Your last generator Maintenance Run

[3930dave]

d - discussion today, reminds me of being @ my Uncle's shop in Atlantic Canada, as a kid. He had a big chunk of thick truck Inner Tube nailed up over the padlock on his wooden shop-door. Lots of ice in Atlantic storms, even back then, so he'd gotten tired of a frozen lock. Tube worked well.

Every time I have to thaw a lock on my garden-shed here, I think of him and how I need another RoundTuit myself !

IIRC, you run your Gen on a open-patio, so it may see rain/snow while running. Next-pass, I'd be inclined to buy a heavy/large Inner tube, slit it open, then silicone or epoxy it to the top horizontal frame-rail above the control panel. Can't picture your model exactly, but you get the idea..... stops moisture dropping-down directly on the panel when gen is running, but is easy enough to quickly flip-up for access.

Next-next pass, something like somebody (Nik?) built on here - ABS pipe-frame doghouse, large enough to run the gen in safely, and not set the tarp on-fire, could help.....

Rgds, D.

 

[BX23S-1]

Murphy, is not going to like you !

Rgds, D.

 

[subhunter]

Not a Maintenance Run , just testing Max the new security system.

​

 

[3930dave]

Ultra-quiet gen, loud-dog.....

Good pic, he's kinda got that "You lookin @ Me" going

Rgds, D.

 

[grsthegreat]

Not a Maintenance Run , just testing Max the new security system.

​

Na, bet he’d help me load that on my truck

 

[90cummins]

I prepped for a possible outage due to predicted high winds & found my Yanmar driven Neihoff N1603-3 24v DC 450 amp generator was inoperative.

I have LEDs that show status of the system and found the generator signal activated with system shut down. This signal is externally powered after 90 seconds to allow engine to warm up before energizing.
Started engine & confirmed it is inoperative.
I suspect the regulator p/n N3237 is defective.
Need to troubleshoot this asap.
Moved to my backup generator which is an MEP 952b 24v DC military gen set which started up with no issues.
Winds never came but I was ready!!

90cummins

 

[bdhsfz6]

We are experiencing high winds here as well. I checked the Kubota GL11000 and it was ready to go.
At last count, there were 22000 outages in my county alone. On my way to town this morning, I passed a fleet of over 60 inbound power company trucks, some from 4 states away!

Lights flickered a few times but so far, no loss of power. Keeping my fingers crossed.

 

[gsganzer]

My new place has a Generac standby generator. I guess I'll have to educate myself on how it works and how to test it.

 

[JRH02]

Warming up the genset for an oil change as I write this. We've been running every day for over three weeks now. This year the rain season has started a bit early and with more than average precip.

To the subject, I don't even bother keeping track of hours. I just make a rough note of the aftermarket hour meter reading and when the oil (Mobile1) gets darker than opaque it gets changed. It's certainly more often than needed, esp for full synthetic, but it's only a bit over a quart. So what?

 

[JRH02]

I prepped for a possible outage due to predicted high winds & found my Yanmar driven Neihoff N1603-3 24v DC 450 amp generator was inoperative.

I have LEDs that show status of the system and found the generator signal activated with system shut down. This signal is externally powered after 90 seconds to allow engine to warm up before energizing.
Started engine & confirmed it is inoperative.
I suspect the regulator p/n N3237 is defective.
Need to troubleshoot this asap.
Moved to my backup generator which is an MEP 952b 24v DC military gen set which started up with no issues.
Winds never came but I was ready!!

90cummins

Sorry to hear of the malfunction. That's no cheap genset. I really wanted a 48vdc generator when I had lead batteries. But 4+ years ago I went with LFP04 batteries and the charging profile is different with a bulk charge until full and then stop immediately. So I stay with an AC genset and let the inverter/charger control things according to battery spec. I hope the repair happens timely or that there is no electrical need in the mean time.

 

[3930dave]

My new place has a Generac standby generator. I guess I'll have to educate myself on how it works and how to test it.

Post-up the Model, hours, and grs will likely know off the top of his head what Service should have been done.

Rest of you guys, checking ahead of time, Your Neighbours Thank You, as that almost guarantees that the local-grid will stay-up.

90 - good luck with repairing your Primary, and let us know how it goes.....

Rgds, D.

 

[grsthegreat]

Got done servicing all my customers for this season…..ahead of schedule for once. Just checking over inventory so i can order up next years parts ahead of schedule. Just received 270 oil filters and about 100 spark plugs and 100 air filters. A good start to resupply. Also stocked up on some new controllers, fuel demand regulators, transfer mechanisms, etc from buying out another guys new stock, as hes too busy to service units any longer. He offered 1/2 off wholesale…coundnt say no to that.

 

[arto98607]

Warming up the genset for an oil change as I write this. We've been running every day for over three weeks now. This year the rain season has started a bit early and with more than average precip.

To the subject, I don't even bother keeping track of hours. I just make a rough note of the aftermarket hour meter reading and when the oil (Mobile1) gets darker than opaque it gets changed. It's certainly more often than needed, esp for full synthetic, but it's only a bit over a quart. So what?

Not sure if that method would work well with propane or natural gas powered generator?

The oil is staying pretty clean in my little dual fuel generator so it gets changed based on hours used, or once a year.

I keep few 100 lb and 30 lb propane bottles in the barn and have no intention to put gasoline in it, if I can avoid it...

 

[eolesen]

Not for maintenance but we had winds two weeks ago gift us with a five hour power outage.

Bessie fired up on electric start and we were up and running, aside from our internet, which needed power at the meter pole and out of extension cord reach.

 

[gsganzer]

Post-up the Model, hours, and grs will likely know off the top of his head what Service should have been done.

Thanks, I will. It's running on a 500 gallon LP tank that also serves the HWH and cooktop and some gas fireplaces. It looked like a really clean and well thought out set up.

 

[3930dave]

Got done servicing all my customers for this season…..ahead of schedule for once. Just checking over inventory so i can order up next years parts ahead of schedule. Just received 270 oil filters and about 100 spark plugs and 100 air filters. A good start to resupply. Also stocked up on some new controllers, fuel demand regulators, transfer mechanisms, etc from buying out another guys new stock, as hes too busy to service units any longer. He offered 1/2 off wholesale…coundnt say no to that.

Sweet deal ! He must have been in a hurry to clear the shelf-space.....

Rgds, D.

 

[3930dave]

Not sure if that method would work well with propane or natural gas powered generator?

The oil is staying pretty clean in my little dual fuel generator so it gets changed based on hours used, or once a year.

I keep few 100 lb and 30 lb propane bottles in the barn and have no intention to put gasoline in it, if I can avoid it...


View attachment 4366119

I was at a tech training conference a "few" years ago, chatting with a counterpart who worked out of Dallas, about his F150 that he ran on propane. He ran it with a oil-temp gauge w. good resolution, and said he could see as the oil aged, the increase in the Oil Temp wrt Ambient, Load etc..... but the oil still looked like it was just poured out of a new bottle.....

Likely posted that ^ story a while ago.... but it was the first "known person" confirmation I had of the "problem" w. propane, natgas....... I'd hate to think how beat-up the oil would be, if you waited for it to look dirty....

Rgds, D.

 

[3930dave]

Not for maintenance but we had winds two weeks ago gift us with a five hour power outage.

Bessie fired up on electric start and we were up and running, aside from our internet, which needed power at the meter pole and out of extension cord reach.

Good to have the house Up on Gen, but that sounds like a tough spot to install a big UPS !

(Big Wink )

Rgds, D.

 

[JRH02]

I was at a tech training conference a "few" years ago, chatting with a counterpart who worked out of Dallas, about his F150 that he ran on propane. He ran it with a oil-temp gauge w. good resolution, and said he could see as the oil aged, the increase in the Oil Temp wrt Ambient, Load etc..... but the oil still looked like it was just poured out of a new bottle.....

Likely posted that ^ story a while ago.... but it was the first "known person" confirmation I had of the "problem" w. propane, natgas....... I'd hate to think how beat-up the oil would be, if you waited for it to look dirty....

Rgds, D.

I'll never have the ability to power a genset with propane without major infrastructure changes. I've heard that about propane before.

 

[Alan46]

I'll never have the ability to power a genset with propane without major infrastructure changes. I've heard that about propane before.

Sorry I don’t get it, what kind of changes would you have to make?