Electricity on steamer hill

[CaseyD]

Wouldn't it be interesting to have one of those huge engines produce light for part of steamer hill? I'm sure someone else has thought of this, but why not? If I remember right, the generator on the Villaum engine(?) is DC, isn't it?

[Jerry Christiansen]

Hi Casey,

The Pabst Engine was designed to produce 25 cycle elctricity when running at the goverend speed of 125rpm. We usually run the enigne around 25rpm so we would produce 5 cycle electricity. That isn't good for much. Incandescent bulbs would brighten and dim 5 times per second. We couldn't be hooked up to the grid because commercial electricity is 60 cycle.

Another factor with the Pabst Engine is the insulation on the windings is in poor shape. The Pabst was made in 1906 and the insulation is that old, too. The engine and alternator sat out in the elements for several years and the insulation degraded quite a bit.

We have been told by guests that are knowledgeable about altenators that products are available that could renew the insulation and the windings could be rewired so that we could produce 60 cycle.

While it would be interesting to hear the Pabst under load, we are concerned about the cost of the project.

Thanks for the good questions you are asking.

Jerry Christiansen

[CaseyD]

Thanks, Jerry, for letting me know about all of these little intricacies that make Rollag so special. But wow! I never knew that the Pabst engine was so old! It is very lucky that it has knowledgable, caring people like the members of WMSTR to look after it in its old age.

[Brad Thielen]

The Villaume alternator does produce 3phase, 60 cycles, 240 volts AC, 850 amps. Its a 205 kilowatt unit. The little unit on the one end, towards the Montana Boiler, is a DC generator, used to excite the alternator.

[CaseyD]

Hey, that is a huge amount of electricity! Thanks for sharing what you know on here:D Was that alternator the original one that was used in the box factory the engine came from? And is the insulation on the windings of the alternator in good shape, unlike the Pabst engine? Re-doing one of those would be expensive, I can imagine.

[Dell Dalgliesh]

The generator stator on the Fairbanks Diesel gave trouble a few years ago and had to be reinsulated not rewound, it cost $4000 to do it. I have suggested using the power from this generator on the hill many times but there seems to be minimum interest in this project. This machine makes 72kw, 3 phase, 240 volts and is very reliable. If you like generating, stop by the Fairbanks and apply for an operators job, there is a real shortage of people interested in electricity.
Dell