MEP-006a overkill and wetstacking

[wsucougarx]

Hey guys. I know a MEP-006a is overkill for powering a house. It was cheap enough so I bit and won it on what I thought was a very low bid. I was mainly after a 10kw generator but this 60kw came up first. I know there is an issue with wetstacking if you use this genny with less than 80% or so load. How would one combat that? Would covering the radiator during these "underloaded" uses help prevent that? Any other solutions to get that engine in operating temperature without increase the load? Again I know I got more generator than I need but trying to make use of what I now have. Please advise

 

[Ferroequinologist]

Mike, congrats on the score.
Personally, you will burn way more fuel and it will be a hassle to keep it loaded. I would sell it for a nice profit, and buy a 10k. Lots of large buildings would need a 60k, would be a good size. You could sell it for half of what other units are going for, and still make a profit.

If you really want to keep it, loading it would be the best option. You can get a few old electric ranges, and have them out in the yard on high, with some fans and nothing flammable around. turn on everything in your house.

You can run a big gen for awhile with low load, but every once in awhile you will need to really load it up. Hook up those ranges, ask your neighbors if you can power their house, etc. And run it at at least 80-90% for a few hours to burn off the excess oil in the exhaust.

I would still sell it and get a couple of what you need (a backup backup!) with the profits.

 

[glcaines]

Congratulations on the win. The other issue you have is that the MEP-006A is 3-phase only. If you power your house with it, you will need single phase power. If you try this, the genset load will be unbalanced. I agree with Ferroequinologist that the best option is to sell the genset and try to get a 10KW unit like an MEP-003A, which is perfect for powering your house. I have one and it works great and uses much less fuel than the MEP-006A will use.

 

[Varyag]

I'll trade ya for a nice 6k I just got.

 

[Unforgiven]

What is wetstacking?

 

[glcaines]

Wetstacking happens with diesel engines when they are run without sufficient loading, which means they run too cold. Unburned fuel will enter the exhaust stack.

 

[Isaac-1]

OK, here are a few points:

1, this generator will likely cost you a lot more to run, as it takes a certain amount of fuel to just spin the engine.

2, Wet stacking problems vary from one engine design to another, and is generally more of a problem in turbo charged diesel engines, I think the MEP-006a non-turbo.

3, Wet stacking will shorten the effective life of the engine (at least require more frequent rebuilds), for a standby generator I would not worry too much about this, due to the limited run time, even if it shortens the life of the engine by 50% that could still be 50+ years of typical standby service. (I have a commercial 125KW standby generator that came from GL (it spent nearly 30 years being a backup generator for a sewage lift station), it had 595 hours on the meter when I bought it.

4, If you periodically run the engine at near full load every once in a while you can effectively reduce wet stacking problems (2 hours out of every 50 or so should be a good ballpark figure, more often is better).

5, I am not trying to say wet stacking is not an issue, just that it needs to be a much bigger concern on generators that are prime power source.

Ike

 

[PeterD]

Ike, the MEP006 is a turbo, the 004 and 005 are both NA.

 

[Isaac-1]

Thanks for the correction, I knew it was an Allis Chalmers, but was thinking NA not turbo

 

[hoop]

Peter....Left click and drag over post and it changes it to white and blue..and when you post choose your size and colors...like this.

 

[firefox]

Peter-D - Just mouse the text as though you were going to do a cut and paste.
Bruce

 

[Bill W]

wet stacking will also carbon up the rings and the nozzle tips. My first 10kw diesel had slight blue smoke when I ran it ( 700hrs on the clock ) and the guy next door to my shop was a generator mechanic he said it was normal for some oil to get by the rings if its been awhile since the genset had a full load on it, he said that if I put it on his load tester for awhile it would clean up stating that having it under load it would basicly get the rings to free up and reseat.
Now just wondering out loud hear but I wonder if you ran #1 diesel fuel ( 50/50 mix of #2 diesel and K2 kerosene ) in your 60kw that it would be a leaner/hotter burn to which would be less unburnt fuel left in the cylinders??

 

[glcaines]

Now just wondering out loud hear but I wonder if you ran #1 diesel fuel ( 50/50 mix of #2 diesel and K2 kerosene ) in your 60kw that it would be a leaner/hotter burn to which would be less unburnt fuel left in the cylinders??

I have absolutely no experience with this, but wouldn't mixing kerosene with the diesel degrade the lubrication of the IP?

 

[Bill W]

Yes
But if if the 60kw is not under a heavy load then would a little less cylinder lubrisicity ( I made that word up ) be a issue as compared to wetstacking???

 

[Isaac-1]

It is not a question of lubricating the cylinders it is a question of lubricating the injection pump, I read report online a while back about greatly reduced life of the injection pumps in the MEP-002 and MEP-003 in the field in Iraq and Afghanistan due to the use of locally available fuels in place of JP-5 (Russian jet fuel, etc.) that is thinner than the JP-3 / #2 diesel these generators were designed to run on. (I ran across this when trying to investigate the difference between JP-3 which was in use when the generators were built and the current standard JP-5 fuel).

Also the ring setting issue is just part of the wet-stacking problem, in addition you have glazing of the cylinder walls which can only be corrected by re-honing.

 

[emmado22]

Overkill in diesel generators is not a good thing..

 

[wsucougarx]

Congratulations on the win. The other issue you have is that the MEP-006A is 3-phase only. If you power your house with it, you will need single phase power. If you try this, the genset load will be unbalanced. I agree with Ferroequinologist that the best option is to sell the genset and try to get a 10KW unit like an MEP-003A, which is perfect for powering your house. I have one and it works great and uses much less fuel than the MEP-006A will use.

Eeks, so this genny is basically useless for home use? So I basically got myself a 7k lbs brick on wheels I guess I need to read up on generators and figure out what this phase thing is all about.

 

[Isaac-1]

120/208Vand running 2 out of 3 legs of three phase are not big show stopper, the problem is it is a bit over sized for the job, sort of like using a 5 ton truck to commute around town. It does the job, but so does a sub-compact, one just gets a lot better fuel economy.

 

[Bill W]

It is not a question of lubricating the cylinders it is a question of lubricating the injection pump, I read report online a while back about greatly reduced life of the injection pumps in the MEP-002 and MEP-003 in the field in Iraq and Afghanistan due to the use of locally available fuels in place of JP-5 (Russian jet fuel, etc.) that is thinner than the JP-3 / #2 diesel these generators were designed to run on. (I ran across this when trying to investigate the difference between JP-3 which was in use when the generators were built and the current standard JP-5 fuel).

Also the ring setting issue is just part of the wet-stacking problem, in addition you have glazing of the cylinder walls which can only be corrected by re-honing.

Jp-3 ( discontinued in the 1950's ) and JP-5 ( current jet fuel ) are/were both kerosene jet fuels like Jet-A not #2 diesel

U.S. Jet fuels http://www.afp1fire.com/fuels.htm

 

[Isaac-1]

Sorry I may have the numbers off, I was thiking JP-4 and JP-5 (at least I know JP-4 is a specified alternative fuel with slightly worse fuel economy in my MEP-016b tech manual), either way the issue was the thinner local alternative fuel causing problems