[Vwdiesel] 1980 Rabbit running the treadmill tonight!

[Val Christian]

  I'm running about two litres per hour average.

Rob,

I have a couple of one cyl chinese built diesel generators.  I've done some
load testing with them.  The most relevant point is that I can run a load
between 3.5 and 4 kW, for 14 hours on 3.3 USgal.  That works out to just 
under one USquart per hour.  I figure it's about 8 oz of fuel per kWhr.
These calculations are all approximate, but they're in the ballpark of 
35-40% efficiency.  I doubt the total system is actually running there,
but the estimates show it to be close.  You're not going to get 80%
efficiency, and if you get 20%, you're probably too low, and something 
is wrong.

At local diesel "pump" prices, that is about $0.16 US per kWhr, or almost
twice the marginal grid rate.  Not bad, and obviously alternative fuels
will drive down the price.

Also, my generators are a little over 10hp, and I don't recall the hp
you said your will produce, but I figure it's 12-18 range.  Inductive 
amp meters are relatively cheap, in the clamp-on embodiment.  Friends 
have urged me to install torriods on my power lines, and adapt meters
to them, so that I can have continuous current monitoring.  Since I 
have two clamp-ons, I'm not in a hurry.  I do have a $5 DVM, with a 
freq meter setting, and I've monitored frequency output with that.
I am told, but have not verified that compressors, like in a refrigertor
can be very frequency sensitive, and 2 or 3 hertz difference can cause
reduced output and increased heat.  I haven't tried to verify the theory
nor measure the results.

A really nice thing about your powerplant, is that at 1800 RPM, the 
VW diesel should last a very very long time.

What are you doing with the waste heat from the engine?  

Val