Your last generator Maintenance Run

[Darth_DMack]

Nice setup !

Welcome to the thread. People like grs and CM that hang out here have forgotten more about fixing/servicing gens, than many people ever figure out. Yours shouldn't need attention for a while, but keep this thread in mind (ex. grs has a very nice telemetry set up on his Generac, that you can find a few pages back if you are interested/haven't gone that route yet).

Rgds, D.

Yes Sir,

I've been scanning this thread as I work today. VERY good information. I just added a tank monitor that connects to my Generac and I an monitor the amount in my tank as well as the flow. I will do my first oil change soon, as I view oil changes as cheap insurance. I have dual transfer switches and my electrical system in my house / shop are partitioned. So, in the event of an emergency, I can shut off non-essential circuits and help make the propane last longer. I have an Onan 5.5k in my RV/Toy Hauler, but it runs on regular gas.

Great thread here! Lots of great info... as I'm finding that most content on this forum is very valuable. Lot's of knowledge on here!

 

[grsthegreat]

Your 26 kw will need the valves checked/adjusted after 25 hours of ACTUAL RUN TIME. the valve adjustment is the most fundamental thing to keep the generac unit starting as needed.

 

[grsthegreat]

My unit was installed in 2016. Its a 22 kw system. I have only logged 116 hours on it since install. before installing this system i had a manual 7500 kw system. That one saw use multiple times every year. After the wind storm and subsequent ice storms of 2015 and 2016, i sold 57 new installs in one season. So many people were just sick and tired of being out of power for days. Im a 1 man shop, and this nearly did me in.

id have 4-6 air cooled units delivered at a time, and the wife kept writing her name on a 22. But i sold and installed it before i could install it at my place. Finally, she had enough. She physically unboxed 1unit, uncrated it and wrapped it in yellow caution tape…..i got the message.

i ended up installing it and also upgrading propane tank to a 1000 gallon buried tank. The propane company was so grateful for me referring the new clients to them, i got the tank at cost.

we still get alot of outages, but not nearly as much now that they replaced the 3500 broken power poles with steel poles. Those 2 wind storms have helped our infrastructure tremendously up here.

 

[3930dave]

Yes Sir,

I've been scanning this thread as I work today. VERY good information. I just added a tank monitor that connects to my Generac and I an monitor the amount in my tank as well as the flow. I will do my first oil change soon, as I view oil changes as cheap insurance. I have dual transfer switches and my electrical system in my house / shop are partitioned. So, in the event of an emergency, I can shut off non-essential circuits and help make the propane last longer. I have an Onan 5.5k in my RV/Toy Hauler, but it runs on regular gas.

Great thread here! Lots of great info... as I'm finding that most content on this forum is very valuable. Lot's of knowledge on here!

Wise planning Darth.... one of the guys on here (Maine IIRC) with a nice diesel setup, in a picture-postcard "shed", went through a bad late Winter storm this year. Double-whammy if you need the propane for space-heating; some rural folks his way were near running out of propane. Load-shedding = getting through a long outage !

Rgds, D.

 

[3930dave]

Your 26 kw will need the valves checked/adjusted after 25 hours of ACTUAL RUN TIME. the valve adjustment is the most fundamental thing to keep the generac unit starting as needed.

Thanks for that reminder g. Lots of folks on here, with those units.....

Rgds, D.

 

[3930dave]

My unit was installed in 2016. Its a 22 kw system. I have only logged 116 hours on it since install. before installing this system i had a manual 7500 kw system. That one saw use multiple times every year. After the wind storm and subsequent ice storms of 2015 and 2016, i sold 57 new installs in one season. So many people were just sick and tired of being out of power for days. Im a 1 man shop, and this nearly did me in.

id have 4-6 air cooled units delivered at a time, and the wife kept writing her name on a 22. But i sold and installed it before i could install it at my place. Finally, she had enough. She physically unboxed 1unit, uncrated it and wrapped it in yellow caution tape…..i got the message.

i ended up installing it and also upgrading propane tank to a 1000 gallon buried tank. The propane company was so grateful for me referring the new clients to them, i got the tank at cost.

we still get alot of outages, but not nearly as much now that they replaced the 3500 broken power poles with steel poles. Those 2 wind storms have helped our infrastructure tremendously up here.

LOL.... I don't think I'd heard the Caution Tape story before...... I wouldn't have crossed that tape either !

I remember pictures of the log-jam of generators in your shop.... there is such a thing as being too successful @ what you do !

Interesting point about steel-poles. I don't see them often up here. I'm curious - what do you see (if any) for ice storms in your area ? Steel should be a strong option, but the bad ice-storm of 98 here flattened more than one big HV transmission tower.

(Edit - I read your post very late last night.... didn't take in your reference then to 15 and16 ice-storms....... I work late, and am only now sipping my first coffee ! I'll be OK... I think).

Rgds, D.

 

[grsthegreat]

Almost every pole replaced up here by our coop are the steel pole variety. Than all they need to contend with is fixing broken wire, not replacing poles. So repairs can be done proptly after a severe storm instead of the weeks needed to replace broken poles.

at one time back aways, i had 2 outbuildings chocked full of air cooled and some liquid cooled generators. Stacked 2 high. Dont miss those days at all.

 

[90cummins]

A question for the experts.
I have a compressor that had a 3 phase 10hp 220 or 240v motor.
My utility is 120/208 so I purchased a 15hp 208v 3 phase motor off eBay years ago because the original 10hp sounded sluggish running low voltage.
My question is how much more power does the larger motor require running the same load?
My BIL who’s an electrician said it would be negligible!
Not sure I buy it.

90cummins

 

[LittleBill21]

A question for the experts.
I have a compressor that had a 3 phase 10hp 220 or 240v motor.
My utility is 120/208 so I purchased a 15hp 208v 3 phase motor off eBay years ago because the original 10hp sounded sluggish running low voltage.
My question is how much more power does the larger motor require running the same load?
My BIL who’s an electrician said it would be negligible!
Not sure I buy it.

90cummins

i agree with your brother, does a v12 work harder than a v4 when pulling a car down the road?

 

[WinterDeere]

My BIL who’s an electrician said it would be negligible!
Not sure I buy it.

I'm an electrical engineer, so while I lack the practical experience of your BIL, I can back what he's saying with good theory. The efficiency of a three-phase motor remains pretty flat (and pretty good) down to below 50% of rated load. So, if your compressor is creating a load of at least 7 hp, the 15 hp and 10 hp motor will have similar current draw when driving that load. Current is linearly proportional to load, when efficiency remains flat.

However, if you were spinning that compressor on a 10 hp motor at half voltage, then perhaps it requires less than 7 hp, at which the efficiency begins to drop on the 15 hp motor, causing it to draw more current than a 10 hp motor.