Diesel engine tank heater (electician guys?)

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Clearwater guy

Piranha
MFK Member
Feb 27, 2010
579
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Michigan, USA
I have an idea that I can heat a few thousand gallons of water, and get free electricity out of it. Or, if you will... I could generate electricity and heat a whole bunch of water for free....

I want to use a diesel generator, and use the heat from the liquid cooling system (via a safe thermal transfer system) to maintain temperature of a large system.

I need to figure out a way to regulate the starting and stopping of the generator via temperature sensor parameters (high/low) instead of the normal power outtage control switching.

I've put a lot of thought into this, generating your own power isn't cost effective, but if you save 5 kwh per day or more by using the heat that is normally wasted, then you would come out ahead.

I 've read some genius stuff here in the DIY section, that's why I joined up to share this theory...

Mike
 
Would it be cost effective? You still have the cost of the diesel compared to the cost of the electric.

I could see how to do it, but it depends on what it takes to trigger the generator to come on? Could applying 110v trigger the generator?
 
That's the question? I don't own a backup generator, so I am not familiar with the startup circuitry. But it seems like some hot water heater controls could be wired into the start-up circuit somehow.

Cost effective- Well, if you are supplying enough diesel fuel to generate 2000 watts...but at the same time, saving another 1000 watts that you don't have to pay for by using the normally wasted heat, then your generator just became 133% efficient, didn't it?

Mike
 
Not really. So your looking at a total of 3000watts per hour of savings?
If I'm not mistaken that is 3kW per hour. Looking at my latest electric bill 3 kWH cost me 15.6 cents (5.2 cents per kWh). I'm pretty sure it will cost you more in diesel than that.
 
The overall idea is not a bad one, but there are a few flaws in it. So you know where I come from.....Prime Power Background US Army, did power generation, grid design/build/maintain. Also worked with Back up generators and ATS (Automatic Transfer Switches).


If you are thinking to have the Generator as a "Back up" for your house and thereby using the heat generated to heat your water then there are a few things to know. First is that the generator runs most effeciently under a certain load (depends on the genset). Also, constantly kicking the gen on and off for only a few minutes to an hour or so is really bad for the engine, lots of wear and tear. Not to mention the maintenance and upkeep. Not to be the bearer of bad news but the local epa guys would go nuts over how much exhaust you would be putting out. When these things fire up there is a huge black billowing cloud of smoke that rolls out until they get up to sync speed. Someone would have a heyday with this. As for the controls to start and stop the generator, well that could be done, but you would wind up paying for a good set of relays and contacts to make sure they lasted long enough for the abuse of the constant start/stop cycles. Not to be an idea killer, the thought was actually pretty good.

If you are just wanting a cheaper way to heat water....
I know of a gentleman who took a 55+gallon drum and turned it sideways over his woodstove and plumbed it to the hotwater tank. Once the weather got cold enough to run the stove he just opened the HWhtr breaker. Saved a ton of cash throughout the winters, and the water stayed hotter longer than it did in the summer time.
 
Clearwater guy;3933302; said:
That's the question? I don't own a backup generator, so I am not familiar with the startup circuitry. But it seems like some hot water heater controls could be wired into the start-up circuit somehow.

Cost effective- Well, if you are supplying enough diesel fuel to generate 2000 watts...but at the same time, saving another 1000 watts that you don't have to pay for by using the normally wasted heat, then your generator just became 133% efficient, didn't it?

Mike
Click to expand...

That doesn't make your generator 133% efficient, that just means your generator is inefficient and you're using the otherwise wasted energy to do something. Assuming you won't lose any heat on the way to the aquarium (you will), you're 100% efficient.

There's also the whole startup thing mentioned earlier. You'd be best off running the generator consistently and selling the electricity to the power company (which is what most people with solar panels do.) Then you'd have a solenoid valve to divert the coolant to a radiator in the aquarium, controlled by the thermostat.

Will you save any money doing so? Probably not. You'll spend so much money setting it up in the first place such that even if the diesel is cheaper than the electricity would've been, you'll still end up with a net loss.
 
wonword;3933388; said:
If you do end up doing this, you might as well go all out and use a turbo to run your filters :)
Click to expand...

You mean you havn't been doing that?
 
Actually, I first came up with the idea to heat my home. In such an application, it tends to make more sense. Heating the house AND the water would be even better.

My fuel oil furnace burns at a rate of .85 gallons per hour on a duty cycle of maybe 10% on an average day, 40% when its super cold.

hmmm.... To make sense, it would require some system to store the heat during off cycles. A massive amount of water would take hourse to heat up just a few degrees and hours to cool back down...but that ruins the whole simplicity of my plan.

Dratt!
 
not a bad idea just not an eficiant idea. the only good way i can figure this culd work wuld be to have something like a start stop system like detroit deisel uses for semis and to use the radiator as a way to transfer the heat to your furnace like a heater core in a car just place the radiator in the funice cage and eliminate your gas piping and burning system the heat generated shuld be around 210 degreasso for at tank this dosnt semm like a good ideathe above mentiond start stop is pricy but also has a setting that starts the engin at a set temp and vice versa
 
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