Your last generator Maintenance Run

[90cummins]

Does your Genset run continuously when the street power is out or do you run off the batteries until the voltage drops below a certain point and Genset starts up automatically to recharge the batteries?

Since you have a large battery bank, it would seem that this would be the most efficient way to operate. The genset would run intermittently as needed and run at peak efficiency to charge up the batteries. That would really extend your fuel use and with an automatic transfer switch the delay between street power going out and battery supply kicking in would be minimal.

DEWFPO

You are correct if my system could monitor and auto start & stop to maintain the batteries I could reduce my consumption by a factor of 5 to 10.
Currently my gen set needs to be manually connected and started and I let it run continuously when the power is down.
During the day my current procedure is to start it and let it run but shut it down and run on batteries during the night.
I currently have 6 critical circuits that run thru the inverter so they never loose power but I need to throw switches to power the rest of the house. It is my goal to permanently install it and have it auto start & stop to maintain the batteries at a specific voltage but I'm not there yet. I need to build an outside insulated generator house before I can have them on constant standby.
90cummins

 

[nikdfish]

Ran the 22kw whole house on a simulated "power outage" for 45 minutes. Cooked breakfast & bumped the thermostat up a degree to get the 5 ton heat pump to kick on to increase load. UPS read outs indicated a varying sag as low as 55v for < 5 seconds starting the heat pump before the system returned to 120v output (service tech said sags < 15 seconds were OK). Checked oil (hard to see, synthetic still clear as water on the stick) & it was OK.

Thinking about a hard start kit for the heat pump if there isn't one there already. Will check with HVAC guy on next svc visit for heat season.

Nick
(original plan was to do these 45 minute outage simulations the first of each month, but early AM appointments yesterday made that a no-go)

 

[3930dave]

Ran the 22kw whole house on a simulated "power outage" for 45 minutes. Cooked breakfast & bumped the thermostat up a degree to get the 5 ton heat pump to kick on to increase load. UPS read outs indicated a varying sag as low as 55v for < 5 seconds starting the heat pump before the system returned to 120v output (service tech said sags < 15 seconds were OK). Checked oil (hard to see, synthetic still clear as water on the stick) & it was OK.

Thinking about a hard start kit for the heat pump if there isn't one there already. Will check with HVAC guy on next svc visit for heat season.

Nick
(original plan was to do these 45 minute outage simulations the first of each month, but early AM appointments yesterday made that a no-go)

15 seconds seems long, but that also depends how "sag" is defined.....

Rgds, D.

 

[mohamer]

We just moved in the last year.
I have a manual switch to go to Generator Power, switches everything over.
I tested it all a month ago. The Generator is a 6.5 Kw Champion. It handled everything fine, we have a private well, I made sure it cycled a few times.
I ran the generator for about an hour and it performed real well until the House AC kicked on.... I should have turned it off
I now know that the breakers on the generator will pop fast when the House AC kicks on..
I have Propane heat, the generator runs on propane. I think I will be ok if we have a ice storm. I just hope we don't loose power for a long time in the summer!!!
It might get warm

John kb0ou

 

[90cummins]

We just moved in the last year.
I have a manual switch to go to Generator Power, switches everything over.
I tested it all a month ago. The Generator is a 6.5 Kw Champion. It handled everything fine, we have a private well, I made sure it cycled a few times.
I ran the generator for about an hour and it performed real well until the House AC kicked on.... I should have turned it off
I now know that the breakers on the generator will pop fast when the House AC kicks on..
I have Propane heat, the generator runs on propane. I think I will be ok if we have a ice storm. I just hope we don't loose power for a long time in the summer!!!
It might get warm

John kb0ou

Now is the time to get your procedure down.
I have a similar situation that requires me to turn he breaker for the electric dryer off.
A 5500 watt load blows the 250amp DC fuse for the inverter instantly.
How big is your propane tank, do you have any idea how long you can run on your fuel supply?
In addition to getting a startup procedure you need to know how much fuel you need per hour/day-week!!

 

[3930dave]

We just moved in the last year.
I have a manual switch to go to Generator Power, switches everything over.
I tested it all a month ago. The Generator is a 6.5 Kw Champion. It handled everything fine, we have a private well, I made sure it cycled a few times.
I ran the generator for about an hour and it performed real well until the House AC kicked on.... I should have turned it off
I now know that the breakers on the generator will pop fast when the House AC kicks on..
I have Propane heat, the generator runs on propane. I think I will be ok if we have a ice storm. I just hope we don't loose power for a long time in the summer!!!
It might get warm

John kb0ou

Nothing like a real test...... found one breaker I forgot about, doing one myself......

Propane is a great fuel, bearing in mind the heavier than air safety issues (leaks). In this thread and elsewhere on here, some people are doubling up on their propane storage capacity. Obviously nice for emergencies, and can be kind to the budget when stocking up off-season.....

Rgds, D.

 

[mohamer]

Nothing like a real test...... found one breaker I forgot about, doing one myself......

Propane is a great fuel, bearing in mind the heavier than air safety issues (leaks). In this thread and elsewhere on here, some people are doubling up on their propane storage capacity. Obviously nice for emergencies, and can be kind to the budget when stocking up off-season.....

Rgds, D.

90cummins and 3930dave,
My Propane tank is 500 Gallons, it is now at 70%, that gives me about 300 Gal. to work with.
The generator should use between 0.5 and 1.1 Gal/Hr. depending on the load.
At half load = 0.5 GPH that would give me about 600 or so hours of operation, my propane supplier could be hear on Next Day Basis. I am not too concerned with running out of fuel. I also have some 20 Lb. tanks I can run off of.

My propane system is all new. New system to house and shop, I have a HP regulator at the tank and LP regulator at the house and at the shop (good flow).
The system has been tested by me and my propane provider (they test all new systems). No Leaks found.

The main thing I like about Propane Fuel as I have it set up is that I do not have to slop fuel around in my shop to run the generator.
I also have a second generator, a Fairbanks Morris 4Kw that is currently set up to run on gasoline. If the Champion fails the FM can be put in service.
Both Generators are Electric start and usually start right up when needed. The Fairbanks is now used for a welding power supply in the field.

John kb0ou

 

[ultrarunner]

The only problem I have ever had with propane is losing the contents of a full 80% tank...

One of the area bears snapped the pipe and the tank emptied.

 

[Industrial Toys]

Good thing the bear didn't smoke.

I was testing my 7.5 Onan/Kubota set last week using my 5K hot tub as load. Was taking some readings with a amp probe, having cheated the interlock on a secondary transfer switch when all of a sudden the generator appeared to have some load on there far exceeding it's capacity. I kind of freaked out, trying to get the thing shut off, not knowing what happened.

Ran out of fuel!

Seems the set is so frugal, used so infrequently and has a 126 litre tank, that I never give it much thought. Never did hook up the sender. Anyway, seven jerry cans later and back in business for a while.

Storm raging here tonight, so hoping for an outage.

 

[3930dave]

90cummins and 3930dave,
My Propane tank is 500 Gallons, it is now at 70%, that gives me about 300 Gal. to work with.
The generator should use between 0.5 and 1.1 Gal/Hr. depending on the load.
At half load = 0.5 GPH that would give me about 600 or so hours of operation, my propane supplier could be hear on Next Day Basis. I am not too concerned with running out of fuel. I also have some 20 Lb. tanks I can run off of.

My propane system is all new. New system to house and shop, I have a HP regulator at the tank and LP regulator at the house and at the shop (good flow).
The system has been tested by me and my propane provider (they test all new systems). No Leaks found.

The main thing I like about Propane Fuel as I have it set up is that I do not have to slop fuel around in my shop to run the generator.
I also have a second generator, a Fairbanks Morris 4Kw that is currently set up to run on gasoline. If the Champion fails the FM can be put in service.
Both Generators are Electric start and usually start right up when needed. The Fairbanks is now used for a welding power supply in the field.

John kb0ou

Nice setup, and backup.

If only one tank, then 600 hours would be reduced in heating season, but point taken, capacity is good. Always liked the lack of carb congestion/problems with propane.

Rgds, D.