Your last generator Maintenance Run

[kevinwak]

We ran the Costco 7K/9K dual fuel Champion for a while prior to installing the whole house unit. Was lucky & got it on sale for $599 the same day the old Porter Cable 5500 watt unit blew its guts out during an outage. I still use the Champion out in the tractor shed when I need to run the welder or some other power equipment. Strictly running it off propane there. No complaints, it put out a clean power that the various house UPS units liked fine. Never failed to start.

Good to here. Thanks. The main reason I have been avoiding it is fuel consumption compared to the inverter Honda’s. , but for how rare our outages are I shouldn’t worry about this

 

[daugen]

how rare our outages are I shouldn’t worry about this

somebody must have hydroelectric...

current expectations are no power for two weeks. It's happened before here, power comes from all the way over in Raleigh I think, no power plants in this area. But the high voltage system gets damaged and whole areas go down.

I'm glad my next door neighbor has a similar sized Kohler back up gen. first thing I do when mine kicks on is open the front door and see if I can hear his. Almost always do. Then it takes a while and the neighboring portables come on, which can be a dull roar in the background. I can't hear them inside so I don't care. And with predicted 75-110 mph winds outside, really don't think I'm going to be worried about noise from anyone's gen including my own.

 

[thepumpguysc]

I fired mine up this morning after sitting almost a year.. Powerback 5250
Checked the air filter, the oil level & added a smidge of non-ethanol gas..
Turned on the fuel shut-off & hit the starter.. I had retro-fitted a starter & flywheel a few years ago..{100.00}
It turned about a 1/2 revolution & fired up.. I let it run for 30 minutes, closed the shut off & ran it down till it shut off.
I filled the genny fuel tank & went & filled up all the 5, 6 & 2 gal cans.. I'M READY.. for a GOOD 4 days of constant gen. use. It runs the WHOLE house..
The funny thing is>> I've got a 10K watt Duel-Fuel STILL NEW IN THE BOX.. bought it last year when they went on sale for 499.00 {DuroMax}

 

[Einthewoods]

Well, I'm going to add "snowblower" to the monthly generator maintenance run reminder in my calendar.

With winter not too far away, I have prep the snowblower on my to-do list. I had some spare time tonight and figured it would be an easy 5 minutes to get it running and put some fresh sta-bil gas in it, lube up the actions, etc.

1.5 hours later after taking the carb apart and cleaning it, I can finally get it off my to-do list. I had run it dry this spring, but once again that has proved to do nothing good for me. From now on sta-bil treated gas will stay in it and a quick fire-up once a month in the off season.

 

[3930dave]

Major weather events tend to get us focused on generators (only makes sense.....). Funny though, the last 1 day+ outage here was during pretty nice summer weather.... go figure.....

Hope everybody does fine coming through the hurricane..... new and temporary generator installs can be a safety hazard too - CO being a big concern, aside from general electrical safety.

Rgds, D.

 

[3930dave]

Good to here. Thanks. The main reason I have been avoiding it is fuel consumption compared to the inverter Honda痴. , but for how rare our outages are I shouldn稚 worry about this

I like efficient engines.... but it's a balancing act vs. initial equipment $, IMO.

Storing fuel for 12-48 hours is one thing, and a slightly less efficient gen won't change your event bill all that much - at least compared to not having power at all.

Multi-week events, well, that's a bit different discussion...... you can drive out of local, relatively minor (damage wise) outages, and pick up gas/diesel/propane if you needed to re-supply. If the outage is very widespread, or if you have a critical one-and-only road link/bridge destroyed, well, then high gen efficiency starts looking more important.

Not running primary gens 24h/day, and selectively using a smaller gen are good ways to stretch out fuel...... putting some thought into load shedding ahead of time can cut down on the stress of watching fuel dwindle.

Rgds, D.

 

[ultrarunner]

Hoping for the best... a lot of TBN members could be affected... looks like the potential to do a lot of damage.

 

[3930dave]

Well, I'm going to add "snowblower" to the monthly generator maintenance run reminder in my calendar.

With winter not too far away, I have prep the snowblower on my to-do list. I had some spare time tonight and figured it would be an easy 5 minutes to get it running and put some fresh sta-bil gas in it, lube up the actions, etc.

1.5 hours later after taking the carb apart and cleaning it, I can finally get it off my to-do list. I had run it dry this spring, but once again that has proved to do nothing good for me. From now on sta-bil treated gas will stay in it and a quick fire-up once a month in the off season.

I made the same change a few years ago. I suspect regional fuel formulations are a factor - I could possibly take the same gen I had a problem elsewhere on the continent, and not have the run-dry fault I did.

Whatever works.... stick with it..... been doing full tank gas+Stabil for over 10 years now, s'all good.

Yeah, all the small engines need a bit of TLC..... I've seen snowblowers with plugged carbs after just one Winter here - hey, at least you are well ahead of the season - could have been rebuilding the carb with 2' of snow on the ground !

Rgds, D.

 

[kevinwak]

I like efficient engines.... but it's a balancing act vs. initial equipment $, IMO.

Storing fuel for 12-48 hours is one thing, and a slightly less efficient gen won't change your event bill all that much - at least compared to not having power at all.

Multi-week events, well, that's a bit different discussion...... you can drive out of local, relatively minor (damage wise) outages, and pick up gas/diesel/propane if you needed to re-supply. If the outage is very widespread, or if you have a critical one-and-only road link/bridge destroyed, well, then high gen efficiency starts looking more important.

Not running primary gens 24h/day, and selectively using a smaller gen are good ways to stretch out fuel...... putting some thought into load shedding ahead of time can cut down on the stress of watching fuel dwindle.

Rgds, D.

I have lived here all my 36 years and the longest two outages that I know of were a 30 hour one and an 8 hour one. Other then that maybe an hour or two once or twice a year. The long ones are recent and both came during spring storms which are getting more severe. The 30 hour one was literally the very day after I wired in a 30 amp generator subpanel with transfer switch.

 

[daugen]

Power went out even before the rain came, one hour this afternoon, came back on, gave me practice on load shedding.
Now power off again, neighbor is a fireman and he emailed a big tree down by high school.
Probably be like that all night and tomorrow.
I've turned off all nonessential circuits and going to bed. Sure am tired of resetting the time on the stove.