Your last generator Maintenance Run

[grsthegreat]

I tempgunned the magnetic heater I used on the 22kw Generac and it appears to be putting out about 170 degrees.
Unit was 42 degrees, ambient about 5 less. Well, at least no harm, if I hear it turn on, I'll just go take the thing off and get it out of the
way. Just for starting of course.

Then for my second gen adventure of the day went over to friend's and checked on my 7500 electric start Westinghouse gen I had long term lended her. Cranked and cranked and cranked. Put portable jump starter on. Another set of cranks. Say what?
Gas gauge said half full. Just in case, I added gas, and added gas, and added gas. 4 plus gallons later I knew what the problem was.
Gas gauge stuck, no gas.

Yup, about six revolutions and started right up. One way of running the gas out....

hehe. thats what my briggs and stratton 6500 watt generator has become. since im no longer wiring houses, i keep it arround to loan out to friends as needed. i had another one, an old coleman 3500 watt unit, but it finally gave up the ghost. i put in too much time and $$$ keeping that thing running. its over 20 years old, so i cant say it hasnt earned its keep. you can get a cold weather kit on ebay or amazon. current part numbers are 7101 for battery heater and 7102 for oil heater. its about $180 for the kit. easy to install. it comes with a wiring harness that plugs under terminals N1 & N2 coming from transfer switch to generator. this wiring kit has 2 ends. one to plug in battery heater the other to plug in oil heater. wires are long enough to reach around back of older generators and under motor to reach filter. on the newest style of generator, you may have to drill a small 1/2" hole and insert a plastic bushing in firewall. they have built in thermostats so they dont run when not necessary. by the way, the old part number was 6212. that part is still available but more expensive...those are about $345.00 . generac found a new supplier

 

[90cummins]

Around that size, I seem to recall 13hp listed somewhere online.... rated something like 6kw.

I have no experience with these diesels. May start a dedicated thread for this, and/or stop by a sailboat forum, but wanted to start by asking the brain-trust here How To Start ?

Rgds, D.

I started a tread titled in the Yanmar forum titled air cooled diesels and Yanmar clones.
Lot of info there.
90cummins

 

[grsthegreat]

we've now had 3 power outages in 2 weeks ..all lasting 3+ hours. one lasting over 5 hours. My phone has been ringing off the hook from people wanting whole house generators this spring. there all expressing how tired they are of no power when its below freeing outside.

i have been actively doing bids, however i'lll have to see how this year scopes out for generator installs this spring.
Last year i never got any calls until mid june, but i still installed quite a few units.

 

[90cummins]

Trying to help out a friend, who has this clone diesel generator. Bought new at auction, but the Owner's Manual is absent....

Powertek EDG6000S

Looks like this

POWERTEK EDG6S [u'East Regina'], Regina

Found parts here:

Generator Guru

Can't find an Owners Manual online yet. Neither of us has experience with this size of diesel.

Parts link above shows a RunStart lever, and a Rocker Cover Decompression Lever, but no glow plugs that I can see.

Is there typically a pre-chamber in the head that you prime with fuel, then use the Decompression Lever to increase initial cranking speed, then release ?

It is electric start.

Rgds, D.

I have 3 Yanmar aircooled diesels, L70 6.7HP ,L90 9HP & L100 10HP
The L90 & L100 I rebuilt, both recieved new bearings & pistons & 1 also got a new crankshaft & rod.
Only OEM parts were used here.
I purchased the L70 new because it had some options that appealed to me such as a 3 quart extended sump and bypass oil filter that allowed it to run non stop for over 500 hours unattended.
They are direct injection engines and start extremely easy and reliabily.
The L70 is connected to a 5kw generator head as my home backup to support my 4kw pure sine inverter.
I can pull 4000 watts at 120 volts at 60hz with this engine.
The L100 drives a 450 amp 28 volt DC military 6 phase alternator that directly charges my battery pack and is quite efficient operating 4 hours per gallon running at 2700 rpm.
My experience with the china clones was my first encounter with these engines which was not a good experience, that however led me to discover the real Yanmar which I feel are extremely well built and efficient.
If you have a Yanmar you can count on it starting even after sitting many months Being a diesel it doesnt require weekly or monthly runs to ensure it will start unlike a gasoline engine.
The forum for air cooled diesels and Yanmar clones has lots of info on the clones and real yanmars.
90cummins

 

[Industrial Toys]

I was a little shocked to see the current EPA version of my 3.7 Yanmar today selling for $4000.00 USD! Funny, no $400.00 deals at HF. lol

I got mine free, had to rewind the rotor and mess about with a few other things. Nothing comes easy for me! Glad I have it in my arsenal.

 

[3930dave]

Thanks for the Yanmar info 90 and IT.

I think my buddy is struggling to find the compression release on his, but will try again tomorrow.

I have one friend who has an old Yanmar on his old racing sailboat, and only had great things to say about it. Can't say I've ever heard much bad said about the real-deal Yanmars.

Rgds, D.

 

[3930dave]

The only issue I ever had with this Yanmar genset (Except having to get the rotor rewound, which is why I got it for free) was to replace the small Walmart bought lawn and garden battery after a few years.

I don't have a lawn tractor, but many people I know seem to go through those U1 Lawn Tractor batteries fairly often. They are pretty tiny, sit through our long Winters up here usually w/o being charged, so it wouldn't take much for them to freeze and warp or break plates.....

Rgds, D.

 

[3930dave]

My Honda EU6500is let me down this morning.

I woke up pre-dawn to the sound of a UPS beeping. Sure enough, the power is out. Check the temperature... ZERO degrees. Nice! I waited 15-mins or so and then used my phone to report the outage on the power company website.

Next step - fire up the generator which is a Honda EU6500is serving as a whole-house generator via a manual transfer switch.

It is in an unheated area and I always keep a battery tender attached. I flip the key and it starts to crank normally.... and cranks....... and cranks. WTF? Over the next 10-15 mins I intermittently crank/wait the engine until the tiny internal battery is near depleted. This beast has a pull starter but it pulls sooo hard that even during the summer pulling the rope just drags the 250 lb generator across the porch. I'm starting to get quite disappointed as this generator has always started right up although I never tried it when it was quite this cold. I keep a battery tender on it, I run it every other month, I use Sta-Bil treated non-Ethanol gas, I change the oil and install a new spark plug every November...you know... always ready to go (or so I thought).

As the internal battery was about depleted, my last resort was to get my Clore JNC660 jump box out of the car and try hooking it to the internal generator battery. The internal battery is equivalent to a small motorcycle battery and luckily I was able to just barely get the large alligator clamps to make contact on the tiny terminals.

So again... crank... crank... crank... intermittently over the next 30-mins with warm-up breaks in the house. I was just starting to gather up my stuff, throw in the towel and get ready for the house to start getting cold when I tried cranking one more time and VIOLA.... the b*stard sprang to life. I was never so glad to hear the purr of an engine in my life.

I must say though that I am quite disappointed in Mr. Honda as it failed to perform when the chips were really down. On the flip-side, Mr. JNC660 jump box proved to be a life saver and performed admirably.

Thinking about what I can possibly do differently... even though I run it every other month perhaps I should run it every other week as long as this sub-freezing weather continues which is supposed to be for at least another week. They were already calling for daytime highs of 10F and night time lows of 3F for the next few days but we already have that beat.

Can't remember if that Honda is a fuelly (meaning F injection). Either way, does it have a fuel filter ?

You keep the plugs fresh, so other than the air filter..... have you tried a dose of Seafoam lately ? (Edit - even with the tank always almost full you may have a bit of moisture present. Seafoam will deal with moisture, whereas regular Red Stabil probably will not. Not knocking Stabil, I use both, including Stabil 360 Protection).

Rgds, D.

 

[3930dave]

I tempgunned the magnetic heater I used on the 22kw Generac and it appears to be putting out about 170 degrees.
Unit was 42 degrees, ambient about 5 less. Well, at least no harm, if I hear it turn on, I'll just go take the thing off and get it out of the
way. Just for starting of course.

Then for my second gen adventure of the day went over to friend's and checked on my 7500 electric start Westinghouse gen I had long term lended her. Cranked and cranked and cranked. Put portable jump starter on. Another set of cranks. Say what?
Gas gauge said half full. Just in case, I added gas, and added gas, and added gas. 4 plus gallons later I knew what the problem was.
Gas gauge stuck, no gas.

Yup, about six revolutions and started right up. One way of running the gas out....

Good example. Trying to sort that out at in an emergency would not have been fun.

Isn't that why pilots should still be able to use a (fuel) dipstick ?

Rgds, D.

 

[3930dave]

I was a little shocked to see the current EPA version of my 3.7 Yanmar today selling for $4000.00 USD! Funny, no $400.00 deals at HF. lol

I got mine free, had to rewind the rotor and mess about with a few other things. Nothing comes easy for me! Glad I have it in my arsenal.

The 7.3 or 12v of the air-cooled world :thumbsup:

Rgds, D.