Your last generator Maintenance Run

[dragoneggs]

We've been using my trusty 3Kw Honda gen for the occasional outages. But the one thing I can't power with it is our well. The more I think about it, I think I should go bigger. Not sure I really want/need a thirsty whole house auto gen vs. just a bigger 'portable' unit that I can plug into my existing feed to a mechanical interlock.

This one is very appealing to me except the price!

Honda EU7i Model Info | Super Quiet 7 Watt Inverter Generator | Honda Generators

 

[grsthegreat]

had a customer call me to tell me his generator wasnt sounding right...not starting correctly. im actually surprised it was running at all. take a look at the brushes. i truly hate replacing brushes though. and of course it was raining and windy too boot. on the standby units it takes about 90 minutes to disassemble the side of the generator and remove the bearing carrier to access the slip rings. at least it happened now and not when its -10F outside and blowing snow.

 

[ultrarunner]

Yep... hard to find small 240 volt gensets... some are out there.

The 7000 is back ordered to June on some sites.

Only know one owner and he is pleased... has it all set up for manual start with key after disconnecting solar and grid...

Probably not an issue in the Pacific Northwest but have heard some chatter that the unit as configured doesn't do as well in extreme heat... you know running the A/C in Arizona or Inland Empire.

 

[Rustyiron]

This one is very appealing to me except the price!

Honda EU7i Model Info | Super Quiet 7 Watt Inverter Generator | Honda Generators

Ouch, this is not really comparable (or portable) other than it's a generator but I've got $4500 into this one. Honda make a real nice generator.

 

[grsthegreat]

Ouch, this is not really comparable (or portable) other than it's a generator but I've got $4500 into this one. Honda make a real nice generator.
View attachment 674969

that Cummins is Onan green:dance1:

 

[Chilliwack Murray]

Cummins has been trying for 20 years to get rid of the Onan green. They got rid of the Onan logo for almost everything in the early
2000s but still had “Home of Onan Products” on the sign at the plant for many years. Now that’s gone too:

 

[Rustyiron]

It sure has a motor in it that I don't recognize as a Cummins. It is a small 4cyl that's turbocharged. From my experience that means that they've max'ed out the motor that is used in several models "below" in power. In tractors I like to have the smallest in the series thinking of it possibly having better longevity. I don't imagine that I'll put but 100 hours a year on this one, unless we get another killer 9 day outage ice storm.

 

[ultrarunner]

What's the rating?

The 1995 Cummins I maintain have all been real workhorses... unfortunately they are also on the Air District's radar as they are pre tier 4 final.

 

[Chilliwack Murray]

Looks like a Lister Petter powered unit from around 2000. We only saw the Nat gas and propane powered ones around here. They were bad for collecting moisture in the oil if they weren’t run at high load levels.

After they stopped making the Cummins A model and Onan DJ model diesels, around here we only saw Kubota from 2cyl 5kw up to 25kw which was the 5cyl. 35kw had the B3.9 until the B3.3 came along and a turbocharged 3.9 eventually went to 60kw.

 

[3930dave]

Had our first outage today since the install of the Hyper Engineering Sure-Start soft start system on the 5 ton heat pump & I had a chance to see the effect it has on starting while on generator power (22kw). It's a major difference in how the generator handles the system start up. Previously the various UPS units in the house would all chirp & I'd see at least a bit of a flicker on some LED lighting. There would also be a brief really low reading on the UPS voltage display (<100v) & an audible difference in generator sound until the HP got up to speed. Now it is a total non-event. No chirps, no flickers. The UPS display momentarily went from 120v to 114v, but that was for maybe a half second & not enough to make it chirp. There was also no significant change in generator sound during the start.

Don't Cha Luv It When a Plan Works Out !

:thumbsup: Rgds, D.