[RE-wrenches] Gen preheat in cold climates

[Benn Kilburn]

Hi Dana, 
I have an off-grid client (central/northern Alberta) who tried this but the heat from the gen would shut down the magnum inverter due to over temp. This was in an enclosed room (~15'x15') in a much larger shop. 
The gen was being exhausted outside but it was an air-cooled unit, so blew a lot of heat.  He ended up modifying it so the hot air was blown "up" thru the gens enclosure cover (rather than down) and from the ceiling he hung a heavy duty tarp/welding blanket around the gen with an exhaust fan above on the ceiling that operated on a thermostat. 
Was a great work-around to the overheating issue of having the gen inside. 

Benn Kilburn
SkyFire Energy Inc. 
780-906-7807


> On Apr 3, 2015, at 9:11 AM, "dana at solarwork.com" <dana at solarwork.com> wrote:
> 
> At our high elevation installs the generator gets installed indoors with the balance of the offgrid system we utilize the heat for the room  
> 
> Dana Orzel 208.721.7003
> Encourage Free Thinking Self Responsible Free Range Children
> 
> On Apr 2, 2015, at 8:47 PM, Gary Higbee <gary at windstreamsolar.com> wrote:
> 
> Wrenches,
> 
> I'm curious what strategies you use to preheat a propane gen in cold climates. This is a large off-grid design in a sub-zero winter climate and ideal would be to turn on a block heater an hour or two in advance, then run the gen cycle. We plan to use either a Schneider XW or Outback Radian configuration (still very interested in which you'd use and why). We could set up a logic/relay system to first send the gen request to the heater for a while and then turn off and initiate a gen cycle but that would eliminate the ability for autostart on short notice. I've read of heat lamps on a thermostat, just wondering if you have seen other solutions.
> 
> Thanks!
> 
> Gary
> _______________________________________________
> List sponsored by Redwood Alliance
> 
> List Address: RE-wrenches at lists.re-wrenches.org
> 
> Change listserver email address & settings:
> http://lists.re-wrenches.org/options.cgi/re-wrenches-re-wrenches.org
> 
> List-Archive: http://www.mail-archive.com/re-wrenches@lists.re-wrenches.org/maillist.html
> 
> List rules & etiquette:
> www.re-wrenches.org/etiquette.htm
> 
> Check out or update participant bios:
> www.members.re-wrenches.org
> 
> _______________________________________________
> List sponsored by Redwood Alliance
> 
> List Address: RE-wrenches at lists.re-wrenches.org
> 
> Change listserver email address & settings:
> http://lists.re-wrenches.org/options.cgi/re-wrenches-re-wrenches.org
> 
> List-Archive: http://www.mail-archive.com/re-wrenches@lists.re-wrenches.org/maillist.html
> 
> List rules & etiquette:
> www.re-wrenches.org/etiquette.htm
> 
> Check out or update participant bios:
> www.members.re-wrenches.org
>