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Off grid with a 24/7 Listeroid generator
By ArmedAndDangerous, Section Mechanical Posted on Sun Feb 24, 2008 at 06:23:16 AM MST
Can I do it in the suburbs?

For a long long time, I've wanted to buy a Listeroid engine to play with. I've been thinking lately about building a lister genset to turn my electric meter backwards and heat my house with the waste heat.
Problem is, I live in the suburbs, on a 100x100 lot, with a strict HOA and cranky neighbors. Is it practical for me to silence the engine enough to run it 24/7 without having the police knocking on my door? Obviously it would need a bigger muffler, and maybe mount it in some sort of sound dampened shed. Has anybody else done this?
On second thought, could I mount one inside my garage without hearing it throughout the house?

Off grid with a 24/7 Listeroid generator | 5 comments (5 topical)

Re: Off grid with a 24/7 Listeroid generator (3.00 / 0) (#1)
by wdyasq on Sun Feb 24, 2008 at 12:38:54 AM MST

Do you just need to waste some money or????

Your fuel bill will be more than your electricity bill unless you have a free source of fuel.

There are ways to dampen the vibration and noise of almost anything. Unless you really plan on doing this it will lengthy giving details. Additional information will also be needed. One will probably spend as much quietening the machine - or at least dampening the machine, than any other single part of such a project. Large single cylinder diesels 'thump'.

One would want to check with the legality of running such a machine before investing in such a project also.

Ron
Adventure is just bad planning." -- Roald Amundsen

Re: Off grid with a 24/7 Listeroid generator (3.00 / 0) (#2)
by ArmedAndDangerous on Sun Feb 24, 2008 at 12:58:26 AM MST

It would be mostly a hobby. Some people golf, some people fish, I like to drink beer and play with engines. :-) I would hopefully be running it mostly on WVO/WMO with some natural gas injection, but that's a whole 'nuther post. My current bill for natural gas and electricity is over $200/month, I don't think it would be hard to beat that with waste fuels.

Mostly what I need to know now is, is it possible to quiet one up with some ingenuity and a modest budget, or is this just going to be a stressful, overpriced, struggle? (like that boat I bought sigh) I would really love to hear from anyone who has tried anything similar.

Re: Off grid with a 24/7 Listeroid generator (3.00 / 0) (#3)
by Flux on Sun Feb 24, 2008 at 01:24:27 AM MST

I agree with Ron.

I think you can remove vibration by isolating its concrete mounting from the rest of the ground with rubber blocks. You can use acoustic wedges to deaden the sound, the exhaust noise is the easiest to deal with. Even so you will be unlikely to run it in your garage without hearing it. If you are far enough away then it may not affect the neighbours.

I doubt that you will save much money although you are in with a chance with free fuel. You still have to include the cost of engine maintenance and that will be high if you run it 24/7. I don't know how long lived the copies are, I seriously doubt that they compare with a real Lister with "Listard" hardened liners.

I doubt that you will get enough heat for a house unless in a mild climate so you may need extra.

The Utilities will not want your power and the payment will indicate that and you will have to do many things to even feed back, it's not like an approved inverter.

Yes I am sure it can be done but I certainly wouldn't want to be doing it.

Flux

[ Parent ]

Re: Off grid with a 24/7 Listeroid generator (3.00 / 0) (#4)
by LeissKG on Sun Feb 24, 2008 at 03:59:22 AM MST

What you are describing is what we Germans call a Blockheizkraftwerk. They are mainly used for heating through the heat from the running motor and generator. The excess electricity can be fed in the net. The one i have seen was for a block of houses and sunk into the ground for sound damping. In Germany they where economical even with a lower feed in tariff than now. You would probably have to go through a battery and a utility approved inverter for feed in. In Germany we calculate 200 to 300 kWh per qm per year for heating. A qm is about 10.7 sq feet. If your house has 1000 sqf you will need between 20000 and 30000 kWh. Since you will probably only heating for four month a year this would mean 30000 / ( 4 x 30 ) ~ 250 kWh per day or about 10 kWh per hour. With an assumed generating efficiency of 1/3 of the generator you would need a 5 kW generator running constantly to heat your house with the waste heat of the generator. If you have a super insulated house the equation changes drastically. A heat pump would also change the game.

Klaus Leiss

Re: Off grid with a 24/7 Listeroid generator (3.00 / 0) (#5)
by asheets on Mon Feb 25, 2008 at 09:30:38 AM MST

Two sites I would read:

www.utterpower.com
www.f1-rocketboy.com/lister.html

_____________________________

Alan Sheets

Off grid with a 24/7 Listeroid generator | 5 comments (5 topical)

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