Butcher using diesel generator saves 1/3 of leccy cost

[GRW]

We have a 250kva with a V8 scania engine at a local farm. Noisy old lump I prefer a straight 6.

You sure it's only 250kva? Smallest genset I can recall seeing with a Scania V8 is around 500kva .
Could be it's a mis-match bodge job of motor and alternator maybe?
For sure it'll be a rowdy sod whatever.

 

[Bornfree]

You sure it's only 250kva? Smallest genset I can recall seeing with a Scania V8 is around 500kva .
Could be it's a mis-match bodge job of motor and alternator maybe?
For sure it'll be a rowdy sod whatever.

Those early 14l v8s were only rated at 350hp in a truck so at 1500rpm the continuous rating would be 300hp absolute maximum.

 

[Trevorleach]

Slightly off topic but a rough idea how long a power plant can last
Where I work all the trailers are refrigerated all running I believe a Kubota four-cylinder diesels when they get to 30,000 hours they are pretty much dead.
Apparently the engines themselves are not designed to be rebuilt so when they at the end of their lives they just get replaced with new.
These are not running all the time they switch on and off as demanded so when they start the idle for a couple of minutes and then go into full chat to cool the load down then switch off again.

 

[DAPPH]

As has been said never turning them of and having a steady slightly les than max constant even load is the way to get long service from genny's& the ir engines.
Our genny's used to run out on a windswept site 24/7 for months at a time , only getting taken out of service once a serviced genny had been voltage & phase syncronised to the original during the cold war to power radar sets protecting London during the warmer periods of the cold war .
For a fair while it was my job to do the rounds and check half a dozen genny's out onsite for making oil, air start charging, drive belts and general working conditions.
It's where I discovered my first diesel engine " Making oil " & getting it changed out before disaster struck

 

[Trevorleach]

Best of both worlds?
View attachment 374711

If I remember correctly I read about that and the generator is not actually a electrical generator it is some sort of gas compressor?

 

[Robotstar5]

We used to test the generators at the foundry every Saturday morning by pulling the supply fuses and making sure they started, one summer shutdown the electric company had to do some work on the feeder to the factory, do you think we could get the generators to start

 

[Shox Dr]

We used to test the generators at the foundry every Saturday morning by pulling the supply fuses and making sure they started, one summer shutdown the electric company had to do some work on the feeder to the factory, do you think we could get the generators to start

When the North Selby Mine Project was built. I was at Stillinfleet. They would start up a bank of gensets in 20ft containers (did see in side). Form cold to full chat with no warm up what so ever. They did the same with the Fire suppression ringmain as well. I was stood on a 2m manhole ring, one time, it blow the gate in the man hole lifting the biscuit and me some way sky wards.

Luddite - that is "me" - I only wanna own things that work. I m the UK's number one - LUDDITE...

You've a lot to learn.... you used far too much black ink on Luddite

 

[Morrisman]

Honda 50s do too....

I've had several bikes with that cup thing on the end of the crank, that needs cleaning occasionally.

When the North Selby Mine Project was built. I was at Stillinfleet. They would start up a bank of gensets in 20ft containers (did see in side). Form cold to full chat with no warm up what so ever. They did the same with the Fire suppression ringmain as well. I was stood on a 2m manhole ring, one time, it blow the gate in the man hole lifting the biscuit and me some way sky wards.

Most emergency gen sets I've had anything to do with on ships have block heaters in, so the whole engine is fairly warm all the time. That takes a bit out of the shock out of quick starting and loading them up.

 

[Shox Dr]

I've had several bikes with that cup thing on the end of the crank, that needs cleaning occasionally.


Most emergency gen sets I've had anything to do with on ships have block heaters in, so the whole engine is fairly warm all the time. That takes a bit out of the shock out of quick starting and loading them up.

Oh these werent warm in the slightest, this was 81-83' COLD winters. Dead stop to Max in the blink of an eye

 

[DAPPH]

I happened to be doing something in a very secure military place & had to keep leaving the room I was working in every few minutes whilst hush hush stuff was being done.

During the job Iwas not alowed to plug any of my gear into their power sources so had only approved batery powered drills etc.
They also played with their own generators many times during my work task as they had all manner of weather stations & sensing equipment with in a 50-mile radius to detect static electricity increases, thunder conditions , wind direction and air pressure monitoring etc etc.

As soon as anything was sensed at these super weather stations an emergency battery room came on, the mains was disconnected, and their bloody great generator hall kicked in reaching a load available now situation in seconds after being started.
I asked a few questions and discovered that they were running on pure sinewave power, totally spike and voltage variance free.

 

[Justme]

thats like 25% less than a palls workshop lecky price. (unit price no standing cost included)

Stu

Wow its got that bad.

 

[lotus_esprit_s1]

2mW anyone?

 

[Morrisman]

I asked a few questions and discovered that they were running on pure sinewave power, totally spike and voltage variance free.

The ships I used to work on all had huge computer rooms, with hundreds of computers and dozens of screens, recording thousands of channels of data. To protect all that gear they had 'clean power' generators. Basically an electric motor, powered from ships power, that ran a generator into huge banks of batteries, and thence to the instrument room. Nothing else was connected to that system except the computers.

The batteries also acted as a UPS.

 

[cheb]

2mW anyone?View attachment 374842

That's a huge lump of a thing for producing 2 milliwatts.

 

[arther dailey]

You also have to remember farmers can use red.

? thought red was a thing of the past , farmers and the like now having to claim any differance/allowance if justifiable back after buying standard, or didnt that go through?

 

[Deltic]

? thought red was a thing of the past , farmers and the like now having to claim any differance/allowance if justifiable back after buying standard, or didnt that go through?

No. Red still available. Just the range of permitted uses was narrowed greatly. Farming still a permitted use.

 

[DAPPH]

2mW anyone?View attachment 374842

Only if you can gift wrap, it and get it here for Christmas eve.

 

[Hood]

? thought red was a thing of the past , farmers and the like now having to claim any differance/allowance if justifiable back after buying standard, or didnt that go through?

As @Deltic says certain sectors still use Red, Agriculture and Fisheries being two of them. There may be more but that is the two I know of.

 

[knighty]

I was always tempted in the past to set myself up a CHP system running on lard

get loads of beef fat at work I'm having to get rid of, used to render it down and sell it off but the price fell out of it so wasn't worth it anymore

ran vans on veg oil and did loads of miles, it's not much different, seriously thinking about it again.... my electric contract runs out soon and the price increase for a month alone would cover the setup cost

 

[wyn]

I'm sure if you buy red for agriculture you need a "Holding number" to show you're a proper farmer.