Jump to content

Leaving engine running


captain flint

Featured Posts

Is it bad for a diesel engine (Yanmar/Barrus Shire) to be left idling in neutral all day?

 

I have a 3.5kw 230v travelplus generator and some jobs to do requiring power tools. I don't know whether it's OK to just run them off the genny, leaving the engine running, or if I should find somewhere with shore power. 

 

I seen to recall reading somewhere it may not be the best to just leave it running in neutral all day..... 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

14 minutes ago, captain flint said:

I seen to recall reading somewhere it may not be the best to just leave it running in neutral all day..... 

 

You will hear this constantly from barrack room diesel engineers but with a modern engine it is generally regarded to be piffle.

 

Vintage diesels possibly, but not a Yanmar.

  • Greenie 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

 

Whether it annoys the hell out of your neighbours is a different matter though.

1 minute ago, Chewbacka said:

Beta warm that long periods idling can cause engine damage and for battery charging etc the engine should run at 1200rpm to reduce shock and vibration damage.

 Good thing he isn't asking about a Beta then eh?! :P

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Its not good for them but they will most likely cope, just how humans cope with drinking vodka and smoking fags.

To put this in perspective, we've got a Beta JD3 which is really a John Deere 3029. John Deere state no long periods at tickover, if its more than a few minutes then the engine must be stopped. John Deere specify a tickover at 850rpm.  Beta have reduced the tickover to 450 so some days the engine spends the whole day at BELOW tickover speed. I suspect this engine won't last as long as it would if working hard in a tractor, but its now done over 10,000 hours and still has good compression and zero oil consumption......just going to find some wood to touch.

 

..................Dave

Link to comment
Share on other sites

 

If a boat engine runs in 'idle' mode, it suggests it is not doing anything useful. So why not turn it off.

     ...... unless of course, when cruising past miles of in-line moorings 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I don't have any experience of Travelpower but will it generate a proper, decent power supply at tickover?

 

I have spoken to a couple of boaters who said washing machine sometimes stops when engine on tickover. 

Edited by pearley
Link to comment
Share on other sites

6 minutes ago, pearley said:

I don't have any experience of Travelpower but will it generate a proper, decent power supply at tickover?

 

I have spoken to a couple of boaters who said washing machine sometimes stops when engine on tickover. 

This of course depends on the pulley ratio but I suspect that in most cases the TP will not manage its full output (3.5kW) at tickover. On my black box version the voltage falls quite significantly if we work it hard at very low revs. I have measured 170 volts. It will probably be fine for lower load devices.

 

Our washing machines just stops and waits till the volts come back up which is rather decent of it.

 

............Dave

Link to comment
Share on other sites

2 hours ago, dmr said:

This of course depends on the pulley ratio but I suspect that in most cases the TP will not manage its full output (3.5kW) at tickover. On my black box version the voltage falls quite significantly if we work it hard at very low revs. I have measured 170 volts. It will probably be fine for lower load devices.

 

Our washing machines just stops and waits till the volts come back up which is rather decent of it.

 

............Dave

So the OP would be better off with his engine at a faster speed when using mains appliances?

Edited by pearley
Link to comment
Share on other sites

24 minutes ago, pearley said:

Our washing machines just stops and waits till the volts come back up which is rather decent of it.

 

The problem we used to have with our silver box TP was that it fed a Victron Multiplus. So if the engine revs fell too low with the washing machine on heat, the TP cut out, the Victron switched to invert, overloaded and turned off the AC. The TP now saw no load and turned on again. The AC came back on, the TP went into overload... The engine revs would cycle up and down something chronic.

 

Knowing what I know now, I should have put the Victron on Charge only, but the TP would still have cycled, I guess.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

21 minutes ago, pearley said:

So the OP would be better off with his engine at a faster speed when using mains appliances?

For lots of reasons its better to run an engine at above tickover.

If using a TP and drawing a significant load then then in many cases a few revs are needed to get the voltage correct. Its a bit counter-intuitive but the various mechanical stresses on the TP generator are increased at low speeds (and maybe thermal stresses too)

If charging batteries from an alternator then there is more current available with a few revs so the charging will be completed sooner (except when the charge current has fallen to a very low value) and again thermal stress on the alternator might be greater at very low revs.

Perhaps most of all a modern diesel will struggle to keep itself hot at tickover, and even if the water temperature holds up the temperatures within the cylinders will be below optimum. This is a source of possible bore glazing, but even if this is not a problem it will still likely lead to increased sooting up within the engine and a possibility of increased wear.

 

.............Dave

Link to comment
Share on other sites

44 minutes ago, BruceinSanity said:

The problem we used to have with our silver box TP was that it fed a Victron Multiplus. So if the engine revs fell too low with the washing machine on heat, the TP cut out, the Victron switched to invert, overloaded and turned off the AC. The TP now saw no load and turned on again. The AC came back on, the TP went into overload... The engine revs would cycle up and down something chronic.

 

Knowing what I know now, I should have put the Victron on Charge only, but the TP would still have cycled, I guess.

You could have used the power assist mode of the Victron if you didn’t want to run at a higher revs.  You would have had to find the amount of amps the TP could provide at the revs you wanted, dialed that into the Victron and then the Victron would provide the extra (which may not have been overloaded)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

As I understand it the problem is glazing the bores if run under light load and steady revs for too long.  When I had a brand boat with clothy flappy things and a Yanmar, the running in instructions were to run hard for the first 50 hours and vary the revs to avoid this.  However my Beta in my narrow boat is often run for an hour or two at 1200 revs to use the washing machine but I do vary the revs occasionally and have had no problems.  When pootling I normally use about 1200 revs and would vary that every hour or so except that within every hour you seem to have to slow for moored boats, slam it in reverse because some idiot tries to come into the bridge hole you are already in or I make a complete cock of mooring! 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

On 01/07/2018 at 14:40, Alan de Enfield said:

My Yanmar digger runs at tick over for 8-10 hours at a time, with the odd bursts of activity now and then.

Is the engine knackered ?

 

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.
×
×
  • Create New...

Important Information

We have placed cookies on your device to help make this website better. You can adjust your cookie settings, otherwise we'll assume you're okay to continue.