminder, and figured one or 2 people might stop by. Along the way to today, we've collected a tremendous amount of thoughtful and informative posts.

I'd really hate to see this thread get tossed into the P abyss..... if it ever did happen I'd be asking the Mods:

1) Please let me know at what post # it started to go Off the rails, and the post # if/when it got back On the rails. I'd then be asking all members (self included) to voluntarily delete the posts they made. I'd have trouble imagining anybody who saw even slight value in the thread not complying.

2) If option 1 didn't fly, I'd be politely asking Muhammad if I could have a digital copy of the entire pruned thread. I'm not looking to get into the website business, but I'd take the time to post this archived thread in my own small public site, and continue this valuable discussion there.

You guys have generally been very good about the P stuff here (even better than some other TBN sections); let's try and soak up the info, and not spend much time swatting at skeeters .

Back to regular scheduled programming......

Rgds, D.

 

[3930dave]

Actually Cummins bought Onan all the way back in 1992 and changed the name to Cummins Power Generation and the sister company Newage became Cummins Generator Technologies. They kept the Onan name for the RV product line because of the brand recognition and almost fanatical following. (Fleetguard became Cummins Filtration, Holset Turbochargers became Cummins Turbo Technologies, etc)

On the topic of generators in basements, any generator installed in a dwelling needs to be done completely to code as the consequences of anything going wrong are extreme... Fire or death by CO poisoning. Both happen too often due to improper generator installations. There is truly no room for error here.

Get a reasonably quiet generator and install it outside with soft walls / bushes around it and you値l barely know it痴 there, but please don稚 put it in any structure attached to a house.

Budgeting down to the penny is good financial discipline. That said, the overall cost of adding 15+ feet of heavy cable and a fourth wall to a generator shed to remote it from a house - IMO, money well spent re. safety gained.

Rgds, D.

 

[ultrarunner]

Put it in a shed good exhaust piping add another muffler and you could even run the exhaust into a barrel with some water in it,
with the exhaust 6-8 inches in the water she would be nice and quiet. Treat it similar to shoot shovel and shutup, install use and go want?

Never thought of the water option... as time goes forward I think the science of sound/acoustic engineering will be even more at the forefront...

 

[3930dave]

I did the weekly maintenance run for a number of years at a small medical clinic... back in the 80's...

The single cylinder natural gas Winco Genset was in the basement... it did put out a lot of heat and was loud... the exhaust was Black Iron Pipe that ran some distance and eventually up through a small grate...

Never gave it another thought... basement was fully below grade... one set of wooden stairs down and the vertical access grate...

The room was for light storage, electric panels, Telco MPO and vacuum pump... when the clinic closed I was paid to remove the generator and 240v transfer switch and brought it home... never did anything with it because it's really is loud... only way I would be able to use it would be by making it much quieter...

My uncle had a WWII surplus genset and he built a concrete bunker into a hillside for it's permanent new home at his hunting cabin... it ran for decades.

Generator, Winco

I think you have propane "up North" ur ? Big muffler + propane ?

Rgds, D.

 

[90cummins]

Never thought of the water option... as time goes forward I think the science of sound/acoustic engineering will be even more at the forefront...

It’s been almost 2 years since I started building my powerhouse.
I installed my two 28 volt DC generators yesterday and fired the MEP-952b military APU tonight for the first time under load.
Talk about coincidence, I need to do some sound/acoustic work because my building is sounding like a huge bass amplifier.
The engine is a 15 hp 750cc Farymann 43F single cylinder diesel and it really shakes it up.
I think setting it on some isolators will do the job I just need to find something suitable.
I have 4 items to address to finish this part of the project.
1) Need to finish the exhaust;
2) Setup the 55 gallon fuel tank;
3) Install proper heavy electrical cable run to batteries;
4) Isolate APU from building.

Part two will be to get my home made 28V DC generator on line.
This unit has a 10hp Yanmar L100 diesel belt driving a Niehoff N1603-2 28V 450 amp alternator.
This unit is currently in place only no connections have been made.
At my earliest convenience I will perform a fuel consumption test on both units supporting the entire household minus the electric dryer.
It’s important to know how many hours/gallon they will run for planning purposes.
I have 2 powered exhaust vents with speed & temperature controls so I can hopefully keep the engines warm enough during the winter months, I would like to have the interior temperature around 70~90 degree.

90cummins

 

[3930dave]

Itç—´ been almost 2 years since I started building my powerhouse.
I installed my two 28 volt DC generators yesterday and fired the MEP-952b military APU tonight for the first time under load.
Talk about coincidence, I need to do some sound/acoustic work because my building is sounding like a huge bass amplifier.
The engine is a 15 hp 750cc Farymann 43F single cylinder diesel and it really shakes it up.
I think setting it on some isolators will do the job I just need to find something suitable.
I have 4 items to address to finish this part of the project.
1) Need to finish the exhaust;
2) Setup the 55 gallon fuel tank;
3) Install proper heavy electrical cable run to batteries;
4) Isolate APU from building.

Part two will be to get my home made 28V DC generator on line.
This unit has a 10hp Yanmar L100 diesel belt driving a Niehoff N1603-2 28V 450 amp alternator.
This unit is currently in place only no connections have been made.
At my earliest convenience I will perform a fuel consumption test on both units supporting the entire household minus the electric dryer.
Itç—´ important to know how many hours/gallon they will run for planning purposes.
I have 2 powered exhaust vents with speed & temperature controls so I can hopefully keep the engines warm enough during the winter months, I would like to have the interior temperature around 70~90 degree.

90cummins

An ambitious project, that will serve you well.

Acoustics can take a bit of time to sort - I'd definitely want to start with the isolators. Might mean flex connections on all lines, if not there now....

For me, there are at least 2 challenging phases to many projects - 1) Starting It ! and 2) Wrapping up those last few details.

I like your hybrid approach using batteries - a lot of household emergency use is fairly low power. Your previous consumption #'s looked good, and being able to cycle a diesel through medium plus loads, then have the batteries carry during diesel Off times is pretty much optimum IMO.

Liking the setup for the exhaust fans - were those controls built into the fans already ?

Rgds, D.