Thinking of winter...

[ih555]

I'm thinking ahead to winter, trying to come up some ideas to run a generator on a 4020 tractor during a winter storm/power outage inside an insulated farm shop. It would of course run at a high pto speed and my thought is to run a vent pipe over the exhaust and out a window. Will the tractor get enough air? Any thoughts ideas? Any exhaust tube ideas? What do others do in the bold North?

I would rather not run it outside in a blizzard, I don't want snow being sucked up into the air filter.

Thanks for your reply.

 

[RogerinIowa]

Possibly run a 540 pto generator with 4020 1000 rpm pto idled down. Use a hertz gauge to set speed.

 

[Vito]

If you are going to run it inside, not that I recommend that in any way, you could run a make up air tube from the outside close to the intake.

Vito

 

[Dave41A]

As with any description of running an engine indoors, the primary concern is not that the engine get enough air, but that YOU do.

Your vent pipe idea sounds like it might work, but the back-pressure will give the engine something to work against. Any exhaust leakage will be into the space where you and the tractor are. There are codes that govern this kind of thing. At a minimum, invest in a CO monitor to keep things safe if you ever attempt this.

What kind of KW load do you anticipate? Belt-driven generator heads are available from many manufacturers. With some ingenuity, one could be rigged up for this application. But it would probably be cheaper to buy a 5 or 10 KW unit and put it in a 'doghouse' to keep it out of the weather. That solves the exhaust and noise problem, too.

The farms around my area (12 feet snow, average) have hard-wired emergency generators to keep the place running if power goes out, which isn't too often as the infrastructure here is pretty hardened against that kind of thing.

 

[Determined]

(quoted from post at 17:55:41 07/11/21) I'm thinking ahead to winter, trying to come up some ideas to run a generator on a 4020 tractor during a winter storm/power outage inside an insulated farm shop. It would of course run at a high pto speed and my thought is to run a vent pipe over the exhaust and out a window. Will the tractor get enough air? Any thoughts ideas? Any exhaust tube ideas? What do others do in the bold North?

I would rather not run it outside in a blizzard, I don't want snow being sucked up into the air filter.

Thanks for your reply.

With the wind blowing in a blizzard it is hit or miss at best whether the exhaust will go out or get blown right back inside without a fan to force it, which wont run without power.

I had a complete up to code air make up and exhaust system in my shop in the city years ago.

Idling a gas engine was no problem but running up a big diesel even with the $30 000 worth of fancy HVAC equipment we always opened up a bay door, without a door open it didn't take long before you didn't feel right and could tell more ventilation was needed.

Even a minor leak in the tractors exhaust system or at the connection to your vent pipe will let in dangerous levels of stuff you don't want to breathe.

We feed cattle all winter in all weather and I can't say blowing snow being sucked into the air filter has ever been a problem or concern.

If you have your tractor and generator in your shop you are still need to hook up to your power transfer switch so either a bunch of cord or relocation of your switch will be needed.

 

[caterpillar guy]

Forget about all the nonsense and just hook the pto up and go to work. The snow is not an issue. If it were it would freeze all tractors full in the intake long before the filter. Do you not haul manure in the winter for fear of snow in the intake,or grind feed, or cut wood,or any of the other sundry of winter jobs?

 

[FBH44]

Friend's wife went out to check the generator inside the shop, running at night, never came back. CO killed her deader'n n a hammer. DO NOT run inside a shop/