<div dir="ltr">Heating the regulator won't help if the propane is not vapourizing. You would need to heat the tank.<div>However, you do not need to heat it very much, just enough to let it vapourize. Think about putting it somewhere with a little heat, or burying it.</div></div><div class="gmail_extra"><br><div class="gmail_quote">On Fri, Apr 3, 2015 at 1:51 PM, Larry <span dir="ltr"><<a href="mailto:larry@starlightsolar.com" target="_blank">larry@starlightsolar.com</a>></span> wrote:<br><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0 0 0 .8ex;border-left:1px #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex">
<div text="#000000" bgcolor="#FFFFFF">
About the carb heat idea...LP is a liquid at -44°F. The liquid does
not combust, it must be vaporized. As the ambient temperature drops
closer to the LP liquid temperature, there would be a reduction in
how fast liquid is vaporizing and therefor a reduction in volume.
What you need in cold weather is enough volume to maintain at least
11" wc while cranking or running the engine. You can test the vapor
pressure with a manometer while cranking to verify if this is the
problem. <br>
<br>
If this is the reason the engine does not run, my thoughts are that
heating the LP regulator would be much more economical from an
energy standpoint, than heating the whole engine block. Perhaps an
insulated enclosure with silicone heaters appropriately attached
would work. They are available in many DC or AC and at various
voltages.<br>
<pre cols="72">Larry Crutcher
Starlight Solar Power Systems
</pre><span class="">
<div>On 4/2/15 10:34 PM, Allan Sindelar
wrote:<br>
</div>
<blockquote type="cite">
Gary,<br>
Mac's approach is intelligent and will work well, as an automated
system with the right hardware. We took a quite different approach
on a somewhat similar scenario in 2009.<br>
<br>
This was a Kohler 8.5REZ, with the electric carb heater and AC
charter for the starting battery. No block heater, but that could
have been handled the same way. The inverter was a Magnum
MS4024PAE, but that doesn't matter here. When we ran the bundle of
gennie output conductors, we added a separate load circuit
conductor, on its own breaker in the system E-Panel. Here's an
excerpt from the original proposal description about our approach:<br>
<blockquote><u></u>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt">The
unit uses an electronic generator controller with modest
(estimated at 200-700 mA, depending on state of operation)
draw on the starting battery. This controller drops to
minimal “sleep” draw automatically after 48 hours of
non-operation. This generator does not have a starting
battery charging coil, but rather uses a separate AC
battery trickle charger to maintain the battery. I will
install a 20W PV module and small charge controller on the
generator to keep the starting battery charged. I will
also install the AC charger to operate whenever the
generator is running. While this combined setup has worked
successfully for other installers with whom I have spoken,
if this proves insufficient I can later add a switch and
relay to allow the charger to also operate off of inverter
AC if ever needed.<u></u><u></u></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><u></u> <u></u></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt">The
unit also requires a built-in carburetor heater to operate
during cold weather. This heater is normally controlled by
a thermostat to conservatively come on at or below 40°F,
which would mean that it would operate nearly continuously
during <u></u><u></u>Taos<u></u><u></u>’
winter months, draining the PV system. My solution is to
put the carburetor heater on a manual mechanical one-hour
time switch located at the generator; you will activate
the heater through this switch 15-30 minutes before
starting the generator. <u></u><u></u></span></p>
<u></u></blockquote>
This may not work for you. This is a modern doublewide serving as
a seasonal family meeting place, rather than a full time
residence. With our usual sunny winters, we figure that if nobody
is there, loads are minimal, and we don't want automatic
(unattended) generator operation. I think we used a DG WP box
inside the generator enclosure, with a mechanical timer (maybe
one-hour) controlling a GFCI receptacle, with carb heater and
battery charger plugged in.<br>
<br>
I hope that gives you some ideas you can use.<br>
<br>
<div>
<div>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b>Allan Sindelar</b><br>
<span style="font-size:10.0pt"><a href="mailto:allan@sindelarsolar.com" target="_blank">allan@sindelarsolar.com</a></span><br>
<span style="font-size:10.0pt">NABCEP Certified PV
Installation Professional<br>
NABCEP Certified Technical Sales Professional<br>
New Mexico EE98J Journeyman Electrician<br>
Founder (Retired), <span>Positive Energy, Inc.</span><br>
<b><a href="tel:505%20780-2738" value="+15057802738" target="_blank">505 780-2738</a> cell</b><br>
<br>
<b><u></u><u></u></b></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><u></u> <u></u></p>
</div>
</div>
<br>
</blockquote>
<br>
</span></div>
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<br></blockquote></div><br><br clear="all"><div><br></div>-- <br><div class="gmail_signature"><div dir="ltr">Chris Mason<div><div style="color:rgb(136,136,136)"><span style="font-size:13px">NABCEP Certified Solar PV Installer™</span></div><div style="color:rgb(136,136,136)"><span style="color:rgb(34,34,34)">Solar Design Engineer</span></div><div style="color:rgb(136,136,136)"><span style="font-size:13px">Generac Generators Industrial technician</span></div></div><div style="color:rgb(136,136,136)"><span style="font-size:13px"><br></span></div><div><a href="http://www.cometenergysystems.com" target="_blank">www.cometsolar.com</a></div><div>264.235.5670</div><div>869.662.5670</div><div>Skype: netconcepts</div></div></div>
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