Best Generator?

Hi Ashley , if you have room in your fuse box then just buy a din rail breaker unit the same as the one in my photo and then a external socket for the generator to plug in , that’s all you need nothing else , if installed by a electrician that is all that’s required . it will not need to be inspected other than by the electrician who fitted it .
Your drawing is showing 2 change over switches so i guess you don’t have separate supply’s for each building making it a bit more costly .
Dave
ps where’s the video slow coach .

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If you are not aware of this site Ashley. A lot of good information.

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A guy gave me a non charging predator style generator. I took the cover off and found little slices of windings… apparently someone hit the end of the generator and cracked a piece that jammed in the windings and got torn loose by the rotor. The hour meter says four hours on it, it looks like new .

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So, how do you repair windings?

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Step one, buy a broken generator of the the same model.

Step two, hope the generator assembly is good.

Step three…. do the obvious swap

Rewinding a genhead is probably not worth your time but doable. If the electrical steel laminations are broken…. It is well beyond DIY to repair.

Northern Tools/etc sells new replacement genheads for some popular generators but they aren’t cheap. So that is another possibility but you would get a better deal from some idiot that burned out the engine on their costco generator.

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In my case, I have several Tecumseh powered generators, whose engines ventilated their blocks. I am curious to see what type of taper these predator crankshalves have.

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Chinese use a Honda V type, American made are an SAE are E type and the flange pattern for the generator are different

V type

E type

Be advised before ordering anything to check I have been wrong a few times…

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This is a great thread and maybe should be pinned as a reference for anyone else contemplating a gasifier solution.
Lots of good advice covering a lot of relevant topics, the scope of which demonstrates the complexity of what is trying to be accomplished.

To repeat what others have discussed, finding the ‘right’ gasification solution depends on a ton of variables;
-knowledge (and experience)
-your skill set
-available time, money, and fuel stock
-safety
-amount and duration of power needed (24/7? 1kw-vs-25kw?)
-engines
-electrical configurations
-etc, etc

I’d like to emphasize a few over arching variables that have had a big impact on my progress with gasification:

**Convenience-
Human nature being what it is, if it is laborious, hot or cold, dirty, unsafe, or uncomfortable in any way, the probability that is will be a practical long term solution goes down precipitously. Don’t neglect convenience in your planning.

**Reliability-
Any system that you intend to rely on needs to be reliable (right?). Everything that can go wrong, will go wrong. Reliability goes up with skill and knowledge, but goes down quickly with complexity. The more blowers, valves, coolers, grates, filters, nozzles, joints to seal, etc, the less reliable the system will be.

**Complexity-
Every one of the variables involved in a gasifier project is impacted by how complex the system is. The more complicated it is, the more it demands time, money, knowledge, skill, and, frankly, will power.

With less complexity you will likely learn faster, make faster progress, spend less money, build momentum and motivation, have greater reliability, and get to the payoff phase quicker.

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Good points, Chuck and all reasons why I can’t see gasification ever becoming in anyway mainstream, either stationary or mobile. The skills required to create a system and the dedication necessary to maintain it’s function-ability requires a devotee that is all but extinct in today’s world. Even an out of the box ready to run system like MattR’s; by his own admission, will probably get relegated to a vacant area of the garage when the buyers realize there is still a lot of work involved.

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