Your last generator Maintenance Run

[TimberXX]

We ran my dads 18 year old generac this weekend. First time it was started in a year, I told him to put a load on it, but he didn't want to take out the heater. The head may not have been exercised in two years, since the last outage.

That's Briggs always starts first or second pull, but when the power goes out, his neighbors need to start it for him.

I'm trying to get him to buy a electric start rigid, the 7500 watt was on sale for 599, but he is one of those people who is terrified of spending money.

 

[ultrarunner]

Way back in Y2K generators were flying off the shelves... many who never thought of having one got caught up in the hysteria...

The father of a friend still had his in the box that it came in 15 years ago... bought it from Northern Tool...

Have to wonder how many others like it are sitting around never used or not used in years.

 

[3930dave]

We ran my dads 18 year old generac this weekend. First time it was started in a year, I told him to put a load on it, but he didn't want to take out the heater. The head may not have been exercised in two years, since the last outage.

That's Briggs always starts first or second pull, but when the power goes out, his neighbors need to start it for him.

I'm trying to get him to buy a electric start rigid, the 7500 watt was on sale for 599, but he is one of those people who is terrified of spending money.

While I wouldn't want to have a portable gen that didn't have a pull-start, electric is sure convenient. That sounds like a good price, and the other nice thing with the larger portables is often a decent tank size.

Rgds, D.

 

[3930dave]

Way back in Y2K generators were flying off the shelves... many who never thought of having one got caught up in the hysteria...

The father of a friend still had his in the box that it came in 15 years ago... bought it from Northern Tool...

Have to wonder how many others like it are sitting around never used or not used in years.

Some of those not used in years will be "interesting" to start.

Those who grew up in the FI era might think that a "stuck float" was something that only happened when you went fishing .

Rgds, D.

 

[Sawyer Rob]

A guy I know, bought a "new" Coleman gen set and left it sitting in the box for several years, unopened. Then one day when the power went out, he took it to his elderly mothers farm/house and hooked it up to the transfer switch (that had been properly installed many years before)

The gen set started right up, BUT with a BANG! it immediately blew out every light bulb in the house that was on! Lucky for them that, THAT was all that was on! Poor ole 90 year old mom, nearly had a heart attack!

Defective generator! The voltage was governed by RPM and the RPM was waaay high, with no way to easily adjust it!

SO, checking them out BEFORE you need them, is a GOOD thing!

SR

 

[3930dave]

A guy I know, bought a "new" Coleman gen set and left it sitting in the box for several years, unopened. Then one day when the power went out, he took it to his elderly mothers farm/house and hooked it up to the transfer switch (that had been properly installed many years before)

The gen set started right up, BUT with a BANG! it immediately blew out every light bulb in the house that was on! Lucky for them that, THAT was all that was on! Poor ole 90 year old mom, nearly had a heart attack!

Defective generator! The voltage was governed by RPM and the RPM was waaay high, with no way to easily adjust it!

SO, checking them out BEFORE you need them, is a GOOD thing!

SR

That's got to be one of the best examples for Why do Maintenance/Test Runs ? I've ever heard. Dead Out of the Box happens.

Rgds, D.

 

[Industrial Toys]

I think it's just a funny yarn but a friend that works for a high volume generator/inverter company says they used to include tea candles in the boxes with their cheapest line of generators.

 

[3930dave]

I think it's just a funny yarn but a friend that works for a high volume generator/inverter company says they used to include tea candles in the boxes with their cheapest line of generators.

Even as a rural legend, that's pretty funny .

Rgds, D.

 

[dragoneggs]

Power out again today! 50mph winds coming down the throat of the Hood Canal. Generator on and big screen too! Yep, roughing it. Still need to figure a way to alert me when power back on rather than spying on the neighbors. Easier to do in the dark but daylight hours aren't as easy. Hey I know... A good use for my drone with camera on board, except it can't overpower this much wind. Oh well.

 

[Industrial Toys]

I have a flashing light and navy surplus horn that I can select one or the other. I can hear the horn in the shower two hundred feet awy quite easily. The horn and light are on an old 1A2 telephone interupter that cycles it on and off. Very low tech and reliable. The whole thing is connected at the main 200 amp switch with just an insulated aligator clip and inline low ampere fuse. The ground/neutral connection of course is no issue.

I have an automatic transfer switch but choose not to control the genset with this, so although this arrangement was made before I had the transfer switch, and just threw the main switch, this is still very usefull. Only issue now is a neighbour with a PTO genset and pole top transfer switch that is always calling me to ask if the power has come back yet.

 

[jgayman]

Still need to figure a way to alert me when power back on rather than spying on the neighbors. Easier to do in the dark but daylight hours aren't as easy. Hey I know... A good use for my drone with camera on board, except it can't overpower this much wind. Oh well.

I had the same problem during daylight hours. I installed a Reliance Electric Power Back alarm. It runs from a 9V battery and has a lead which senses the presence of power and then sounds an alarm that sounds like a smoke detector. It works like a champ!

You can get the alarm from a variety of on-line vendors, including Home Depot.

 

[3930dave]

I had the same problem during daylight hours. I installed a Reliance Electric Power Back alarm. It runs from a 9V battery and has a lead which senses the presence of power and then sounds an alarm that sounds like a smoke detector. It works like a champ!

You can get the alarm from a variety of on-line vendors, including Home Depot.

View attachment 448309

While I do like Industrial's roll-your-own approach, this looks like a consumer friendly setup, that should be relatively low cost.

If you've been running one for a while J, is the battery life good ?

Rgds, D.

 

[3930dave]

Power out again today! 50mph winds coming down the throat of the Hood Canal. Generator on and big screen too! Yep, roughing it. Still need to figure a way to alert me when power back on rather than spying on the neighbors. Easier to do in the dark but daylight hours aren't as easy. Hey I know... A good use for my drone with camera on board, except it can't overpower this much wind. Oh well.

Like the commercial says....

Dark night + reliable generator + big-screen......... Priceless.

Enjoy.

Rgds, D.

 

[dragoneggs]

Like the commercial says....

Dark night + reliable generator + big-screen......... Priceless.

Enjoy.

Rgds, D.

I like it... things are going so well I might just stay off the grid awhile longer than necessary! :cloud9:

 

[jgayman]

While I do like Industrial's roll-your-own approach, this looks like a consumer friendly setup, that should be relatively low cost.

If you've been running one for a while J, is the battery life good ?

Rgds, D.

The same battery has been in the unit since it was first installed a few years ago and it still works fine... note to self: I really should proactively install a new battery.

 

[jgayman]

While I do like Industrial's roll-your-own approach, this looks like a consumer friendly setup, that should be relatively low cost.

Low cost is right - $35

 

[Garandman]

Just did an oil change 54 weeks after install. Genet had 40.6 hours.

It exercises weekly for 20 minutes, so 18 hours was maintenance. We had one 15 hour outage and the remaining 7.6 was short duration interruptions.

 

[Garandman]

Just did an oil change 54 weeks after install. Genet had 40.6 hours.

It exercises weekly for 20 minutes, so 18 hours was maintenance. We had one 15 hour outage and the remaining 7.6 was short duration interruptions.

 

[3930dave]

Just did an oil change 54 weeks after install. Genet had 40.6 hours.

It exercises weekly for 20 minutes, so 18 hours was maintenance. We had one 15 hour outage and the remaining 7.6 was short duration interruptions.

On smaller engines I like to keep changes < 50 hours too..... even on a tight budget, until you get into the big industrial units, it's not like they take all that much oil....

Rgds, D.

 

[kevinwak]

Just did an oil change 54 weeks after install. Genet had 40.6 hours. It exercises weekly for 20 minutes, so 18 hours was maintenance. We had one 15 hour outage and the remaining 7.6 was short duration interruptions.

this just reminded me to run my a bit. Ran the Honda EU2000 for a half hour hooked to about 1500 watts of roof melting cable.