Mobile generator project

[RBM]

Wanted a basic, durable, low wattage, long run time generator for family, friends, or customers, that will do all the basic necessities for an extended period of time, without having to store and rotate a pile of jerry jugs of gasoline. I wanted something easily transportable as well. I decided the best available solution was a stripped down light tower. After a few months of scoping Ebay, I found this Magnum MLT-3060. It's a 2004 with a 3 cylinder Mitsubishi L3E diesel, and only 525 hours on it.It has a 6KW Marathon pancake generator, and a 30 gallon diesel tank, so at full load it'' run for around three days. It was owned by the city of NY, bridges and tunnels authority, and unfortunately, I think it spent it's life sitting in a tunnel, with water dripping on it, so it had way more rust than a machine of it's vintage should. Here are some pix of my clean up/conversion project:

[CRNG]

On Sun, 15 Jul 2012 11:45:39 -0400, RBM wrote in Re Mobile generator project:

While diesel is easier to store than gasoline, it's doesn't have an very long storage life. According to

it's 3 to 6 months. I would give it a year in a closed container with a stabilizer added.

[RicodJour]

Nice. Good way to get a quality generator.

R

[Tomsic]

Yes, it's the fuel storage problem that's bothered me too. What about a natural gas powered generator -- anybody had experience with those for emergency home use?

Tomsic

[RBM]

That must be some crappy diesel to begin with.Most sites I've read say it's good for around 2 years with stabilizer. Even gasoline will go for a year with stabilizer. In any event, I wouldn't keep it in the tank more than a year. It will get pumped into a 55 gallon drum, which is used to fuel other regularly used diesel equipment

[Dean Hoffman]

Farmers in my area use diesel for most everything. Many irrigation engines are diesel with 1000 gallon tanks next to them. They might not run much, if at all, for months at a time. They seem to do ok. A dead battery is probably the most common problem. The tanks do have fuel filters mounted on them in addition to the ones on the engines themselves.

[Sonny]

Water condenses in large fuel tanks, not to mention there is some water, in suspension, in petroleum products. Those larger tanks will have a drain valve at the bottom, for draining the water. Similarly as an air compressor tank.

[gregz]

That's what is installed around here.

Greg

[RBM]

The diesel engine on the generator has a fuel filter with a water separator as well.

[Tony Sivori]

Very nice cosmetic restoration.

How much did you pay for the rig?

[RBM]

$2K

[CRNG]

On Sun, 15 Jul 2012 14:44:16 -0400, RBM wrote in Re Re: Mobile generator project:

Yeah, that 3 to 6 months seemed very short to me. Your plan above looks good to me.

[John Grabowski]

*Nice job Roy. I've thought about doing something similar myself, but just don't have a lot of spare time lately.

[RBM]

>

Hopefully John, that means you're too busy doing electrical work

[Dean Hoffman]

The tanks I see look much like this:

fuel is taken from what is supposedly the drain at the end of the tank. There is a hand valve, a bit of plumbing, then some type of filter. A 3/8: hose usually goes from the tank filter to the power unit. It has filters also. Racor is one company that makes a water/fuel separator. I'd expect to see some on the tanks if water contamination was a problem. I don't remember seeing any off hand. The tanks sit out in the fields without any protection from the weather. They sit on the ground or maybe on some blocks or old railroad ties. That type of set up should logically be causing problems but apparently doesn't.