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Gas generator question

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I just bought a 5550watt Troy Built generator for $100. It works great but is LOUD. I don't need to produce that much power. Could I lower the running speed or does it need to spin at that rate? How critical is generator speed?

I have an older 1000 watt yamaha that needs a little work. I might run that for now.
 
Unless it's got some fancy schmancy gearing gizmo, a generator needs to run at a constant speed to generate the specified volt/watt/cycle output. Most turn at 3600rpm.

Slow down the engine, the output isn't what your stuff expects. Bad things happen.

Ask me how I know ...

By the way, a 5550 watt Troy Built for $100? If it's working right, that is a BARGAIN!

Tom
 
Would a muffler replacement help, Billy?
 
With that dough you saved on the machine, buy an exhaust silencer. They are made for bikes and atv's etc. Many years ago I was hired to construct an underground dead quiet generator room. It involved a chute full of large rocks after the exhaust silencer and worked quite well. The silencer dropped plenty of the noise on it's own and the chute with the large rocks finished the job. We are talking quiet here, real quiet.
 
Run the exhaust into a 30 gallon drum filled with big rocks (like above)
It should be really quiet
BillM
 
That's still a muffler, right?
 
How about slowing it down too? I'm trying to save $$$ on fuel too.

Big rocks are hard to come by here and expensive. Dirt, however; is .....er....dirt cheap.
 
kellysguy said:
How about slowing it down too? I'm trying to save $$$ on fuel too.
Click to expand...

errr ... did you see the first reply to your post? The only "slow it down" option you have is "turn it off", unless you're absolutely sure there is *no* current draw at all. Zero, zip nada.

T.
 
How much power do you need? Some folks run a 1000 watt for the small stuff and only use the 5500 for the large consumers [water pump, table saw, Bessemer steel converter].
 
At first, about 800 watts. Come summer, will have to run a 6000 btu window unit. This is for my new studio/ freight trailer.

I have a 1500 watt inverter I think I'll use at first running off on the Towcar. 1000 watt gen runs 6 hrs off of 2 gallons. T/C will burn more, but I won't have to clean the rust out the tank or do the carb on the 1K gen.

Yes, the big gen runs. I had to clean the carb, but it works great now. I really don't need a 5550 watt gen, but i couldn't pass it up. The 6000 btu window unit was free.

remeber when I told you guys whenever I start looking for something it shows up cheap if not free? Well... I went looking for both and these found me. The guy I got them from had no idea I needed them.
 
:wall: Never happens like that for me.
 
If you lower the speed of the generator, the cycles/second will drop, and alot of the stuff you run is looking for that 60 cycles to operate properly. There should be a governor on the unit that maintains engine speed so that you always have the correct cycles/second. The amount of fuel you use is more dependent on how heavy the load is, not so much by how fast the engine is running. Same with a car engine. If you're sitting in the driveway in neutral, the amount of throttle opening you need to run the engine at 3600 rpm is not much more then at idle. Let it run where it's governed at and you'll be OK.
 
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