Your last generator Maintenance Run

[Einthewoods]

Does sound lean.... guessing no fuel filter, and screens are clean..... pls let us know how the new carb does, and where you sourced it from.

Rgds, D.

There is a in tank screen that is clean as can be. Fuel shutoff valve has been taken apart and cleaned thoroughly. I will likely add in a inline fuel filter while I am at it. I will swish some gas in the tank and try to make sure it is as clean as I can get it before filling it for the new carb.

I got the carb on Amazon for <$12. I'm sure I will get all $12 worth of quality out of it, but at least it will let me know if the my carb is just screwed or not.

There were several of them at various prices. The one I ordered came with a new backing plate, gaskets and fuel line.
Amazon.com : HURI Carburetor with Gasket for Generac Centurion GP325 5789 5982 4 4-1 4RO 614RO Engine : Garden & Outdoor

 

[TractorGuy]

Have a reminder set in my phone calendar to check and run the generator under load and change the home AC filter on the third Sunday of every month. My test was due and done last Sunday morning then the power went off for 4 hours that afternoon. Had another power outage yesterday. Not sure how long that one lasted because we had somewhere to go. I ran the generator another 3+ hours then shut it down to go to dinner with family. Power was back on when we came home 4 hours later.

My old surplus diesel unit had a bunch of bad gauges so I replaced them with digital and added a volt/amp meter on each line. The combo generator meter I added is off a few volts on the total but the hertz is accurate which was what I needed from that one. The volt/amp meters match dead on with my Fluke.

 

[daugen]

My rototiller with a newer Briggs engine does that, won't keep a steady rpm when started, need to keep choke one click open for a minute or two until it
warms up, then it stops hunting. Is this part of an emissions engineered lean start? It's acted like this since new btw, but I think has gotten worse over time.
Since it goes away when warm, I've ignored it.

JD855, love the gauges. Am always looking for numbers not lights.

 

[3930dave]

There is a in tank screen that is clean as can be. Fuel shutoff valve has been taken apart and cleaned thoroughly. I will likely add in a inline fuel filter while I am at it. I will swish some gas in the tank and try to make sure it is as clean as I can get it before filling it for the new carb.

I got the carb on Amazon for <$12. I'm sure I will get all $12 worth of quality out of it, but at least it will let me know if the my carb is just screwed or not.

There were several of them at various prices. The one I ordered came with a new backing plate, gaskets and fuel line.
Amazon.com : HURI Carburetor with Gasket for Generac Centurion GP325 5789 5982 614 614-1 614RO 614RO Engine : Garden & Outdoor

Thanks for the 411 E.

Sometimes you look at something and think "Tool low cost to be reliable", and are right. But, it seems people have had good results from these low-cost carbs, so let's hope we are both wrong :thumbsup: !

Pls post startup performance with the new carb, and if possible, how it's going with this carb months+ out....

Rgds, D.

 

[3930dave]

Have a reminder set in my phone calendar to check and run the generator under load and change the home AC filter on the third Sunday of every month. My test was due and done last Sunday morning then the power went off for 4 hours that afternoon. Had another power outage yesterday. Not sure how long that one lasted because we had somewhere to go. I ran the generator another 3+ hours then shut it down to go to dinner with family. Power was back on when we came home 4 hours later.

My old surplus diesel unit had a bunch of bad gauges so I replaced them with digital and added a volt/amp meter on each line. The combo generator meter I added is off a few volts on the total but the hertz is accurate which was what I needed from that one. The volt/amp meters match dead on with my Fluke.

View attachment 563858

That's a sweet diesel you have there. As much as I like analog, it's hard to beat the low-cost compact footprint of these drop in digital ones.

For indicators, as long as the offset is consistent, no harm/foul in my books...... esp. at this price level.

I re-read your first para at least twice (long day)..... every month caught my eye (re. filter).... till I noted FL :laughing: Your AC season is a bit different than mine !

Rgds, D.

 

[3930dave]

My rototiller with a newer Briggs engine does that, won't keep a steady rpm when started, need to keep choke one click open for a minute or two until it
warms up, then it stops hunting. Is this part of an emissions engineered lean start? It's acted like this since new btw, but I think has gotten worse over time.
Since it goes away when warm, I've ignored it.

JD855, love the gauges. Am always looking for numbers not lights.

Don't know the latest Briggs well (yet)... but you may be right about lean.

1 or 2 minutes I could live with, but that is just another point against new designs IMO.

 

[90cummins]

I pulled my small L70 Yanmar out today to exercise my system.
My generator directly feeds my off grid whole house inverter with battery backup.
The inverter has a GEN assist feature that is programmed to load the generator to a maximum of 3100 Watts.
Started the generator and turned the utility power off putting the load on the inverter.
It takes a minute or so for the inverter to qualify the power quality and accept the input.
It supported the normal daily house loads of .6kw so I plugged in 2 1500 watt heaters to put a good load on it.
It ran for several minutes then the breakers on generator tripped.
Reset them after a couple minutes and it happened again.
Removed 1 heater and it ran fine. Shut it down after a 1/2 hour & put it away.
Looks like the push button breakers on generator are weak tripping out with 1600 Watts on them.
Need to find some new 20 amp breakers and rerun the load test.
The nice thing about those Yanmar diesels is how easy they start!
90cummins

 

[3930dave]

I pulled my small L70 Yanmar out today to exercise my system.
My generator directly feeds my off grid whole house inverter with battery backup.
The inverter has a GEN assist feature that is programmed to load the generator to a maximum of 3100 Watts.
Started the generator and turned the utility power off putting the load on the inverter.
It takes a minute or so for the inverter to qualify the power quality and accept the input.
It supported the normal daily house loads of .6kw so I plugged in 2 1500 watt heaters to put a good load on it.
It ran for several minutes then the breakers on generator tripped.
Reset them after a couple minutes and it happened again.
Removed 1 heater and it ran fine. Shut it down after a 1/2 hour & put it away.
Looks like the push button breakers on generator are weak tripping out with 1600 Watts on them.
Need to find some new 20 amp breakers and rerun the load test.
The nice thing about those Yanmar diesels is how easy they start!
90cummins

As always, you are very thorough with your systems 90 :thumbsup:

Good example of how a component can have a soft or partial failure - those faults can sometimes be easy to overlook.

One of the first small Yanmars I was around was on my friend's sailboat. I was impressed how it was designed for manual (human powered) cranking to Start, - esp. useful considering how far away a starter re-build shop can be when out sailing....

Rgds, D.

 

[3930dave]

One for the diesel folks....

View attachment Alliant_ap-ft-us-sales-flyer_en_0.pdf

Was trying to remember the name (came up last year when I visited the US distributor I use), and tracked this down again today.

Certain models of Stanadyne and Alliant are treatments that de-emulsify water molecules. Nice to Have performance for old diesels; can be critical on modern common-rail ones.

Rgds, D.

 

[Einthewoods]

Thanks for the 411 E.

Sometimes you look at something and think "Tool low cost to be reliable", and are right. But, it seems people have had good results from these low-cost carbs, so let's hope we are both wrong :thumbsup: !

Pls post startup performance with the new carb, and if possible, how it's going with this carb months+ out....

Rgds, D.

Well, I got in my $11 carb today and got it installed. Put some gas in the tank and it fired right up and ran as smooth as it did when new!

I have no idea how the carb kit I got could have been built and shipped from the other side of the world for $11. It had the carb of course, new gaskets (3), new backing plate and new choke lever. This carb also has adjustments rather than the sealed off OEM. And they threw in a cheapo 2' pocket measuring tape. I mean, I love buying products made in my own country, but this is crazy.

After letting it run for 15 minutes or so I put some Stabil in the tank and let it run for a while longer, and thanks to a recommendation in this thread, have put in a monthly reminder in my calendar to start it up.

Now....on to the next project! :laughing: