How to build your own Diesel Generator Power Plant Part II

By John Stafford
If you have read, “So you want to build your own diesel generator power plant. Part I”, you will know that the cost for the average small family of two adults will initially cost $39, 765 to purchase two (2) 30kW diesel generators. It will cost this same family approximately $4,000 more to construct a protective shed for your investment.
This investment should provide at least 10 years of carefree electrical power for all your needs providing you practice daily, weekly and monthly operations maintenance on both of your 30kW generators. During the hot summer, the electrical bill can run as high as $120 per month and during the winter, it can cost an average of $75 a month. This can be an annual expense of approximately $1,125. Clearly, the savings of $11,250 over 10 years from using your own generator power will not pay back your initial investment. Your desire to be independent must be the primary reason for this venture. Anything else you derive from it must be considered secondary.
Let us say that you have successfully installed your two 30 kW generators, checked all of their liquid levels, fueled both of them and installed the utility connection from the generator shed to the house breaker box. You have tested both generators, started the primary generator, applied the load and turned on the house circuits. What is next? The primary generator you will set the RPM (engine speed in revolutions per minute) at 1800. This is the recommended speed for water-cooled diesel engines for maximum life expectancy. You must make a twelve-hour schedule, which evenly divides the day for the operation of these generators.
A 12:00 PM – 12:00 AM and 12:00 AM – 12:00 PM division will balance the workload evenly. This assumes that the workload is heaviest during the daylight hours and this schedule will allow both machines to share the burden equally. Diesel generators will function with little problems if you schedule them to share the work equally. Each generator has a 41-month period of operation or 30,000 equipment hours before it is necessary to rebuild and overhaul. This is another reason why you must have two generators; when one is being overhauled, the other must provide the power.