leaving diesels ticking over

[seaesta]

Re:SEAESTA no Profile

Wow MI6 !
If someone tells me how to put a profile on this forum (Im a novice at PC stuff) I will do so.

Best Regards

Big Brother

 

[ccscott49]

Re:Wait a minit

I was wrong.

 

[charles_reed]

\'Fraid not

Try reading my post again

 

[duncan]

I didn't start the sillyness - have you read the whole post????????!???????

Best solution seems to be run yourboat on an electric motor on electricity generated from an ex oilfield generator ('cos it's been looked after) but only in the colded months of the year..............

 

[duncan]

Re: \'Fraid not

missing it somehow I am afraid, and your posts have tried hard to summarise and clarify so I feel a bit guilty.....

 

[charles_reed]

Elucidation

No need to go places flat-out.

Only requirement is to keep the engine under some form of load.
This is invariably provided by the prop (operating as a crude dynamometer).
In my case I use an oversize alternator to load the engine.
Many people will, when they start their engine when alongside, have it in gear - that can be a problem on a swinging mooring.

The simple thing is get the engine up to operating temperature as quickly as possible - it's said that more wear occurs during the first 5 minutes after start-up, than any other time in an engine's life.

 

[duncan]

Re: Elucidation

appreciate the last point - but a delicate balance between getting temperature throughout the engine etc
if the load of the alternator and props at tickover is enough then fine - in fact excellent.
my (attempted) point was that I do not exert any real load on the engine until I exceed around 60% of hull speed - the boat is lightish and the engine biggish - all relative of course
thanks for taking the time to respond.

have a good christmas and an enjoyable 2003 boating

 

[Maurice55]

Re: Elucidation

Mr complete beginner here,
Just a question about the warming up that Charles mentionned.
What's best ?on the idle ?at high rev ? under load ? or not ?
Me old Dad was a truck driver all his life (he would be 80 now ) and always got up early to start his engin and leave it to run for 1/2 hour before going !!! and then I went to work on building site and found that many, if not all, compressers and generaters start at full rev from stone cold !
What's best ?

 

[lauradee]

detroit diesels

am at home now so the name is different but the majority of donks in the oilfield were detroit diesels and the majority of them are left on tickover until the load is called for. nothing finer than seeing a bank of them puffing away alongside a drill rig and when the tool pusher put the pedal to the metal, glorious clouds of smoke from the twin stacks as they shouldered the load (thats when they blew the cobwebs out of the cylinders)
as a diversion we had a little land rig working for us out in angola with some good ole boys rough necking, asked one of them what hed done before this in the states, oh had a little business arrangement with 7/11 stores, didnt take much capital, just a smith & wesson and a ski mask !! turned out they were excons on licence with a wet behind the ears engineer to ramrod them. great fun till they managed to get their hand on the beer!! but thats another story
stu

 

[lauradee]

teaching granny to suck eggs

i have worked most of my life in maintenance, mostly in the oilfield, mostly as the supervisor teaching third world nationals about maintaining diesels, generators, cranes, compressors, vehicules, offshore, onshore, land rover to toyota to chevrolet to detroit diesel to cat dadida etc. i dont need any one to tell me about the different operating temps of different engines, i have stripped and rebuilt all of them, i know what they look like when they are new, i know what they look like when they are worn, i know how to trouble shoot them and i taught people this knowledge.
i started this debate because it seemed to me that people were making generalised statements and perpetuating urban myths and that perhaps those who are not experts and come to forums like this for help can now go away and start up a diesel engine and let it charge the batteries without worrying about it.
stu

 

[stubate]

occasion

 

[stubate]

CYA

working for and with americans, for most of my working life in the oilfield, gave me an insite into why they are the most succesful and richest country in the world, i have been a self employed business man since leaving the oilfield and the lessons they taught me have been put into practice to build these businesses successfully.
the only ones that had their hi priced arses run off were pretty useless anyway and were usually wingeing unionised plonkers from the north sea.
s

 

[ccscott49]

Re: CYA

unionised wingeing plonkers from the north sea..............tut, tut, Stu, not very politically correct that statement! Bit right of Genghis Khan your politics, eh? I do agree though!

 

[stubate]

far right of

attila the hun !!
and we won the third world war too under good old ronnie, never forget when glasnost hit and was in angola, russians (supposedly guarding the oilfield installations) who had never been allowed to fraternize with us were invited to camp for a beer, conversed in a bit of cuban spanish and portugeuse. we all pulled out or pix as we got drunker, was sad really to see us with our decadent western cars and possesions and them with their ladas and moscow apartments. they told us that they couldnt get any booze and none shipped in because their antonov freighters had to fly non stop across africa from russia and they couldnt afford the space for non essentials.
stu

stu

 

[stubate]

english b******s

is what one of them said over breakfast, so i said my mother is english !!
much spluttering, he didnt last long, cant beat a good "sayonora m*********r" without haveing to worry about about what the politically correct are going to do in a tribunal !!
s

 

[pugwash]

So what\'s the answer ?

Confused. What we've got from this line-up of experts is everything except a clear answer. I'm a newbie. My 30cyl Lister Petter tucked under the cockpit is a mystery but I'm learning more every trip. After reading this long post the message seems to be -- Nothing wrong with running a warmed-up diesel at tickover to charge your batteries for a couple of hours, but don't leave your engine running for the sake of it. Right ?

 

[ccscott49]

Re: So what\'s the answer ?

Right, as long as it was run in properly, and it is at operating temperature and stays there. But you need a little more than tickover to charge batteries, unless your alternator is a very slow speed one. You will need about 1500 to 2000 to charge your batteries, an ammeter would be useful to tell you when you alternator is putting out a decent charge, or a battery condition monitor, (voltmeter)

 

[stubate]

Re: So what\'s the answer ?

yup
correct, in my experience in the real world.
run it a bit faster than a tickover to make sure that you are getting the output from the alternator.
stu