# lister/listeroid engines in louisiana????????



## william731

does anyone know a place in louisiana/mississippi (within 150 miles of the baton rouge area) that sells lister or the imported indian/chinesse listeroid engines??? heard they make great generators for off grid power use. thanks all


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## ace admirer

are they still imported,,at one time epa regulations were blocking them.


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## artificer

The EPA killed most of the importing. You can find an air compressor being imported, and use that as the base for a diesel engine. You will be spending a lot of money for a questionable engine.

If you were closer to Canada, they can still import the engines. $2k for an engine that needs a lot of work out of the box is a questionable idea.

We picked up a Lovson 12-2 for off-grid power a number of years ago. I'm still working on getting it up and running. Now I find out the two cylinder engines have problems with the cam shaft, as well as the normal idler gear problems.

If you want reliable power, I would get a more modern engine. Granted, none of them will probably be as quite as the listeroids, but you can get parts, and they are cheaper.

My order of preference for an engine would be a 1.6l VW diesel engine from the 1980's, and then one of the new engines from Surplus Center. (Lambardi 2 cylinder with sleeved cylinders for around $2k) After that would be one of the small diesel engines off of a reefer semi trailer, or any of the small diesel tractor engines. If you run them slow, you'll still have long life.

I've come to the conclusion that for me, running an engine 24/7 for power isn't the wisest idea. A set of batteries and inverter that can handle most of you power needs gets charged with solar and a short (3hrs) run of the generator. Just running a listeroid engine for 24 hours takes over 2gal of fuel. If you need power from the engine/generator, your fuel usage goes up. When you need more power for welding, washer/dryer, etc, you fire up the engine/generator or just schedule the activity during the normal daily run time.

Combine the difficulty in getting the engine and parts, the need to do a complete teardown before you even run it, I think newer engines will provide a better solution, even if they are noiser.

Michael


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## 1_gunner

I purchased a Detroit 2-71 diesel generator this past winter. They were designed in 50's, are bone simple, run at 1800 rpm, and will run on everything from wvo to used motor oil. There are plenty of parts available on the internet and through napa. Might be worth a look. The one down side is it is mechanically very loud. I am building a small generator house that will be partially underground to try to suppress the sound.


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## ||Downhome||

Artificer,

You right on with the short run on the generator. No need to run 24/7 only when you need
to power heavy loads or top the batteries off.

Most peoples problem is refrigeration though. 

I figure a simple scheme would be 4 hours on and 6 off on the generator and those loads.
Planned to coincide with you usage of the appliance. in other words when you will be opening and closing it,the generator is running. though I pretty sure your aware of the chest freezer to fridge conversion, which could help to minimize that. Locating them to a stable temp area would help also. Some place like the basement.

My plan if I ever get to it is a old style Ice box in the Kitchen and a Ice house to accommodate it. Feasible for here. I can Freeze my own blocks rather then cut.
I can also use the freezer to make Ice also.But that way i can grab what ever out of the Freezer/fridge and put in the Ice box and avoid unnecessarily opening it.


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## HermitJohn

Solar is only way to go for refrigeration I think if you live in an area where solar is practical. You find the assembled Listeroid engines for 1300 base price FOB though place in KS called Diesel Electric.

http://diesel-electric.us/cs_clones.htm


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## dsljim

Deutz air cooled is a good option,if running once a day they come up to operating temp in seconds,low emissions versions are precup which gives low emissions, quieter,glow plugs if you live up north, and quieter + with the inline injection pump you could get serious and regrind the can like the quite onans. Another big thing is limiting exhaust flow like Worthington and others did to keep exhaust temperature at 800Â° , an efficient diesel is a hot one. 
If any one is interested in tinkering with one, I have some late model 913 parts .


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## Guest

My understanding is the gooberment, EPA, banned the import of all listeroid type engines. You can't buy new anymore. This has driven the price of used ones way up.

Hermit, the site you listed was last updated in 2008. I don't think you can order one through them. If you can, please let me know.


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## texican

I'd widen that search to the entire country... 

Otterpower.com use to have lots of info on the Lister engines. Remember reading where if you bought one 'new', you'd best tear it completely apart, and put it back together, with the correct seals, etc., if you wanted a long life.

I 'wanted' a lister, but settled for a military gennie, a MEP002, a 5kw diesel that should last for decades...


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## zant

texican said:


> I'd widen that search to the entire country...
> 
> Otterpower.com use to have lots of info on the Lister engines. Remember reading where if you bought one 'new', you'd best tear it completely apart, and put it back together, with the correct seals, etc., if you wanted a long life.
> 
> I 'wanted' a lister, but settled for a military gennie, a MEP002, a 5kw diesel that should last for decades...


 Yep,your right Tex,buy a new motor-tear down and replace parts????WHY-does'nt make sense.Heard/read of more than few people doing that with Indian diesels..CHINESE diesels-DON"T BUY THIS CRAP...unless you like being a daily diesel mechanic...I made the mistake....Now I have a Yanmar-quality is worth every penny..


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## artificer

zant said:


> Yep,your right Tex,buy a new motor-tear down and replace parts????WHY-does'nt make sense.Heard/read of more than few people doing that with Indian diesels..CHINESE diesels-DON"T BUY THIS CRAP...unless you like being a daily diesel mechanic...I made the mistake....Now I have a Yanmar-quality is worth every penny..


There was a couple of reasons why they were popular. Less expensive at one time, but thats over. If you did the work and had a properly set up engine with good intake and exhaust mufflers, about the only noise you heard was the mechanical clicking of the valve train. Burn whatever you can get in them as well. WVO, UMO, SVO, ATF... Add in the fabled 40,000 hours of runtime before rebuilding, and you can see why some people thought it was worth the effort.

Now that we have very good quality, low cost inverters, it doesn't make sense to run an engine 24/7. If you plan on only running for 3hrs/day, then you don't need that long engine life. And then add in PV prices going from over $10/watt to under $2/watt, and sometimes $1/watt, and it becomes even less important.

At $600 for a new engine it made sense. Now, at around $2k, its silly.

Michael


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## Darren

ace admirer said:


> are they still imported,,at one time epa regulations were blocking them.


The new ones, which meet EPA regulations, are being imported from England. For some reason Lister Petter doesn't seem to be pursuing sales in the US. Except for some sectors such as marine refrigeration, where abolute reliability was needed, the Listers didn't seem popular.

The other factor is that most people have never heard of them. So I don't think there was ever a huge demand compared to Perkins, John Deere and other larger manufacturers.


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## texican

Mentioned earlier "Otterpower".... wrong wrong wrong... it's www.utterpower.com that had the good information.... brain lapse... www.otherpower.com is also nice... guess I just have otters on my mind (have one hiding in my lake, depopulating the fish)


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## rickfrosty

william731 said:


> does anyone know a place in louisiana/mississippi (within 150 miles of the baton rouge area) that sells lister or the imported indian/chinesse listeroid engines??? heard they make great generators for off grid power use. thanks all


Colemanssurplus.com has this : 247301 Engine, Diesel, Lister Petter
6 1/2 H.P. 12 Volt Starter & Alt. 2- 1 in. Output Shafts. 1 - 3600 RPM, 1 - 1800 RPM. Compression release. Used, low hours ... 595.00


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## artificer

One thing to remember is that when people talk about lister engines, they are probably talking about the Lister CS engines, or the "listeroids". 650rpm, massively heavy, two big flywheels... 

The more modern engines are the Lister-Peters. Just another diesel engine alternative to the kubota, mitshubishi, B&S ones that get used on smaller equipment.

Michael


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## Darren

artificer said:


> One thing to remember is that when people talk about lister engines, they are probably talking about the Lister CS engines, or the "listeroids". 650rpm, massively heavy, two big flywheels...
> 
> The more modern engines are the Lister-Peters. Just another diesel engine alternative to the kubota, mitshubishi, B&S ones that get used on smaller equipment.
> 
> Michael[/QUOTE
> 
> Lister Petter makes engines from 6 hp to over 60 hp. That includes air cooled and water cooled models that operate on diesel, propane, natural gas and now gasoline. You can still buy the smaller units similar to the older models. The larger engines will run 30KW+ generators.
> 
> I guess they can be considered a small engine manufacturer although some of those engines have 4 cylinders. Listers have an outstanding reliability record. That's based on it not being unusual for a Lister to go 30,000+ hours before needing to be rebuilt. Off hand I don't know of any other diesel that can match that.
> 
> http://www.maesco.com/products/lp/lp.html


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## artificer

Darren, 60hp is small compared to the CAT, Cummings, JD, etc engines putting out 100's of hp. The 30,000 hr is probably from the Lister CS engines. I don't see any modern diesel getting that life, unless its run very slow.

The OP mentioned lister/listeroids, which means this style engine:










Michael


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## Listerguy

You can purchase a lister type diesel or lister type air compressor from www.justliveoffgrid.com
these air compressors and diesel engines are of top quality there is no sand or grit in the sump 
with a bit of time prepping the engine it will run out of the crate, there are different quality of engines from India but these are at the top end by Powerline
We run a 6/1 anywhere from 8-12 hours a day to charge batteries, they can run for long periods of time with little attention, you can also benefit from the hot water they can produce.
Call Jim 705-761-2012 and he will answer any questions you may have
or email at [email protected]


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## Fat Charlie

zant said:


> Yep,your right Tex,buy a new motor-tear down and replace parts????WHY-does'nt make sense.Heard/read of more than few people doing that with Indian diesels..CHINESE diesels-DON"T BUY THIS CRAP...unless you like being a daily diesel mechanic...I made the mistake....Now I have a Yanmar-quality is worth every penny..


Why would anyone want a fuel sipping engine that's got flywheels heavy enough to shrug off any load spike your well pump or refrigerator can throw at it? I know, it's a silly idea. 

Yes, buying a new engine that's nothing more than a rebuildable core looks dumb, but you can't build a co-gen system out of anything from Home Depot.


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## dsljim

@Fatcharlie Why? Because I've worked on diesels,deutz to cheap. I don't use enuf electric to justify running an engine, maintaining a generator, battery bank,and charge controller. Go to microgen somrad forums and follow along the few guys still trying to keep their Chinese masterpieces alive. Instead of working on all that every day you would be a lot farther ahead building an efficient freezer/fridge, buy some leds,and if you need heat build a fire and listen to the fire and the cast iron expanding and contracting instead of the annoying sound of a 1 cylinder diesel running at 400 rpms.


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## HermitJohn

Fuel is simply expensive anymore, too expensive to run any engine 24/7 unless you have to in order to protect an expensive investment when power goes off.

Small engine run part time to charge a battery bank could be economical, much like the old Delco light plants from pre REA days.

Solar with small engine generator backup and very careful choice in use of that electric would seem to be the answer. I found out 3 years ago when electric was out for a month that kerosene lamps simply arent an economical alternative anymore. Kerosene has become crazy high priced and my eyes dont like the low light. Its literally cheaper to run a 5hp gasoline engine half throttle for few hours turning a car alternator than burning a kerosene lamp for same time period. And you get lot better light plus ability to run few other small electronics. Course that was right after the wall street crisis and gas had fallen under $2, now its over $3. Any economic recovery and the speculators will have it $5+ per gallon. Havent priced kerosene, but dont see it bulk anymore in my area, just in cans for the extreme crazy prices.

Ends up solar/wind is way to go with maybe small generator run off producer gas assuming you have a wood supply or small diesel if you have your own home grown veggie oil.


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## ace admirer

the chinese engines do have a poor history of endurance. the india lister engines,,,,,,better ,,,they are not loud.


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## Fat Charlie

dsljim said:


> @Fatcharlie Why?


What are your LEDs and efficient freezer going to do when the power goes out? When it goes out here, it takes days for the bulk of people to get power back and it can be a couple weeks before everyone's back up. 

What I have is a regular house, and a wife and kids. I've got a regular refrigerator in the kitchen, a freezer in the basement, a well pump and oil heat. I need electricity to keep them all running, so for an outage I need a generator. We can live our lives by running a generator for a while in the morning and a few hours in the evening, and a water cooled diesel can run off my heating oil, vegetable oil or even WMO while providing electricity and hot water at the same time. One of those ugly Listeroids is the most efficient way to crank out the power my house needs.

I've got a friend that uses his 6/1 to top off his battery bank after a few cloudy days and as the primary power for his wood shop. He's got over 2k hours on it and while he isn't afraid of working on it, he's not exactly a wrench.


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## Darren

artificer said:


> Darren, 60hp is small compared to the CAT, Cummings, JD, etc engines putting out 100's of hp. The 30,000 hr is probably from the Lister CS engines. I don't see any modern diesel getting that life, unless its run very slow.
> 
> The OP mentioned lister/listeroids, which means this style engine:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Michael


The point is that even though 60hp is small it will easily run a whole house generator. If you need something larger to run more than a house takeouts are easy to find with fairly low hours.

I was told by a distributor that they knew of 30,000 plus hour Lister Petters in operation. I didn't follow up on it. If someone wants one of the older Listers just import it from the UK. The prices I've seen are reasonable. Most have been gone over and restored. 

Over the course of several months you should be able to buy enough to fill a container. If you want just one, find a UK shipping agent that will do the removal, crating and coordination with a consolidator to get it loaded into a container. Specify you want it delivered to NO. When it comes in, go get it. FWIW, there's no duty on ag equipment.

AFAIK, the EPA doesn't restrict antiques. Someone in MD bought a steam tractor that a town in England was trying to buy. The factory that built the tractor was in the town. They didn't raise the money. the last I heard the steam tractor was in MD.


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## dsljim

@ fatcharlie , my leds are 6 volt DC, freezer is12 volt DC with saltwater jugs in extra space,fridge is absorption running off my cookstove,running hot and cold water 12 volt DC.
I've found 2 kinds of people offering rediculous claims of reliability, the Guy trying to sell one,and the Guy trying to talk himself into buying one.


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## Fat Charlie

That's a lot of 12v stuff for someone without a battery bank. What is your power source?


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## ace admirer

i have a few hundred hours on a two cylinder india lister pulling a generator


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## Darren

dsljim said:


> @ fatcharlie , my leds are 6 volt DC, freezer is12 volt DC with saltwater jugs in extra space,fridge is absorption running off my cookstove,running hot and cold water 12 volt DC.
> *I've found 2 kinds of people offering rediculous claims of reliability, the Guy trying to sell one,and the Guy trying to talk himself into buying one.*


Are other manufacturers offering a five year warranty like Lister Petter? If you run it continuously that's 43,800 hours. Let's say 40,000 hours with time down for maintenance including oil changes.


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## dsljim

@Darren, I have 4 Lister petters, high quality engines and I will buy more. My problem is with people comparing a fine engine built in Europe many years ago with the junk coming out of China or India today.


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## Darren

dsljim said:


> @Darren, I have 4 Lister petters, high quality engines and I will buy more. My problem is with people comparing a fine engine built in Europe many years ago with the junk coming out of China or India today.


The only generator I currently own is a small honda which takes care of my needs during power outages. It will run anything that plugs into a wall outlet. That means I have to move it around to run the various refrigerators.

I've been looking at and evaluating generators for several years. Long ago I decided against the big box store units like the residential Generacs with the aluminum block Kohler engines. I've talked to a couple of the Lister Petter distributors going back to when Lister Petter assembled the Hawkpower units in Kansas. Obviously they have a bias. 

The last time I talked to a distributor to confirm availability, given the EPA's shenanigans, they mentioned an electric utility company was waiting for a Lister Petter powered generator to be shipped in from Britain. You have to wonder why a company like that would order and wait for a generator to be built and shipped rather than take delivery on a domestic sourced generator already sitting in a US warehouse. 

I've never read or heard anything remotely negative about either the old Listers or the newer Lister Petter engines. One of the best recommendations is their use on shrimp boats to run the refrigeration units for up to 60 days continuously. 

For those wanting one of the old Listers maybe we could put together a group to buy them in Britain and ship them over. As I mentioned before, I've seen them come up for sale every month.

*PM me if you're interested in importing antique Listers. I just talked to the EPA (the man who had the listeroids banned). It is doable.*


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## Listerguy

watch this video, I uncrated the engine, checked it over, everything looked fine, added oil and fuel, and fired up

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VIq_...sToPDskLnpSRI0V3acewgIEpSaMkQ:nanner::nanner:


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