Your last generator Maintenance Run

[daugen]

thanks Lou. I've watched my two whole house gens be installed, one on a custom base and one on their plastic base.
I wish you saved a lot of money by dropping the kw rating down but the smaller automatics aren't cheap either.
Those Generac wall panels sure add up.

 

[3930dave]

thanks Lou. I've watched my two whole house gens be installed, one on a custom base and one on their plastic base.
I wish you saved a lot of money by dropping the kw rating down but the smaller automatics aren't cheap either.
Those Generac wall panels sure add up.

You've had some reliability issues, with a relatively young gen....

Given the rental consideration..... just musing about upgrade options..... unfortunately none inexpensive.....

Trailer options..... either turnkey, or semi-custom. Plenty of turnkey industrial options, high capacity, and if you can find an established dealer (known for maintenance..... OK, lottery wins may be easier to come by) who is rotating some stock, that may be an option.

Studio Generators - The Name You Can Trust When the Show Must Go On. If the lottery ticket shows up @ same time..... Interesting, first thing that comes up on their Home landing page is a link about wet-stacking.

If you want/need an enclosed utility trailer..... installing a high capacity Honda, Yamaha, or _________ may improve your gas gen confidence. Trailers come down to space to park, and ability to secure them when not there..... relative to the crime baseline in the area.....

Less portable (2 edged-sword), a small sea-can in good shape would make a great instant gen-shed, just needing hookup tuning to the shell.

I work late.... just rambling thots.... while finishing my first coffee of day.....

Rgds, D.

 

[3930dave]

All in the past so I keep the shelf queens as a reminder to what I did back then. Sentimental old fool I am.

I see that I'm not the only one with equipment around for "historic" reasons.... must be a TBN Thing......

Rgds, D.

 

[90cummins]

We were notified a week ago that there would be a scheduled power outage this Wednesday between 8am and 1pm.
Around 7:45 this morning I went into power house to start & warm the Yanmar up prior to outage.
It was approximately 20 degrees this morning so I removed the air filter do I could preheat the intake air with a 1500 watt heat gun to make starting easier. I used the heat gun to blow hot air into the intake manifold for about 10 seconds prior to cranking the engine. The engine started on the first turn. It ran for approximately 1 minute before energizing the alternator.
I let it run for 15 minutes then shut it down and placed it in auto start. The trigger to start was a battery voltage of 14.5 volts.
As far as I could tell we never lost power or it was so brief it wasn’t noticed.
The main purpose of this post is to make people aware that preheating is a quick & easy way to get a cold diesel running.
Without the preheat it would have taken a considerable amount of cranking to start at 20 degrees.
90cummins

 

[Robin Veerman]

Yep. On my tractor a 10 second glow plug cycle or even a double cycle when it’s -20C and she fires right off…

 

[90cummins]

I should have made it clear that if an engine does not have a cold start aid you can improvise.
90cummins

 

[Robin Veerman]

Without the preheat it would have taken a considerable amount of cranking to start…

And I was agreeing…

 

[ultrarunner]

I seriously consider a small Kubota powered Multiquip diesel generator with a trailer option but can't justify plus it would be a target for theft.

As for cold... It's getting cold and dipped below 50 last night.

My furnace friend is busier than ever.... he had planned on retiring and only works on natural gas but with this "Cold Snap" the phone just keeps ringing... often just thermocouples or gas control valves and an occasional blower motor... he says the older the better!

He is starting to get more calls where it turns out the homeowner can't figure out the new thermostat... that never happened when he started and unless physically damaged the old mercury stats last forever.

 

[grsthegreat]

I seriously consider a small Kubota powered Multiquip diesel generator with a trailer option but can't justify plus it would be a target for theft.

As for cold... It's getting cold and dipped below 50 last night.

My furnace friend is busier than ever.... he had planned on retiring and only works on natural gas but with this "Cold Snap" the phone just keeps ringing... often just thermocouples or gas control valves and an occasional blower motor... he says the older the better!

He is starting to get more calls where it turns out the homeowner can't figure out the new thermostat... that never happened when he started and unless physically damaged the old mercury stats last forever.

50 aint cold. Its 21 outside right now . 50 is tshirt weather for me

 

[Sonny580]

14* here for last 2 nights. got 2 generators ready to go. 4 others are about ready. I depend mostly on the 2 electric start ones. Gittin to damn old to pull ropes anymore but do when I gotta!
We have more outages in the summer than any other time of the year. -- just long enough to mess up the freeze dryer when we have it on. IF we get an ice storm, ---- we are out for days, thats why I have a dozen generators!