Whole House Generator

Discussion in 'Energy & Fuel' started by Beth Gallagher, Mar 24, 2021.

  1. Bruce Andrew

    Bruce Andrew Very Well-Known Member
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    #106
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  2. Thomas Stillhere

    Thomas Stillhere Very Well-Known Member
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    I serviced several Houston Hospitals and they used large inline six cylinder engines, we would service them on a schedule and run them after servicing to check for any problems. Everything was natural gas and I suppose being a long time before Terrorist attacks via the USA it wasn't a need to have extra storage at that time 1974
     
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  3. Thomas Stillhere

    Thomas Stillhere Very Well-Known Member
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    The engines I worked on were always clean and no carbon build up in the cylinder heads or valve train. They ran about 1200 RPM constantly. It was just clean natural gas that was not treated so the public could smell it as a safety feature. They even piped raw gas to the air starters on the engines, it was totally consuming the operator standing there cranking the engine, they didn't even bother to pipe it away from the engine house or installation.

    Many engines used a small four cylinder engine as the starter and they would sit there for years without ever being started. Most of the time I had to take the exhaust manifolds off and clean out all the wasp and dirt dobbers so it could breathe. Natural Gas is a very cold wet fuel and starting a cold large engine using spark plugs will not work, you always had a propane can that you could tap into the intake manifold to give it that first start boost. Once it cranked it ran just fine and you turned on the natural gas. The system looked like a typical natural gas meter back then with the railroad style diaphragm. Natural gas use for fueling is under the Railroad commission guidelines and repair of the metering equipment requires a licensed technician even back then which of course we didn't do that it wasn't a part of engine maintenance. It was hard work and hard to find people that would be willing to be away from home or family. I have been on one location for two weeks, they always add more work while you are there at the plants. We also had a lot of engines out in the Rice fields of Texas pumping water and closer to La the lumber business used large 6 cylinders for fire fighting inside the facilities as water pumpers. There were very small 6 cylinders pumping distillate or untreated gas into those large round storage tanks. Once again no smell or color just clear as water and low grade gas. It reminded me of var sol we used for cleaning in the car dealership shops.
     
    #108
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  4. John Brunner

    John Brunner Senior Staff
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    Thanks for the explanation. I've never been exposed to that facet of technology.

    Do you mean those red tubs with the gooseneck spout and the sealed pump systems? We had those in the small engine repair shop I used to work in.
     
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  5. Thomas Stillhere

    Thomas Stillhere Very Well-Known Member
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    Yes, the distillate looks just like it, no smell. I had the service of Jim Silver Dollar West's small pumpers in Madisonville Tx. Of course he had been dead for a very long time but his wife was still living on the property. Such a cool place, he had a small herd of Texas Long Horns on the property. I met two older men who had worked on the property for 35 years taking care of the little pumpers and doing other work on the property. Jim West got his name during the great depression, he always carried a pocket full of silver dollars and he would hand them out to the needy. I would go out and tune the engines when they were due, all I had to do was draw a little of that distillate to do my cleaning. I think in the 50 years since I left the service I have worked on just about everything as a mechanic. I wish I had kept a little record of the places I've been. I made a mistake and turned down a job for an engine lease company. Had I taken it I would have been driving all over the western states doing the repairing of lease engines. I didn't like the idea of being away from home all the time. I should have taken the job. I really enjoyed the final phase of my working life working as an automatic transmission rebuilder in Nevada. Now I can just manage to get my two feet in my pants legs every morning without falling on my face. ;0)
     
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  6. John Brunner

    John Brunner Senior Staff
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    So when you traveled with work, were you in any given place long enough to get to experience it, or was it all work and then go back home?

    I've only lived in a couple of towns in two states in my life. I've traveled with work, but it's mostly been overnight stuff for meetings, and then right back home.
     
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  7. Thomas Stillhere

    Thomas Stillhere Very Well-Known Member
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    You mean the particular place or location, or the work itself. I have never liked working in one place for a long time. It was common to move a lot when working for dealerships because we all worked on a commission, so if business slowed down we were really hurting. I went to work 3 days after leaving the Army and it was Al Parker Buick in Houston. They sent me and two other young guys to the GM training center a half a day for 3 months and paid the fee, nothing was ever free when you are involved with manufacturers. You would think they cared but in reality we didn't work for GM or any of the other manufacturers. For decades the dealers didn't even follow federal laws paying a minimum wage for 40 hours. It was nothing like today. I got good experience and did what I enjoyed doing. My worst job was working for my Father in Law, he was a small electrical contractor in Houston and my wife kept harping on me until I finally went to work for him. I hated the job because it was so boring, same ole thing day after day. We wired 400 apartments in Bryan Texas, I can't tell you what it was like dragging wire thru the walls and the same thing over and over. Laying the underground transformer plumbing and then pulling the wire hundreds of feet. The Father in Law bought an old 56 chevy truck to use on the job site so a fork lift could lift a spool of transformer wire to the back of the bed on a mount that was made to let it spin the spool. The axle bowed from all the weight but it managed to do the job. I think it was like 7 lbs per foot of wire. I liked moving a lot and did it until I got too old and the traffic got too heavy. I really enjoyed living and working in Nevada.
     
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  8. John Brunner

    John Brunner Senior Staff
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    You sound exactly like me. I did a bunch of stuff before I moved into office work...I always like learning something new and maybe applying it for a bit, but then I want the next challenge. I was lucky to find careers that allowed me to do that...or most likely, I sought them out. I'm the same way with hobbies. I learned to do picture framing, so I went on a tear for several months buying reprints at the art gallery, applying a coating to them, then making real nice frames. I jumped in with both feet and after a while I was done with it...haven't made a frame since. Most of my hobbies have been that way...when I feel I've learned most of what I'm gonna learn, I move on.

    I've always been fascinated that there are people who love the consistency and repetition of some jobs, like clerks who have worked for me...they do the same thing day in & day out for years and seem to enjoy the predictability of it all. Then there's people like you & me who like variety and stimulation. And the world needs all of us.
     
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  9. Faye Fox

    Faye Fox Veteran Member
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    @Bruce Andrew Even though my electrical outages were for a few hours recently, I decided to pony up the dough and have my service moved over to a main line that has never gone down. It cost me a lot less than a whole house generator or getting married. It wasn't that I was trying to weasel out of our deal, but I couldn't survive two weeks without electricity. The old sideline I was on went several miles through all kinds of trees that were always causing outages with the winds we get here. Now on the main line that is straight from the dam and massive transformer complex, I am as good as it gets. No trees or outdated equipment and safe from everything but a massive earthquake or a meteorite strike. Should I survive a two-week outage ....................;):)
     
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  10. Bruce Andrew

    Bruce Andrew Very Well-Known Member
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    @Faye Fox

    Dang! I've got that marriage license all filled out with your name on it. What am I supposed to do with it now? [​IMG]

    Hey, I think that shapely 30 year-old babe down the road from me has "Daddy issues" and is looking for a "father figure" hubby. [​IMG] I can probably just cross your name off and put hers in.

    Wish me luck! [​IMG]
     
    #115
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  11. Faye Fox

    Faye Fox Veteran Member
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    Sure go ahead with the shapely 30 year old babe.:rolleyes: It is kind of you to help her with her daddy issues. :cool:
     
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  12. Beth Gallagher

    Beth Gallagher Supreme Member
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    In case anyone is wondering, we still don't have a whole-house generator. :p
     
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  13. John Brunner

    John Brunner Senior Staff
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    You got any spare 30 year old babes with daddy issues kicking around? 'cause I know someone who's in the market. It helps if she can move machine shop equipment and wants to live in the Sunshine state. ;)

    To keep it on topic: you might be able to generate some interest here.
     
    #118
    Last edited: Jun 18, 2022
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  14. Beth Gallagher

    Beth Gallagher Supreme Member
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    Yeah, I was getting a real charge out of it.
     
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  15. John Brunner

    John Brunner Senior Staff
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    I don't like bringing politics into it, but are you pro pane?
     
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