One thing most people don’t know when buying a generator for a coastal home or business is the impact of salt air.
Salty air near the beach corrodes air conditioning units and generators very quickly. Both of these units use that salt air to cool the heat that the machines produce.
Most people are used to replacing their AC units about every five years, depending on how close you live to the ocean. The same
issue applies to a generator, even if it doesn’t run all the time like an AC unit.
It is still sitting in the salt air environment and exercising once a week.
Benefits of Water-cooled generators over air-cooled in Coastal environments
Greenfield Energy has developed a new generator to solve that salt air issue. We have created the HERO (Heat Exchanger Reliable Output) Generator for coastal markets by adapting the water-cooled process of a marine generator used in large boat hulls for use in homes. at water-cooled process is similar to geothermal AC units.
The HERO generator uses a water-cooled process, similar to marine generators, which offers several advantages over traditional air-cooled generators. Our HERO has several distinct reliability advantages over the traditional air-cooled generators, including those with radiators.
#1: Minimizes Corrosion
First, it minimizes internal corrosion caused by large volumes of salt air moving through air-cooled generators. Consequently, the HERO system will last significantly longer in the salt air environment.
#2: Flexible Installation
Second, the large volume of heat exhausted from an air-cooled generator requires a minimum installation distance from a house. is distance is difficult to create in coastal areas where the houses are built very close to each other, and the lot line setbacks are small.
The heat from a HERO is carried away in water, via a heat exchanger. is water can be supplied by a pool, utility service or creek, and piped away, back to where it originated, or evaporated with a cooling tower.
#3: Quieter Operation
Third, because the diesel engine runs at a lower speed (1800 rpm diesel instead of 3600 rpm gas), it is significantly more quiet. The noise reduction is also assisted by a white fiberglass enclosure with insulation, different than the metal enclosures on other home generators.
The fiberglass enclosure also looks better outside the high-end market homes. And the enclosure is smaller because it does not need space for internal air or radiator cooling.
#4: Enhanced Safety
Fourth, diesel fuel is less dangerous than gas. Gas lines are piped to the generator from either the natural gas system or LP tank.
This line can quickly leak a large volume of gas under pressure if the line is corroded from salt air. The diesel tank is generally installed underneath, and piped directly into the generator, therefore it is less likely to corrode.
Since diesel is a liquid, it only leaks slowly onto the ground and not quickly into the air, even if there was a leak.
#5: Improved Fuel Efficiency
Fifth, another reliability advantage of diesel is that it burns at a lower rate compared to gas fuel. The same volume of diesel fuel will last five times longer than the gas. Consequently, diesel requires smaller tanks and needs less refueling frequency.
Plus, it can be more easily re-fueled than an LP tank during extended outages like hurricanes. Even the natural gas supply has pressure issues when everyone in the neighborhood is running their generators.
When the fuel pressure is too low, the gas engine will stop.
#6: Portability and Serviceability
And lastly, our water cooled generators systems are installed as a portable unit with an automatic transfer switch and quick connect feature. This method allows a substitute generator to be quickly connected if a repair issue happens in the middle of a long hurricane outage.
Why Water-Cooled Generators Are the Best for Coastal Areas
We believe that our HERO generators are the best solution for reliable backup power for any home, but especially in the coastal area. Greenfield Energy has designed our HERO, and is locally assembling this unique generator product. The HERO system is not available from other vendors.
Greeneld Energy installs, maintains and repairs generator systems for homes and commercial back up power. We use many dierent vendors, depending on the specic location and use, but our own HERO unit is the only option to combat the salt air of our coastal area.
Contact our team at Greenfield Energy for a free estimate on your water.
