Many of us have noted there’s some small air cooled diesels for sale in the USA. I’m dumbfounded the EPA has allowed it, but best we consider them while we can get one. Air cooled is likely the way to go IF you have to lug it around. But there’s no comparison between the diesels I’ve hefted and the gasoline engines of equal horsepower. you’ll want a friedn’s help to lug the 10hp Yanmar clone further than across the room.. add a frame and a generator, they you’ll want help from one of your sturdy friends.
What I’m most curious about right now, is how quiet can you make a Yanmar clone, what are the sources of the noise and what efforts pay the biggest dividends in noise reduction? Zach’s house has been wired with a transfer switch, the CF186 and the PMG will be the source of back up power, the cabinet will be insulated and reduce some of the noise, but the beast presently makes more noise than I care to listen to. Due to the fan design, the cooling fins are shorter, and likely make less noise than a motorcycle engine and the stock muffler may be a large contributor, first step is to prove this with a secondary muffler and use a DB meter to prove the benefit.
If you have experience in noise reduction of small air cooled diesels, you comments would be most appreciated.
Due to a lot of factors, it’s hard to know where all these Yanmar clones are being made. I get reports from owners of those assembled by the Changfa plant, but we’re not even sure that all the engines with Changfa names on them were assembeled there! So far, the ones running at 3000 or less seem to be providing good service, but no one I know has anything like 6000 hours on them, and if you use the new EPA approved oil which is void of antiwear agents, and anti corrosion agents, you should expect a short life… so I think…
George B.
A little more I learned today.. inside a wooden cabinet with the back open and no insulation, running inside the shop with the door open.. I set a stool 30 feet from the roll up shop door.. open. I measure 75 db using “A” weighting. I played with the modified muffler but that’s not where the noise is comming from. Next I’ll try insulation in the cabinet and take another reading. As per weighting, this link suggests “A” weighting scale is the standard for industrial noise, so i will continue to use it for reporting. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A-weighting
SWEPCO 306 15-40 is still formulated the old way. Lubrication engineers products have proprietary additive packages that will protect like the old formulations. Water contamination is the killer I see every day at work. The only thing Ive come across that works given time and temperature is Luboron fuel additive. Its best used preemptively, since it will displace rust varnish ect and load the filter if the system is dirty. I dont sell any of those things,but i do use them. The luboron stuff also goes by the very unfortunate name of motor silk/lubrisilk. Effective anticorrosion agent in fuel or oil.