New MEP004A owner looking for light-off sanity check

[Triple Jim]

Your neighbors must have had a heck of a party if they're still nursing headaches.

 

[leedawg]

your neighbors must have had a heck of a party if they're still nursing headaches.

lol +1

 

[1800 Diesel]

Your neighbors must have had a heck of a party if they're still nursing headaches.

Good point......They're probably not, but wanted to be considerate anyway...a general rule around here--no big noises until about 1100 CST....except one of my other neighbors (from Maryland) who doesn't care how much noise he makes at 0800 any day of the week....

We're in a rural area with a few acres of buffer for each property, but I still try to consider others...and you know how noisy the MEP gensets can be....

 

[Triple Jim]

Yup, pretty much the same situation I have. I do the monthly 003A exercise runs midday on weekdays when most of the neighbors are at work. If the nearest one ever complains about noise during an outage, I plan to offer the convenience outlet to him. I've run a 1500W heater from it, so it should handle a refrigerator and a couple lights.

I'll be waiting to hear how your light-off goes.

 

[1800 Diesel]

Yup, pretty much the same situation I have. I do the monthly 003A exercise runs midday on weekdays when most of the neighbors are at work. If the nearest one ever complains about noise during an outage, I plan to offer the convenience outlet to him. I've run a 1500W heater from it, so it should handle a refrigerator and a couple lights.

I'll be waiting to hear how your light-off goes.

Just got done with a 45-minute run with good speed & voltage & no radiator leaks...still not 100% confident until I can get it under a good load, but was encouraged that my solder repairs held. Ended up repairing two leaks and soldering over a couple other areas where the tubes were impacted by the runaway nut....now time to put things back together and complete the single phase conversion...thanks for staying on scene...

 

[Triple Jim]

Hey, that's good news. I know what you mean about building confidence. Last time I exercised my 003A it powered the whole house for 2-1/2 hours and nothing odd happened, so I'm starting to get the idea that I might be able to rely on it. I'm glad your radiator repair held. That's a lot better than having to fix it two or three times before it's leak-free.

 

[1800 Diesel]

Hey, that's good news. I know what you mean about building confidence. Last time I exercised my 003A it powered the whole house for 2-1/2 hours and nothing odd happened, so I'm starting to get the idea that I might be able to rely on it. I'm glad your radiator repair held. That's a lot better than having to fix it two or three times before it's leak-free.

You should be good-to-go on the MEP3....after Hurricane Katrina hit my son & I towed our MEP3 over to the family homestead in Bay St. Louis and wired it to the whole house (an old 2 story 7 BR) with multiple window AC units, 2 fridges, 2 freezers & all the lights & fans they wanted to run. I ran the set 2 1/2 weeks without shutting it down, fueling once in the morning & once at midnight. At that time I had no knowledge of the aux fuel system where I could have pulled from one of the 55 gal drums I had filled for the job. Anyway, she didn't miss a beat the whole time. Finally was able to shut it down when the power company showed up to restore power. They were happy I had pulled the meter to do the hook-up as one of their men had been killed due to someone back-feeding the line with a small generator plugged through their 240v dryer plug--some kind of 2-plug setup they had made.

One thing I would suggest, if you don't already have it--get a power conditioner to use for high dollar electronic items... a decent one runs about $200 or more if you need more capacity, but they really keep the voltage stable and safe for your TV, computers, etc...

 

[Triple Jim]

Ever since I watched a power company lineman loosen the output wires at the stepdown transformer across the driveway one at a time and wiggle them to see which ones were being used, we've had computers and electronics like TVs on UPSs with under and over voltage protection, as well as surge protection. I do have a big power conditioning transformer I've been meaning to dig out and use. I'm glad you reminded me of that.

 

[ctfjr]

I'll be removing a perfectly good electric HW heater when I start converting all our heavy load stuff to gas-- I'll have the elements available from this heater and will also have a couple oven range elements too when I pull that monster out of the kitchen...can't wait 'til that day comes....

Just a suggestion 1800 diesel. . . the element(s) you pull out of that elkectric water heater can NOT be used as a load in free air. They must be immersed in water - self destruct time in the air is a matter of seconds.

fwiw if you are looking for a 'load' for your genset, try talking to a large hvac contractor. If they pull out an old heat pump system (changing from R22 to the new R410 type rerfrigerants) they usually scrap the indoor air handler. Most of these systems have electric backup heat strips in the air handler. 15kw of backup will often be 3 5kw strips, each with its own 24volt control / delay circuit. It should be fairly easy to rewire the air handler to switch in/out 5kw at a time. With the blower operating (a must) you will have simple, inexpensive load with no water required. Most of our customers just throw these units away.

 

[edgephoto]

Just a suggestion 1800 diesel. . . the element(s) you pull out of that elkectric water heater can NOT be used as a load in free air. They must be immersed in water - self destruct time in the air is a matter of seconds.

fwiw if you are looking for a 'load' for your genset, try talking to a large hvac contractor. If they pull out an old heat pump system (changing from R22 to the new R410 type rerfrigerants) they usually scrap the indoor air handler. Most of these systems have electric backup heat strips in the air handler. 15kw of backup will often be 3 5kw strips, each with its own 24volt control / delay circuit. It should be fairly easy to rewire the air handler to switch in/out 5kw at a time. With the blower operating (a must) you will have simple, inexpensive load with no water required. Most of our customers just throw these units away.

I amin CT too. Do you have any of the electric furnaces or air handlers that are being scrapped?

 

[ctfjr]

I amin CT too. Do you have any of the electric furnaces or air handlers that are being scrapped?

Sorry edgephoto, I work for a distributor we (hopefully) don't get anything back

About 2 years ago we converted my daughter's new to her condo from a warm air electric heat unit to a high eff heat pump - I should have thought about saving the old one.

I might have a line on one tho thru one of our customers. Would you be willing to pick it up in Southington if its still available?

 

[PeterD]

...
fwiw if you are looking for a 'load' for your genset, try talking to a large hvac contractor. If they pull out an old heat pump system (changing from R22 to the new R410 type rerfrigerants) they usually scrap the indoor air handler. ...

Another alternative is to find a few 'scrap' electric stoves. The oven elements are capable of free air operation (don't require a fan even) and some are rated at 4-5Kw. Each oven has two (broil on the top, bake on the bottom, along with stove-top elements of lesser power. Just using the broil and bake elements, mounted in a safe fashion, can serve as an excellent dummy load for MEP-004 and even a MEP-005 as well as some smaller generator sets, too...

 

[1800 Diesel]

Just a suggestion 1800 diesel. . . the element(s) you pull out of that elkectric water heater can NOT be used as a load in free air. They must be immersed in water - self destruct time in the air is a matter of seconds.

fwiw if you are looking for a 'load' for your genset, try talking to a large hvac contractor. If they pull out an old heat pump system (changing from R22 to the new R410 type rerfrigerants) they usually scrap the indoor air handler. Most of these systems have electric backup heat strips in the air handler. 15kw of backup will often be 3 5kw strips, each with its own 24volt control / delay circuit. It should be fairly easy to rewire the air handler to switch in/out 5kw at a time. With the blower operating (a must) you will have simple, inexpensive load with no water required. Most of our customers just throw these units away.

Actually, I had planned to use the old tank and just weld in more couplings to add more elements...if that doesn't work, I'll use an old 200-gallon propane tank and weld multiple couplings in that (for the required elements), add water and with the breakers, switches and wiring, be good-to-go...thanks.

 

[ctfjr]

Actually, I had planned to use the old tank and just weld in more couplings to add more elements...if that doesn't work, I'll use an old 200-gallon propane tank and weld multiple couplings in that (for the required elements), add water and with the breakers, switches and wiring, be good-to-go...thanks.

I'm sure that will be fine 1800 Diesel. In our market the most popular electric heater size is 50 gallons and there are 2 4500 watt elements (usually non-simulataneously on). If you do 'jerry-rig' your water heater be sure that the relief valve is piped close to the ground - jic it ever blows, you don't want a faceful of steam


Water is a good absorber of heat but at some point you may have to dump some of the hot water & replace with cold. It isn't magic, the amont of energy you pump into those elements (watts) is going to result in energy being added to the water (increased temperature). One btu will heat up 1lb of water 1 deg F. So if you manage to get 15kw of elements into that heater (15,000 watts) you will heat up a 50 gallon tank 122 degrees in 1 hr (final temp = starting temp+122) (math below for those who care). The point is you will get very close to 212 degrees if you do prolonged load testing. BE CAREFUL!


1 gal of water weighs ~ 8.35 lbs
50 gallons weighs ~ 417 lbs

15kw produces 51000 btu/hr
(51000btu/hr)/417lbs ~ 122 btu/(hr*lb) = 122 deg/hr

 

[Triple Jim]

It may just be that I'm the only one around with nothing to do on a Sunday evening.

 

[edgephoto]

Sorry edgephoto, I work for a distributor we (hopefully) don't get anything back

About 2 years ago we converted my daughter's new to her condo from a warm air electric heat unit to a high eff heat pump - I should have thought about saving the old one.

I might have a line on one tho thru one of our customers. Would you be willing to pick it up in Southington if its still available?

At the moment I do not have a truck so I am not sure I can get an air handler in my Touareg.

May I ask what distributer you work for? I used to work for a supply house back in the day.

 

[54reo]

Do any of you guys know of a source (besides Delk's) that would have an IP for a MEP-004?

I've posted a thread previously, but not had much luck.

 

[leedawg]

Do any of you guys know of a source (besides Delk's) that would have an IP for a MEP-004?

I've posted a thread previously, but not had much luck.

So you do not have a pump at all??? Or the one you have does not work?

Just do a google search for the pump I found several out there but none of them are cheap very spendy. I think in the range of 800 dollars and up. They are out there though GL sold a huge lot of them bout 8 months ago so those went to somebody but finding them is the hard part.

However if you have a pump id have it rebuilt cheapest thing to do. Ebay i have also seen a few pumps for sale. Have you checked all these sources.

 

[54reo]

My generator was sans IP when I got it.

Very expensive for a replacement, but I'm looking for a take-off or rebuildable core.

 

[1800 Diesel]

My generator was sans IP when I got it.

Very expensive for a replacement, but I'm looking for a take-off or rebuildable core.

Some lucky fellow(s) bought a couple pairs of the 198 engines (NOS) last year off GL--1 pair went for $400 & the other pair went for $650 or so. Problem is figuring out who bought them. I'd buy one engine for that money if I could--just to have a spare (including the IP)....In the meantime, I'll keep my radar up & running....