Making my own 20 KW Genset

[D2Cat]

So what would cause an inch of sludge build up?

 

[BrokenTrack]

So what would cause an inch of sludge build up?

It is hard to say.

From the way the air breather was pulled apart, and the way oil poured out of the air intake manifold, I would say before storing it, someone dumped a quart of oil down the air intake. After 32 years of cold and hot weather, moisture and time, it sludged up.

I am in the midst of pulling the oil pan off now, and while it is a pain, it will be good to get all that sludge out of the engine before start-up, and get some fresh oil in it.

I would like to say the bottom end looks really nice, but really the whole engine does. Once that sludge is cleaned up, the engine looks like a brand new motor, and it really should, it only has 2607 hours on it. There is no carbon build up at all, just that oily sludge from 32 year old oil.

 

[D2Cat]

That sounds good. I'd try to get the big stuff out, then use a vacuum to get more, then turn the engine over so that piston moves down some so you can clean it so more.

 

[pmsmechanic]

Also consider the way the engine was used. The A/C compressor cycles on and off according to the temperature needed inside the reefer. If the engine has long idle times it's not running hot enough to enable complete combustion.

If we use my 2200 watt inverter generator while hunting and run it all night to keep the cpap's going. At the end of 10 days there is a lot of sludge in the oil because it's cold outside and the load is nothing compared to what the generator can put out.

 

[BrokenTrack]

Also consider the way the engine was used. The A/C compressor cycles on and off according to the temperature needed inside the reefer. If the engine has long idle times it's not running hot enough to enable complete combustion.

If we use my 2200 watt inverter generator while hunting and run it all night to keep the cpap's going. At the end of 10 days there is a lot of sludge in the oil because it's cold outside and the load is nothing compared to what the generator can put out.

Yeah I never thought of that.

As bad as it is to pull this whole engine apart, I am glad I am doing it.

I just pulled the oil pan off, and the sump was just sludge. Fortunately the oil was pretty low, so the bottom end does not look bad at all. A bit of spraying to clean it up, and it should be fine. The oil pan is another story; a lot of solvent and scraping in its future, but fortunately it is a reefer unit so it is designed to be unbolted and cleaned out.

While it is off its engine mounts, I will weld up some new moor mounts, add some brackets to the frame so I can bolt it to the floor eventually, as well as add onto the rear so I can bolt down the generator unit.

 

[BrokenTrack]

I was losing interest in this project as spring wore on, and other things started to get put on my to-do list...then...

We got 18 inches of heavy wet snow.

We lost power for 3 full days, Thursday night at 7 PM until Sunday Night at 7 PM. I had my tractor powering my PTO Generator, so we were fine, but it put an awful lot of hours on my tractor. That would be avoided if the Perkins Engine had been running instead.

Then, less than 24 hours later, we get slammed with a 60 mph rain storm. I was glad it was not snow, but with a cobbled together grid, the power went out again. It has been 12 hours so far, and still no power.

So this project is back on track, and my wife really sees the importance of getting it up and running too.

 

[ptsg]

So this project is back on track, and my wife really sees the importance of getting it up and running too.

This is a very important point. This means that the project will definitely move along from now on.

 

[electrycmonk]

Guys, may I ask a question or a few on genset math? Not wanting to hijack thread but, it seems relevant to topics in here.

If you had a few 6kw gensets and wanted to set them up as a backup 12 or even 18kw system how realistic would it be for a backup system?
I have Mcgyvering like background knowledge & well, in my head I can "see the math as doable" but, there in that mental doubt floating in the back of my mind....

What details or vocabulary would help asking my questions better?

 

[BrokenTrack]

This is a very important point. This means that the project will definitely move along from now on.

Yeah, I needed a good reminded too. But generators are like that, when you have grid power going for months on end, you do not think about power being that critical. And then for me, there was the issue that I was never without power. Like right now, this message was brought to you by Kubota...it powering my PTO generator which is powering my home. So it was not like I NEED a separate gen-set.

But I have logged a lot of extra hours on my Kubota. Putting the Perkins to use just makes more sense.

I really am glad to posted about Central Georgia Generator though. I could upgrade my PTO generator to 40 KW for $2500 with $190 shipping. That is pretty darn cheap.

 

[Sawyer Rob]

I don't mind the hours put on my tractor running my pto generator at all. After all, isn't that what I bought the tractor for ?, to use when it's needed...

IF, I felt like I was hurting the tractor any at all, running it for hours and hours, then I bought the wrong tractor in the first place!

SR

 

[pmsmechanic]

Have you thought about installing a set of Murphy gauges on your generator? Most engines that run steady in this area (irrigation/generator/oil field pumps) have them so that if something goes wrong the motor will shut down before any damage occurs.

Most tractors around here that see regular pto generator use have Murphy's installed too.

 

[BrokenTrack]

Have you thought about installing a set of Murphy gauges on your generator? Most engines that run steady in this area (irrigation/generator/oil field pumps) have them so that if something goes wrong the motor will shut down before any damage occurs.

Most tractors around here that see regular pto generator use have Murphy's installed too.

Being a Reefer Engine, it came with them, but I pulled them off, just because I was not sure what controlled what electrically. (Was those wires part of how the chiller cycled, or was it a n emergency shut down? I was not always sure.) Since this engine has not been started since at least 1988, 32 years, I stripped all the wires back to nothing, and rewired it for just what was needed for it to run.

After I am assured the engine will run, I figured I could go back and wire in the emergency shut-downs.

 

[BrokenTrack]

I don't mind the hours put on my tractor running my pto generator at all. After all, isn't that what I bought the tractor for ?, to use when it's needed...

IF, I felt like I was hurting the tractor any at all, running it for hours and hours, then I bought the wrong tractor in the first place!

SR

In my experience, just because something CAN do something, does not mean it is always the BEST situation.

While my tractor can certainly power a PTO generator, it is going to last a lot longer the less hours it has on it. For that reason I try to keep the hours down on the engine. That is why I bought a log loader with its own power unit. I can put tons of hours on a small engine that costs $100 to replace instead of putting all those hours on my tractor's engine. It is why many people have a separate woodsplitter instead of putting hours on their tractor running a 3 point hitch woodsplitter.

Then there is the issue of doing something else with your tractor while the power is out. Around here, typical power outages are because of ice storms or blizzards, so it will be nice to have a separate engine to power my home, while I use the tractor for other stuff.

The other aspect is that a separate engine for a generator means it is always ready to go. There is no implement to have to pull off because suddenly I need to back up to my generator to power it, and nothing for my wife to have to do to get power in the house. She just has to fire up the dedicated generator, and light the house up. She drives my tractor of course, but I cannot picture her trying to unhook an implement that might be hooked behind it for whatever I was last doing.

I think PTO generators are great; they really have the lowest cost per KW generated; however they just have to be made to go around and around; and there are plenty of ways to make that happen without having to tie up a tractor all the while it is being done. For PMSMechanic and I, we have some diesel engines kicking around: why not put them to good use, and have the best of both worlds? My tractor can always be the back up power, of the back up power.

 

[D2Cat]

I agree with your thinking! Separate powers supplies are much like having various implements for a tractor. I suppose one could use a back blade for many task, but perhaps a box blade or landscape rake would do the job better, same idea.

 

[Sawyer Rob]

I do run my splitter with a tractor, and that tractor can run my pto gen set too...

I have NO problem putting hours on my tractor, I bought one that will still be running fine when I croak, so I don't have to worry about that.

A good second tractor can easily be bought cheap, and is VERY handy to have around for other chores too, by the time you are done building that gen set, you will have more into it than what I have into my second tractor, and all you will have is a generator... lol

I've made so much money with my second tractor it was better than FREE, and my Winco pto generator was $1,250.00... I have a little Honda genset for short outages, (hours) for a longer outage, (days and that's rare) there's plenty of time to hook up the pto generator. We aren't power slobs, so no one runs around here pulling their hair out, just because the power went out... lol

The little Honda gets used quite often for "other" chores too, I just used it a few days ago, to charge the battery on the dozer, before starting it...

SR

 

[BrokenTrack]

A good second tractor can easily be bought cheap, and is VERY handy to have around for other chores too, by the time you are done building that gen set, you will have more into it than what I have into my second tractor, and all you will have is a generator.

It would have to be a pretty cheap second tractor!

You probably missed the part about "being an engine kicking around", but it was literally that, a barn find. I would have to add up all the receipts to get an exact number as the little stuff does add up, but I am guessing I probably have $400 in the project as of right now. $179 is for the new starter, so not really a lot of money. When all is said and done, I figure it will cost me about $600 to get this running. That is pretty good because an engine of this size has a value around $4500.

A 20 KW Genset new would cost around $10,000, so this project, at $600, as back up power and heat for my home; is really a steal. It would be silly not to do it.

 

[HarryVanderpool]

.....heat for my home; is really a steal. It would be silly not to do it.

It would be silly to not have a wood stove and a small generator that runs a few hours in the am and pm in my opinion.
Our generator uses a little over 4 gallons per day in an extended outage, and does everything we need it to do.
The wood stove runs throughout winter, power or no power.

 

[BrokenTrack]

It would be silly to not have a wood stove and a small generator that runs a few hours in the am and pm in my opinion.
Our generator uses a little over 4 gallons per day in an extended outage, and does everything we need it to do.
The wood stove runs throughout winter, power or no power.

This thread is 8 pages long now, so I see where people have missed some posts along the way, but on Page #1, post #9 I have a picture of the boiler that will be placed in series to this engine as another means of heating my houses radiant floor heat. It is a firewood/coal boiler so it needs power to help circulate the water through the floor.

While I recognize that small generators work, there is a problem with them in that they do not provide "clean" power like PTO generators and dedicated generators do.

The other thing is, their cost per KW is a lot higher, this is both in up front costs, as well as operating costs. A 4500 watt generator is going to cost you $300, so that is $66 per KW needing to be replaced every few hundred hours of run-time. A 40 KW pto generator is going to cost $2550, or $63 per KW and is designed to last 30,000 hours. And as I said in the last paragraph, it is clean power so you do not have to worry about replacing electric motors and electronics in the home.

My 20 KW genset will have a final cost of around $600 and has a projected life of 27,000 hours. That is only $30 per KW...

 

[Sawyer Rob]

It would have to be a pretty cheap second tractor!

You probably missed the part about "being an engine kicking around", but it was literally that, a barn find. I would have to add up all the receipts to get an exact number as the little stuff does add up, but I am guessing I probably have $400 in the project as of right now. $179 is for the new starter, so not really a lot of money. When all is said and done, I figure it will cost me about $600 to get this running. That is pretty good because an engine of this size has a value around $4500.

A 20 KW Genset new would cost around $10,000, so this project, at $600, as back up power and heat for my home; is really a steal. It would be silly not to do it.

Well, I paid $3,500 for the tractor and it had a thousand dollar Howard Rotavator on the 3 point.

I then did custom rotavating with that combo, putting very close to 500 hours on it getting $40.00 per hour, you do the math...

Over the years, it's done all kinds of other work too, it now runs my log splitter and can easily run my pto generator. It's very efficient and has cost me almost nothing but fuel and oil changes...

About a year ago, I bought a 40hp Kubota diesel for CHEEEEP, (that a friend got from his work for FREE) thinking I would do what you are doing.

It was low hour engine, but after penciling it all out and thinking it all over, I sold it to an Amish guy for more than double what I paid for it.

Having that second tractor around to do chores and back up power has been GREAT,

Anyway, that tractor without the rotavator "today" is STILL worth what I paid for it many years ago...

SR

 

[dstig1]

Congratulations Rob, you are much awesomer than the OP. What's up with all the negativity? Somebody peee in your wheaties this AM? Brokentrack is doing a nice job pulling together a generator on a shoestring. Let's get back to that, OK?:confused2: