Ideas wanted for low speed propane engine

[BruceM]

Going to have my new neighbor check out another friend's 2200 rpm propane generator later this week.   It's one of those "quiet" park approved jobs.  That will give him a point of comparison, anyway.

Veggie sent me some good info on some older 1800 rpm Winco - Briggs direct coupled units.  Interesting.

[veggie]

Here is what I was thinking as a possible alternative...
Search ebay for a vintage WINCO generator with the AllCast Iron briggs engine.
(Circa 1970's and 80's)
They run at 1800 rpm and a surprisingly quiet.

The winco generator head was made to direct couple to the Briggs engine and makes for a nice compact unit. Like having an ST head connected to the engine.
The winco heads are heavy cast iron and last forever.
Here is a video of the exact unit I am suggesting.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gMKd4YpwkvM

I believe some also came with electric starters.

I am in the process of reconditioning one of these right now. I may have found one of the very few left in Canada. However, they seem to be popular on USA Ebay.
I can tell you that the engines are built like a Lister. Heavy cast iron block and cylinder with Stellite valves and replaceable seats. Mine is 25 years old and is still within specs. Should last another 25 years.   
The reason I wanted one is because the generator is compact and it is a 4 pole unit @ 1800 rpm. Makes for a quiet and long lasting machine.
They can also be converted to Propane or Natural gas.

BruceM, good luck with your search,
veggie

[SPSInc]

I've built a few 1800 RPM LP generators using a Kubota DF972 engine. You can get about 6 kw output at that speed. If you want a DC output you can run the engine slower. Idle set point on them is 1500. With an electronic governor you could probably go down to 1200 RPM. This engine would outlast any air cooled engine if it is going to run for a significant amount of time per year.

[veggie]

SPSinc,

Is that a Diesel Kubota converted to gas? or a spark ignition (Gasoline) Kubota ?

veggie

[SPSInc]

It is a spark ignited (dual fuel, LP or gasoline) Kubota. The engine block is the same as the diesel D902. The latest tier models are called WG972 instead of DF972.

[vdubnut62]

Thanks for the continued good thoughts and helping with my engine education! 

Air cooled does create a design issue in dumping that heat from the engine shed without leaking sound as well.  I've read one author that suggested a pair of squirrel cage blowers to address that since the blower housing acts as a sound baffle.   The loss for the blowers just needs to be figured in the total power and overall efficiency, and I don't think it's a show stopper at all. 

Bruce, sorry I missed this post earlier! Some of the RV units I wrote about (mine is one) have a sort of reverse cooling setup. The flywheel has a sort of squirrel cage blower that sucks
air across the engine and is ducted outside the "engine compartment" as it were.
Ron