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Post by Avenger on Feb 7, 2014 12:12:21 GMT -5
In the interest of generating some content over here, and documenting a winter project that will probably turn into a fall project if it goes like the rest of them, I present my struggle with Westerbeke generators:My need to fix things instead of replacing them (that, and my budget) really ends up keeping me busy. The Avenger came with a generator. Well,... it said so in the paperwork, but it wan't in the boat when I picked it up. It took nearly a year (and the threat of litigation) for it to actually materialize. So we have Exhibit A: a Westerbeke WMD7.7: img src="http://i46.tinypic.com/15d2kgg.jpg" style="MAX-WIDTH:100%;" I don't know what WMD really means in the context of generators, but let's hope it doesn't match the political meaning. It arrived all nice and shiny courtesy of a fresh coat of paint over the rust. The P.O. of the Avenger had a mechanic who was, well,... a flake is the nicest thing I can say. He was the reason for the threat of litigation. This was originally a running take-out Northern Lights 5.0KW. When he finally supplied the promised generator it had morphed a teensy bit. The serial number reveals it as a 1982 vintage which by some quirk is the same year as the main propulsion engines. And also by happy co-incidence a closer output match to the 7.5Kw Onan that history tells us was in the boat before it died. A story for another day. So now we have our generator. Before we start investing money in it we take it out for a test drive to make sure it actually works. img src="http://i44.tinypic.com/2q0u9fd.jpg" style="MAX-WIDTH:100%;" With a cobbled load bank we prove that 1.) the injection pump was stuck. Once we unstuck it it leaked a lot , but we were able run it and prove 2.) it makes electricity per specification but it overheats because the heat-exchanger is full of green goo: img src="http://i44.tinypic.com/inel54.jpg" style="MAX-WIDTH:100%;" Fix that and it makes power reliably. While it's running it gets a cooling system flush and drain. Then it goes in a corner until we reach "that point" where we're ready to do the AC in the boat.
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Post by Avenger on Feb 7, 2014 12:22:30 GMT -5
Here's where the trouble really starts. A friend mentions that he has an old three cylinder Westy that he was keeping for spare parts because it matched the one in his boat. He's decided that if the one in his boat dies he's just going to replace it so if I want it for spare parts I can have it. "Did you say free generator?"
Turns out there were a few tiny problems.... Due to human memory it turns out it wasn't a three cylinder. It was a two. Not a parts match for mine. So I look on Westerbeke's site and guess it's a 4.4Kw. And it was out of a Bertram. You know the deal, under a hatch in the cockpit so it has seawater dribbling on it all the time. They said the back end is ugly. Did I still want it for spare parts? "Did you say free generator?"
One thing we learned from Hurricane Sandy was you can never have enough generating capacity and something that runs on a more available fuel source, like home heating oil, is VERY good-to-have when there's hour long lines for $50 worth of gas. Oh, and the Ol' Milwaukee is a 1966 and despite low hours, who knows how much life it has left. Also it's a little gasoline thirsty, plus it's as loud as H-E-double-toothpicks. I rethink the prospect and decide that a 4.4Kw marine diesel generator with the right adaptations would be well suited to emergency home power generation. "You said free generator!" And here it is the day I picked it up: img src="http://i48.tinypic.com/fven9i.jpg" style="MAX-WIDTH:100%;" They said the back end is ugly. Okay, which end is the back? 'Cause the ugly goes all the way around: img src="http://i45.tinypic.com/16jqzwg.jpg" style="MAX-WIDTH:100%;" Not sure whether I should see a dentist or a nutritionist about this biting off / chewing issue I seem to have. Probably a psychologist would be better.
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Post by Avenger on Feb 7, 2014 12:29:08 GMT -5
Of course, before we can decide how deep the ugly really goes a few things need to be addressed... One, the mounting rails are leaving a trail of rust chunks everywhere. Two, it appears to be stuck. A quick twist with a breaker bar and it turns. So I don't have a sound reason to do the sane thing and just scrap it. Three, the cooling system is giving me flashbacks of the green goo. Four, even if it makes power it's a two-wire back end, so 120V only. Which means we can't run the house's electric stove. Not the end of the world, but not ideal. I told the Admiral we're switching to gas eventually anyway. Now we have a real reason. Five, being buried under a hatch it was set up for remote control only, so there's no instrument panel or controls for it. Six,.... oh, never mind. It gets too depressing. In no particular order: Scrap the steel rails and isolation mounts. Balls o' crap they are with no hope of redemption. The plywood dolly is making the footprint fairly large in a shop already jammed with projects and junk. A quick 'n' dirty solution from scrap 2x6 yields some space and mobility: img src="http://i50.tinypic.com/14nn60g.jpg" Quirky things happen. Someone, long ago, gave me an instrument panel and some spare parts from a later model Westerbeke they were scrapping. Here's another quirk. The rust bomb is a WMD 4.4. A smaller twin to my WMD 7.7. The 4.4, as best I can read the rotting dataplate, is a 1984. Somewhere between the two production dates Westerbeke came up with a modular plug to connect their panels. The gift panel has a modular plug too. Easy-Peasy-Lemon-Squeezy. Something had to go right. img src="http://i43.tinypic.com/2d6tjlk.jpg" To replace the missing voltmeter I scrounged up an old voltmeter I had in a car long ago. Got rid of the car, kept the meters. Alas it's an odd size like 1-5/8". After an absurd amount of lathe time I made an adapter ring to make it all fit. Even replicating Westerbeke's radiused bezel face: img src="http://i42.tinypic.com/op674j.jpg" What's the point of doing something without finesse? One may as well be British. Free panel installed with free working and inconspicuosly mismatched voltmeter: img src="http://i39.tinypic.com/w07581.jpg" Another reason I'm a hoarder. The yard said this mess had a rebuilt engine and it ran great. Why anybody would rebuild an engine on one of these is beyond me. But looking through the oil fill it is spotless inside. And there's a lot of yellow paint on it, which is either primer or a Yachtsmanbill-type Caterpillar paint job from the rebuilder. We need to see if this thing will run and if the back-end will make volts or just a screaming noise. The yard owner says it wasn't making power so I started looking at the rectifier and one of the wires broke off the brush holder. Problem #1. A friend who stops by the shop quite frequently used to build generators with antique engines as a hobby. He brought some manuals from Winco (maker of the back-end) about diagnostics and adjustments so we're going to test everything before we fire it up. He looked it over and pronounced it "not that bad" so we shall see.
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Post by skycheney on Feb 7, 2014 15:42:26 GMT -5
Love the pics. Keep em coming.
And nice work on the new panel.
I have a Winco PTO generator for my tractor that I bought new in 1994. It's a 25KW and has always worked great. I bought it when I built my house since I didn't have any power to the site. Since then, it rarely gets used. Only during power outages or if I need power somewhere else on the property that is too far to run an extension cord.
Good luck. I hope it is salvageable.
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Post by Avenger on Feb 8, 2014 8:48:38 GMT -5
Thank you. Don't worry, it gets louder and funnier.
Winco doesn't seem to make these anymore, and I see no mention of them on their website. The generator guy said one of his buddies had contacted them and they still had parts. But you had to get to the right guy to get them to admit it. One thing at a time.
Speaking of content,... don't you have some recent vacation pictures that could go in the Travelogue thread? We need this place to be about more than kvetching about across the hall.
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Post by Avenger on Feb 10, 2014 9:57:27 GMT -5
Over the Christmas break I went dumpster diving (in my driveway) and grabbed a couple of scrap 2x4s that the contractor had ripped out of the house so I could make pads for the heavy-duty steel sawhorses. Once that was done I could pick the 4.4 up and set it on horses so I didn't have to work on it on my hands and knees. img src="http://i41.tinypic.com/2cp2plw.jpg" style="MAX-WIDTH:100%;" I was mainly interested in getting at the wiring on the back end, but in the course of monkeying with things the engine suddenly wouldn't turn more than 1 revolution either way. Eventually we decided to start tearing stuff off it because because we could see into the back end and there was nothing hanging it up so it was either a problem in the geartrain or a cylinder. Eventually we got to a point where it looked like the cylinder head had to come off. But before we took that drastic step we blew air into the glowplug holes and started working it back and forth. Lots of soot came out and eventually it would turn freely again. We guessed that a carbon chunk had fallen into a cylinder and caused the problem. The exhaust ports have a lot of carbon in them so we think it may not have been sufficiently loaded which would lead to that kind of buildup. A conversation with the yard-owner yesterday revealed that to be the case. The original owner mostly used it to provide power to the blender. While we were removing stuff we found one of those temp sensitive little plastic melting discs attached to the head. Since rebuilders tend to use them for warranty purposes it kind of confirms that the engine was rebuilt. Of course, their definition of rebuilt is always open to interpretation. img src="http://i39.tinypic.com/o7t7wx.jpg" style="MAX-WIDTH:100%;" While you're in there... draining the coolant (the stuff that wasn't solid) I broke the drain fitting on the heat exchanger. So I ripped that out, flushed it and bead-blasted it to see the extent of the damage. It seems to have two drains. One had a plug and one a rotted petcock. I suspect the one for the petcock was a repair because it comes up yellow like brass, and the broken one is red like copper. OTOH it could just be zincless brass which could explain why it broke. Since it's unlikely that this will ever see salt water again I'm probably just going to plug the old one with some kind of patch and move on. img src="http://i43.tinypic.com/2q8vtll.jpg" style="MAX-WIDTH:100%;" Hmmm,.. I wonder how the genny would look if I polished the heat exchanger instead of just painting it? img src="http://i41.tinypic.com/2hyc4et.jpg" style="MAX-WIDTH:100%;" Once we got past that hurdle I started trying to get the rotted screws out of the brush holders and tried some continuity checks on the coils. Fairly quickly I realized that the rectifier had been wired incorrectly since I had marked everything prior to disassembly. I was hoping that the real problem was simply bad wires on the rectifier and somebody's failed attempt at diagnosis. Alas,... 'twas not.
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Post by Kiwipushrod on Feb 10, 2014 10:30:17 GMT -5
Did You say Free generator?
I couldn't help it
(rofl)Kiwi
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Post by Avenger on Feb 10, 2014 11:28:44 GMT -5
Just as scary as a free boat!
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Post by skycheney on Feb 10, 2014 16:45:37 GMT -5
Thank you. Don't worry, it gets louder and funnier. Winco doesn't seem to make these anymore, and I see no mention of them on their website. The generator guy said one of his buddies had contacted them and they still had parts. But you had to get to the right guy to get them to admit it. One thing at a time. Speaking of content,... don't you have some recent vacation pictures that could go in the Travelogue thread? We need this place to be about more than kvetching about across the hall. I do have pics. I'm sorry. But my internet at home is out most of the time. I own a 96ft tower on my farm that receives a signal and then it broadcasts that back to my house. The company that does it has been messing around trying to get it to work right since I live in the woods with no direct line of sight. Its really frustrating as it will work one minute and not the next. That makes uploading pictures difficult. And no. We don't have DSL from the phone company because the old lead lines can't handle it. We have no cable although the cable line ends at my driveway and they won't bring it back to my house. I might be able to go with satellite, but that is slow and pricey. I live so close to civilization, but for some reason, they just don't want my business.
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Post by Avenger on Feb 10, 2014 17:35:57 GMT -5
Well, that stinks. I know DSL only goes just so far from the Central Office. I'm really surprised at the cable company though.
Oh well. Maybe sometday they'll get their act together, or satellite communication will get better. How about cellular? There's smart phones that will create their own Hot Spot that your computer can connect to.
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