generators

[duschl Biofuels Forum Newbie Find all posts View Profile Close duschl]

guys,
i am desperately trying to get my hands on a small diesel generator. e.g.: bunnings sells small petrol generators (honda) for $300...
diesel generators on the www seem to start at approx. $1000 and are by no means small.., they are all monsters the size of a wahsing machine.
any input welcome - cheers,
duschl

[shiner Donating Member Find all posts View Profile Close shiner]

Re: generators

Found this on ebay 3.6 Kva diesel gen

Link

L,W,H 710,490,565

hope this helps

shiner

[duschl Biofuels Forum Newbie Find all posts View Profile Close duschl]

Re: generators

thanks for that shiner!
this is by far the smallest and cheapest diesel generator option i have seen up till now. with almost a 100dB @ 7m its pretty noisy, but i guess this is as good as it gets... ta.

[Guest Close David]

Re: generators


Because I am going to be needing some decent amps for a new enterprise, I too have been looking for a diesel gen from about 2400 to 4000W. I got hold of a Chinese Diesel water pump with a 6.5 Hp air-cooled engine for a real good price and have stripped off the pump section and am looking now for an alternator to attach to it.

When I got the brand new pump, the thing ran like a real dog. It literally banged like a jackhammer and you could hear the piston slapping on the walls of the bore. I know diesels knock but this was a loud hammering. The thing also blew clouds of smoke at all speeds and loads and was far too noisy to be within 100 meters of people who wanted to have a conversation. I had a look on the web and mailed some people and found this poor running was a common problem with these engines. It is said the Chinese have some very different standard of fuel to most other places and they tune the engines rather differently.

I ended up pulling the little injection pump off and adjusting the timing and rate of fuel delivery and the thing runs like a totally different engine now. It is way quieter and purrs rather than hammers. It runs with a slight haze from the exhaust on SVO which seems to make the thing run better than petro-diesel or a bio blend it tried. I also replaced the fuel line and added an inline filter just for some extra insurance and cleaned the casting dags out of the ports which would have caused less than optimal performance.

If you have had a Honda Petrol type generator before, I would be aware that the diesel engined versions are going to be a lot heavier, larger and noisier. I was intending to fit my engine with a small car muffler to quiet it down but the mechanical clatter far exceeds the exhaust noise which is actually quite minimal.

I think the washing machine size setups you refer to are the “Silent type “ which are well soundproofed and probably need to be. The industrial types on a rollframe are a lot smaller ( but still substaintially bigger than similar size petrol units) and are going to cause quite a clatter which would not be suitable for any application where noise was an issue.

If you are handy with mechanical things and fiddling with one of these engines to set it up the way you want it doesn’t bother you, then a Chinese type Diesel off ebay would be OK. If you want something that runs perfect straight out the box, then I would suggest paying whatever extra it will cost and get one from a shop that has already been run, tested and is ready to go. I have pretty well pulled my engine apart and am quite happy with the way it is built but the setup of these things from what I have read is a common issue. I have no doubt my engine would have lead a very short, noisy and thirsty life had I left it the way I got it.

With a generator, I would not buy one that did not have some sort of electronic AVR ( automatic Voltage regulation) and even then I would check the thing with a medium load once you got it to make sure it was adjusted for the right voltage and Hz.
Learning to start this little diesel was quite an interesting and painful learning curve as there is a very particular way to go about firing them up.
I would suggest that an electric start option may well be worth it on the diesels. I can start mine second pull from cold and first pull when warm every time now but if you have a crook back or it will be in a place that makes it difficult to give the thing a good heave, get the electric start.

Whether a Diesel generator will be good for you will also depend on the loads you want to put on it. If you are looking to run something under 2000W, want small, quiet and easily portable, I would just go for a small petrol set.

If You want 2400W or more, are mechanically inclined, noise, compact size and weight isn’t a factor, then a Diesel Gen set would probably be OK for you especially if you are going to put big hours on it. Diesels are considerably more economical than similar size petrol generators and if you are making bio, then you would save a lot in running costs.