Gen set running for 4 days in a row

hohenwald48 wrote:

Mile High wrote:

hohenwald48 wrote:
Where in the world did anybody ever get the idea that exhaust gasses are heavier than air? Every 4th grade science student knows that hot air rises and exhaust gases are considerably hotter than ambient air.

If exhaust gasses were heavier than air how would a hot air balloon ever get off the ground. After all, they operate on hot exhaust gasses.

Carbon Monoxide is only slightly lighter than air (97 percent) so you can't always count on it rising. It mixes fast and cools with air fast, so it can be in your face before it ever had time to rise.

It's also somewhere between 700 and 1300 degrees hotter than ambient air and rises rather rapidly as a result.

Sure, at the point it leaves the exhaust pipe, but how quickly does it cool. You can stand in front of the tailpipe without getting burned. By the time the CO is a few feet away it has already cooled enough to collect wherever it wants.

Mile High wrote:

hohenwald48 wrote:
Where in the world did anybody ever get the idea that exhaust gasses are heavier than air? Every 4th grade science student knows that hot air rises and exhaust gases are considerably hotter than ambient air.

If exhaust gasses were heavier than air how would a hot air balloon ever get off the ground. After all, they operate on hot exhaust gasses.

Carbon Monoxide is only slightly lighter than air (97 percent) so you can't always count on it rising. It mixes fast and cools with air fast, so it can be in your face before it ever had time to rise.

It's also somewhere between 700 and 1300 degrees hotter than ambient air and rises rather rapidly as a result.

hohenwald48 wrote:
Where in the world did anybody ever get the idea that exhaust gasses are heavier than air? Every 4th grade science student knows that hot air rises and exhaust gases are considerably hotter than ambient air.

If exhaust gasses were heavier than air how would a hot air balloon ever get off the ground. After all, they operate on hot exhaust gasses.

Carbon Monoxide is only slightly lighter than air (97 percent) so you can't always count on it rising. It mixes fast and cools with air fast, so it can be in your face before it ever had time to rise.

Winnipeg wrote:
Bill.Satellite,

Maybe you can make our lives easier by posting a picture of your rig. We can all be certain to find a more pleasant (different) location if we know you are there.

You bet! Here you go. I have run the genset for up to 9 days straight (short stops every couple of day to check the oil). The folks we were helping after Katrina were grateful that we were there. Fuel was over $3/gallon and it cost us about $75/day to keep cool.

Backing up in this thread.. I'd change that oil and filter just because I'd want to give the generator every advantage. I always did my own changes so it was cheap and easy. Once it's up and running and stabilized I'd just let it run 24/7 for the 4 days. People at dog shows do that all the time, in some locations where there's no hookups. Just fill up right before you get to where you're going to park. About day 3 I would check the fuel level just to avoid surprises. Also, not the worst idea to maybe top up on day three. A friend of ours ran her generator for several days and then got about 5 miles from the show site and ran out of gas completely. Her class B didn't have the 1/3 of a tank safety restriction and the generator basically ran it dry. Sometimes when an event has a lot of people dry camping they will have a fuel truck come around and sell gas/diesel and pump it right at your site.

Where in the world did anybody ever get the idea that exhaust gasses are heavier than air? Every 4th grade science student knows that hot air rises and exhaust gases are considerably hotter than ambient air.

If exhaust gasses were heavier than air how would a hot air balloon ever get off the ground. After all, they operate on hot exhaust gasses.

Bill, We will simply have to agree to disagree. I only hope you continue to be as lucky as you have been. I will use my stack for prolonged running. I've had exhaust gases enter and trust me they were not diluted to a safe level, all it took was a dying of the breeze and we sat in a cloud. Fortunate that the CO detector woke us up. I lived aboard a large sailboat for 10 years and there were a number of instances around the world where people died from exhaust entering their cabins while motoring or at anchor.

Bill.Satellite,

Maybe you can make our lives easier by posting a picture of your rig. We can all be certain to find a more pleasant (different) location if we know you are there.

Jim Norman wrote:

Bill.Satellite wrote:
My coach exhausts the generator to the rear of the coach. If you are there, I must apologize in advance. You are going to get gassed! I do what I can but I am not buying an special hardware to mitigate the problem. If you are parked in a 24/7 generator area you are going to have to assume that folks are going to run their generator A LOT and few (if any) are going to do any special to deal with the fumes.

Frankly that is a hell of an attitude. Most or many places that allow for a generator to be run REQUIRE a stack. Also it is more likely to kill you than me. I slight wind shift and the fumes will be under your rig and drifting up through it as opposed to blowing into me. So when you wake up dead from saving $120.00 for a Gen-Turi stack, please don't come crying to us.

Frankly, it is not. I have NEVER once been in ANY place that even mentioned a stack. The FMCA rallies certainly don't. Parked at Wal-Mart? Nope! Not sure where you think you were that REQUIRED you to use a special after-market product that NO RV manufacturer or RVIA or any other governing bodies believes to be required much less necessary. If I am running my GenSet 24/7 then all of my windows and vents are closed and the exhaust is being blown away from my coach. If there is enough wind to blow it back toward my coach then it has already been dispersed enough to be non-lethal and it still needs to find a way in. I have done what I do for many years (over 17 fulltiming) and it has never once been an issue "for me" but I have had some folks who decided to park closer to me than they should get upset. That's not my fault and there is nothing I can do about this. Personally, I don't want gas heavier than air above the roof of my coach and "assume" that Nature will take care of dispersing this gas. I like to keep the gas low and blowing away from my coach.
If you don't like it, I really don't care. If you are parked behind me, move. I got here first!

dons2346 wrote:

Jim Norman wrote:

Bill.Satellite wrote:
My coach exhausts the generator to the rear of the coach. If you are there, I must apologize in advance. You are going to get gassed! I do what I can but I am not buying an special hardware to mitigate the problem. If you are parked in a 24/7 generator area you are going to have to assume that folks are going to run their generator A LOT and few (if any) are going to do any special to deal with the fumes.

Frankly that is a hell of an attitude. Most or many places that allow for a generator to be run REQUIRE a stack. Also it is more likely to kill you than me. I slight wind shift and the fumes will be under your rig and drifting up through it as opposed to blowing into me. So when you wake up dead from saving $120.00 for a Gen-Turi stack, please don't come crying to us.

I guess you didn't read my post. Exhaust fumes are heavier than air therefore will drift down into your open windows from your exhaust stack

If that were to be true then why are we even concerned about CO? It obviously would lay in a layer only fractions of an inch thick at ground level. How did the CO get into my rig without a stack and with the windows closed? If Rose UP through various openings in the coach when it was blown underneath. Having the exhaust above the roof line allows the gasses to dilute and also to blow away from the rig rather than accumulate at the rig. Also being quite warm the gasses rise naturally. You can run your rig without a stack, just please don;t run it next to me. And maybe have your will completed so that should our loved ones survive they'll be covered.