MEP017A - Alternative to MEP002A

[NDT]

Everyone is trying to score the diesel MEP002A gensets lately, but I would like to throw a bone to the old MEP017A's. These Viet Nam era gasoline 5 kW sets were in use up until the mid 80's, if not longer. They are rugged and have one advantage for standby use the 002's don't: You can adapt them for natural gas. Anyone who has been through a hurricane knows how scarce gasoline and diesel can get in the affected zone. During Ike I was siphoning gas out of my lawnmower by day 8 to keep my military 1.5kW running.
I scored this 17A from GSA for around $150 and today she sprang to life with no repairs needed at all! Hooked her up to the house load and everything including the 3 ton central A/C cranked right up.

 

[jbk]

i still have a 017a i use for the hot water heater in an outage. i use a 5kw diesel for the house. but i have gone though about 5 of them. i still have 2 of these engines new in the crate. anyway i used about 1 gph in fuel in it and it will take 4-5 kw all night. a little loud but i have mine well away from the house in a shed. good set for the dollars.

 

[gimpyrobb]

I wish they would put out the rated voltage and current at diesel motor speeds as I have a few that would work well.

 

[Carl_in_NH]

They are good solid units - but at 3600 RPM it does get on my nerves after awhile. I prefer the 1800 RPM diesel units.

 

[DieselBob]

[FONT=Times New Roman, serif][FONT=Arial, sans-serif]I have both a MEP-018a 3600 rpm gas unit, big brother of the 017a and a MEP-003a 1800 rpm diesel. Although the 003 runs slower it does have a more vibrating harmonic characteristic. The 018a is higher rpm but doesn't seem to be as noticeable vibration wise. The 018a does burn more fuel per hour than the 003a but locally gas is 30~35 cents a gallon less then diesel. The 003a should outlast the 018a because of general engine design, diesel versus gas, 1800rpm versus 3600 rpm. Lastly I got the 018a for less than $500.00 and runs everything in the house we need including two central ac units, All-in-all I consider the 018a gas generator a good unit for the low cost. My [/FONT][/FONT]

 

[mdlbldrmatt135]

I'm converting a Mep-016a to run on Propane / Nat gas as well

 

[liftman]

I received my 018a for zero dollars on a trade for some work I did for the town. The power hardly ever goes out around here, but when it does, the 018 will run the entire house including the central AC.

The only issue is finding the gas to keep it satisfied when running at load. It is a thirsty machine.

 

[Crash_AF]

You know, the CNG conversion might be a good idea for these units. We had a bunch of MEP-25s over in Germany and carbs were the major nightmare with them.

I'll bet if you built a doghouse for one (with appropriate ventilation of course) and extended the exhaust into another muffler you could make it very bearable noise wise. Install a CNG/Propane gas switch so that in an emergency when pipeline gas is out you could switch to a BBQ (or bigger) tank and it would make an excellent emergency power source.

Later,
Joe

 

[FireFighterHill]

What kit are you using to convert to natural gas? does the kit retain the ability to also run on gas?

 

[NDT]

The propane/natural gas kit from uscarb.com requires you to permanently modify the carb. Not crazy about that, but new carbs are available from Saturn Surplus. I will get a spare and put it in the spare parts box for quick? change out if I have to convert back to gasoline.

 

[FireFighterHill]

Do you have a part number on that. I cant find the correct Onan engine listed on there site.

 

[Carl_in_NH]

You want the 2A042 engine parts (2 cyl, air cooled, 42 cid) from the Saturn site. When I bought a spare carb I think it was $39.

 

[mdlbldrmatt135]

What kit are you using to convert to natural gas? does the kit retain the ability to also run on gas?

No kit. if you don;t want to modify the carb, make an adapter or modify one of the elbows or other fittings before it. the key to using propane is the demand regulator.

Links:

Small Engine Generator Conversion Kit - Propane Conversion Kits - Natural Gas Conversion Kits

Generator Conversion Kits to Propane and Natural Gas.

HOME(NEW)

I've talked with Corey of Altfuelconv.com extensively. He says it's not as dificult as people think and that the demand type regulator is what does all the work and makes things simple. (it's also one of the more expensive parts of the conversion).

The links provided probably won;t have anythng as a direct bolt in for the military stuff. They all said they'd have to make a block or have the carb sent in to be modified. I opted to just machine the block to do the Spud in myself.

Another good place to try is the Smokstak forums.

 

[NDT]

On the UScarbs web site, you click on "generators" and then "military surplus". You have to put your mouse over the horizontal line to see the words. The kit is like $287.

 

[DieselBob]

Thanks for posting the info on the conversions. I would like to convert my 018a to run NG and gasoline so I pretty much would have fuel available no matter what.

 

[mdlbldrmatt135]

Direct Link: http://www.propane-generators.com/military-surplus-generators.htm

None of those match the MEP-016a/c 3kw..........

 

[m38inmaine]

Here is the link for the uscarb military gen conversion page, tricky to find.

Military Surplus Propane Natural Gas Generators

 

[FireFighterHill]

m38, non of those carbs match the carb on the Mep017a.

 

[NDT]

My MEP017A had "13620" clearly stamped in the top of the carb. So that is the kit I am ordering. I will report back if everything works out well.

 

[FireFighterHill]

NDT, let us know how it works out, I would love to do this mod.