Hi all,
I have just bought a lovely old Lister CS 5-1 (was part of a dc
genset but the generator is dead bearings gone etc) It came on a really
heavy Cast base with direct coupled dc generator and radiator attached.
I also have half of an old petters Genset (the alternator) and my plan
is to unite the two with a flat belt drive, use the exhaust heat for
space heating in my new Strawbale House (nearly ready to move in but not
even nearly complete yet), and use the cooling water to heat my domestic
hot water ( the whole lot fuelled with WVO of course ). I have made a
temporary 10¨ dia pulley from Elm wood to drive the alternator for
testing purposes with an Oak key and a flat belt made from an old car
seatbelt, My engine has 25¨ dia flywheels giving the required 1500 rpm
at the alternator and this seems to work ok for the moment for testing
anyway. The alternator has an 1 5/8¨ dia shaft and the pulley is 4¨
thick so there should be enough strength for the 3.5 Kw that my engine
can deliver.

I have several problems!!! and some questions.

I am in Ireland and we use 220-240 V AC at 50 Hz.

I am aware that this alternator is MUCH too big for my engine but I have
to do the best I can with what I´ve got (My family and I live on a very
low income) I may be lucky and come across a larger cs twin engine in
the future.

First of all and most pressing I am getting no output from the
alternator at the moment. The alternator was originally fitted to a
petters diesel gen set Serial no GEN 3869 , 12 KW , 15 KVa , 220 Volts ,
68 Amps , CPS 50 ( I presume that this means 50 Hz output at 1500 rpm) ,
Phase 1. I hjave contacted Lister-Petters Ltd and they have no info. I
have looked at all the most obvious issues here, replaced the diode
bridge etc and I am getting excitation voltage after the bridge
rectifier now. However given the condition that the poor machine was in
when it was given to me (very rusty with rotor solidly rusted in
position) and some obvious places where components used to be I reckon
that I am not going to get very much further without a wiring diagram.
You should know that I am far from expert in electrical matters and
spent the electrical part of my engineering course charging up
capacitors to toss for my mates to catch. I could of course go to a
local alternator expert but the alternator weighs around 200Kg and this
would cost money (the one thing of which I am desperately short), and it
goes against my self sufficient principles I´d love to understand the
thing and be able to fix it myself. Does anybody out there know where I
might be able to get a wiring diagram? I WISH I had paid more attention
in electrical at college!!


I am planning to protect the engine with a trip switch (about15A) and a
slow blow fuse (about 10A) so that I can start motors etc relying on the
inertia of the flywheels to provide the start current and the slow blow
fuse to protect the engine from overload. I intend to run the engine
between 8 and 18 hours per day depending on domestic hot water needs and
heating load, and to divert the exhaust to waste in the summertime.

I will probably have to have a grid connection initially to run fridge
etc at night as I cannot possibly afford batteries and an inverter at
this stage.

How do you reckon I should arrange the engine cooling to domestic hot
water loop? I presume that a thermostat on the engine would be a good
idea. What should I do when my cylinder of hot water is up to temp (cut
the genny?) (divert the cooling loop to preheat my 3000Litre rainwater
storage tank?) any ideas? Please bear in mind that I will also need to
use some of the engine cooling water heat to heat my WVO tank. Will a
water pump be required ( I am inclined to think so and also to think
that a central heating circulating pump might be suitable).

Any ideas for an exhaust to hot water heat exchanger for summertime use?

For extracting the exhaust heat in the winter I plan to run the exhaust
in through my wall (inside a welded SS pipe that I have got from my
local scrapyard) and through an earth bench (I have an earth floor) and
out through the wall again and up to atmosphere. Is this a good plan?
Can you think of any problems that I might run into? Will I need some
sort of water/condensate trap?

I am planning to locate the engine outside my straw wall in a cob built
engine shed lean to affair on the back of the house, this right beside
my bathroom/ laundry room and darkroom with the kitchen very close by.

At the moment in my current home (read shack/ converted pigshed) I am
using WVO heating burning the WVO in a Turk Burner installed in my Range
which boils kettles fries sausages and heats water but this is not very
efficient I reckon about 65% of the heat is going up the chimney! So an
engine based CHP system seems to be a better solution for the new abode.
Efficiency´s could approach 80-90% in the winter (am i right here?)

Anothe issue is the afore mentioned kettle boiling, does anybody think
that an exhaust heated hotplate might be possible? (in the house of course)

And last but not least does anybody know of any other groups (yahoo or
otherwise) who might be willing and able to help

Best regards
Tim from Tang