Your last generator Maintenance Run

[daugen]

my generac 22kw ran for three days during the hurricane and power outage afterwards. Ran flawlessly, added a tiny bit of oil once during a two hour break I give the gen each day it runs like this. Oil is still so clean it's hard to read, but after putting 70+ hours on it, I guess it sure worked for its dinner of synthetic oil...

Wound up giving my 8kw portable Westinghouse to an old lady friend without power; it was such a hassle getting it onto my truck and off, and getting it hooked up at her house down near the flooded Pamlico River that I decided to let it stay there for good. So I bought myself a 3100W Champion inverter style to replace it, my is that quiet, added oil, it started and ran perfectly on the second pull.

So...I turned off the gas valve and let it run out. Is that still considered a good idea even with non ethanol high test in it? It's made to go with my rv; has a 30amp rv plug on it, so I guess it will be used a few times each year.
But like most gens, mostly it sits. So in goes the Stabil and then every few months I'll run it and hook up an electric space heater to it. Yes, I plugged a big Dewalt electric impact wrench after starting it up and it ran that just fine.
I have to believe when that a/c compressor kicks on it will give this little gen a workout. Which is good actually.

For all the gens that ran and ran during this Eastern hurricane, going to be a lot of maintenance going on. At one point over a million people here in NC were without power.

 

[3930dave]

my generac 22kw ran for three days during the hurricane and power outage afterwards. Ran flawlessly, added a tiny bit of oil once during a two hour break I give the gen each day it runs like this. Oil is still so clean it's hard to read, but after putting 70+ hours on it, I guess it sure worked for its dinner of synthetic oil...

Wound up giving my 8kw portable Westinghouse to an old lady friend without power; it was such a hassle getting it onto my truck and off, and getting it hooked up at her house down near the flooded Pamlico River that I decided to let it stay there for good. So I bought myself a 3100W Champion inverter style to replace it, my is that quiet, added oil, it started and ran perfectly on the second pull.

So...I turned off the gas valve and let it run out. Is that still considered a good idea even with non ethanol high test in it? It's made to go with my rv; has a 30amp rv plug on it, so I guess it will be used a few times each year.
But like most gens, mostly it sits. So in goes the Stabil and then every few months I'll run it and hook up an electric space heater to it. Yes, I plugged a big Dewalt electric impact wrench after starting it up and it ran that just fine.
I have to believe when that a/c compressor kicks on it will give this little gen a workout. Which is good actually.

For all the gens that ran and ran during this Eastern hurricane, going to be a lot of maintenance going on. At one point over a million people here in NC were without power.

Your preparations worked out well, congratulations. Your friend must have really appreciated the donated power plant.

Sounds like the high water missed you (or did you stock up on sandbags ?); that was a good bit of luck.

Rgds, D.

 

[Diamondpilot]

I used time let carbs run dry buy now I just use Marine Stabilizer and make sure I run it every couple months.

I seem to have less carb issues this way.

 

[3930dave]

I used time let carbs run dry buy now I just use Marine Stabilizer and make sure I run it every couple months.

I seem to have less carb issues this way.

I made a similar transition, after having run-dry issues with my smaller gen. Here and in other threads, there are examples of guys who have been OK with run-dry..... IMO, a big factor is if you can totally drain and dry out the carb, every time. Some carbs have to be physically modified to accomplish this.

I don't let equipment sit much more than 1 year max, so any decent fuel stabilizer will do the trick for me. Esp. with generators, I want them to be able to fire up NOW - for that reason alone, I want mine full of fuel. Have had zero carb issues after switching to full/wet/stabilized storage. YMMV, whatever consistently works for a particular motor/owner/region is what matters....

Finally now seeing Marine 360 available up here, I'll be picking that up once I get through my stash of pure 360....

STA-BIL 36deg Marine Fuel Treatment for Boats

Rgds, D.

 

[Diamondpilot]

I made a similar transition, after having run-dry issues with my smaller gen. Here and in other threads, there are examples of guys who have been OK with run-dry..... IMO, a big factor is if you can totally drain and dry out the carb, every time. Some carbs have to be physically modified to accomplish this.

I don't let equipment sit much more than 1 year max, so any decent fuel stabilizer will do the trick for me. Esp. with generators, I want them to be able to fire up NOW - for that reason alone, I want mine full of fuel. Have had zero carb issues after switching to full/wet/stabilized storage. YMMV, whatever consistently works for a particular motor/owner/region is what matters....

Finally now seeing Marine 360 available up here, I'll be picking that up once I get through my stash of pure 360....

STA-BIL 36deg Marine Fuel Treatment for Boats

Rgds, D.

Wow, I need to spell check my post. Stupid spell correct Apple has hacked me all up.

I used time let carbs run dry buy now I just use Marine Stabilizer and make sure I run it every couple months.

I seem to have less carb issues this way.

 

[3930dave]

Wow, I need to spell check my post. Stupid spell correct Apple has hacked me all up.

:confused3: guess its the tech sector's contribution to the erosion of the English language.....

There are some compilation sites out there, listing Autocorrect message goofups that accidentally ended up being pretty hilarious.

Rgds, D.

 

[ultrarunner]

I'm always finding properly spelled words but not words that I typed...

Most of the California DMV offices were closed today due to computer problems... people tendered payment and were refused.

Wonder if the Emergency Generator quit in Sacramento?

 

[3930dave]

I'm always finding properly spelled words but not words that I typed...

Most of the California DMV offices were closed today due to computer problems... people tendered payment and were refused.

Wonder if the Emergency Generator quit in Sacramento? <<< Consequences of CARB cutbacks on test hours perhaps ?

I've never been a fan of trading off high tech for low(er) reliability. I've seen some texts from my wife (an extremely literate person) lately that are noticeably corrupted - almost like her text had been stitched together with some words from a totally unrelated text.

Most systems have security holes; the grid is no exception. <<<< Yet another good reason for having a reliable generator nearby.....

Rgds, D.

 

[ultrarunner]

Closed 3 days and counting... so much for backup systems or lack of...

 

[3930dave]

Might not be hardware..... a retired buddy of mine may end up back in the saddle.... lots of systems are in dire need of olde COBOL jocks like him to fix these legacy systems that are still running.

Rgds, D.