The Gun Counter

Small, manportable diesel gensets are extremely uncommon. I don't know a "first name" who makes them. The problem is, the cost involved - small diesel engines are very, VERY expensive, compared to gas: A Hatz 10HP diesel engine is $2200 bucks. A Honda 11HP is $650. Then there's the weight issue. Diesels are effin' HEAVY. Not good in something that is supposed to be manhandled. I will say that I did come across this. Don't know anything about it, good or bad though.

You should be able to piece together a 5Kw, using a 10HP Hatz and a genhead from either ebay or Northern tool. It's probably going to run you 2000 dollars for a 5500watt - A Generac Portable that size will cost under 800 bucks at your local Big Orange Store of Happiness

The same situation exists with Standbys - Guardian(one of the big names) apparently doesn't make diesel generators at all. Amazon lists a Taylor 13Kw Diesel, but it's 16 grand. Most Commercial grade generators are not cheap. They do have a whole line of Diesel standbys, ranging from 9Kw and up. Their website is here

What I'd really like is more portable propane generators. They don't gum up sitting around. You can store large amounts of fuel easily. You can buy big portable tanks cheap(100lb tanks were $65 @ Costco last year), and with the right reg, you can daisy chain multiple portable tanks. It's easy enough to add a mixer so..

My personal favorite for a portable is the Lincoln PowerArc - it's not only a generator, it's also an AC arc welder. I also like the B&S "cube". Small. Cheap. Very easy to use and move. A buddy used to use a similar model down at the boatyard when working on his boat.


HTRN

I looked into diesel generators a while back. My memory is cloudy, but it seemed to me like the cost advantage of durability didn't start to take effect until somewhere around 25KW.

My thought was for one 10KW for my hunting camp, but they were crazy heavy and crazy expensive compared to gas.

Congrats on the diesel truck. I don't think I will ever own another full size that isn't diesel.

Chris,

Sears has 2 diesel generators available online. Not sure at all about the reliability or level of quality these have, but I found them while I was looking for generators in OH before the move down here to AZ. Both under $1500, which I found rather surprising. Again, not sure they've even got specs matching what you're looking for, but they are there, and worth a look. I ended up going with a Troy-Bilt gas generator (Here). I may eventually get a diesel, but this will suffice for trackdays and the occasional power outage, at least for now.

I've been wanting to try building a woodgas generator. First app would be to fuel a 5kw generator. Which could in turn charge storage batteries.

Gonna have to wait a bit with other projects around still in work. Maybe have work/fabrication space & time for it when I finally get new shop built...

g-man wrote:Chris,

I ended up going with a Troy-Bilt gas generator (Here).

I picked one of these up a couple weeks ago to power my lot in the San Diego desert.

With a 50 ft extension cord to my "distribution" center and then a 100 ft extension cord to the kids travel trailer, it ran an RV A/C unit all afternoon. Hardly any bog down with the surge. I will bury proper electrical line to the travel trailer sometime this fall. There will also be a proper distribution center from the 220v 30 amp plug.

It is a bit on the noisy side, but does the job.

Chris have you considered marine generators? They take a little creative work with the cooling system, but there are probably more marine diesel generators to choose from.

I looked last fall for diesel generators for the house , the usual suspects for quality were Cummings, Lister, Yanmar, and some folks like the China , I did some research and then had some family things come up and have temporarily dropped it. Please keep us updated on your choices.

Hmm, some interesting things.

Yes, you can make Diesel, but you need feedstock. If things get BAD where you need to make it yourself, you're talking dozens of acres of soybeans/whatever, the equipment to make it into oil...

A Guardian model 5638("Ultraquiet") burns anywhere from 1 gallon(25% load) to 3.3 gallons(full load) per hour. Max output is 22Kw thats 92 Amps @220 single phase. Assuming a constant 50% load(2gal/hr), that's 4320 gallons for 90 days. That's A LOT of propane. A pair of 1000 gallon tanks with solar for daylight should be able to meet those needs. I too have been thinking which is the way to go, buried or bermed. If you do it above ground, a earth berm between the tank and any dwelling is a good idea, just make sure that it isn't completely enclosed: Propane is heavier than air, and any leaks will cause it form a potential explosive hazard.

Some of the tracker systems are unreliable - notably the ones that work by heating a working fluid. A much better idea is a pair of small solar panels(think 1 watt) on all four ends, connected to a bit of electronics, that powers a pair of linear actuators(Big ugly dish parts - relatively cheap) I've seen circuit diagrams online somewhere... Efficiency goes up DRAMATICALLY, as you get the most out of the Peak solar hours..

PV panels have come down in price, but they're still nowhere near "cheap" let alone "pays for itself". A Sanyo 200 watt panel is just over a grand. a 10Kw system is going to cost 50 grand plus, just in panels. Add in inverters, framing, wiring.. 60 thousand easy. Even with the various federal and state rebates, which may pay up to half the cost, that's still a chunk of change.

220 appliances - for some things it makes sense(refrigerators, anything with a decent sized electric motor) for others, like Toasters and kettles it doesn't - using resistance heating to generate heat is just about the worst way to do energy cost wise(to quote my brother, who's one of local 3's members). And yes amp draw goes down by half, because voltage has doubled. total watts consumed though, that's what you have to check.

Hyper insulation is good - this place sells the foam if you want to do it yourself. You might want to consider adding a air exchanger - very tight houses without them tend to develop air quality problems. Other ideas include solar chimneys for cooling and "Russian stoves" for heat. I strongly recommend the idea of a geothermal heat pump for primary heating - only needs electricity, and only for extraction. Very efficient. It's what I want to use. I like the idea of solar hot water that then goes through a Propane instant water heater. Minimizes actual gas usuage, but no matter what, you get 120 degree water. An even better idea is the Geothermal>Solar>Instant. In the Summer, Geo pump can store the extracted heat from the house as domestic hot water. It can then be fed into a hydronic solar system. Then if it needs finishing, it goes through the Instant propane heater. My suspicion was that only in the coldest of winters would the Instant be used(no Geo hot water in the winter, and you can outstrip the hydronics capacity in the short term if you suddenly use alot of it). The solar system to power ancillary systems, pool heating(how does swimming with snow on the ground sound?), snowmelt systems for driveways(no more shoveling snow), etc. Hydronic cooling is a new one on me. I figured that a cold water airhandler is simpler, and easier, especially if I can find something like the airhandlers they use in the "split system" A/C systems. Then you don't even have to run ductwork to the individual rooms, just cold water lines(most likely insulated PEX).

3 phase: my advice? Don't bother with a generator. If you need it, make it. Cheap, dirty way is rotary phase converters. Used ones for sale all the time on ebay. I have one, a 5 horse, I got in a gun trade. They're good enough for 3 phase electric motors. They're are "CNC ready" ones, supposedly with cleaner outputs, but I don't trust them, not with stuff that costs $$$$. If you need "clean"(as in cleaner than what the utilities supply), Phase Perfect sells Digital phase converters. more expensive than the rotaries - they start 2600 for they're smallest - 36 Amp steady state. They go all the way to 160 Amp. They also manufacture power conditioners, but the price is drawdropping - 80 amps for 9 grand.

Hydrogen: I too have been watching it, and like you, I've been disappointed in the lack of non custom Electolysers and Fuel cells. They have other problems as well, notably storage. Typical method is propane tanks at low pressure(those metal matrix storage tanks are too damn expensive for the volume you'd need. Typical installs seem to use alot of 'em. the famous install in NJ used 10, 1000 gallon propane tanks. 30,000 dollars just in storage tanks. Maybe it will become more affordable in the future, but..

Another idea: a "utility" house, where all the power and data lines come in. Also where the meters are. Ideally right by the road, so you can put the house waaaay back, and not have to worry about meter readers(if in fact, you have them and not the new radio meters). Makes it easy to distribute to new outbuildings(power, phone, ethernet), puts the power conditioner, whole house surge protector, generator, grid tie inverters, etc in the same place for simplified wiring... Make the thing out of concrete block and sink it into the ground, almost to the roofline, to make it less visible. Heck, if you pour a concrete roof using q decking, you can bury most of it.

You're basically planning what I consider ideal(Insulation, Geothermal, Propane standby and Solar), just the details are different.


HTRN

HTRN,
mondo gracias for the foam insulation link. Just what I've been looking for the uninsulated walls of original part of my house. Believe it or not, it had pocket windows on the exterior walls when we bought it. Crazy drafts even after I upgraded to dual glazed E^2 vinyl. The new windows were big improvement but lots of open space in my walls still.

As for energy sources (oil seeds etc). if it really gets grim and fuel supplies get crimped nothing is as self contained as woodgas if you've got a good source of suitable organic matter (doesn't have to be wood per se). Well, I'm forgetting home hydro and such (not an option for me).

Of course PV can do it but the cost per KW is very high. Wood gas systems can be built DIY on the cheap. Downside to WG is it takes a lot of operator attention and fuel collection/prep. WG is not fire and forget like PV, home hydro or wind.

HTRN wrote:220 appliances - for some things it makes sense(refrigerators, anything with a decent sized electric motor) for others, like Toasters and kettles it doesn't - using resistance heating to generate heat is just about the worst way to do energy cost wise(to quote my brother, who's one of local 3's members). And yes amp draw goes down by half, because voltage has doubled. total watts consumed though, that's what you have to check.

In aviation, they often double the voltage from 12 to 24, because the reduced amperage for the same wattage allows them to use smaller wires, and hence, reduce weight. I kind of doubt that is a huge consideration here.

Chris, where are you finding things like 220v toasters and electric kettles?


HTRN