Thanks Jerry, Thats helps. Interesting info on the temp vs salt water and temp vs efficiency. Your right. Trace inverters/batteries and the like ARE too expensive. Since 2.5Kw won't run my whole house I was also thinking of just running one portion of the house on the genset. When the genset is not running... my APC 1250VA UPS (900 watts out) would automatically kick in (I would disable the beeping). Of course I would add 2 more batteries to the UPS for longer run time. I figure that if I get another UPS when I have some bucks, add another portion of the house, then another. I paid $103.00 for my used 1250 (with good batteries) from eBay. All the UPS's would be plugged into the gen set to recharge the batteries when they are low, and clean up the dirty electrical output of the gen set while its running. Suggestions/ideas on maximizing utilization of a bio-diesel gen set are welcome. Eric
> -----Original Message----- > From: jerry dycus [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] > Sent: Thursday, April 19, 2001 8:57 PM > To: biofuel@yahoogroups.com > Subject: RE: [biofuel] Re: small diesels and filtering fat > > > Hi Olsen and All, > --- "Olsen Eric (app1ebo)" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > Jerry, > > I have a 2.5Kw 120 VAC water-cooled Yanmar Diesel > > and plan on doing exactly > > the same as you suggest us northerners do (New > > Jersey). I plan to take it > > further than heating the house in winter by > > preheating hot water in the > > summer. The work is still on progress, but so far I > > have built a sound > > enclosure and exhaust heat exchanger I built from a > > highway muffler wrapped > > with 1/4" copper and insulation. I have the copper > > tube wrapped around the > > exhaust all the way up to the cylinder head (all > > insulated), because the > > heat from the coolant was not hot enough. It was a > > used marine gen set, the > > water pump flows too much water, but the exhaust > > heats it up nice now, but > > it takes a while. > Marine engines that cool from sea water in the > engine block instead of fresh water and a heat > exchanger to salt water can't go over 135F or the salt > comes out and clogs the passages. Put a thermostat or > a restriction inline to slow the water down. They will > run better and more eff at the higher temps like 180 > to 200F. > Maybe use a marine heat exchanger to pick up the > heat. > These are eff, small engines so heat has to be eff > tranfered to work well. > > I would also like to back-feed the 120V to the > > utility without batteries and > > inter-tie inverter. If you find a way to do this > > please post it. I was > > thinking of just using an inverter without the > > batteries, but don't know if > > that can work with something like a Trace inverter. > > Again, help on this > > would be appreciated. > > Eric Olsen > I just saw a price for a Trace Sw and it's way > out of my price range. > Anybody know of the cheapest way to shut down or > transfer the gen when the power line goes down? > You don't need an inverter, just the disconect. > You already have AC. > I was thinking, dangerous I know ;-), that if you > can run a meter backwards on 120vac then the other > 120vac leg could be used to power a relay disconecting > the gen to just run your house until the powerline > comes back on. > If this works it would make tying in cheap and > safe. > Hope this helps, > jerry dycus > > > > > > > -----Original Message----- > > > From: jerry dycus [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] > > > Sent: Wednesday, April 18, 2001 10:23 PM > > > To: biofuel@yahoogroups.com > > > Subject: Re: [biofuel] Re: small diesels and > > filtering fat > > > > > > > > > Hi Ratchelali and All, > > > --- [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: > > get > > > my feedstock recycled and free, rather than > > virgin, > > > thanks. Using waste as fuel is eco of the highest > > > order. Besides, I'm cheap. ;-) > > > Fuel consumption should be about 4-7 hr per > > gal. > > > I just got the engine and I'm still thinking > > about > > > how to use it. I'm thinking of just running my > > > electric meter backward with it to cut my electric > > > bill to almost nothing. I called Tampa Electric co > > to > > > sell them electricity but they didn't want it. > > > Has anyone done this with a 120 vac gen? > > > Another way is to charge batteries and run an > > > inverter from them. The problem here is batteries > > need > > > to be finished charged at a low rate and equalized > > > once a week to have long life. > > > One way around this is to have 2 banks of > > batts > > > and have one bank equalize the other and the > > engine > > > just has to bulk charge which it can do fast and > > eff. > > > The goal is to keep engine time to a minimum, > > say > > > 2 hr/6 kw/ day avg saving much wear, cost and > > noise. > > > I'll use engine heat to heat my home next > > winter > > > too. I don't understand why people up north don't > > do > > > this. It can cut their heat, electric bill in half > > > with fuel oil or more with fryer oil or biodiesel. > > > __________________________________________________ > Do You Yahoo!? > Yahoo! Auctions - buy the things you want at great prices > http://auctions.yahoo.com/ > > Biofuel at Journey to Forever: > http://journeytoforever.org/biofuel.html > To unsubscribe, send an email to: > [EMAIL PROTECTED] > > Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/ Biofuel at Journey to Forever: http://journeytoforever.org/biofuel.html To unsubscribe, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/