Your last generator Maintenance Run

[3930dave]

Someone who complains about a few hundred bucks for a few days outage needs to consider the cost of moving out for a while, losing their salt water aquariums, etc.

Just one large freezer will hold a lot more than a few hundred dollars of meat or fish.

Electricity is something that is easy to take for granted.

Shaking my head over ur's tenant "demanding" a generator. No utility will legally commit to 100% uptime; why would a landlord ?

If someone can swing the cost of a whole house generator, they can afford to fuel it. That said, my personal preference is a hybrid approach -> batteries+inverters+generators..... for efficiency - what 90cummins is working with, for example.

CBC news had a clip a few Winter's back, about a guy from Up North visiting inlaws in the heart of old Toronto at Xmas time. Extended power-outage hit, so he went out and bought a Honda suitcase gen and circulated it between his inlaw's house and several neighbour's places. He wired in pigtails to temporarily get each house's natgas furnaces to run - warmed up a house, moved to next one...... repeated as needed. Any "city" person could have done the same, all that was needed was a bit of money, some basic skills, and most importantly, initiative.... lacking that, in a city there may be other services/resources to bail you out.

Out in the middle of nowhere ? Don't go there, IMO, if you don't have a self-sufficient mindset....

Bad ice-storm at the moment in the Fraser Valley BC, lots of people w/o power yesterday and today.....

Rgds, D.

 

[ultrarunner]

I've never hooked it up because it is loud...

About 15 years ago I was given for taking it away... a auto transfer 30 amp 220 natural gas gen-set.. will also work on propane... guessing it dates from 1980

The folks that bought the house wanted no part of it and the Realtor said she knew someone that would probably take it away...

It is a single cylinder air cooled generator... quite compact and heavy and loud...

It is an old time brand... Winco and uses a regular car battery for the starter... probably someone way to muffle the sound... but figured it was a good project someday...

 

[grsthegreat]

Ive been so busy this year i forgot to run my 6500 watt briggs and stratton portible generator for over a year....oops.

I had it covered up and sitting under the shelf in shop. I put it away filled with non ethenol fuel and marine staybl. It only took 2 pulls to get it running. That amazed even me. I never had a need to use it this year because im no longer wiring new homes. Its my back up geny now. Its only 2 years old, but im still supprised how fast it started. I shut off the fuel and let it run nearly dry before putting it away.

 

[ultrarunner]

Not as lucky with mine... 13 months for two of them... put away with fuel conditioner full tanks of ethanol... one is a Honda and the other Champion

No one to blame but me and whoever mandated ethanol... there are no alternatives here for most of us... unless AV gas or racing fuel by the drum or one is willing to pay $28 a gallon in one gallon cans...

That said... my brother scored a very nice like new riding mower for $220... the family was holding an estate sale... the mower looked like new but would not run... I got it running after taking apart the carb but not perfect... picked up a new carb for $40 and purrs like a kitten... inside the original carb had corrosion... hope my generators fair better... but the Honda was always easy to start.

 

[grsthegreat]

Not as lucky with mine... 13 months for two of them... put away with fuel conditioner full tanks of ethanol... one is a Honda and the other Champion

No one to blame but me and whoever mandated ethanol... there are no alternatives here for most of us... unless AV gas or racing fuel by the drum or one is willing to pay $28 a gallon in one gallon cans...

That said... my brother scored a very nice like new riding mower for $220... the family was holding an estate sale... the mower looked like new but would not run... I got it running after taking apart the carb but not perfect... picked up a new carb for $40 and purrs like a kitten... inside the original carb had corrosion... hope my generators fair better... but the Honda was always easy to start.

Yeiks. Here non ethenol is about $1.00 a gallon more than regular ethenol....but i dont use too much per year and my equipment thanks me. Alot of stations sell it

 

[daugen]

My 2.2kw Champion took a while to start last time, fully dosed with chemicals and non ethanol premium. I think it's just gas draining down...

I run a 3500sf home with three HVAC systems and a 400amp service off a 22kw Generac. Easy to do, just switch off the electric hot water heaters, switch off the hot tub, most turn off due to relays anyway. Once in a while it really bogs down but not that often. This is the week I really really hope the power doesn't go out since I don't have the cold kit on mine, and it sounds pretty poor starting up in 10 degree weather, surging and popping until it calms down.

My older brother bought a home in VA and put in a 70kw gen for the same 400 amp service as mine. Same systems in house, and when I asked him why such a huge gen, he said he wanted it all to work and so he didn't have to worry about it. Thankfully I think he has a 1000 gallon underground propane tank. I bought my first home forty years ago for close to what he paid to have this whole thing installed; huge panel boards in basement, industrial piping, etc. We both are on the same page as far as the need for an automatic gen at our age, and living in the boonies, but I think some installer sold him the Platinum package. Thank goodness propane gens don't have the same issues as diesel gens with wet stacking; these huge gens must spend a lot of time idling.

 

[Sawyer Rob]

Thank goodness propane gens don't have the same issues as diesel gens with wet stacking; these huge gens must spend a lot of time idling.

What kind/brand of diesel do you own that has a problem of "wet stacking"?

I have a bunch of different diesels here and I've NEVER seen even one of them wet stack, no matter how I run them.....including when powering my pto generator.

Only diesels I've seen that wet stacked was some OLD dozers and slobbering john deer tractors...

SR

 

[ultrarunner]

Yeiks. Here non ethenol is about $1.00 a gallon more than regular ethenol....but i dont use too much per year and my equipment thanks me. Alot of stations sell it

The push is to mandate is high as E30... some in government said it is a way to speed up the process to new "Green" technology because cars simply don't rust away in California.

Next time I drive to Washington... thought crossed my mind to bring back a couple of military gas cans of E free fuel...

All of the local small engine shops replace carbs each and every day... my little Mom and Pop said the E fuel has been a huge boon to his 50 year operation...

Carb issues were not a big part of service unless someone wore out from use the shafts or got contaminated fuel...

Corrosion is now the norm and very good for business

 

[Wakey]

I had a Generac Guardian 22KW (G0070431) installed about a month ago. I was hoping to get the maintenance parts cheaper than they are sold in the kits but there is no number on the oil filter.

Where do you folks get your parts for oil changes, etc?

 

[Industrial Toys]

Our JD 6200 slobbers all over it nice green hood. It never used to do that.