Aisin Micro Cogeneration unit Oil.

[LWN]

First post for a long time unregistered lurker here, lots of info to absorb.

I'm looking for Information on an Aisin Natural gas engine oil called L-10000G. This is for a residential micro cogeneration plant called Coremo made by Aisin.

The distributor in my area for this unit is looking for an alternative for the Aisin supplied oil which has become somewhat hard to get in North America and subsequently expensive. I thought I'd give a helping hand as I own one of these and am interested in an alternative.

Has anyone had any experience with this oil and suggestions as to what might make a good substitute.

I've attached some pics with info on the unit as well as a pic of my installed unit.

Probably not the the run of the mill question here and I'm not sure if I'm in the correct forum section, any insight or help would be greatly appreciated.

Thx Dave

 

[Bailes1992]

Oh wow. I can purchase 20L of Aisin L-10000G here in the UK for a bargain price of £1304 (~1700usd)

That would very quickly negate any savings from having a little CHP plant like this!

My starting point would be a monograde 30 oil as these things run under load for long periods of time and would worry about a multigrade shearing. That said, when we've installed them in the past they usually come with a specific natural gas oil, although not proprietary. If I remember correctly these are usually from Mobil.

Can you open it up and take a picture of the engine and any markings on it?

 

[Popsy]

Kawasaki engine?

 

[Fabulous50s]

I too would think a monograde or at least a close grade oil would hold up best. How many hours a day does this run? How often is it shut down?

 

[LWN]

The run time is tied to outdoor temp. It will run 24hrs a day to heat a buffer tank to 160F (70C) at 17F (-8C). It will be shut down 5-6 months a year when temps are warmer.

It has an 8000Hr oil and filter interval.

Below are internal pics of the unit. The first post I made has the engine data plate photo, there are really no distinguishing markings on the engine. Kawas.2452N1 would probably denote a 245CC Kawasaki engine.

Mobil Pegasus is available in 40wt and a 15W40 for natural gas engines.

 

[OVERKILL]

I'd think the AMSOIL NG stationary oil would be appropriate:
AMSOIL 100% Synthetic Stationary Natural Gas Engine Oil | ANGS - AMSOIL Canada

 

[Cujet]

That's a neat looking unit. The idea that one can run a heat pump from a micro cogen unit, and achieve over unity is remarkable.
What's the viscosity of the OEM oil? Without knowing about the engine and setup, I'd guess the suggestion above for Amsoil is a good one.

I can't imagine any small engine having an 8000 hour oil and filter interval. Wow.

 

[LWN]

The OEM oil appears to be a 40 weight, I didn't realize nor did the the distributor that Amsoil makes a dedicated stationary NG engine oil. There are questions regarding warranty but as the distributor is also in on looking for an alternative oil hopefully that question can be taken care of.

I have given some thought on pairing this with an outdoor Sanco A2W CO2 heat pump for DHW/Heating combi use. It has a similar amperage input requirement as the cogens output.

 

[Fabulous50s]

The OEM oil appears to be a 40 weight, I didn't realize nor did the the distributor that Amsoil makes a dedicated stationary NG engine oil. There are questions regarding warranty but as the distributor is also in on looking for an alternative oil hopefully that question can be taken care of.

I have given some thought on pairing this with an outdoor Sanco A2W CO2 heat pump for DHW/Heating combi use. It has a similar amperage input requirement as the cogens output.

How many btu/hr does the cogen make for heating/DHW purposes?

Neat unit!

 

[LWN]

How many btu/hr does the cogen make for heating/DHW purposes?

Neat unit!

It's 12.5K BTU net 20K-ish gross input, seems low but it's all that is required for 3/4 of the time. The back-up/supplementary boiler picks up the slack on colder days and/or large tub draws.

My house is a 1100sq ft typical Canadian bungalow plus basement.--New triple glaze windows and insulation upgrades -heat loss calc @28K BTU at my design day -25F (-32C). The house before the Reno had 2 furnaces totalling 160K BTU plus 45k BTU in natural draft DHW.---Gas was cheap and everyone was sure nuclear winter was coming in the 80s I guess.

Mild days the Cogen is all that is needed, it will charge the buffer through an indirect coil to 150-160F which is then drawn off through a powered mixing valve at a lower temperature according to outdoor temperature. DHW is also drawn off through a thermostatic 3 way at 115F.

 

[Fabulous50s]

This is great!

I was under the impression that NG was very expensive in Canada. I'm in northern Maine, abouy 10 miles away from New Brunswick.

 

[LWN]

This is great!

I was under the impression that NG was very expensive in Canada. I'm in northern Maine, abouy 10 miles away from New Brunswick.

NG probably is more expensive here than the states, not sure if it qualifies as very expensive though. It's still far cheaper in most of western Canada and some of Ontario to heat with gas as opposed to electricity.

Being that you're in Maine you probably get some surplus hydro electric from Quebec which is fairly abundant and cheap.

I'm in Alberta the "Texas" of Canada. Most of the power plants have switched from coal to NG here....

 

[Pablo]

I'd think the AMSOIL NG stationary oil would be appropriate:
AMSOIL 100% Synthetic Stationary Natural Gas Engine Oil | ANGS - AMSOIL Canada

Please use this link: https://www.amsoil.ca/p/amsoil-100-synthetic-stationary-natural-gas-engine-oil-angs/?zo=515729

Thanks, yes.

 

[Fabulous50s]

Our electric rates are $0.268 a KWh thats $0.363 CAD. The third highest in the US.

We are too far away from major infrastructure to get NG.

 

[nthach]

I’d use a “thin” HDEO or a 5W-30/10W-30 PCMO. Natural gas engines are common in public transit/city waste and Cummins doesn’t spec a “different” oil to handle NG/landfill methane use, and GM/Ford doesn’t specify a special oil for their chassis engines either.

The Japanese say multigrade PCMOs are fine in their SOREs, while Briggs is stubborn about straight monogrades unless it’s a “synthetic” 5W-30.