Generators and Inverters
Building Small Combined Heat and Power Systems for Remote Locations and Emergency Situations
by Steve Chastain

Be your own electrical utility. Build a power plant. A big one. At a fraction of the price of a new one. Or build components and sell them to others who want to build units. Lots of ideas and opportunities here!

You get more information in this book than in half a dozen others combined. Steve distills down the knowledge he gained building power plants to provide electricity for his home when hurricanes take down power lines.

Steve will show you how he took an old Pinto engine and mated it to a commercial alternator. Then he'll show you how he made a carb so he could run it on propane instead of gasoline: patterns, castings, and machining. You'll get details on the remote starter he built. He'll show you how to build a governor from scratch: patterns, molding, casting and machining - including winding a custom spring. You can make a new flywheel housing to mate the engine with alternator. You learn how to create a water-cooled exhaust manifold to recover waste heat. You'll learn how to make a gas regulator valve, mufflers, vibration isolators, and more.

He'll tell you about his experiences with cleaning waste oil so it can be burned in a diesel engine, about his experiences mixing up biodiesel, and more. You get details on oil filter technology, sound deadening efficiency of various materials, the heat transfer properties of liquids for use as coolants, and on and on.

What you get is more detailed how-to information in one place than I've ever seen. And this is the first book I've found that shows you how to make engine components from scratch. There are lot of energy books on the market. Most are not worth the selling price. Here's one, as expensive as it is, that is certainly worth MORE than it's selling price. A power plant could save your butt during the next weather crisis. Or you can build components or complete units as a side business.

This is all proven. No speculation. Steve, a mechanical engineer, will show how it's done. A top-rate energy book! Probably the best I've ever seen. Something you should have. Get a copy! 5-1/2 x 8-1/2 softcover 352 pages

No. 2085 ... $34.95

While I thought that I might be able to build a home generator that would work, I was surprised at how well it works. The completed project exhibits very good frequency control, is very quiet and generates clean power that operates everything in my house, including my 4-ton AC unit as well as if I were connected to utility power.

The propane generator exceeds most of my expectations. The one area where it fell a little short was in the total output, however due to the small carburetor and lower volumetric efficiency, that might have been expected. Using two electric ranges connected in parallel and a clamp-on ammeter the output was as follows: 50 amps at 240 volts-60 Hz, 55 amps at 240 volts-57 Hz, 60 amps at 220 volts-55 Hz. Checking published data from various generator builders, the output per cubic inch of engine displacement is right in line with industry results. Therefore, I am not disappointed. Extrapolating from these results, I would assume that you can expect 125 to 135 watts per cubic inch of engine displacement at 1800 rpm. Therefore, a 2-liter engine would be good for 15,250 to 16,500 watts.

Gasoline to propane conversion is not difficult and works so well that I have considered performing a conversion on one of the Nissan Sentras in my driveway.

The remote starter is an impressive little device that allows me to start and stop the genset from inside my house. I am very pleased with its operation.

The engine silencing techniques work well and the addition of an input muffler to the diesel engine dramatically reduces the noise. Removing the engine fan and going to shell and tube heat exchangers further reduced the diesel noise to a low hum, even before the addition of an enclosure.

Although long term tests of the heat recovery system, corrosion protection system and various mixtures of waste oil have not been performed, short run results look good. Mixtures of 30% waste oil mixed with salvaged heating oil starts and runs the diesel set with no trouble. In the future, a fuel oil heater will be built and tested, hopefully allowing me to use an even lower quality fuels successfully.

Summing it all up, I am extremely pleased with the results....

...Much information is contained in this book and it should allow you to address any situation in your small power generation project.

Best of luck to you,

Stephen D. Chastain