Buying Advice Aurora Silent Diesel Generator

[daybreak1998]

I disagree. Gas generators do not "stack". It's totally not the same issue.

Howdy,

Stacking, That is a whole nother subject. I am talking about piston rings. I am talking about the field magnatism.

[DarkBlack]

Boy's, go back a couple of pages and re-read-try page 7. Wet stacking was why he had to tear apart the engine.
Field magnetism is re-established in milliseconds. You don't need to run it for any duration.

[BobRip]

Boy's, go back a couple of pages and re-read-try page 7. Wet stacking was why he had to tear apart the engine.
Field magnetism is re-established in milliseconds. You don't need to run it for any duration.

Warming up the engine oil and drying out the generator head windings take a lot more time. Basically any mechanism needs to be run under similar conditions to operational use to make sure it works. A loose connection may not show up in a two minute run, but might fail after 20 minutes. I also make sure it will run my house loads at least once a year.

[DarkBlack]

I agree with your last post. I'm talking about the poster who wet stacked a diesel and now because he doesn't want to tear his engine apart again, went out and bought resistance loads and plans on always keeping it loaded over 50%. My gas genny is stored indoors in a heated area so there is no moisture issues. When I do loose power, I connect it outside and let it rip. Sometimes it's just powering some lights, the t.v., and small motors for the heat system, and that's a very small load. I love that it can just sip some gas during those long days of running. Like I said it would suck to have to worry about keeping it loaded over 50% because you worry about wet stacking. I only have to worry about too much load. It's a double pain to also have to worry about not enough.

[BobRip]

I agree with your last post. I'm talking about the poster who wet stacked a diesel and now because he doesn't want to tear his engine apart again, went out and bought resistance loads and plans on always keeping it loaded over 50%. My gas genny is stored indoors in a heated area so there is no moisture issues. When I do loose power, I connect it outside and let it rip. Sometimes it's just powering some lights, the t.v., and small motors for the heat system, and that's a very small load. I love that it can just sip some gas during those long days of running. Like I said it would suck to have to worry about keeping it loaded over 50% because you worry about wet stacking.

I wonder if this is exaggerated. I would think that there are many truck diesels that are not being run above 50% most of the time. Perhaps I did not read the article carefully enough. I can understand loading it periodically, but all the time.

[jenkinsph]

I agree with your last post. I'm talking about the poster who wet stacked a diesel and now because he doesn't want to tear his engine apart again, went out and bought resistance loads and plans on always keeping it loaded over 50%. My gas genny is stored indoors in a heated area so there is no moisture issues. When I do loose power, I connect it outside and let it rip. Sometimes it's just powering some lights, the t.v., and small motors for the heat system, and that's a very small load. I love that it can just sip some gas during those long days of running. Like I said it would suck to have to worry about keeping it loaded over 50% because you worry about wet stacking. I only have to worry about too much load. It's a double pain to also have to worry about not enough.

If I thought it was necessary to keep the genset loaded with resistance heat strips all the time I would buy a smaller genset instead.

I get a little humored by the guys who need a 50kw genset to get by with power outages. Unless you have a dairy farm or other critical need it might behoove you to learn how to get by with less. Might be good for the rest of the family to learn how to get by with less too.

[RoyJackson]

If I thought it was necessary to keep the genset loaded with resistance heat strips all the time I would buy a smaller genset instead.

I get a little humored by the guys who need a 50kw genset to get by with power outages. Unless you have a dairy farm or other critical need it might behoove you to learn how to get by with less. Might be good for the rest of the family to learn how to get by with less too.

Good point!
Some of the generator websites have kW calculators to determine the best size for one's needs. Although I was initially considering a 15-20 kW unit, those calculators showed me I could do quite well with a 10-12 kW generator.

[DarkBlack]

I've contemplated getting a small diesel to replace my gas genny, but I think every design has pros/cons, and I'm coming to the conclusion that for small single cylinder air cooled apps, gas is better. I think I'll stay with petrol, for this, but I like the diesel tractor, but that's water cooled, with varing rpm's and load.
Also on a genny which must run when you need it, I can take apart a gas engine and make it work if there was a fuel issue, on the spot during a snow storm. No such luck with diesel injection system.

[ayelvington]

I replaced the injector pump and the generator is purring again! The exhaust runs clear and hot, and the tone of the generator is quite smooth now. I'll let it cool off over night and check the valve clearances in the a.m.

My gas generator has half the capacity of the diesel generator, so I needed a way to monitor the load regardless of which generator was connected to to the ATS. I installed current transformer/meters on L1 and L1 (before the load bank) so that I can see the load and reduce it reliably if necessary.

The CT/meters were 50A, and the maximum that I'd expect for either leg would be 30A (the breaker on the diesel generator). I put a second loop through each CT to set the range to 25A, and relabeled the meter faces for the new range.

I compared deflection between the single and double-loop CTs, and the linearity on the inexpensive meters was quite acceptable. I mechanically adjusted the meters so that the mid-scale reading matched my two other current meters.

Photos attached for your consideration.