Price Help Mep-018a

[BigRix]

Ran into a guy who has a Mep-018a for sale. He says it was running a year ago but now has a bad fuel pump. He was planing to convert it to propane. He is asking $500.

I was wondering if its worth me even going to look at it at that price? My searches didn't find much on 018a prices. Hope y'all can help.

 

[Isaac-1]

I have no direct experience with the MEP-018a, however I will say that there certainly seem to be a lot of people on here and over at the SmokStak generator board that had bad luck with the generator ends on that model. I think there was one guy here that bought 2 or 3 MEP-018a generator ends 'as-is" from units being parted out that had shorted out windings to try to replace the generator end that had shorted out on his otherwise good unit. This may just be bad luck, but given how rare it is you hear about shorted out windings on most other MEP models it may at least be a cause of concern. As to price it sounds fair for an otherwise running unit (assuming you can rig a gravity fed tank to the carb and hear it run), a known non running generator
is worth a lot less than a running one, but be aware these generators are not known for their fuel economy as they were designed in the 1960's when gas was cheap.

Ike

 

[dependable]

I bought one on a trailer from GSA a few years ago for $600. It had been sitting but only had 50 hrs since rebuild. I lost interest when I learned how much gasoline they use. Also it is a 3600 rpm unit. One good thing about the MEP-018a is they are apparently pretty easy to convert to natural gas or propane. If you are hooked up to gas, it might make a good standby unit. $500 is cheep for a 10kw unit, if it works.

 

[jbk]

i have read a couple of threads on these, on one phase was overloaded and another somthing got into the head causing trouble. i had one for years good gen. for gas. very powerfull 500 not bad if it wotks. the downside to these, the noise 82 db at 25 ft. fuel consumption is 2.4 gph mine got around 2.2 still very thirsty.

 

[leedawg]

i have read a couple of threads on these, on one phase was overloaded and another somthing got into the head causing trouble. i had one for years good gen. for gas. very powerfull 500 not bad if it wotks. the downside to these, the noise 84 db at 25 ft. fuel consumption is 2.4 gph mine got around 2.2 still very thirsty.

wow 2.4 gph. My mep 005 burns about that in diesel thats a lot of gas for that small unit.

 

[derf]

Your MEP-005 will power a small village and the 018 will only power a small house.

 

[derf]

IIRC they are 3600 RPM which means not only are they thirsty but they will not likely last as many thousands of hours as a Diesel 1800 RPM unit.

 

[leedawg]

to put it in perspective I only paid 750 dollars out the door for my mep 005 and put in 300 dollars in parts/ batteries so id say not such a great deal....

 

[DieselBob]

Not that I'm an expert on these things but that control cube with the louvers might indicate that it is a MEP-023a 400hz unit. The couple of MEP-18a I have seen and my 18a do not have the louvers like in the picture you posted.

 

[derf]

to put it in perspective I only paid 750 dollars out the door for my mep 005 and put in 300 dollars in parts/ batteries so id say not such a great deal....

That's apples/oranges. A portable 10 (13?) kW gen has some advantages over a 30kW tank.
$1050 for 30kW of power is a great deal if you can transport the 005.
Sometimes having something under 1500lbs is good, too.

 

[derf]

Not that I'm an expert on these things but that control cube with the louvers might indicate that it is a MEP-023a 400hz unit. The couple of MEP-18a I have seen and my 18a do not have the louvers like in the picture you posted.

Good eye.

I think 018s look like this:
http://www.hillbillywizard.com/images/0162.JPG

 

[jbk]

i think your right bob didnt even notice the control panel is different. here some pic. of my 018a.

 

[leedawg]

That's apples/oranges. A portable 10 (13?) kW gen has some advantages over a 30kW tank.
$1050 for 30kW of power is a great deal if you can transport the 005.
Sometimes having something under 1500lbs is good, too.

point well taken... I guess looking at fuel burn and that it is not a diesel and what it can put out and that it is not exactly light and small. And it is not running seems kinda like you would be better off with a mep 16D or pay a little more for a commercial HONDA.

Any way guess value comes down to what you want out of the unit for me was KW of power so im skewed toward the 005 being a much better deal. my 003 was not putting out enough to power the whole place.

I am now not adding anything useful to this thread so I will stop typing

 

[derf]

If your 30kW was about 1/2 the size then you probably wouldn't have gotten such a good deal.

I defer to Jim on 018s for sure. I've seen his stuff in person and it is probably cleaner than when it was originally delivered to the government.

 

[leedawg]

If your 30kW was about 1/2 the size then you probably wouldn't have gotten such a good deal.

I defer to Jim on 018s for sure. I've seen his stuff in person and it is probably cleaner than when it was originally delivered to the government.

I agree sorta why the 003 and 002 go for such a high price. Out here usually well over 1400 running condition unknown.

 

[BigRix]

He read me all the stuff written on the data plate and it indicated MEP-018a. It also has 15 hours on the meter. Could the plate or louvered panel have been changed when rebuilt?

As for portability, it's supposed to weigh 860 lbs. ok if on a trailer or at a fixed location. Other than that, no so portable.

 

[Isaac-1]

It would be possible, I would certainly try to confirm that it really is a 60 hz unit by putting a good meter on it while running. People have been known to try to pass off 400 hz paper weights as 60hz generators by removing the 400 hz meter on the panel and replacing it with a 60 hz meter, since the frequency reading is done in a transducer the 400 hz units can be made to look like a 60 hz if you only read the onboard meter. (this has the effect of changing out the scale printed on the meter only). Also some models share the same data plate for both the 60 and 400 volt versions (amps are all the same), I don't know if the MEP-018a is that way or not.

Ike

 

[derf]

The gauges and switches are laid out like a 017A (5kW gas 3600 RPM) control panel.

 

[derf]

This pic seems to clear it up, although is shows the same pic in the TM for the 400Hz.