Non-Marine Generator Choices?

[rslifkin]

A permanent mount for the generator with the exhaust ducted away or dispersed into the cooling air discharge greatly reduces the risk. Installed well, it should be just as safe as a built in marine gas generator like some of us have.

[Chotu]

Originally Posted by NaClyDog

Isn't using an portable gas generator on a boat a dangerous proposition? I'm thinking things like improper grounding, CO and yet another fuel source in the open?

Simple to ground your generator properly.

CO isn’t an issue in my installation. It utilizes a Venturi type exhaust, like you see on RVs to stop any station wagon effect.

My systems are designed for a ridiculous level of safety as can be seen in my thread about gasoline heaters.

[redneckrob]

Thinking a bit orthogonally here, do you really need a thru-hull for a water cooled generator? Are you using it entirely at anchor? Could you simply set up a weighted suction line (and discharge if you really don't want any holes on the hull) you threw over the side before starting the generator?

[Chotu]

Originally Posted by redneckrob

Thinking a bit orthogonally here, do you really need a thru-hull for a water cooled generator? Are you using it entirely at anchor? Could you simply set up a weighted suction line (and discharge if you really don't want any holes on the hull) you threw over the side before starting the generator?

That’s some very good thinking. That’s exactly what I am doing with the water maker. An intake will drop down from the Bridge deck when at anchor.

However, the boat runs on gasoline. That’s the fuel. So, I don’t want any gasoline generators inside. I know they make one, or they used to until recently, but it’s a lot of extra weight, extra maintenance and failure points. There’s no reason for all of that.

I don’t want to have to worry about marine growth, corrosion, impellers, heat exchangers, that’s all just extra stuff to break.

I’ve spent my entire adult life living aboard away from marinas for the most part. So, I’ve come to understand how completely unreliable everything marine-based is. When you start bringing salt water into your boat, you are inviting a whole mess of problems in.

I realize this goes contrary to what all of the marine marketing departments tell you, as well as popular opinion, and of course there are compromises to be made in the aesthetics and beauty, however, I am looking for practicality.

Not looking to put demands on my personal time from the boat. Building it is enough. LOL I don’t want to be maintaining it forever.

[a64pilot]

Do you have RV airconditioners?

[Dockhead]

Originally Posted by Chotu

I’m looking ahead to replacing a nearly 10 year old non marine generator I have. It’s been exposed to salt air and loves to run for 30-40 mins and shut down unexpectedly. Even with almost no load.

I’ve replaced the carb, the low oil sensor. It just decides to shut down randomly.

I’m looking hard at the EFI generators because everything EFI is better than carburetors and all the annoyances they cause.

So would you buy a $1000 EFI generator (Ryobi), replacing it when it dies, or go for the $4000 EFI generators (Honda EU 7000, Onan 5500).

. . . .

If you don't need more than 1.6kW of power, then you won't do better than the Honda suitcase inverter gen. Yes, it has a carburetor, but this is manageable. People get 10 years and more out of them with little trouble. Just have to be careful to (a) run dry after use; (b) use fuel stabilizer; (c) maybe run engineered fuel through it if it's going to be stored for a long time. You might have to take the carb apart once in a while, but this is not the end of the world.



I would stay far far away from the construction type generators. Noisy as hell, much less protected, much less suitable.



Make mine diesel and only diesel, but your use case is different. If gas and if 1.6kW is enough, then for sure Honda.

[a64pilot]

He’s going to run two AC’ he could do that with two Honda’s. But a Honda isn’t really meant to be a continuously run machine, great for a few hours a week kind of thing, but not for 10 or more hours a day, day in and day out.

[Manateeman]

Hi. Let me see if I have this right. You are going to put a gasoline powered construction site generator on your boat at anchor and run it a lot for air conditioning. You are going to create a lot of noise which will disturbed fellow sailors without regard for their right to enjoy the quiet of a natural environment.
You are going to burn petroleum and create a carbon monoxide plume to achieve your personal comfort.
WOW. I’m absolutely speachless.
Mark, a manatee with earplugs and a gas mask.

[Davy J]

You are going to burn petroleum and create a carbon monoxide plume to achieve your personal comfort.

Well, I guess that means you live without air conditioning then...........

You do know that if you are running something electric at your home, including A/C, someone, somewhere, is probably burning something to make that happen........

[a64pilot]

Originally Posted by Davy J

Well, I guess that means you live without air conditioning then...........

Many of us do.
Now currently I am in a Marina so I do not, but more and more grid power is becoming renewables, and even the plants that do burn something do so much, much more cleanly than any generator.
Generators, at least portable ones have no emissions controls that I’m aware of and compared to engines that do, they are horrible polluters.

Way long ago apparently barbecue grills way outpaced automobiles as the largest source of air pollution in the Los Angles valley and according to the US EPA a new car is 99% cleaner than one manufactured in 1970.
Now what 99% cleaner means I don’t know.

Running a generator to run AC quickly becomes untenable, it’s oil changes every week, and huge amounts of fuel used and your racking up hours on the generator at a phenomenal rate. It’s cheaper I believe to buy a slip and plug in.

The clean air act is one of the few success stories, too bad we eliminated CAFE standards, because that was working too.

[rslifkin]

Running 24/7 A/C on a generator is definitely impractical, but running it for a couple of hours in the evening after a very hot day can be well worth it, especially if you need the generator for other stuff anyway. Gives the people a chance to cool down and cools the heat-soaked boat after being in the sun all day, meaning it'll be cooler at bedtime (rather than still cooling).

[Chotu]

Originally Posted by Manateeman

Hi. Let me see if I have this right. You are going to put a gasoline powered construction site generator on your boat at anchor and run it a lot for air conditioning. You are going to create a lot of noise which will disturbed fellow sailors without regard for their right to enjoy the quiet of a natural environment.
You are going to burn petroleum and create a carbon monoxide plume to achieve your personal comfort.
WOW. I’m absolutely speachless.
Mark, a manatee with earplugs and a gas mask.

Reading your post, about the last thing anyone would probably ever call you is speechless. Lmao.

Speak from something you understand.

[a64pilot]

Originally Posted by rslifkin

Running 24/7 A/C on a generator is definitely impractical, but running it for a couple of hours in the evening after a very hot day can be well worth it, especially if you need the generator for other stuff anyway. Gives the people a chance to cool down and cools the heat-soaked boat after being in the sun all day, meaning it'll be cooler at bedtime (rather than still cooling).

I’ve tried that and it doesn’t work. 10 min after you shut off the AC, it’s hot and stuffy inside, so you open the hatches, 2 min after opening the hatches it’s the same as if the generator had never been run.
The heat soaked hull and cabin top, are still heat soaked, the AC does nothing to cool it, too much mass and too little cooling of the mass.

Shading and wind are your friends, intermittent AC use just teases you.

Now I have the capability, there are times like it’s raining but still hot that having AC is nice, or once in a blue moon you find a place that after dark the mosquitos come out, but for us running it daily is way more work and expense than I’m willing to to do.
It’s at least $20 a day in fuel if running a 7 kw gas generator, that times 30 days is $600 and you can get a Marina for that, and that’s not including oil and depreciation.

It’s just not viable for us, others maybe, but it doesn’t work for us.

[Chotu]

Originally Posted by a64pilot

Do you have RV airconditioners?

That’s correct. After all the design work, these are exactly what I’m using.

The best fit the design parameters while being easiest to install and rather nice looking compared to other options.

I had been looking at mini split systems but the evaporators are problematic to install.

[rslifkin]

The A/C in the evening thing doesn't help a ton if it's really humid and nasty out. But in weather where it cools down enough overnight, I've found it to help some. Yes, you open the boat back up when you turn the A/C off, but you're now letting the cooler evening air into a cooled down boat, rather than a boat that's still 90+ degrees inside. It'll still be the same temperature inside in the morning, but I find myself more comfortable due to the somewhat cooler temperature when I go to bed and less temperature drop overnight. It does have to be on for at least an hour, if not 2 to un-heat-soak the boat enough to matter. Combining the A/C run with an evening shower can add up to make things feel much more pleasant even if it doesn't actually cool stuff down all that much.



It probably depends a bit on the boat as well. My aft cabin doesn't ventilate great without a lot of wind, so it takes longer than the rest of the boat to cool down when the outside temperature starts to drop. That might be why I find the A/C more helpful there.


Generally, when we're out, I only run A/C if I already need to fire up the generator for something else (like to make hot water or use the stove). And it would have to be pretty miserable out to convince me to run it all night, as I don't overly care for letting the generator run unattended nor do I want to listen to it if I don't need to. I'd typically go for a marina in weather where A/C overnight is pretty much necessary.