best gens

[TomC]

I'm going to make the gen compartment out of 1/4" steel plate for the base with 3/4" plywood for the actual cabinet with 1" foam lead insulation, completely sealing the cabinet with no openings to the outside.  Then to feed air inside the cabinet, will have a 6" inlet squirrel cage blower pulling the air through a 6" diameter air cleaner (the old air cleaner from the bus [I installed a 7" for better flow with the turbo]).  The clean air will be pushed into the cabinet at the alternator end, then a 6" hose will exhaust the air at the other end with at least a 6ft run on the hose to quiet the engine noise.  I will run double mufflers, and have the radiator remote mounted with a 2spd squirrel cage blower for high day time use, and low speed for quiet night time use. At the campsite, will have a detachable stack to push the exhaust up over the roof of the truck.  The generator compartment is behind another outside door, so I'm hoping all mentioned plus the double door will make for a quiet generator-we'll see in a few months when I get it installed.  Good Luck, TomC

[John316]

Also, I just saw the comments about how often to change the oil. Our Kubota book says every 200 hours. I would assume others would be the same, or similar. We use Rotella 15W 40 for ours (we also use the same in our bus, so it is nice to keep it the same).

God bless,

John

[Len Silva]

Hi John,

24/7 is 168 hours a week and 200 hours would be 8.3 days.  I just figure it's easier to set up a routine to do it on the same day every week when you are running that kind of service.

I think I would also shut it down for a few minutes once a day to check the oil.  Not sure I would want to depend on a low oil sensor.

Len

[John316]

I agree with you (on this one ), Len. I would change it sooner rather then later. However, I just posted that because that is what our book said. We end up changing ours just about every 2 weeks, depending on how much we run it. We don't run our quite 24/7, but sometimes it gets pretty close.

God bless,

John

[Eagle]

Tom, thanks for the info on Wrico. Does anyone else have one of these gens? Just trying to get some more feedback on them as far as their use. We are thinking maybe a 13k? We are going to install 3 cruise aires, and we are told that they take a lot of power when they kick in. We will have all exectric, including cooktop, and full size 220 dryer. Tom, we are with you for wanting to make it as quite as possible. How do you intend to install yours to make it that way? Any ideas are appreciated. Now is the time to figure it all out. Starting from scratch to do a conversion, is more difficult than expected. Mostly the decision making part, as far as floor plan to maximize space. We have two other guys who travel and work with us, so, it is more difficult to plan. By the way, our powertech has a cat engine on it. We found a place to look at it tomorrow morn. but they said they dont have much as far as parts. Wish us luck     Thanks for the help

Ruthi I have a Wrico and have been very pleased with it.  If I were you I would give Dick Wright a call and explain to him what your plans are.  He is very knowledgeable and can give you some good pointers about what you will need and how to accomplish what you need.