Your last generator Maintenance Run

[Popgadget]

I used a 4 inch “B” vent exhaust hood through the wall, and made up a bracket to center the exhaust pipe into the inlet of the vent, with lots of airspace around it. The exhaust flow also scavenged additional cooling air from the shed. It worked very well for decades, I only abandoned it because I replaced the generator with one in an outdoor enclosure.

 

[bdhsfz6]

Ran it for an hour today with temp around 70. The inner pipe was blistering hot. The outside sleeve was warm but the wood and vinyl stayed cool. The port is well designed.

As you suggest, I'll check it on a hot day to be sure.

 

[grsthegreat]

Sounds good. Its helps that diesels tend to run cooler also, at least every diesel ive owned.

 

[3930dave]

Finally finished my home backup generator project. It took longer than I estimated and I was getting a bit nervous. I sold my PTO generator a few weeks ago and power outage "season" is approaching.

It's a Kubota GL11000, 11 KW unit which I put in an unused space in the rear of the barn. It's up on blocks but I ordered the wheel kit in case it needs to be moved.

It's controlled from the house and monitored with cameras that I added to my security system. Rather than use an auto transfer switch, I elected to control it manually so I can set my own warm up and cool down times.

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The trickiest part was the exhaust system. I needed something that would vent outside without melting the vinyl siding or burning the place down.

I found this product that works perfectly:

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Amazon.com

It's double wall, stainless steel design minimizes it's outer temperature. I used stainless bolts to offset the mounting flange from the siding and filled the space around the outer shell with muffler wrap.


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I'm still thinking about a block heater or some other prewarm method. I'll probably wait and see how it starts on cold days. The barn isn't heated but it does buffer the outside temps considerably. My tractors always start in the building, even on the coldest mornings, so I'm hoping the genny will too.

The only thing left to do is come up with a way to fuel it. It only has a 7.4 gal tank, which will provide 13 hours of run time at 1/4 load, or 7 hours at full load. I fuel my tractors from my fuel oil storage tanks in the house. The generator is stationary, so I'm looking at a caddy to transport fuel to the barn. More to follow.

Nice clean install, and beautiful Kub ! Thanks for posting the pics . Good to see you are operational, before the "Season" hits.

IR Temp gun checks (likely already done), and maybe a loud/remote monitor smoke detector may be on your Xmas list.

One option (my Dad built his own, many years ago on a furnace vent-pipe) may be to add essentially heat-sink material (think finned sheet metal) to the flex, before it hits that dual wall - needs to be observed closely during testing, as more heat will radiate off the flex.

Rgds, D.

 

[3930dave]

Ran it for an hour today with temp around 70. The inner pipe was blistering hot. The outside sleeve was warm but the wood and vinyl stayed cool. The port is well designed.

As you suggest, I'll check it on a hot day to be sure.

Saw this after my last post.... good stuff !

Rgds, D.

 

[bdhsfz6]

Nice clean install, and beautiful Kub ! Thanks for posting the pics . Good to see you are operational, before the "Season" hits.

IR Temp gun checks (likely already done), and maybe a loud/remote monitor smoke detector may be on your Xmas list.

One option (my Dad built his own, many years ago on a furnace vent-pipe) may be to add essentially heat-sink material (think finned sheet metal) to the flex, before it hits that dual wall - needs to be observed closely during testing, as more heat will radiate off the flex.

Rgds, D.

Good idea on the heat sink for the flex pipe, I'll look into it.

It can't be seen in the pics, but the engine radiator fan blows cooling air upwards out of the housing around the flex pipe. Yes, it's warm air, but it is still much cooler than the pipe, and will certainly have some cooling effect.

Yes, I did check the temps with an infra red thermometer. After an hour, the wood and vinyl siding adjacent to the pipe were just 2 degrees F above ambient. I'll check it again on a hot day to be sure.

Thanks for the tip.

 

[3930dave]

Good idea on the heat sink for the flex pipe, I'll look into it.

It can't be seen in the pics, but the engine radiator fan blows cooling air upwards out of the housing around the flex pipe. Yes, it's warm air, but it is still much cooler than the pipe, and will certainly have some cooling effect.

Yes, I did check the temps with an infra red thermometer. After an hour, the wood and vinyl siding adjacent to the pipe were just 2 degrees F above ambient. I'll check it again on a hot day to be sure.

Thanks for the tip.

Your #'s sound great

Belt+suspenders may look goofy, but is not a bad thing.... On Things That Matter......

Let us know what you move to for more fuel capacity, on this very clean installation.

Rgds, D.

 

[bdhsfz6]

I came up with a way to fuel my standby diesel generator, which is installed in the back of the barn. Presently, I fuel my tractors from a pump on the 1000 gal. fuel oil tank at the house.

I can't use it for the generator, so I built this fuel caddy to transport fuel out to the barn:

I try to repurpose items I have around the place for projects like this. I took an old unused cart I built to haul barrels of coal to the stove, and mounted a 30 gal drum.

I took a 12V transfer pump off an old tank and installed it on the barrel. I powered the pump with cordless tool batteries so the whole rig is self contained and can be used during a power outage.

I fill it at the house and roll it out to the barn, or anywhere else I need fuel. The only thing I had to buy was the barrel and the 20V to 12VDC converter.

Yes, there are wheeled fuel caddies out there but they're pricey. Most have hand crank pumps, which I hate. I find it too difficult to watch the fuel level while cranking the darn thing.

There may well be a battery powered fuel caddy on wheels out there but I have yet to see one. If one does exist, it would surely cost more than the $100 I have invested in this home made rig.

 

[WinterDeere]

I came up with a way to fuel my standby diesel generator, which is installed in the back of the barn. Presently, I fuel my tractors from a pump on the 1000 gal. fuel oil tank at the house.

You run your tractors on fuel oil? I really know very little about this, but thought it would be a problem either for gelling in cold weather, or due to sulfur content messing with Tier 4 equipment?

 

[bdhsfz6]

Just about all fuel oil is ULS these days, at least it has been here for years. I've been using it for 40 years in my Kubota tractors with no issues. I store them in an unheated barn but have had no problems with gelling.