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diesel generators

To: shop-talk@autox.team.net
Subject: diesel generators
From: "David C." <cavanadd@verizon.net>
Date: Thu, 14 Dec 2006 23:42:11 -0800
As you might have seen on the news (or experienced, for our PNW folks) we 
had a nasty windstorm last week and pretty much the entire Puget Sound area 
went black.  I live out in the boonies and have a big 8KW welder/generator 
and transfer switches, but a lot of suburban and urban folks don't and a 
lot of people still don't have power, with no idea when they will.

Anyway, like I said, I have a big old Hobart 8KW welder generator with a 
rebuilt Onan air cooled engine.  It's connected to two transfer panels, one 
for the well and house pump, and one for the house loads (kitchen, furnace, 
about 40% of the lights).  I have to have 2 panels because I have a split 
service, one 200 amp panel for the house, one for the shop/well.  I plan to 
install about a 15KW diesel generator sometime soon to run the whole place, 
in part because the welder uses over a gallon/hr of gasoline, and gas 
storage is a problem.  I routinely keep four 5 gallon cans w/Stabil out in 
my shed and rotate it through my truck every six to nine months, but I 
really don't like keeping that much gas around, and it's still only good 
for 2-3 days.  I figure if I go with an 1800 rpm diesel I can cut my fuel 
consumption in half and store 50 to 100 gallons of diesel almost 
indefinitely; I would also be able to use it in my two diesel tractors, so 
it wouldn't get totally stale.  The problem is there aren't a lot of 1800 
rpm gensets around in this size range.  One I'm looking at is something 
like this:

http://www.generatorjoe.net/product.asp?0=335&1=468&3=2939
or
http://www.generatorjoe.net/product.asp?0=335&1=483&3=2563
or
http://www.generatorjoe.net/product.asp?0=335&1=370&3=466

Yanmar, Cummins and Mitsubishi engines.  Anyone have any opinions or 
alternatives?  I have an old early 80s Mitsubishi 16HP tractor, and that 
thing is bulletproof, FWIW.

Thanks
Dave C




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