Your last generator Maintenance Run

[3930dave]

Date: June 25/13

Generator: 2kw Briggs

Activity: 5gal Shop Vac - cleaned front of van.

Final Fueling notes: filled w. NonE gas, Stabil and Seafoam added.

Maintenance notes (Done, or Required): Started easy, with just a tiny bit of choke.

Rgds, D.

 

[doxford jim]

My standby genny is a 12kW unit and gets run about every two months using the house load, usually for three or four hours. This gets everything up to running temps and does a good job at charging the starting battery. My other two gennies get used maybe two or three times a year - these two are gas engines. The house genny is a diesel and does about 1/2 gall per hour with house load (100 amp service).
Where I live it can get down to -40C in the winter and should a blackout happen, the generator can be a life saver. It sure has helped me out two or three times with outside temperatures around -25C.
While an emergency generator is great, a backup heating system is a must too. My primary heat is geothermal, my backup heat is propane fired furnace. Again, the backup propane heater has saved my butt a couple of times in eight years.
Living outside of the cities means a lot of having to deal with emergency situations.
Thanks

 

[3930dave]

Sounds like you have things well covered Jim. Certainly somewhat easier to maintain a standby supply of diesel, over gas, in most areas today.

I suspect many thinking people are talking a second look at how they provide for themselves in an emergency. It's always been fairly obvious in remote rural areas that you should take responsibility for your own outcomes - recent disasters have illustrated the limits of what cities can realistically provide.

Do you have a preferred fuel treatment for storing gasoline and diesel Jim ?

Rgds, D.

 

[Gale Hawkins]

I have one that was started once last year, one has not been started since the 2009 ice storm and another since 2010 so thanks for the tread. Did start the one in the motorhome the other week. We ran it in Dec with a very heavy Sea Foam ratio and just let it set for six months with that in the carb. Bought some Mavel Mystery Oil last week for the first time ever but after about 30 hours of reading about MMO I ready can not get excited about it over Sea Foam that I have been buying by the gallons over the past 10+ years.

 

[3930dave]

You're welcome Gale. In the old days we could get away with letting gas gennies sit in between emergencies, but I've convinced myself that I can't do that with current de-evolving fuels.

Partly I'm using this thread to remind myself to get a little better at using my generators more often to do routine chores - a little time spent on this will help me avoid getting seriously PO'd with myself when my emergency generator is only good as a boat anchor.

I came across Sea Foam in the motorcycle world. No chemical treatment can solve 100% of the problems out there, but Sea Foam has a pretty good track record of dealing with old fuel/improperly stored engines/gucked up carbs, etc. Sea Foam is one of the things I keep in stock at home.

I find that with personal equipment like these generators, 6 months can go by in a flash. I spend enough time on TBN that I decided to start this thread to help fight the "time compression" that seems to happen to many of us.

May the Standby Power (Force) be with you, always !

Rgds, D.

 

[3930dave]

As I've posted elsewhere, I'd come to the conclusion that I was not going to store engines dry of fuel.

This is a good summation of why:

Stabil site

Rgds, D.

 

[Clint S]

I run my 120 Mig welder off from it rather than an outlet. I seem to get better welds with the genny being close than running from an outlet. So about 2x a month. I also run it out of gas via the shut off so gas is not sitting in the carb. Seems to be the ticket for me.

 

[nikdfish]

Date: 7/4/13

Generator: porter cable 5500 watt (10+ years old)

Activity: ran two 1500 watt milk house heaters 20 min (one on each leg)

Final Fueling notes: left 1/8 tank stabil treated for 18 mo. storage

Maintenance notes n/a engine started on first pull (as usual)

Nick

 

[3930dave]

I run my 120 Mig welder off from it rather than an outlet. I seem to get better welds with the genny being close than running from an outlet. So about 2x a month. I also run it out of gas via the shut off so gas is not sitting in the carb. Seems to be the ticket for me.

The average 15A outlet will often have a sizeable line drop, so I can see your welder really liking the genny.

Good idea - throws a sizeable load at the gen, and gets some productive work out of it. :thumbsup:

You're exercising your gen fairly often, that's always helpful. There are a lot of variables with motor storage - local fuel quality and characteristics (EPA mandated formulations, seasonal adjustments....), carburator type, fuel stabilizer used, local climate (humidity, temperature swings), ethanol content, frequency of re-activation.

I used to run my first generator dry all the time. I found that once ethanol became prevalent, that didn't work out so well, for my combination of factors.

What actually got me rolling on "wet" storage was getting back into motorcycling, after being away for a very long time. After successfully over-wintering my street bike with a full tank of Stabil treated fuel a few years back, I decided to take the same approach with the rest of my small engines.

Until I encounter problems, I plan to store my engines/carbs full of treated fuel. Everybody's situation will have different factors that will determine what works/doesn't for them.

Rgds, D.

 

[3930dave]

Date: 7/4/13

Generator: porter cable 5500 watt (10+ years old)

Activity: ran two 1500 watt milk house heaters 20 min (one on each leg)

Final Fueling notes: left 1/8 tank stabil treated for 18 mo. storage

Maintenance notes n/a engine started on first pull (as usual)

Nick

Over 10 years, you must be taking good care of that PC gen Nick.

I like to keep my fuel tank more or less full, partly so it's totally ready to go, but more so to deal with our temperature swings (+/- 40C) and high humidity. A good fuel treatment takes care of a lot, but that is my belt/suspenders approach.

Toronto had major widespread flooding last Monday (month's rain came down in 1 hour). Some people were w/o power for days, in Canada's largest city (small %, but that doesn't matter if you are one of 'em). Took 6+ hours to evacuate people off a GO (commuter) train, within the city. Most of the subway system was down.

Good reminder to exercise my gen.

Rgds, D.