anybody running a diesel gen

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Probably.

I know a guy that has an experimental Jet and run home heating oil in it. I don't particularly think its a great idea, but it will probably work.
 
tank is in the gararge 275 gal iam not going to be out of power to wash or flush toilets for 8 days like at holowween
 
lock&load; said:
tank is in the gararge 275 gal iam not going to be out of power to wash or flush toilets for 8 days like at holowween

Heated or not, use a good fuel additive to help out with lubricating the injector pump and prolonged fuel storage.
 
thank you i know that the people that make them have to look at the big picture aurora gen, but i cant do what we did over 10/29 to11/6 again iam raiseing my 2 grandsons12yrs old and lost the wife in august i i have very little fuse left
 
+1 on the additives. The only diesel genny I have is in the boat,,its a 5kw Westerbeke. I use two different additives, 1. Biobor, it keeps the microb's to a minimum, 2. Amsoil cetane boost. Quality of fuel is extremly important in any diesel motor. Always keep the filters clean, if it has a water seperator, use the best one u can find and check frequently. Water in diesel fuel can wreck havoc on the injectors or injection pump. Best of luck.
 
Yep. Lots of things to consider. The water filter and other regular maintenance like firing it once a month. Nothing like spending ten or fifteen grand and not having another outage for five years and finding out then it won't start or run.

Don't ask me how I know.
 
BrotherBart said:
Yep. Lots of things to consider. The water filter and other regular maintenance like firing it once a month. Nothing like spending ten or fifteen grand and not having another outage for five years and finding out then it won't start or run.

Don't ask me how I know.

+1 especially on the fire it up once a month part! It wouldn't hurt to get it up to operating temp and throw a load on it, weekly. Heating oil is fine, like others said throw a gal. or treatment in your tank when you refil it, the additive that I use treats about 275 gals per gallon. You guys really got smashed there in that Oct storm! Sounds like you'll be ready to fight back next time.
 
cant do that again was useing the fire place down stairs to keep warm everie hour on the hour was up throwing loges on to keep the boys warm for 6 days have a well so i was going down the street to get water to flush NOT GOING TO HAPPEN AGAIN getting too old to do this crap
 
Since 2006, Perkins diesel engine, 9 KW Mecca-Alta brushless alternator, with ASCO auto transfer switch. Every 14 days it runs for 20 minutes to exercise the gen-set, has fault codes if engine fails to start and charges battery so you are ready for the next event be it exercise cycle or power failure. In event of utility failure it waits 30 seconds to verify that there is a power outage and your lights are back on. It runs the well pump 220 volts, so we can have water for showers, flushing toilets,etc. In addition I run dishwasher, clothes washer, gas stove hood fan, ignition for gas stove, bank of reseptacles for coffee pot, toaster and heating system with circulators and Tekmar controls. Of course TV and Internet, providing the FIOS cables are not destroyed. Our last episode in CT was not pretty. This set up has run without a hiccup since I had it installed. It resides in a shed 125 ft from my house with buried underground tubing and wire to transfer switch in house next to load center. Noise level is very low due to distance from house and the way it is facing in the shed and directed across an open area.
 
REFire, can I ask what you do to keep the fuel fresh?
The original poster was going to use his heating fuel storage tank, which would get used up by the oil heat.
 
not all the heating oil, have a pellet stove up stairs thats where we would stay if we loose power again ,and would only use it about 12hrs a day (not at full load )will set up a bleeder line to fill the belly tank of the diesel (18.5gal) off of the fuel oil line of the furnace .
 
Velvetfoot, I buy and use over the road diesel, it may be more costly but it avoids a lot of problems. Also stored in HDPE containers never a problem with any sort of degradation and have never put in any additives. In our last outage I was on generator power for 3 days one of the lucky ones.
In March of last year in our wind storm event I ran 6 days straight, all it required was a constant supply of fuel. Most or my neighbors run on propane, very costly in comparason to diesel. At that time the propane trucks could not get through because of all the blocked roads with downed trees.
 
REFire said:
Velvetfoot, I buy and use over the road diesel, it may be more costly but it avoids a lot of problems. Also stored in HDPE containers never a problem with any sort of degradation and have never put in any additives.

I would almost agree, but I would buy off road (untaxed) diesel. You may have to look around for it, or even go out to a farming community, but here in Mo. there is little or no price advantage to buying heating oil over dyed diesel.
 
Hey Lock & Load - I live a town over from you and like you was without power for a long time. It was ridiculous. I will be following this thread closely to see where it lands because like you I wanted to consider a generator that would run on my home heating oil. Ultimately I decided (For now) to get a gas power Gen but down the line if I can afford it I would rather have the set up you are looking for. Good luck and take care.
 
jotul8e2 said:
REFire said:
Velvetfoot, I buy and use over the road diesel, it may be more costly but it avoids a lot of problems. Also stored in HDPE containers never a problem with any sort of degradation and have never put in any additives.

I would almost agree, but I would buy off road (untaxed) diesel. You may have to look around for it, or even go out to a farming community, but here in Mo. there is little or no price advantage to buying heating oil over dyed diesel.
That is correct, but there is also no difference between the two products other than marketed use etc. Using fuel-oil is just another way for people to get off-road diesel in areas where it is harder to find.
 
well after calling fuel oil dealers and getting the run around on why i want to know what the fuel blend is ,found 1 that told me that you can use it in a desiel ,the chief reason that i can see they wont tell you too much is its aganist the law to burn it in a engine period,because your not paying taxs on it ,so they wont offload it in your tank if they know ,and you also viod your warrenty on your genset if your not running over the road desiel
 
Big federal fines for running the dyed stuff in your vehicle, as I recall from my VW TDI days.
 
lock&load; said:
well after calling fuel oil dealers and getting the run around on why i want to know what the fuel blend is ,found 1 that told me that you can use it in a desiel ,the chief reason that i can see they wont tell you too much is its aganist the law to burn it in a engine period,because your not paying taxs on it ,so they wont offload it in your tank if they know ,and you also viod your warrenty on your genset if your not running over the road desiel

Not against the law to run it in an engine, just can't run it in a motor vehicle. Otherwise there are a LOT of farmers out there using dyed fuel that are in big trouble......

Should be no prob running it in gensets with warranty coverage so long as the fuel is sold as "off-road diesel" and not "home heating oil". I would think they would have bigger issues with the ULSD sold for over-the-road use and accelerated injection pump wear.
 
I have a diesel car and home heating oil. I dont run heating oil in the car, mainly because i am not allowed to, but also because I dont want to clog the fuel system. Consider the fuel tank in your house could be very old (mine is from the 50's) I have pulled the fuel gage and it was covered in disgusting black ooze... but the heating oil was still clear. I use about 30 gallons of heating oil a year, so it lasts a long time. I have treated the tank with biocide and power service clear diesel (http://www.powerservice.com/) that should keep the bacterial growgth to zero and the clear diesel should mitigate any water problems. Heating oil should be fine in an engine, but I would add a cetane booster just to make sure that the pump is fine, I do this for my car. Its cheap insurance.

The biocide stuff is pretty horribly toxic stuff according to the warning label on the bottle I have, so watch out. If you go through your heating oil fast, I wouldnt worry about the first two too much. You might want to filter it too, who knows what sediment is on the bottom of the tank.

Off road diesel is perfectly legal to use in any diesel engine that isnt on the road. Its road tax. If I took my car to the track, I would be legally allowed to use off road. You just cant to use it on the road... hence the name...
 
tank in the house is 3yrs old,i would put a couple of filters on the line to the gen,just dont see the sense of haveing 2 tanks if i can help it .
 
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