Your last generator Maintenance Run

[3930dave]

Sometimes the help of another is needed no matter how briefly.

I pressed my then 85 year old mom into the operator seat to steer the Kubota when I was pulling it out with the Deere.

Needs Must, as the Brits say....

Most/all of us that hang out here naturally take the lead on these type of things.... but it's easy to forget, there are people in the household that probably need some refresher training on these systems.

Sick, injured, stuck away from home (or at least delayed returning) during a wide-area outage/disaster.... there are plenty of reasons the primary equipment operator needs backup....

Sending wishes for smooth running to those on gen-power, and also plenty of fuel and spares on hand if it stretches out, and hoping everyone gets through this safely with no personal or property damage !

Rgds, D.

 

[daugen]

looking at a 50kw Winco pto gen, interested to see note that
each 2hp of pto power equals 1kw output
50hp at pto: 25kw
100hp needed for 50kw

so one horse power equals 500 watts of production
I wonder how that compares in efficiency to a standalone gas gen
a 24kw Generac has how much hp? they don't seem to post hp.
one liter gas twin usually good for 30hp, GRS, an educated guess?

 

[grsthegreat]

My understanding is the 24 kw generac has aprox 36 hp, 999cc engine.

 

[Sawyer Rob]

2 pto hp per kw is a rating that figures in the loss' in the system and is a continuous rating for the tractor.

SR

 

[WinterDeere]

My understanding is the 24 kw generac has aprox 36 hp, 999cc engine.

They couldn't just round it off, and badge the thing 1.0L?

 

[grsthegreat]

more than likely a 1L will require different, more stringent, EPA requirements. alot of the requirements talk about engines less than 50HP and less than 1000CC.

all politics

 

[LouNY]

looking at a 50kw Winco pto gen, interested to see note that
each 2hp of pto power equals 1kw output
50hp at pto: 25kw
100hp needed for 50kw

so one horse power equals 500 watts of production
I wonder how that compares in efficiency to a standalone gas gen
a 24kw Generac has how much hp? they don't seem to post hp.
one liter gas twin usually good for 30hp, GRS, an educated guess?

One nice thing with a pto generator is that the tractor doesn't have to be sized for 100% of generator capacity. You could spin that generator with a tractor of only 25 pto hp, you could only generate about 12 or 13 Kw continuously with a good surge capacity because of the flywheel effect.

 

[90cummins]

I have a 25kw Generac PTO generator with 50kw surge & I run it with my 27 hp compact tractor with no issues.
I also installed a 5kw generator end on a 6.7 Yanmar diesel with excellent results. The larger generator gives it additional surge capacity.
You can definitely run a larger generator with smaller than recommended power source you are just limited in capacity.
90cummins

 

[kirkawilson]

My 4 year old portable Briggs & Stratton Q6500 inverter generator (gas) has been working flawless until this past Tuesday when we lost power. Six circuits in the house breaker box are dual-powered through a transfer switch fed from the generator. On Tuesday, I cranked the generator with 3 pulls and flipped each circuit on the transfer switch to 'generator' and 'wa-la', power to the kitchen, family room, and central gas heat (2 units). All was fine and normal until the grid power returned about 15 minutes later. The kitchen flourescent lights started blinking, the generator speed controller started going haywire and the generator shut itself down. The remainder of the house powered up from the grid and I switched the transfer circuits back to grid, so the entire house was back on grid power. I restarted the generator just fine and set itself on 'idle' speed with the QPT switch on, but the power indicators stayed at 100% without any load. I checked the 120V and 240V outlets with the generator running, and there was no power. So, I pulled the inverter and it was fried (see below). Really don't know how/if grid power 'backing' through the transfer switch caused the failure or if the inverter just happened to fail at the same time as grid power returned. Anyway, a replacement inverter is about $600 and B&S have discontinued making these generators, so I am looking for a replacement generator with 240V circuit and at least 6kw. Any suggestions?

 

[WinterDeere]

My 4 year old portable Briggs & Stratton Q6500 inverter generator (gas) has been working flawless until this past Tuesday when we lost power. Six circuits in the house breaker box are dual-powered through a transfer switch fed from the generator. On Tuesday, I cranked the generator with 3 pulls and flipped each circuit on the transfer switch to 'generator' and 'wa-la', power to the kitchen, family room, and central gas heat (2 units). All was fine and normal until the grid power returned about 15 minutes later. The kitchen flourescent lights started blinking, the generator speed controller started going haywire and the generator shut itself down. The remainder of the house powered up from the grid and I switched the transfer circuits back to grid, so the entire house was back on grid power. I restarted the generator just fine and set itself on 'idle' speed with the QPT switch on, but the power indicators stayed at 100% without any load. I checked the 120V and 240V outlets with the generator running, and there was no power. So, I pulled the inverter and it was fried (see below). Really don't know how/if grid power 'backing' through the transfer switch caused the failure or if the inverter just happened to fail at the same time as grid power returned. Anyway, a replacement inverter is about $600 and B&S have discontinued making these generators, so I am looking for a replacement generator with 240V circuit and at least 6kw. Any suggestions?

View attachment 846365

I switched to a Honda powered unit, just for the lower audible noise. But I'll leave specific generator brand recommendations to others who know the brands better than me.

But I'd like to get a look at that transfer switch, see if we can figure out what went wrong. The timing is too coincidental to assume this was a random failure. Got photos, schematics, anything for us to start digging on?