New NY guy on the hunt for a mep-002a...

[Chrispyny]

Hello all. I intriduced myself in the appropriate subforum.

Wanted to say im on the hunt for an mep-002a. I have a couple questions.

Not sure whats better for me. 003a or 002a.

Maybe you all can help.

House is 1400 sq ft in upstate ny. Winter temps as low as sustained -15 f at night to around 95 deg to 100 at most in summer. I'm fairly mechanically inclined. House has natural gas hot water baseboard with to zone pumps, and window a/c's on summer. One is 12k btu, the other 2 are 5-6k btu, with a possible third at 6k btu being added this summer to my man room that i finished late this fall. Right now i live alone but shortly i'll have my girlfriend and dog living with me. I don't want to wet stack the 003a, so i have a feeling a 002a would be best with my requirements. Currently 1 large flat screen, 2 smaller flat screen tvs, 1 desktop, all kitchen stuff, and fan for wood stove i forgot to mention.

Do you all agree that the 002a would be best at roughly 5k rated but really 7.5 under optimal conditions and temperatures, or would the 003a be prefered ?

I'm prowling for one on govliq first as i hope to score a nice one that requires light to medium mechanical work to get running 100%.

There is a guy north of me 30 minutes that bought several 003a's and resells them. He has two for sale that look in great shape in person. One green and one desert tan. I REALLY like the Green one. Asking price is $3,250 for each. The ad claims there is no reason why the 60 hours on the green ones clock isn't all there have been on this genset, but we all know they are frequently reset several times by the military. Lastly i love the 002's low fuel consumption. I'm torn. And how does $3,250 asking price sound for a very nice looking 003a?
t
hanks in advance to all that reply !

 

[gimpyrobb]

Seems a little high to me. I'd sell one of my 003s for less than that. Come on out to Ohio!

 

[gimpyrobb]

Unless its one of Jim's rebuilds.

http://www.steelsoldiers.com/showthread.php?101932-mep-003a-teardown-and-refurb&highlight=

 

[storeman]

Seems high to me also. Welcome to the board. I think the 002a would meet your needs. Might have to do a bit of power management but that is what emergencies are for.
Jerry

 

[Isaac-1]

Let me ask for a little clarification here, is this for emergency backup, or off grid living?

 

[Chrispyny]

Let me ask for a little clarification here, is this for emergency backup, or off grid living?

strictly emergency backup in power outtages. In summer to keep me cool, in winter to keep the wood stove fan and hot water baseboard circulation pumps moving to stay warm and keep pipes from freezing. Plus extras like tv and lights if any extra juice is available.
This is why i dont know if i should be looking for 002 or 003.

 

[doghead]

Consider this, 002 uses about 1/2 gal per hour, and the 003 uses about 1 gal per hour.

So, thats equates to $2.30/hr or $4.60/hr at todays fuel prices.

So, roughly $50 or $100 to run for 24 hours straight.

 

[Chrispyny]

Thats exactly why im leaning towards a 002a.

Let me ask all of you. How are your hooking up your mep's to your house for emergency power ? I had my brother in law who is a 15 year+ electrician install a power inlet box on a 30 amp breaker to a brand new electrical panel i had him install when remodelling my man room last summer. Would i be ok with a 30 amp rv plug directly into the power inlet box or is a transfer switch absolutely required ?
The realestate inside the wall where the panel is located is slim. It would have to be an exterior mounted transfer switch.
I wonder if i should have started a new thread for that question....

 

[doghead]

I'd keep all your questions in this thread. Very helpful to know all the details.

 

[Rapracing]

According to the WIKI on the 002 you can have as much as 52 amps.
MEP-002A
This unit is a 5 kilowatt, 60 Hertz Generator Set. It consists of a revolving field alternator powered by an air cooled diesel engine. These sets are not designed for parallel operation.


Output

Output voltage is switch selectable. These outputs are via the output lug connections.
120 VAC 52 AMPs single phase, 2 wire
120/240 VAC 26 AMPs single phase, 3 wire
120/208 VAC 17.3 AMPs three phase, 4 wire
All at a Power Factor (PF) of 0.8

Check the WIKI for information on both units

http://www.steelsoldiers.com/content.php?4-MEP-WIKI

 

[Speddmon]

The 52 amps is only if you are going to use it in 120volt only mode. Unless you want to hook up everything in your house with extension cords you cannot use the 120 only mode because you cannot interface with your service panel that way. (well, you can, but only 1/2 of it).

Even though it sounds like you have nothing but 120 loads, you'll still need to use 120/240 single phase mode to tie it into your service panel.

As for the transfer switch, you don't ABSOLUTELY have to have one, but you MUST have a way to prevent both the generator and the main utility breaker from being on at the same time.

From the loads you describe, the 002a will be fine for you. Even with the window ac's running, at worst you might need to shut one of them off to manage the loading.

 

[Isaac-1]

Ok, a couple of things, if you have a 30 amps 120/240V inlet box already in place, then you are going to likely want to go with the MEP-002a as its output is 26 amps in 120/240 single phase mode. For the inlet setup the simplest solution would be a breaker interlock kit such as one of these from: http://natramelec.com/ which just happen to be near you. This assumes your local code allows use of interlock kits, they are allowed in most, but not all places. As to the ability of a MEP-002a to run all of your load, I will give it a qualified probably, but this somewhat depends on the age of your appliances, particularly the window air conditioners, over the last 15 years or so I have went through 3 small window air conditioners in my utility room (also helps cool the kitchen), the first was 5,000 btu, the second was 6,000 btu, and the current one installed about 3 years ago is 8,800 btu, not only is each one larger than the previous one, but also the amp draw has dropped with each at least slightly. Refrigerators have seen a similar improvement over the years, as have flat panel TV's, a modern 50 inch flat panel LCD tv can draw under 50 watts, vs a 36 inch from 10 years ago which might draw over 350. This leaves those electric kitchen appliances, these can be real power hogs often drawing over 1,000 watts each, but thankfully they don't tend to run for long, and can by cycled, just don't try running the toaster, the coffee pot, and the microwave all at the same time while powering the rest of the house with a MEP-002a.

Ike

p.s. GL can be a good source for fixer upper generators, but is a dice roll, personally I am 6 for 6 on getting GL generators up and running economically so far, of those only 1 ran and produced power with just fluids, filters and batteries, it did have a minor oil leak, and both the AC and DC voltage regulators had to be replaced after only a few run time hours. I will not go into that more as we have MANY threads here on that topic already.

 

[storeman]

I use an interlock kit on the main panel. Can't wire your generator through a sub-panel. You get 26 amps 240, 52A 120. 40 amp breaker is fine as gen feed to main panel, protected by interlok kit. IMHO, of course.
Jerry

 

[Chrispyny]

SUMMER DRAW
1. my 12k btu window a/c is 2 years old when I bought house
2. the 6k btu a/c in my bedroom is 2 years old when I bought house
3. the 5k btu a/c in spare bedroom is definitely older (5+ years), but is rarely used and can certainly be cycled on and off when necessary
4. possibly 1 more 5k btu a/c in future for man room

YEAR LONG DAILY DRAW
1. my fridge is 1 week old, new stainless steel fridgidaire
2. my range is also 1 week old, stainless steel fridgidaire ,natural gas and only uses power to run the electronics that run the oven, and sparkers for burners ...
3. dishwasher is 2 years old, bought new with house, stainless fridgidaire
4. 46" lcd Samsung is 5 years old, associated electronics are directv set top box, modem/router, 1 month old sound bar
5. Clothes washer & dryer are both 2 years old (bought new for house, stacked front loaders, dryer is electric 220v ( I was dumb and didn't plumb a gas line 2 years ago)
6. 1 year old 32" lcd in bedroom, 6 year old desktop computer in office
7. #7 encompasses all interior lighting, all rooms including three bedrooms, 90% of which are CFL's.

WINTER DRAW
1. wood stove blower fan

 

[cuad4u]

I think the 002A will be OK. As others have said, you need to do some "load management". That means that you may not be able to run all 3 AC units, the water heater, the stove top. the oven, the well pump (if you have one) the vacuum cleaner, the washer, and the dryer all at one time.

 

[Chrispyny]

I think the 002A will be OK. As others have said, you need to do some "load management". That means that you may not be able to run all 3 AC units, the water heater, the stove top. the oven, the well pump (if you have one) the vacuum cleaner, the washer, and the dryer all at one time.

I agree. I would rather load manage than wet stack. The heaviest usage would be in the summer when a/c's are running. I feel I should have enough juice for all three and maybe a fourth a/c. If I have to load manage air conditioners in the summer then that's fine. I won't be running a/c's, and major appliances during the summer at the same time.

p.s. GL can be a good source for fixer upper generators, but is a dice roll, personally I am 6 for 6 on getting GL generators up and running economically so far, of those only 1 ran and produced power with just fluids, filters and batteries, it did have a minor oil leak, and both the AC and DC voltage regulators had to be replaced after only a few run time hours. I will not go into that more as we have MANY threads here on that topic already.

Thanks Ike. I have a plan. Here is what I figure. The MIN amount of money I will need to spend to get one running well is the cost of the generator, filters, fluids, batteries, all injectors sent off to be calibrated as per the member on this forum that provides that service, fuel pump rebuilds, and a/c and d/c regulators. If I can get away with that money alone, i'll be a happy camper. Of course I'm not including man hours, my labor, and materials needed to clean out lines, tank etc .. plus I have OCD so i'll dump plent more into it after like paint etc ..
Fuel pump rebuilds because that's what I hear is usually a major issue with getting these things going again.
Calibration of injectors because of all the countless hours I have spent on this site already reading on how bad injectors seem to be off until calibrated.
I'd love to snag a fair priced 002 from a member but they seem to be VERY expensive on the classifieds. The one gentleman from NH has one for sale with trailer for a lot of money. I don't need the trailer and he says he won't separate so that's a no go. Time will tell which way this goes but regardless I have made up my mind that this is the direction I want to go.

 

[DieselGenAC]

If you are handy with electrical bits, you can automate a load bank to prevent wet stacking using a current sensing relay and an appropriate electric heater.http://www.grainger.com/category/current-sensor-relays/relays/electrical/ecatalog/N-8ek

 

[DeucesWild11]

I have a bigger house and use the 002 as I don't want to burn through twice as much fuel using an 003. You just may need to manage the load a little but under normal conditions you should be fine.

 

[Isaac-1]

All that stuff may not be needed to get a good running standby MEP-002a, I bought one off GL a couple of years ago for about $450, it is an ugly duckling with brushed on cammo CARC, but from a mechanical point of view was in great shape. It appears it was a non-runner fresh from a major service, but not full rebuild as it did show 2200 hours on the meter, it had a brand new fuel tank and starter, along with all new filters already installed. Its only real problem is that it had high voltage output (154VAC instead of 120VAC) due to a dead $4 transistor on the AVR board. The battery meter was also full of moisture, but that probably happened in storage.

 

[steelandcanvas]

You may or may not be required to have a transfer switch, as codes are different all over the country. However I would strongly suggest at a minimum, to install a breaker interlock as suggested by Ike in post #12.