Generator temp

[jclays]

1997/350 trawler
Do any of you have a temp gauge on your gen set?

 

[Juliet 15]

I have them on both gensets.

 

[kchace]

Yes

 

[High Wire]

Yes. It was optional to have a remote gauge panel.

 

[jimdavi]

Northern lights 9kw, yes.

 

[rslifkin]

No gauges on my genset, but it has low oil pressure, high coolant temp and high exhaust elbow temp shutdowns. I rarely see gauges on gensets. I do periodically shoot the thermostat housings (2 on my unit) with the IR gun to confirm temps are normal.

 

[Lepke]

Yes

Me, too.

 

[rswift]

Generator temp and oil pressure gauges at both stations.

 

[Iggy]

Northern Light 5.5Kw Yes.

I would think it would be or should be a must.

 

[motion30]

Westerbeak, it has the remote panel that has oil pressure and water temperature

 

[Simi 60]

Of course plus a $20 cheapy with alarm on exhaust elbow to warn of restricted water flow.

 

[Ski in NC]

5kW Northern Lights on the boat, 8kW Onan/Kubota for dirt house hurricane gennie. No gauges on either. Just the automatic oil/temp shutdowns, which I test periodically.

These gennies run long term and I do not stand around watching gauges. Last hurricane the dirt house gennie was on for three weeks. If it had gauges, how often would I monitor them? Zero.

Just make sure the safety shutdowns work.

 

[cardude01]

5kW Northern Lights on the boat, 8kW Onan/Kubota for dirt house hurricane gennie. No gauges on either. Just the automatic oil/temp shutdowns, which I test periodically.

These gennies run long term and I do not stand around watching gauges. Last hurricane the dirt house gennie was on for three weeks. If it had gauges, how often would I monitor them? Zero.

Just make sure the safety shutdowns work.

Hey Ski. Hope all is well.

How do you test the auto shutdown?

 

[Ski in NC]

Testing the dirt house unit is easy. It has an electric radiator fan so I just unplug the fan motor and let it run. Monitor coolant temp with an IR gun. After about ten minutes it gets up to about 200F and unit trips off. After about an hour it cools enough to reset switch and re-start. Test complete.

The marine NL 5kW unit is more trouble to test. No practical way to intentionally overheat the unit without cooking the exhaust. And temp switch is hard to get to. I had to pull the head to do a valve job and while out I cooked the temp switch in a mix of antifreeze on the stove. At about 210F it tripped. On the unit, I fake a tripped switch to see that the control logic works, it did. I have not tested the exhaust temp switch.

If you have coolant drained for any reason, test the coolant switch off the unit.

 

[jgtrucking]

I have a roughly 5 year old Kohler, wonderfull unit but no guages, just a remote start switch. It has a display panel on the unit that delivers fault information.

 

[IntoTheBlue]

No gauges for my Onan 9.9 Kw GenSet, just failure code via blinking lights and hours meter.

 

[timb7734]

Westerbeke, 21 years old, temp, oil press on the bridge.