Your last generator Maintenance Run

[Chilliwack Murray]

We are well into the windy season here. First big storm in late September put us in the dark almost a day. Outages have been getting shorter as there is less to fall with each new storm at least until you add snow to the equation. Last one was only about 5 hours so the generator only got about 90 minutes for power at dinner time.

Already have about 20 hours on the generator this year. With all that use I may even consider a tune up as I have no recollection how old the points and plugs are. Condenser is one I pulled off a Model A distributor when this one failed and forgot about. Safe bet that it’s been about 15 years since I changed them.

It’s like when I was a kid... Dad was a TV repairman, we never had a TV that worked right. A pro always knows how long you can nurse something along.

 

[3930dave]

Haha, I know y誕ll are just looking out for me, but I知 just bringing it into the basement to modify the dog house to fit the generator.

I appreciate the concern, however I知 no Darwin candidate!

Just want it out of the weather to work on it

Team TBN at work ...... you'll see some things get re-framed/stated here for clarity, even when it's a regular who we know well..... CO issue alone gives me shivers...... can only imagine the # of fatalities from that during the last round of planned Cali shutdowns.....

Good checklist you posted d.

Rgds, D.

 

[3930dave]

this reminds me how loud my new gen is.
I need a dog house too...until then I have a year round cover that can stay on
while running.
Loud, as in annoy the neighbors loud. Disrupt the peace and serenity loud.
Everyone else has whole house systems around me. So they are used to quieter with
sound aimed at neighbors. Here I'm scaring away every bird in 1000 feet.
Nice remote control though.
And a big chrome start button.
what more could a man want?

Various approaches for mitigation with enclosures etc.... but I've often wished some OEM would offer a middle ground between normal loud and ultra-quiet.

Say a bolt-on replacement muffler option, that drops hp 5-10%.

Rgds, D.

 

[3930dave]

Strong winds predicted yesterday, so put main genny Onan/Kubota 7.5 conventional, on charge. Didn't seem to need it, as it's a four month old battery.

Hellish winds came through, power out for a couple of hours. Already had a fire going all weekend, so heat was not an issue. Genny worked flawlessly. More than I can say for my old Cedar shingle roof on my garage (housing genny), which just started leaking.

How bad a leak ? A roofing contractor I know likes to use a 50# bag of cement, as a temporary fix.... won't get your pic in Architectural Digest, but it's a trick he's used more than once.....

Rgds, D.

 

[Industrial Toys]

Not sure yet. Seemed to be dripping good after many hours of rain.

 

[3930dave]

Already have about 20 hours on the generator this year. With all that use I may even consider a tune up as I have no recollection how old the points and plugs are. Condenser is one I pulled off a Model A distributor when this one failed and forgot about. Safe bet that it’s been about 15 years since I changed them.

So..... why not break the bank, and modernize ??????

Maybe, even move up to some points from the 1950s

Your post had me laughing my _____ off..... I'm sure I'm not the only one here who feels like they are looking in a mirror....... Shoe-Makers Children all around.....

I hear you about working out of town....... if I pulled the same Away Time that I used too, I'd have an auto-start whole-house here by now......

Rgds, D.

 

[grsthegreat]

Various approaches for mitigation with enclosures etc.... but I've often wished some OEM would offer a middle ground between normal loud and ultra-quiet.

Say a bolt-on replacement muffler option, that drops hp 5-10%.

Rgds, D.

problem with adding muffler that not OEM is it can create backpressures and damage engine. I have gotten to the point that gen noise doesnt even bother me. The last outage we had there were so many portable units running in neighborhood, my standby was dang quiet by comparison. Neighbors 6500 watt unit is neatly twice as noisy as my 22,000 watt unit.

 

[3930dave]

problem with adding muffler that not OEM is it can create backpressures and damage engine. I have gotten to the point that gen noise doesnt even bother me. The last outage we had there were so many portable units running in neighborhood, my standby was dang quiet by comparison. Neighbors 6500 watt unit is neatly twice as noisy as my 22,000 watt unit.

A subject worthy of a thread right there...... not that I mind the info here (it is welcome), just agreeing that it takes some serious ergs to get it right. Emergency use.... can't see any of my neighbours complaining with my existing setup..... quieter is a Nice To Have though.....

Relatively compact and quiet and direct bolt-on exhaust is the hardest to pull off, w/o risking issues like you raised. If I was going to try that route, thermally bonded thermocouples and Before/After measurements would be in order.... part of why I'd like access to a factory evaluated option......

More realistically for me (given my lack of RoundTuits, and stack of GOYA projects needing attention.....) would be a large external muffler addition.

A quick search ^ will turn up plenty of those approaches. Probably the cleanest low-cost approach I came across was a guy who used a factory take-off pipe from a 600cc supersport bike. Unless you plan on giving up sleeping entirely, you'll be challenged to match the amount of development time a Japanese company usually puts into creating a factory-stock pipe.

Correctly reasoning that many of those pipes have next to zero miles,and are hanging in somebody's garage after throwing down $$$ for a performance pipe, he snagged one for almost nothing.

Volume/capacity/flow seemed to work out fine, as 3600 rpm barely deflects a modern sport-bike tach. I like a couple of things about this approach - you upcycle at low cost a piece of really well engineered/built hardware, and you have a nice vertical option with a MC pipe..... the build I saw integrated this 600cc pipe into vertical tripod stand. I'm normally more a function over form guy, so the tripod starts off checking the right boxes - gets the external hot pipe off the ground (fire-safety, trip hazard....) and firing straight up, but I also liked the final package visually.

So..... if/when I get around to damping down my 7kw, that ^ may well be the approach I go for......

If I just quit typing for a while.... and got wrenching..... I'd be done by now...... :laughing:

Rgds, D.

 

[ultrarunner]

perhaps we misread this but...
even with a solid iron/steel exhaust pipe run all the way outside, putting a gen in the basement would require some substantial Co2 monitoring.
You just can't go to sleep with that thing running or you might never wake up. Colorless and odorless. And it will kill you.
So says an experienced insurance underwriter and agent and volunteer fireman.
Wire the CO2 monitor into a disconnect circuit for the gen.
Your fire codes may surely vary.
Stay safe out there.

Store it in the basement, no problemo. Run it in the basement with
living quarters above? Very risky. Could be construed as contractual endangerment by owner/insured.
One of the reasons for claim denial.
Gasoline cans in basement? Very bad news also but probably wouldn't void homeowners policy if there wasn't too much of it.
Running any kind of improperly exhausted combustion machinery inside a building used for dwelling could be construed as some
type of reckless endangerment.

and whatever you do, please don't store any chlorine products near any petroleum products, particularly gasoline. . Keep them apart and I sure would not
put pool chemicals other than tightly contained in my basement either. Strong oxidizers and gasoline are not good dance partners.
They tend to combust. They belong out in the self ventilating air.

Yea, our not a Darwin candidate just chimed in that he was only going to build a shed for it in the basement of sorts and then it all went outside
again. Bet it will be nice. :thumbsup:

this stuff really happens though. Sadly in most cases and too many children die from deadly gasses in their homes.
I'm a big fan of CO2 detectors, they are cheap and the canary in the mine

First clinic generator I maintained was located in the basement of a medical clinic... Small 8kW natural gas unit with piped exhaust.

All concrete with large heavy overhead grates to daylight.

When the clinic shutdown I was told to junk the generator so I bought it home... Had to set up an A-Frame with winch to retrieve...

 

[ultrarunner]

A pro always knows how long you can nurse something along.

You got that right.

Model A parts rule!