Reccomended generator

[fudd]

I’ve got a 6.5 kva lister diesel  generator on my boat. It’s got me out of trouble so many times I wouldn’t be without it. Trouble is it’s very very noisy. I’m starting to spec a new narrowboat and wondered if anyone can recommend a quieter more modern one. Thanks in advance. 

[TheBiscuits]

4 minutes ago, fudd said:

I’ve got a 6.5 kva lister diesel  generator on my boat. It’s got me out of trouble so many times I wouldn’t be without it. Trouble is it’s very very noisy. I’m starting to spec a new narrowboat and wondered if anyone can recommend a quieter more modern one. Thanks in advance. 

Definitely.  That's a very good idea. 

[Alan de Enfield]

18 minutes ago, fudd said:

I’ve got a 6.5 kva lister diesel  generator on my boat. It’s got me out of trouble so many times I wouldn’t be without it. Trouble is it’s very very noisy. I’m starting to spec a new narrowboat and wondered if anyone can recommend a quieter more modern one. Thanks in advance. 

Maybe if you could specify your requirements (Kw's or daily consumption) and budget it may help get relevant suggestions

 

For a properly installed 6-7Kw water cooled (quiet) marine generator you would be approaching £10k

[OldGoat]

2 minutes ago, Alan de Enfield said:

Maybe if you could specify your requirements (Kw's or daily consumption) and budget it may help get relevant suggestions

 

For a properly installed 6-7Kw water cooled (quiet) marine generator you would be approaching £10k

Which makes a Travel Power unit more attractive.

Add to that fresh water heat exchanger cooled engine for all round quiet running.....

[blackrose]

This is my favourite. https://www.northern-lights.com/m673ld3-54-5-kw/

 

Not sure why you'd need 7kW, but if you go into the Northern Lights menu they've got some bigger ones.

[fudd]

3 minutes ago, Alan de Enfield said:

Maybe if you could specify your requirements (Kw's or daily consumption) and budget it may help get relevant suggestions

 

For a properly installed 6-7Kw water cooled (quiet) marine generator you would be approaching £10k

I expect it to be expensive. I probably would go like for like, 5+ kva. The lister coped ok, washing machine, charger and calorifier. 

[blackrose]

2 minutes ago, OldGoat said:

Which makes a Travel Power unit more attractive.

Add to that fresh water heat exchanger cooled engine for all round quiet running.....

Most proper marine diesel generators are water/heat exchanger cooled and are likely to be quieter than a boat engine. 

[fudd]

1 minute ago, blackrose said:

This is my favourite. https://www.northern-lights.com/m673ld3-54-5-kw/

 

Not sure why you'd need 7kW, but if you go into the Northern Lights menu they've got some bigger ones.

Just thinking that 5-6.5 kva does my existing requirements. I like a bit of redundancy. 

[blackrose]

1 minute ago, fudd said:

Just thinking that 5-6.5 kva does my existing requirements. I like a bit of redundancy. 

Have a look at this one then: https://www.northern-lights.com/m773lw3-97-kw/

[Alan de Enfield]

1 minute ago, fudd said:

I expect it to be expensive. I probably would go like for like, 5+ kva. The lister coped ok, washing machine, charger and calorifier. 

When I priced up various options the generator came to just under 50% of the installed price.

There is the 'fixing kit', then the 'cooling kit', then the 'exhaust kit', add in lift out costs* (holes need to be drilled thru the bottom of the boat) and lift in costs*, plus labour etc and a 7Kw came in at just under £10k

 

*Obviously not necessary if its a 'new-build'

[OldGoat]

6 minutes ago, blackrose said:

Most proper marine diesel generators are water/heat exchanger cooled and are likely to be quieter than a boat engine. 

Absolutely - but my suggestion (not fully explained, perhaps) was that, if you're going to dig holes - hopefully not in the bottom of the boat - but a properly constructed mud box, then you can either have a quiet genny PLUS a quiet engine as well....

[blackrose]

Just now, Alan de Enfield said:

When I priced up various options the generator came to just under 50% of the installed price.

There is the 'fixing kit', then the 'cooling kit', then the 'exhaust kit', add in lift out costs* (holes need to be drilled thru the bottom of the boat) and lift in costs*, plus labour etc and a 7Kw came in at just under £10k

 

 

I think you're probably in the right ball park there. When I was looking at smaller (3-4kW) marine diesel generators, I was shown a method of plumbing closed loop cooling through the boat's existing skin tank. Even though the boat might not be moving the theory was that the heated water on the outside (canal/river) would rise as it got hot and a sort of thermocycling would take place. Whether that would work for a bigger generator I don't know, but I think the advantage is meant to be that you don't need to bring in raw water for cooling. Does that mean no wet exhaust too?

[Robbo]

37 minutes ago, fudd said:

I’ve got a 6.5 kva lister diesel  generator on my boat. It’s got me out of trouble so many times I wouldn’t be without it. Trouble is it’s very very noisy. I’m starting to spec a new narrowboat and wondered if anyone can recommend a quieter more modern one. Thanks in advance. 

If I was redoing a narrowboat I would like at a electric propulsion and a generator (around 8-13kw)

[blackrose]

1 minute ago, OldGoat said:

Absolutely - but my suggestion (not fully explained, perhaps) was that, if you're going to dig holes - hopefully not in the bottom of the boat - but a properly constructed mud box, then you can either have a quiet genny PLUS a quiet engine as well....

Ok, but I'm not entirely convinced you necessarily need a mud box if you already have a skin tank. But I don't think most skin tanks are big enough to cope with an engine and a generator running at the same time.

[blackrose]

p10 here says something about keel cooling: https://www.northern-lights.com/media/PDFs/manual_pdfs/IM1000.pdf

 

They say you would need a larger keel cooler than that used for the boat's engine, but the sizing of most canal boat's skin tanks is a bit hit & miss, so you might be lucky if yours is oversized. They also say the keel coolers for engine and generator shouldn't be combined, but I don't see the problem unless both are used simultaneously. I'm not sure what the through hull fitting is for in their diagram since they've already said it's a closed loop system? 

 

I suppose you're better off with a mud box and raw water/heat exchanger system, but raw water cooling on canals often seems to lead to blockages and other problems.

Edited September 9, 2018 by blackrose

[fudd]

19 minutes ago, blackrose said:

Ok, but I'm not entirely convinced you necessarily need a mud box if you already have a skin tank. But I don't think most skin tanks are big enough to cope with an engine and a generator running at the same time.

I don’t think I’d need to run them at the same time. I’ve not needed to do it yet. 

[OldGoat]

Whoa, whoa, whoa  - Danger, Fred Drift is in action here.

The original post said "spec: a new boat----- One of the requirements was 'less noise' for the genny. Alan suggested holes in the bottom of the boat (OK for salty  water boaters), methinks that is not a good idea for ditch crawlers....

Then the discussion turned to the engine, thus IM(H)O, if you want quietness in a NB and to a lesser extent bigger boats, then you cocoon / sound insulate the engine / genny and the only sensible way to cool them is raw water cooling because the exhausts are water cooled in one way or another.

 

Agree??  

[GUMPY]

Heres something cheap and poweful

https://rover.ebay.com/rover/0/0/0?mpre=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.ebay.co.uk%2Fulk%2Fitm%2F113238383831

[fudd]

22 hours ago, blackrose said:

This is my favourite. https://www.northern-lights.com/m673ld3-54-5-kw/

 

Not sure why you'd need 7kW, but if you go into the Northern Lights menu they've got some bigger ones.

I did look at this a while ago. I really wanted to know what other boaters could recommend. I also looked at dc gensets but don’t know the pros and cons. 

22 hours ago, blackrose said:

Have a look at this one then: https://www.northern-lights.com/m773lw3-97-kw/

 

13 hours ago, Loddon said:

Heres something cheap and poweful

https://rover.ebay.com/rover/0/0/0?mpre=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.ebay.co.uk%2Fulk%2Fitm%2F113238383831

Bit too big. Probably could get away with 3-4 kva but I know my one does the job. 

[Robbo]

12 minutes ago, fudd said:

I did look at this a while ago. I really wanted to know what other boaters could recommend. I also looked at dc gensets but don’t know the pros and cons. 

Unless you really need 7Kw then a smaller one will be better as diesel is more efficient at 75% load,  if the genny is just for battery charging then a 2Kw genny may be all you need?  These do 2Kw gennys, although I don't know if they any good - https://www.advanceyacht.co.uk/2kw-6kw-paguro-marine-generators/.

 

If my genny (4Kw) ever needed replacing I think I would research and look at these variable speed ones. https://www.fischerpanda.co.uk/marine_ac_variable_speed_generators.html 

 

When installing the genny remember narrowboats are limited on space, so smaller may be better here as well.  

 

 

Edited September 10, 2018 by Robbo

[Alan de Enfield]

2nd after getting the 'right size', is to ensure you get a 1500 RPM version, much quieter than the (cheaper) 3000 RPM ones.

[Robbo]

14 minutes ago, Alan de Enfield said:

2nd after getting the 'right size', is to ensure you get a 1500 RPM version, much quieter than the (cheaper) 3000 RPM ones.

The variable speed ones should be quieter unless it’s at a high load.

[fudd]

14 minutes ago, Alan de Enfield said:

2nd after getting the 'right size', is to ensure you get a 1500 RPM version, much quieter than the (cheaper) 3000 RPM ones.

I would prefer 1500 rpm. I have done quite a lot of research on this. I just wanted to know what other boaters experiences were. Most of the smaller ones seem to be 3000rpm.