Your last generator Maintenance Run

grsthegreat · Oct 23, 2022

No, im buying retail. Its what propane is selling for up here.

you should fill your tanks at propane supplier, not Home Depot, tractor supply, and the likes. Their prices are way higher. Right now home dump is selling propane for $4.50/gal

3930dave · Oct 23, 2022

Some Costcos sell propane by the pound. Meaning if you took a half-full tank in, you only pay for what gets added.

May not be as low $ as a dedicated propane supplier like grs is using d, but may give you a better option depending what is near you....

Rgds, D.

Fallon · Oct 24, 2022

Bulk propane around here is half the price of retail. $2 a gallon for several hundred gallons of home delivery vs $4+ for BBQ can refills or exchanges. The exchanges in particular only fill 20lbs cans with 15lbs. But they charge you for a full 20lbs.

daugen · Nov 5, 2022

we've talked about a lot of generators here but I thought this one was pretty cool. I wish he had spoken about the inverter spec.

go almost all the way to the end at 33:50 and the "power house" is videoed for a few minutes.

if you live in the mountains this makes a lot of sense. Gravity is pretty consistent.

beautiful Fall weather here, generator is started occasionally and it always fires right up. Good feeling.

and yes he owns a tractor

grsthegreat · Nov 5, 2022

Had 60 mph gust all night long. Thousands without power. I only got 2 generator calls, both new customers. 1 was easy fix (bad control wire), the other…..big hole blown thru side of engine block. Fairly new generator. Sucks. Will be swapping out engine after i get a replacement. No calls from any customer….except a few asking if it was ok to run gen all day long,…. which i take as a very good sign.

Joebklyn · Nov 5, 2022

I make my own ethanol-free gas. I put 4 gals of gas in a 5-gallon water bottle add 2 qts of water and shake it like hell. Then I shake it some more. In a few hours the water has combined with the ethanol and is floating on top of the now-pure fuel. Carefully siphon off the fuel an that's it.

3930dave · Nov 6, 2022

daugen said:
we've talked about a lot of generators here but I thought this one was pretty cool. I wish he had spoken about the inverter spec.

go almost all the way to the end at 33:50 and the "power house" is videoed for a few minutes.

if you live in the mountains this makes a lot of sense. Gravity is pretty consistent.

beautiful Fall weather here, generator is started occasionally and it always fires right up. Good feeling.

and yes he owns a tractor

Nice build on the powerhouse. I'm a fan of hydro-electric

. If we lose gravity, the planet is gone. If you are a fan of those type of installations, reading through back-issues of Homepower is time well-spent.

Propane stores nicely, but as you know, switches etc. can decide to hang-out with Murphy.....

Rgds, D.

3930dave · Nov 6, 2022

grsthegreat said:
Had 60 mph gust all night long. Thousands without power. I only got 2 generator calls, both new customers. 1 was easy fix (bad control wire), the other…..big hole blown thru side of engine block. Fairly new generator. Sucks. Will be swapping out engine after i get a replacement. No calls from any customer….except a few asking if it was ok to run gen all day long,…. which i take as a very good sign.

Elevated wind yesterday, but no issues in the immediate area that I came across.

Given your extensive customer list, that's a healthy fleet, aside from that infant-mortality. It happens. Much backlog-time on replacement engines, or has that gotten better ?

Rgds, D.

3930dave · Nov 6, 2022

Joebklyn said:
I make my own ethanol-free gas. I put 4 gals of gas in a 5-gallon water bottle add 2 qts of water and shake it like hell. Then I shake it some more. In a few hours the water has combined with the ethanol and is floating on top of the now-pure fuel. Carefully siphon off the fuel an that's it.

Life in 2022..... for those that have no choice (drive 1 or 2 States away for Efree), that process may be useful for small-engine storage.

You've taken the "good" side of Phase-Separation, and put it to work. Also, even in road-vehicles that see regular use, BUT, are perpetually driven around with low tanks, illustrates what is in the tank for the fuel pump etc to chew on the time the tank gets run near-to fumes.... modern MPFI is pretty good, but can't run on that floating layer....

Rgds, D.