while its spinning , give it a squirt of areosol stuff , works here in the cold , but then I dont have snow to contend with , so my cold may be radicaly different to your cold . If you got extreme cold , you may want to look at an addative to keep the diesel thin in winter .
You can extend the exhaust and add a car muffler or two , that'll shut the exhaust noise up good , being diesel , itll still be a bit mechanicaly noisy , diesels just are . Be aware of where the exhaust goes , diesel exhaust seems to sit there , and just get thicker till it gets unbreathable . You can always consider bio-diesel , or straigh vege oil for a more lung friendly exhaust , hell , even mixing cooking oil withyour diesel will reduce the particluate and improve the smell of the exhaust , making it less noticable what youre up to anyway .
I built mine from a double layer of wooden fence sealed to the ground at the bottom. In an effort to make the thing hurricane resistant, I built in enough mass to give pretty good soundproofing. I have a very tight fitting door, an inlet air grate, and a peaked roof with open gables to let out the heat and exhaust fumes. The generator (Onan) has an internal blower that sucks air from the inlet grate. The generator sits on a concrete pad. The noise attenuation turns out to be very good with just a low rumble escaping into my neighbor's yard. The worst noise escapes through the air inlet which happens to be pointed at my own house. I may soon retire the Onan for a Honda, and may have to put an electric automotive radiator fan at the air inlet grate to substitute for the blower that is built in to the Onan.
My starting battery (actually a bank of 4 deep discharge batteries) is also the battery for my modest 100W. PV system. Kills two birds with one stone.
I used common (at least in Florida) pressure-treated wood, 6' high, picket fencing. After installation; I nailed a second layer of pickets on the fence, offset so that they covered all of the original cracks between the first layer of pickets. (They sell loose picket boards) I did not actually allow the fencing to touch the dirt (that will reduce the fence's lifetime) , but placed cheap landscape timbers at the bottom to beef up the structure and seal the noise in. Because it want the thing to withstand a hurricane (as it did only two weeks ago) I used 4X6 PT lumber for fence poles rather than the 4X4 (actually 3X3) things that are more typically used.
I don't see how starting fluid sprayed into the air intake would wash the oil off cylinder walls. It's a combination of gases and some lubricant. The spray will be further diluted by the air going into the engine at the same time. There just wouldn't be enough actual liquid to do much washing. A good share of the diesel farm tractors I've seen come equipped with starting fluid aided start. The operator pushes a button to let the starting fluid into the intake manifold. It shouldn't be a problem if one is careful. Won't the cylinder walls get relubed somewhat as the engine is cranked during starting attempts? Wouldn't it take a massive amount of starting fluid to wash cold oil off cylinder walls? You should've seen the tractor mechanics start a cold tractor where I worked. They weren't shy about using the starting fluid. And no, they did not get commission on parts sales. Their main worry was overworking the starters if the engines wouldn't fire up in reasonable time. Some other tractors I've seen come equipped with the glow plugs someone else mentioned.
The key word is temporarily, as in just long enough to start the engine.
Probably, but who's going to listen/respond to their complaints? And as pointed out later in this thread, sharing the electricity goes a long way to friendly neighbor relations (until they abuse your gesture.)
I use ether as a solvent. Spray some on a smudge of grease. Wipe it with a rag before the ether evaporates. Do the same thing to a similar smudge of grease without ether. The grease in the second case will just smear.
They have those for OTR trucks also. If you have to use ether, that system is the best way, since it meters the ether shot. Still, there is little reason to use ether on a properly maintained engine.
My N14 started at some obscene below zero temp with a cold soak. Block heater and fuel heater at the filter. It started very easily. It would only idle at 650 rpm at first. That was all the fuel that the fuel heater could ungel until the fuel return ungelled the tank. Looked like a tank of wax.
I was just reading something on Steve Spence's site that jogged my memory. These otr engines do use the fuel to cool the injectors. Not known to many, is that the electronic diesels on the road have maximum fuel temp limits, because the fuel also cools the brainbox that is mounted to the side of the block.
If you have to use ether, the engine is cold. How well does cold lube oil circulate in a cold engine? What rpm does the engine crank at? How does the oil get on the cylinder wall?
In other words, what speed of crankshaft rotation is required to fling the oil up onto the cylinder walls after if flows out from between the bearing and crank journal and then flows between the connecting rod side bearing and the side of the crank journal?
IIRC some engines have a spray system to cool the underside of the piston. That type of system "might" oil the wall during the low rpm of the cranking to start.
Again, I don't know. What I have given is what I have gleaned from reading all the industry trade magazines. Perhaps we can get some diesel mechanics to weigh in on the issue.
Sounds like a good test situation. Compare the cold start smoke as the engine ages with the ether starting. Perhaps that tractor is already ether dependent.
Everybody overworks starter motors. 15 - 30 seconds cranking. 2-4 minutes rest/cooldown. RTFM. I did once and was surprised by the duty cycle for starter motors. Who does that when the @#@!!% thing won't start. (diesel or gas).
I notice Mr. Nick Pine likes to do math problems. Ideal gas at ambient temp of 0F or colder compressed 22:1 to 24:1 increases the combustion chamber temp to ?F. Anybody know off the top of their heads what the flash point of diesel is?
Anything that gets some heat into the engine will help the engine to reach that flash point.
Simplest solution is an airbox heater with a hose to the intake of the filter. I am assuming the O.P. is looking for emergency power, so a propane torch with the piezo igniter built in would do the trick. Or even a sterno stove. To my mind, it's a non issue. That's why I created the airbox.gif just to get the O.P. thinking on what could be done.
There are 300 watt 12 volt heaters that can be purchased in any main chain truckstop. If your car will start, you can get the diesel started.
Hey Igor, how close to the northern state line are you? IIRC you did say you were in IL (the S is silent).
I used to use ether to mix with the 2stroke fuel in my motorbike , added a bit of extra oomph . The amount used to start a diesel is at most a couple of drops , enough to get vapurs into the bore to add some extra bangability to the air/fuel mix , not enough to wash the cylinder walls .
Around these parts , the EPA visits once a week , to inspect the local industries and see if the complaints are valid . Everyone knows that 9am friday , the EPA inspecter is coming to investigate the weeks complaints , and guess what ,? he never finds any valid basis to the complaint....
My step-dad worked in construction. They used to wrap electric tape around extension cords. The osha guys would come in and start to cut the ends off the cords. They would be challenged on this destruction of personal property. The osha guys would babble something about spliced cords, which was the cue to remove the electric tape from the cord. Dumbfounded osha guy asks why was the tape on the cord, and the answer was, never know when they would need a piece of tape.
You wont be able to warm up that diesel with a propane torch. Propane weed burner maybe...
Best thing you can do with that torch is NOT light it, but turn it on and stick the end of it in the intake manifold, and then pull the engine over. Makes pretty good starting fluid with few of the side effects of ether. Works great on that lawnmower you havent used since last year also.
Gunner
"In my humble opinion, the petty carping levied against Bush by the Democrats proves again, it is better to have your eye plucked out by an eagle than to be nibbled to death by ducks." - Norman Liebmann
Gunner, thanks, it sounds like a good idea. My lawnmower starts pretty well, so far, but using propane to start a diesel seems like a most sensible thing to do. You sound like you know engines pretty well. How long do these small diesels last?
I worked for a company that had a 100 kW Cat Diesel Genset. The oil and coolent systems had line voltage heaters on them to keep the genny warm before it was needed. The generator automatically started 3 seconds after a power failure and transfered 10 seconds after the loss of power.
I believe the O.P. was concerned about a diesel backup genny starting for emergency power. Keeping it warm in an unheated garage could be as simple as tossing a moving blanket over the genny with a 40 - 100 watt incandescent troublelight under the genny. (assumes owner is home at time of power fail, or not gone so long that the genny seriously cools down before owner returns to fire up the genny.
In the case of my N14, the block heater (coolant actually) was approx
1,500 watts. I would guess that the Cat drew much more than that to keep it warm on standby.
I also used a one cylinder air cooled diesel turning a truck alternator for an APU. This homebuilt genny would start even at zero degrees, and it lived on the frame rail under the sleeper in an aluminum box.. unheated. With the three truck batteries to start the big motor, there was usually plenty of juice for cranking this diesel.
Dig a hole in the ground; maybe a pair of post holes angled at each other. Run the exhaust into the hole. The dirt will aborb the noise. Gopher tunnels work great.
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A small propane torch directly in the air intake will cause a small diesel engine to start EVERY Time, as long as the fuel is still liquid, and going thru the injector pump and injector. Ask any trucker who runs the rocky mountains in winter.
Bruce in alaska who knows this works, from long experience
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