Standby Generator Starting in VERY cold weather

 

Let me start a little tangential thread. My generator can be started
in merely cold weather by use of glow plugs. But suppose that weather
becomes extremely cold, such as -20F (It happened here). In times of
outages, starting a generator becomes extremely urgent due to quick
cooling of the house.

Should I expect to be able to start my Onan DJE with just glow plugs?

(I know that I should try that)

If not, I have a cheap propane torch with little gas bottles. Would it
be able to warm the generator and air in that enclosure, sufficiently?

What is the practical thing to do under the circumstances to get the
generator going?

The genset is in an enclosure.

i

 

Ignoramus607 wrote:

Park your gas grill in that enclosure and warm up the air inside. Helps
if the crankcase oil gets warm as well, so the engine spins faster when
cranking. That generates more heat for combustion.


--
Steve Spence
Dir., Green Trust, http://www.green-trust.org
Contributing Editor, http://www.off-grid.net
http://www.rebelwolf.com/essn.html

 


I could almost park my enclosure inside the gas grill. :)

Seriously, I think that I will try to look for a torch that connects
to a propane cylinder. My grill is based on NG, but I have a couple of
gas cylinders lying around.

i

 

Ignoramus607 wrote:
wrote:

My generator is bigger than 10 bbq grills, so my vision of what you have
may be off.

maybe this will help. http://www.mrheater.com/products.asp



--
Steve Spence
Dir., Green Trust, http://www.green-trust.org
Contributing Editor, http://www.off-grid.net
http://www.rebelwolf.com/essn.html

 


wrote:

I was thinking about something like ebay item

http://cgi.ebay.com/Propane-Torch-Ice-Melter-Weed-Burner-Killer_W0QQitemZ7567666114

I could carefully use it to warm air inside and heat the genset
some. (by inserting it for a short period of time, not by continuous
fire).

i