Running Yanmar to charge batteries

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Gus Sanchez

I am presently mooring my boat. Can anyone advise me if engine damage will occur if I run my Yenmar to charge my batteries. Please let me know the pros and cons. If I should run the engine at any spacific RPM or time period. NOte the engine is operated with out a load during this time. Thank You!
 
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Alex

Unwise..

since it is well known that this engine ( and probably most similar diesel engines) shouldn't be run for long (more than about 15 min)without load(in neutral) or/and on low RPM .Doing that shorten the life of various engine components and cloge your mixing elbow. Also ,it isn't 'healthy' on engine mounts to run the engine in gear , on 2500 or so RPM , while boat tied in the marina..
 
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Ron Dague

Not a Good Idea

Running the Yanmar for charging is a bad idea. There has been a lot of talk here, lately. The common consensus is that your Yanmar, and most diesels, should not be run for protracted periods unless under load. And then, ideally, at around 75% of maximum rpm. There were many reasons posted, incuding mixing elbow clogging, increased wear, carbon build up, etc. Check the archives, but this was one of the few topics that almost everyone agreed upon! This is also consistent with recommendations from Nigel Calder, Seloc manuals, etc. So, how do you charge your batteries? My solution was changing the stock alternator with a 100 amp high output alternator. When sailing, I average about one hour of motoring including docking, navagating under bridges adn while anchoring. The new alternator gives me as much charging in one hour, as 4-5 hours of running with the original alternator. You can also investigate solar panels or wind generator depending on your needs and usage.
 
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Mike Kinney

should be OK

Assuming you are in relatively clean water, put transmission in reverse while tied to the mooring and run RPMs up to 2500 or so. This will place the motor under load and meet the concerns identified in the previous posts.
 
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Thorp Thomas

What's with Sailors and Diesels?

Well, its plane to see not many of you that are responding, have a clue on what makes a diesel engines work or more to the point, not work. I say, YES, you can run your engine @ 1500 RPM for the sole purpose of charging your batteries, heating your hot water, heating your cabin or ever just to annoy your neighbors, for as long as it takes without doing any damage to the engine..... Gus, here's the next questions you should be asking.... What causes coke buildup at the mixing elbow? The answer will of course be "CARBON". Then comes the next question, what causes carbon to form in a diesel exhaust? You'll probably get allot of different ones on this, but only one is technically correct in this scenario. Then the most important question of all to ask is (it ties everything else together); what's the #1 cause of diesel engine failure in sailboats? The answer to this one is; in one word "WATER".... You'll never wear her out by using her. But neglect her and paybacks are hell.... They love sweat talk... um... I was referring of course to your Diesel Engine.
 
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ted

porable gen

this summer i was running my engine at idle in the harbor and accedently suched a jelly fish into my sea water intake line. luckly i noticed the problem (steam of the back of boat) and shut down. blew the jelly fish out of the line with my zodiac pump. no damage done but imagine if i was away from the boat at the time and didnt catch it so soon? i think the real answer to your question would have to come from the engine manufacture, on the north slope oil fields in alaska they idle the diesels in the vehicles all winter long due to the cold with no problems, commercial fishing boats also idle for long periods of time. i finally overcame my problems with a honda eu 1000 portable gen.
 
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Robert Moretti

Load on engine mounts

The comments of others regarding the need to put the engine under load all make sense to me, and are consistent with what I've read. However, why would the engine need to be run at 2500 RPM if it is tied? It would seem to me that the engine and transmission are loaded to a greater degree when the boat is tied up vs. when it is moving through the water. Therefore, a tied up boat being run at, say, 1800 RPM might have its engine and transmission under as much load as a boat moving freely through the water at higher RPM's. Does this make sense, or am I missing something?
 
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