Your last generator Maintenance Run

[WinterDeere]

There's actually a station not far from my house that carries and sells off road diesel. They're often out of stock, they don't seem to do a good job of actually monitoring who's using all of it, since I routinely see contractors filling their trucks from the "offroad only" pump. But I'll buy that if I happen to be passing it, and have my can with me, and they happen to not be out of the stuff.

Otherwise, it's whatever is closest and easiest. I really don't use enough fuel in my tractor, to make any enormous effort in saving a little per gallon worth any effort. YMMV, but I suspect nearly all people not using their tractor for their daily living, fall into the same boat.

Gasoline is another story. My damn little zero turn mower easily uses more fuel per week than my tractor does in a month, despite more total hours on the tractor.

 

[Williy]

My fuel man told me that the diesel at the pump
is the same as home heating fuel and for off road
the same fuel is used with a red dye added. I
treat all my fuel with PS white so ready when ever the temp drops

willy

 

[bdhsfz6]

My fuel man told me that the diesel at the pump
is the same as home heating fuel and for off road
the same fuel is used with a red dye added. I
treat all my fuel with PS white so ready when ever the temp drops

willy

It's pretty much the same here but blends can vary by location. As suggested earlier in the thread, it is always a good idea to ask.

 

[3930dave]

I came up with a way to fuel my standby diesel generator, which is installed in the back of the barn. Presently, I fuel my tractors from a pump on the 1000 gal. fuel oil tank at the house.

View attachment 1850864 View attachment 1850865

I can't use it for the generator, so I built this fuel caddy to transport fuel out to the barn:

I try to repurpose items I have around the place for projects like this. I took an old unused cart I built to haul barrels of coal to the stove, and mounted a 30 gal drum.

View attachment 1850870 View attachment 1850869

I took a 12V transfer pump off an old tank and installed it on the barrel. I powered the pump with cordless tool batteries so the whole rig is self contained and can be used during a power outage.

View attachment 1850871 View attachment 1850872

I fill it at the house and roll it out to the barn, or anywhere else I need fuel. The only thing I had to buy was the barrel and the 20V to 12VDC converter.

View attachment 1850873 View attachment 1850874

Yes, there are wheeled fuel caddies out there but they're pricey. Most have hand crank pumps, which I hate. I find it too difficult to watch the fuel level while cranking the darn thing.

There may well be a battery powered fuel caddy on wheels out there but I have yet to see one. If one does exist, it would surely cost more than the $100 I have invested in this home made rig.

Liking your caddy Guys @ work that are pulling tanks off G4500s for coating, would def like it even more...

Cool to see how power sources "travel".... esp. once they are common (I'm assuming that's a tool-battery that you have many of). I remember the first USB chips rolling out, and being focused on the communication aspect.... not suspecting @ the time the spread of the power-standard feature.....

Some years, I think a bit slowly I guess !

Dzl/Cold issues..... another timely reminder.

Rgds, D.

 

[bdhsfz6]

Liking your caddy Guys @ work that are pulling tanks off G4500s for coating, would def like it even more...

Cool to see how power sources "travel".... esp. once they are common (I'm assuming that's a tool-battery that you have many of). I remember the first USB chips rolling out, and being focused on the communication aspect.... not suspecting @ the time the spread of the power-standard feature.....

Some years, I think a bit slowly I guess !

Dzl/Cold issues..... another timely reminder.

Rgds, D.

Yes, DeWalt batteries, I have a dozen or so.

Wheeled fuel caddies have been around forever, but most I've seen have just two. They're moved like a hand truck and have a balance point. I saw one full of used motor oil get away from a guy at a gas station once. It fell backward on it's side and it took two men to get it upright again.

There are some out there with caster wheels on the front instead of skids, but they won't roll over rough ground. I did come across this one with 4 smallish wheels and a wagon handle:

The $4K price tag was a bit rich for my taste though.

Years ago, I had an old diesel poly tank with a hand crank pump that lived in the barn. I never had an issue with gelling and it was far colder around here back then. We'll see this winter if a steel drum is any different.

 

[3930dave]

Yes, DeWalt batteries, I have a dozen or so.

Wheeled fuel caddies have been around forever, but most I've seen have just two. They're moved like a hand truck and have a balance point. I saw one full of used motor oil get away from a guy at a gas station once. It fell backward on it's side and it took two men to get it upright again.

There are some out there with caster wheels on the front instead of skids, but they won't roll over rough ground. I did come across this one with 4 smallish wheels and a wagon handle:

View attachment 1858630
The $4K price tag was a bit rich for my taste though.

Years ago, I had an old diesel poly tank with a hand crank pump that lived in the barn. I never had an issue with gelling and it was far colder around here back then. We'll see this winter if a steel drum is any different.

$4k !!!! IF those things are selling..... I'm in the wrong business !!!!

Pails...... can be big problems..... I was in an Auto-Parts shop,when one of the guys from a nearby industrial shop came tearing in, looking for oil. One of their guys was backing a payloader in, and managed to run over 1 or more 5 gallon pails. If you've ever spilled even half a quart of oil..... you can imagine how much fun that was to clean up.....

Not having something tip-over, for the cost of 2 extra wheels....... money well spent.

Rgds, D.

 

[Popgadget]

My fuel man told me that the diesel at the pump
is the same as home heating fuel and for off road
the same fuel is used with a red dye added.

That can be true sometimes. Ultra Low Sulphur fuel oil needs a lubricity additive to be safely used in common rail diesels. Green Diesel has the additive, Red home heating or off road diesel “might” have it. My oil dealer just sells heating oil as off road diesel so I add the lubricity and cold flow additives to my tank when I get it filled.

Biobor JF – Biobor Fuel Additives

www.biobor.com

Coldflo with Lubribor – Biobor Fuel Additives

www.biobor.com

 

[3930dave]

That can be true sometimes. Ultra Low Sulphur fuel oil needs a lubricity additive to be safely used in common rail diesels. Green Diesel has the additive, Red home heating or off road diesel “might” have it. My oil dealer just sells heating oil as off road diesel so I add the lubricity and cold flow additives to my tank when I get it filled.

Biobor JF – Biobor Fuel Additives

www.biobor.com

Coldflo with Lubribor – Biobor Fuel Additives

www.biobor.com

Good point.

Sulphur caused one problem, but prevented others @ same-time....

Rgds, D.

 

[WinterDeere]

Good point.

Sulphur caused one problem, but prevented others @ same-time....

Rgds, D.

Like leaded fuel! Great for preventing knock (lead raises octane), and has the side benefit of lubing valve guides, as I understand it… but bad in every other way.

 

[DarkBlack]

Like leaded fuel! Great for preventing knock (lead raises octane), and has the side benefit of lubing valve guides, as I understand it… but bad in every other way.

Cushions valve seats, not valve guides. Guides are oil lubrcated.

 

[WinterDeere]

Cushions valve seats, not valve guides. Guides are oil lubrcated.

Really? On all I’ve built, oil seal bonnets sit atop the guides, and no guides I’ve ever installed have oiler holes. How’s oil getting to the guides?

I suppose the seals could leak a bit, although that would be a huge surprise, given how snugly they fit, and their construction of spring over gland. But then you’d also have the problem of oil entering the combustion chamber, which would be a recipe for carbon build-up.

I guess I’ve never dug into it, and don’t have the time now. I did a quick minute of searching, and came across this interesting thread, with a few linked articles, but didn’t have time to make a conclusion during a quick lunch break.

https://www.ducati.ms/threads/lead-in-fuel-has-nothing-to-do-with-valve-seat-health.638362/

 

[DarkBlack]

Really? On all I’ve built, oil seal bonnets sit atop the guides, and no guides I’ve ever installed have oiler holes. How’s oil getting to the guides?

Yes, really.

What do you think has been lubricating your valve guides and stems for the last 50 years?

Why do think manufacturers switched to hardened valve seats in the 1970’s?

How are pistons, and cylinders lubricated, if you have piston rings blocking and scraping off the oil?

 

[5030]

Hardened valve seats were adopted as tetraethyl lead was phased out.

 

[5030]

6AM and 6:15 AM they both exercised. 6AM for the propane fired unit and 6:15AM for the diesel unit. Mailman dropped off a package the other day and remarked 'looks like you have a new standby genny to which I replied, no, it's the old one in a new enclosure. It was less expensive for me to gut the old corroded steel enclosure and install the guts in a new powder coated aluminum cabinet. Damn genny and motor was heavy. Had to use a cherry picker to remove and reinstall it. It was all plug and play hooking everything back up. Generac thoughtfully color codes everything. Hopefully, I won't have to repeat that anytime soon. Interestingly, the diesel powered unit has no corrosion on it anywhere and it has a painted steel enclosure but the propane fired unit that takes care of the house rusted terribly. I even poured a new concrete pad for it. 6" thick with reinforcing mat in it. I moved the unit slightly to the right so I didn't have to move the earthing rod. Generac provides a very complete enclosure kit, right down to new decals which I tossed. The instructions were terrible but it wasn't rocket science to pull it and reinstall it in the new enclosure. Interestingly, all the hardware was individually packaged in zip lock plastic bags. I have a pile of empty bags now. They even provided Rivnuts for the front panel and interestingly, all the new hardware was metric except the Rivnuts, those were SAE. All done and no spares left either. Generac didn't provide enough (length) lid sealing gasket so I had to get a roll from Amazon. I could probably go into business replacing the corroded steel enclosures with the aluminum ones as there are a load of rusting away steel enclosures around here. The new enclosure set me back almost 4 grand but was still a lot cheaper than a new unit.

One thing I did have to do was fabricate internal front and back bulkheads as Generac didn't provide them Not a big deal, just took time to measure the old corroded ones, generate a cut plot and cut them on the CNC plasma table and then weld on nutserts for the threaded fasteners that secured them to the engine and generator head.

All is well that ends well and it's much quieter than it was in the corroding away cabinet as well. Generac provided a complete set of sound absorbing foil backed foam.

Was a ton of grunt work and a bit of pre assembly guessing as the instructions were pretty cryptic.

I'm guessing that Generac never considered an owner and not a dealer would do a refit.

Interestingly, I had no issue purchasing the new enclosure from Generac at all and the new enclosure looks just like the old one except it's aluminum.

Don't look at all like the newer ones with the curved sides and overlapping top.

 

[90cummins]

Like leaded fuel! Great for preventing knock (lead raises octane), and has the side benefit of lubing valve guides, as I understand it… but bad in every other way.

 

[3930dave]

6AM and 6:15 AM they both exercised. 6AM for the propane fired unit and 6:15AM for the diesel unit. Mailman dropped off a package the other day and remarked 'looks like you have a new standby genny to which I replied, no, it's the old one in a new enclosure. It was less expensive for me to gut the old corroded steel enclosure and install the guts in a new powder coated aluminum cabinet. Damn genny and motor was heavy. Had to use a cherry picker to remove and reinstall it. It was all plug and play hooking everything back up. Generac thoughtfully color codes everything. Hopefully, I won't have to repeat that anytime soon. Interestingly, the diesel powered unit has no corrosion on it anywhere and it has a painted steel enclosure but the propane fired unit that takes care of the house rusted terribly. I even poured a new concrete pad for it. 6" thick with reinforcing mat in it. I moved the unit slightly to the right so I didn't have to move the earthing rod. Generac provides a very complete enclosure kit, right down to new decals which I tossed. The instructions were terrible but it wasn't rocket science to pull it and reinstall it in the new enclosure. Interestingly, all the hardware was individually packaged in zip lock plastic bags. I have a pile of empty bags now. They even provided Rivnuts for the front panel and interestingly, all the new hardware was metric except the Rivnuts, those were SAE. All done and no spares left either. Generac didn't provide enough (length) lid sealing gasket so I had to get a roll from Amazon. I could probably go into business replacing the corroded steel enclosures with the aluminum ones as there are a load of rusting away steel enclosures around here. The new enclosure set me back almost 4 grand but was still a lot cheaper than a new unit.

One thing I did have to do was fabricate internal front and back bulkheads as Generac didn't provide them Not a big deal, just took time to measure the old corroded ones, generate a cut plot and cut them on the CNC plasma table and then weld on nutserts for the threaded fasteners that secured them to the engine and generator head.

All is well that ends well and it's much quieter than it was in the corroding away cabinet as well. Generac provided a complete set of sound absorbing foil backed foam.

Was a ton of grunt work and a bit of pre assembly guessing as the instructions were pretty cryptic.

I'm guessing that Generac never considered an owner and not a dealer would do a refit.

Interestingly, I had no issue purchasing the new enclosure from Generac at all and the new enclosure looks just like the old one except it's aluminum.

Don't look at all like the newer ones with the curved sides and overlapping top.

V. Nicely done, and thanks for the update ! Resto-Modding Generators.... I'm liking it !

I suspect you could keep busy doing those conversions, anywhere in the Salt/Rust Belt..... there could be a few sales or more, just in providing those bulkheads to DIY'ers in a hurry, given the machining you have at hand.

With pretty much The Price of Everything through the roof, an improved enclosure, sold in a well provisioned (if not Instructed) Kit, makes much of fewer cents !

Rgds, D.

 

[Racer4]

My generac ran for 32 hours until the power came back on at 6 tonight.

I had a 7800 watt Troy-Bilt with electric start on FB for sale and no takers for a few weeks. Talked to my buddy and ended up selling it to his son last night. He’s got a baby and needed everything up and running and his little generator wasn’t cutting it.

 

[Popgadget]

Good point.

Sulphur caused one problem, but prevented others @ same-time....

Rgds, D.

As it was explained to me,it’s not the lack of sulphur that reduces the lubricity of the fuel, but the process of removing the sulphur that causes the problem.

 

[3930dave]

My generac ran for 32 hours until the power came back on at 6 tonight.

I had a 7800 watt Troy-Bilt with electric start on FB for sale and no takers for a few weeks. Talked to my buddy and ended up selling it to his son last night. He’s got a baby and needed everything up and running and his little generator wasn’t cutting it.

Long enough (though nothing, compared to a hurricane-path area) to be a pain, w/o backup....

Your olde 7800.... good peace-of-mind, for a young family

Rgds, D.

 

[3930dave]

As it was explained to me,it’s not the lack of sulphur that reduces the lubricity of the fuel, but the process of removing the sulphur that causes the problem.

That could be..... I'm due for further reading .

Gear-oils tend to lock sulphur into my mind, lube-wise....

Microbial-growth, being another No Sulphur For You rebound-issue...

Long way back.... I posted some docs re. the battle between Big-Oil and Engine Manuf about what is an acceptable wear-scan limit (re. Lube Additives Required, in ULSD)...... No prizes give, for guessing correctly who won that battle (We lost).

Rgds, D.