Gov Surplus Gensets questions

If you have a reciever ball hitch, pull it out and insert a pintle hook.

5 KW won't run much welder. Great for lights etc. But, assuming 220 Volt, that's only 22 amps.

Even if you look at them you're still buying a pig in a poke. At that price, buy two, and hope you got enough parts for one good one.

Good Luck

Karl

so, you need 12 kW.

It is a MEP-002A, 5 kW rated. It can go up to 7 kW at sea level. I doubt that it can do 12 kW for extended periods of time. It is a ver5y good generator, basically brand new. Some parts are hard to come by as it uses a standard Onan DJB engine, but with 24V starting/charging system. Chances are that you will not need any parts. These things last forever if you provide basic care.

By the way, I have Onan engine heads for it that I am now selling.

I doubt that you would be able to afford winning it.

It is also missing a muffler. You will need something to fit 1 1/4" NPT.

This seems like a nice unit, barely used at these hours, not capable of single phase (although you can obviously use its separate legs for single phase).

It will outlast you and your son if you use it as described.

Again, I am doubtful that you would be able to afford winning it.

also a MEP-002A, one tire is deflated.

This is a tiny generator way below your requirements. Good for camping.

Well, yeah, take your time to drive up there!

They go for a lot more than that. MEP-002A go for a grand or so, sometimes $700, sometimes $1200. And they are worth that.

The 30 kW unit may go for $1,500.

You have to also add the value of the trailers.

Then he will appreciate the MEP-002A.

You need a new receiver with pintle hitch. Note that these trailers were meant to be pulled by deuce and a halfs or 5 ton trucks. They are quite high. Much higher than a pickup truck. You need a pintle hitch that adjusts and is placed much higher than your truck receiver. They sell those, I once priced them.

They also have an air braking system and 24V lights. Supposedly, kits are available for civilian style braking.

I have been blissfully happy with my Onan DJE generator that I bought from the military in condition HX:

It came to life after some TLC.

Good luck, you can likely make some money on these units and that could give you some mental justification to keep one of them.

i

Try looking for one of those combo pintle and ball hitches

Download their catalog and look in the trailer section

Yes, I would say you are buying them at scrap prices. Anything the military used has been sitting outside for 5 plus years.

Replace ball hitch with Pintle.

Look at these:

5kw Generator Welder w/13.5HP Robin Engine 240amps welding 7 gl tank 14.5 hour run time at 50% load shpg wt 240lbs $2,000 #92493-0VGA Champion 4500 or Champion 10,000 MSRP (US$)* $1,346.00 to $3,257.00 I like the Champion 10,000, because it will weld up to 1/2" deep, when you need it to.

:/

Halcitron, have you looked at the actual pictures of the stuff being sold?

He needs a different height of the pintle, about 10 inches higher at least. These are high trailers. They will look really stupid on a standard height receiver, leaning forward way too much. Probably unsafe too.

This consumer class device does not even begin to compare with MEP-002A. Not even in the same class. When there is a choice of a low hours MEP-002A at $1000 vs. this generator at $2,000, it is a no brainer.

i

My thought is to move it in quietly, and muffle it as totally best yuo can. Run it in a stand of trees or bushes for further muffling. My sense is that your neighbors will protest the small engine being "high pollution" and you'll get shut down.

OUt of sight (out of hearing range) out of mind.

Thinking.... is gasoline cheaper than Greyout Electric? I ran the numbers in the Northern Tools catalog. Galon of gas, figures out to about 2,000 watts for one hour of runtime.

Thinking.... pipe it into natural gas, if that's any cheaper?

worse case, throw that trailer on your own trailer til you can get it home........then fix the tongue

My gut feel for this is that it can't be economical. Have you done any numbers, comparing your cost (fuel, maintenance) to the utility? Here's a sanity check: if it really is cheaper to do your own, you should get a bunch of gensets and sell their power back to the utility!! Putting it that way, doesn't it seem unlikely that it's economical?

Bob

Where I live, unincorporated rural, tis not an issue. Trust me on this

Hence my desire for diesel. Plus the storage issues are smaller.

Thats possible.

Gunner

Lathe Dementia. Recognized as one of the major sub-strains of the all-consuming virus, Packratitis. Usual symptoms easily recognized and normally is contracted for life. Can be very contagious. michael

Here in California, depending on location....the stuff could well have been outside for 20 yrs. Shrug...not a lot of rain or bad weather here. Kills rubber parts, but rust and whatnot is not generally an issue unless one goes over to the coastline.

70 yr old cars are common, no rust worms here.

I dont have a receiver hitch on my truck, but simply a 5000lb factory rated step bumper with the ball in the middle of it.

Gunner

Lathe Dementia. Recognized as one of the major sub-strains of the all-consuming virus, Packratitis. Usual symptoms easily recognized and normally is contracted for life. Can be very contagious. michael

All indeed are concerns of mine. Thanks Karl

Gunner

Lathe Dementia. Recognized as one of the major sub-strains of the all-consuming virus, Packratitis. Usual symptoms easily recognized and normally is contracted for life. Can be very contagious. michael

One should note...that this lot has 2 gensets in the lot

30kw..but old I think

Gunner

Lathe Dementia. Recognized as one of the major sub-strains of the all-consuming virus, Packratitis. Usual symptoms easily recognized and normally is contracted for life. Can be very contagious. michael

If they were for sale on my base, I would try relatively hard to win them. Did you see my long post about the individual lots that you mentioned?

i

Forgot to say.

is THE place to ask questions about old Onan gensets. Their onan forum is at

alt.energy.homepower is another, it is a great newsgroup with several old onan techs and generator experts.

I have very little doubt that even in the unlikely case that the gensets you mentioned are not working in their present condition, you would likely be able to restore them.

i

An Onan commercial mobile 7.5 KW diesel generator uses 0.96 gallons/hr at full load.

At about $2/gallon, that's about 27 cents per KWH.

Ah.... at say, 15 cents a kWhr, that $150 extra is 1000kWhrs. Even at

10kw draw (pretty heavy welding), that's 100 hours per month. Somehow I doubt that.... But if you were using that much, a fair guess might be 100+ gallons of diesel per month to supply it from a generator. So if you get the generator for free, and if it never needs any maintenance, and if you don't mind hauling a barrel of fuel every couple weeks, then it will only cost about $100 a month extra to use the generator. The more you weld, the higher the premium will be, and the rising cost of fuel will make it even worse. If you really want to save money, then buy an inverter-based machine. At 100 hours a month of use, it would pay for itself in a couple of years.

But better yet, put one of these

your appliances (especially your friggen computers!) one a time, and I bet you'll figure out why your bills are so high. Check into TOU utility rates as well.

And one last thing... you're using about three times as much electricity as I do in your normal month, and sixth times as much in your high months. That ain't Gray Davis's fault.

Wayne

mounted

Does anyone make an adjustable pintle?

Where there is steel, there is a way.

:/

Yes, they are available, I saw them sold on websites for about $70. Gunner does not have a receiver though, only a ball on his bumper. Given that he is able to cut and weld metal, he is capable of making some sort of a base for a pintle hitch that would bolt to his bumper.

i