Your last generator Maintenance Run

[3930dave]

Huge increases on most everything in the last 3 years. Even before that, whole-house units seemed to be getting upsized partly because of reduced labour rewiring the panel selectively.

Small portables have their place, are a whole lot better than no electrons, and can be easier to take with you/sell if you move.....

Well-done whole-house.... it may take a while to notice that the power is out.....

Rgds, D.

 

[daugen]

I got a generac quote today. They have unit in stock. Don’t think I’m going to get it, but was curious on price.

Buckeye, you are a very self reliant person who can fix most anything. Problem is when you get older and getting up in middle of the night in a snowstorm
because your wife's breathing machine has to work, or something, and having an automatic generator is remarkably convenient.
In your case it would be a treat, you can do it yourself with portables.
Comes back to what you want to be prepared for.
I really miss my 22kw but am making do with a portable.

except now I'm seriously concerned over THD.
Does Generac have a consistent spec for THD or does it hop around by size?
I bought what I thought was a really good gen, and I've run my computer while it's going just fine, granted
going through a nice UPS, but that won't affect THD.

can I blame something stupid I wrote here on too much THD?

 

[3930dave]

d - my impression is that you are not $ constrained, so my comments below (IIRC) are related to you renting where you are....

To gain some peaceful-sleep back (re. THD), I'd be inclined to use something like a Xantrex pure-sine inverter with a battery bank to support sensitive electronics. While they don't spec THD directly, I'd have faith in a Xantrex inverter of that class being plenty clean enough for household loads.

PROwatt SW

Charging batteries (off your "dirty" generator) indoors, I'd pick something like an Optima Yellow Top, to get away from battery acid and gain deep-cycle function in a product worlds above standard UPS short-life batteries.

You won't run 5 ton of A/C off that ^ setup, but OTOH, you don't need 22kw+ to run a computer and router/modem......

Rgds, D.

 

[daugen]

Dave, thanks. Guess I need to look at yellow tops. Am familiar with Xantrex, good equipment found as upgrade in rvs and boats.
belt and suspenders, something to back up the gen. I'd rather have a water wheel and a hydro gen...

 

[nikdfish]

FWIW, I've never had any electronics issues while running from a gen whose specs included < 5% THD. No equipment issues, even including UPS units which tend to be picky about power quality.

 

[Fallon]

Keep us posted..... many people have had good luck with those ChinaCarb deals.....

Rgds, D.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08CMS8D7L which is as no name chinesium as they come.

Getting the carb out sucks. Jammed between the intake manifold & a bracket. Need to close the choke & throttle to slide it out. But of course those are interlocked so 1 needs to be open at all times. Bent the choke butterfly on the old carb pulling it out. New carb went in fine. Cranked twice & it fired up. New one even had the sticker on it for altitude adjustment. Never knew there was an altitude adjustment on the old one. Not clear if it just fell off or it was already a replacement carb or something.

The generator hums along, then dies after about 15 minutes. If it restarts it will run for less than a minute if at all. If I come back later (few hours or overnight) it's back to about 15 minutes. Error code previously I think frequency low. The latest one was basically your dam engine quit. Pretty sure I've got a fuel issue. Opened the gas tank & there was no vacuum & it didn't change the run time. Was to busy camping & having fun to bother trying to find the fuel filter. Don't really need the generator for a weekend anyway unless I want to run the Starlink dish or watch TV. Just ordered a 300 watt inverter to cover those bases anyway. Will hunt for the fuel filter later this week. Carb came with 3 or 4 new ones anyway. Only odd thing is the timing. Generator was working fine, except for that external drip & filling up the oil. Replace the carb & now it starves for fuel.

 

[ultrarunner]

It sure sounds like fuel issue… only other thing is something changing when unit up to operating temp.

Have you verified full flow to carb… does it make a difference with cap on or off?

 

[Fallon]

It sure sounds like fuel issue… only other thing is something changing when unit up to operating temp.

Have you verified full flow to carb… does it make a difference with cap on or off?

I only had time to fiddle with it for 1 run & the couple less than 1 minute follow ups before we left camping. Tried running it twice while camping, but didn't have time to fiddle with more than the fuel cap. Will find & replace the fuel filter in the next few days then verify other fuel stuff if that doesn't fix it.

 

[LittleBill21]

onan 4k's have built in fuel pumps, is it running?

and for the guy asking about batteries, don't use a yellow top, they are a fortune and less capacity then a standard AGM. there is nothing magical about optima and I have owned them for years.

 

[daugen]

Little Bill, thank you.
If Optima or any AGM batteries require a different charge setting on a smart charger, how does the tractor or mower
know what type of battery is in there? My mower isn't that smart...
I really wonder whether conventional small engine alternators charge AGM batteries properly. Anyone know?
I tried an Optima once and had to return it.