3 ms·

are cars designed to be left stationary with the engine running for long periods of time?

intrasight 3y ago
No - but used this way it's no longer a car.
alistairSH 3y ago
Nope, you’d need to find a way to cool the engine. A car has a water pump that moves water through the engine and to a radiator. The cars motion moves air across the radiator. Most cars have an electric fan so they can run at idle, but they aren’t designed to idle indefinitely. Police cars in the US often have (or at least had) beefed up cooling system to allow them to run at idle.
- yetihehe 3y ago
  Cars during tests on dynamometer have to have a big fan blowing constantly on radiator. If you provide a big enough fan, you can run it as long as you want, even with big load. I was once doing 140km/h on autobahn uphill with fully loaded passenger car with additional fully loaded roof trailer. The car managed half an hour of fully open throttle without any problems, but If your home needs to use 40kW for more than a hour, maybe investing in proper generator is a better solution. In typical applications, engine will not be running at full power.
bluGill 3y ago
Engines are designed and built for cars, but there is a secondary market for stationary engines for various other applications. None of them are large enough markets to design their own engine (even all together), but they are large enough market that if you have already are designing an engine it is worth making a few changes to better serve other markets. If you buy direct from the manufacture they probably have a custom computer code for generator use. This includes a pin, to select between 50 and 60 hz. If you are buying for a different use you won't get that pin, but might get some other controls not needed on a car (you will have to pay for custom programming of course). You have to check with your manufacture rep to see details - some companies are more interested in this business than others.
AngryData 3y ago
Depends on how much power you pull out of it and the model. Every decent car in working order should be able to run at an idle witho AC and such running without getting dangerously hot. But your intuition is correct, they aren't expecting to be outputting that much power without also getting additional airflow from moving. With a water cooled engine though all you really have to do in most cases is either put more fans on the radiator or hook up a larger radiator to increase cooling levels if the stock equipment can't keep up.
asciimov 3y ago
Not at the rpms he is running.

No - but used this way it's no longer a car.

Nope, you’d need to find a way to cool the engine. A car has a water pump that moves water through the engine and to a radiator. The cars motion moves air across the radiator. Most cars have an electric fan so they can run at idle, but they aren’t designed to idle indefinitely. Police cars in the US often have (or at least had) beefed up cooling system to allow them to run at idle.

yetihehe 3y ago
Cars during tests on dynamometer have to have a big fan blowing constantly on radiator. If you provide a big enough fan, you can run it as long as you want, even with big load. I was once doing 140km/h on autobahn uphill with fully loaded passenger car with additional fully loaded roof trailer. The car managed half an hour of fully open throttle without any problems, but If your home needs to use 40kW for more than a hour, maybe investing in proper generator is a better solution. In typical applications, engine will not be running at full power.

bluGill 3y ago

Engines are designed and built for cars, but there is a secondary market for stationary engines for various other applications. None of them are large enough markets to design their own engine (even all together), but they are large enough market that if you have already are designing an engine it is worth making a few changes to better serve other markets. If you buy direct from the manufacture they probably have a custom computer code for generator use. This includes a pin, to select between 50 and 60 hz. If you are buying for a different use you won't get that pin, but might get some other controls not needed on a car (you will have to pay for custom programming of course). You have to check with your manufacture rep to see details - some companies are more interested in this business than others.

AngryData 3y ago

Depends on how much power you pull out of it and the model. Every decent car in working order should be able to run at an idle witho AC and such running without getting dangerously hot. But your intuition is correct, they aren't expecting to be outputting that much power without also getting additional airflow from moving. With a water cooled engine though all you really have to do in most cases is either put more fans on the radiator or hook up a larger radiator to increase cooling levels if the stock equipment can't keep up.

asciimov 3y ago

Not at the rpms he is running.