Went down to our Old Place, today, and removed the two Gensets and some of our Tools... The new owner doesn't want anything of ours, he just wanted the Land, so we will be stripping out everything worth salvaging to bring up to our New Place.... The first thing I wanted was the 3Kw DJA Onan Diesel Genset... It hasn't been run in four years, and the Battery was toast due to freezing, during the last three winters... Took the Rhino down the Road, and AlaskaChick and a Neighbor came down in his boat, and we pulled the Onan out from under the Domes Platform, where it has lived for the last 15 years.... loaded into the boat with the Rhino's AFrame & Winch, and then he drove the boat back to the Cannery Dock, and AlaskaChick & I drove the Rhino back home and then brought the Truck down to the Dock, and we used the Dock Crane to lift the Genset out of the boat and into the Truck Bed... Then went home and had lunch... I then moved the Genset from the Truck Bed to a 4Wheeled Cart, and went and got a Good Battery, and charged it up good for an Hour... Then it was "Watch This"........ Dropbox - Onan3.0DJA.m4v Tomorrow, I start working on the 3Kw Gasoline Army Genset that was also down at the Old Place.... It hasn't run in the same amount of time, but I expect a lot more Issues as the Gasoline has long turned to Varnish, so a complete Fuel system Cleaning will be required....
Since I do NOT drink, hold my Beer, doesn’t quite fit, but I sure like Diet Dr Pepper.... The Powerhouse already has a Fairbanks/Morse single Cyl Diesel 2.5Kw 1200 RPM Genset in it, along with three Gasoline fueled gensets of various sizes... I have a Twin Cyl, Water Cooled, China Diesel, 1800 RPM, 10Kw Genset, with Radiator/Heat Exchanger for CoGeneration, that is 90% finished, that will also go into the Powerhouse when I get a chance to put the finishing touches on it’s build... This will give me a complete Diesel Powerhouse, with varying sizes of Gensets available to use depending on the Loading Planned for that day... F/M and Onan just sip fuel even at full load.. and 2.5 & 3Kw is plenty for Battery Bank recharging, and running Lights and Electronics... The 10Kw will handle Laundry Day with ease, and the Hot Water from the Heat Exchanger will save on Propane for Hot Laundry Wash Water... I will keep the 3Kw Gasoline .MIL Hollingsworth Genset as a Last Ditch Backup & Portable Power System...
How old is the FM have not heard of them in years. Is your area of Alaska OK for solar or wind power? The wife and I are planning our move to Montana this year and are looking at solar and wind. I will remove our Detroit Diesel Onan genset from the MH that is already on the property. Our son drove it to our property 2 years ago. That will give us 3 gensets.
Diesels are pretty fascinating , I don't fire mine often enough but it never fails to fire up . Best of luck with the gas driven unit . I have learned especially with modern fuels is to run the bowl dry ,it saves a lot of misery. Even if you leave fuel in the tank be sure and use a fuel stabilizer and block the vent on the cap ,and remove the blockage when you go to use it again. Blocking the vent prevents the fuel from evaporating and keeps condensation out.
The F/M is an F/M 45B 1200 Rpm, and started an Auxiliary Power Unit on an Wooden Salmon Tender in the late '30s... It has a Twin Disc Clutch and a 3:1 Pulley System that turns the 3600 Rpm Genend.. It was replaced with a more modern & bigger Unit in the early 50's, and sat in Dry Storage for 40 years. I got it from an Old Port Engineer, after I spied it in a Cannery BoneYard, while I was poking around to see what "Cool Thongs might be in there"... There was this one, and another that was partially disassembled, and I got them both, and had them shipped to the Cannery Repair Shop in Seattle, Wa... and the next Spring I had them put on a Tender headed up to my location. Then I had a local Port Engineer, who taught Diesel Engine School at a Tech College in the Rouge River, Or country, and I cooked a deal with him, if he would completely Rebuild this one (Bearings, Head Job, Etc) I would give him a 5Kw Lister I had, and the other F/M 45B... He took them south after the Season, and shipped this one back the next spring... Been sitting in Neighbors Powerhouse for a decade or two, and maybe has 400 hours on it, since rebuild... The Book says 3Kw but I found that the engine tops out at about 2.75Kw when I load it up with a Trace 4024 Inverter/Charger by varying the Charge Current Limit... If you aren't familiar with these Old F/M Engines, they have a Roller Bearing CrankShaft & Camshaft, and with the Head off, you can give the Crank a spin and it will turn a few revolutions before the Ring friction overcomes the momentum... Don't have current Fuel usage figures for it, but it isn't anywhere near what a BigBox Store 3600 Rpm Diesel Genset uses, and is less than the Onan 3.0DJA as well...
Very cool. I love these old engines. When I started my official apprenticeship the industrial mfg co. where I was employed still had steam powered duplex pumps, steam powered marine pumps, steam turbines, blacksmith shop, etc. each trade had a shop and I got farmed out to all of them. I worked on small steam turbines of about 25-30 hp to gas turbines of 25,000 hp. Had to learn how to make Babbitt bearings and scrape them in. These old diesel's are special because pretty much if you can get the fuel into them they will run. The original diesel designed by a German of that name Rudolph Diesel were made specifically to run on fuel made right on the farm.
Which post has an Old Gray Haired Guy? Oh the Video.... That would be ME..... MY first Video, but NOT FOR UTube....
When my Father died, he had the nicest Full Head of Gray Hair... and I am sneaking up on his age... But he died from 40 years of cigarettes...(Emphaseama, COPD) and since I never smoked, that is NOT MY ISSUE... I likey will follow Mothers side of the family, and die from a Stroke, or Something related... although I am now older than all my Maternal Uncles, so maybe not, and a Jet Engine will fall out of the Sky, and take Me out... Stranger things happen when the Grimm Reaper calls....
Orderd a little Diesel Fuel Flow Meter from Amazon, today... It runs on a couple of AA Cells, and is said to be +/- 1% on Total Fuel thru, and Fuel per minute... We will see... I plan on putting it InLine with the Fuel Distribution Header that will feed the three Diesel Gensets in the Powerhouse up at the New Place... It also has some kind of Digital Output interface, so maybe I can build a Powerhouse Controller that monitors the. Gensets and logs their operational Data... This will give me a chance at finding out the Fuel per Kw Generated on each of the Gensets, as well as Gal per hour for each Genset at a specific load...
@BTPost Links ? Amazon.com: Diesel Fuel Flow Meter I bought a few old analog power meters pulled for this dumb smart meter install . Mine cost me 10 $ each meter , next was meter base , used a few i scrounged up and lowes had them for 30$ new , I wire in series and read daily the power production . They all were in series and they all read within each , even the smartin down meter is in check .. Meters on e-bay , mine rage from 1972 -1998 ages This one ? Sloth
