Your last generator Maintenance Run

[3930dave]

Took a drive recently (for other reasons), and stopped into Advance Auto in Upstate NY. I had been planning on picking up some Stabil 360 protection anyway, but moved up this purchase after seeing two small flecks of rust in the tank on my 7kw gen. It looked like these flecks had dropped down from the top of the tank.

STA-BIL 360 Protection

I dosed my 7kw gen tonight with Stabil 360 and also my street motorcycle, with in-season doses. For longer term storage, I will be topping up with regular Stabil. Aside from cost considerations, the 360 product is not widely distributed even in the USA, and not at all in Canada yet, AFAIK.

If anybody comes across a Canadian source for Stabil 360, pls post in this thread.

Rgds, D.

 

[90cummins]

Took my Yanmar l70 powered portable and gave it an hour long run at 3.5kw which is just shy of max load. Started on the first turn and ran flawlessly.
I also finished the rebuilds on my Yanmar L90 and L100 both of which are for generator use and will interchange with my L70.
The L90 received a new standard piston & ring set and also a new pto side main bearing.
The L100 was rather needy needing a new crankshaft with 2 new main bearings, new rod and standard piston & ring set.
All parts genuine Yanmar and were ordered thru Jamieson's Tractor at 570-253-4810, a good person to do business with.
Ran both engines to verify proper operation while checking the oil filter screen several times which is removable to check for any signs of distress.
All looks good now I need to mate them to a generator to verify all is well under load and to get the break-in started.
Also filled my oil tanks so I have approx. 600 gallons of #2 on hand.
I'd like to mention also my new solar electric system by Solarcity is installed and waiting on National Grid to install the new Net Metering meter.
While this was being installed I installed a 30amp 120/240 receptacle on my auto transfer switch to plug my generator into.
90Cummins

 

[doxford jim]

Can't complain really, but today we had our first electricity outage since March of this year. We got back home from shopping in town, to a house without power. I waited an hour and nothing happened, so I started up our backup generator and put it on load. I will run it for two or three hours with the house (summer) load and then shut it down for the night. Three hours should get the freezers and frig temps down to where they should be. The early summer load without any air conditioning is around 1200 watts - once all temperatures have been reached. Much better than the winter heating load for us - geothermal but still a heavy load.
Yes, it sure does pay to have the back up generator system. If I ever moved from this place, one of the first updates to the new property would be another standby generator installation.
So, the back up generator gets a much needed workout today.

 

[ultrarunner]

30 minutes every two weeks and service annually.

Onan 150 kW Standby rated with Turbo Cummins and 180 gallons Diesel.

 

[3930dave]

Took my Yanmar l70 powered portable and gave it an hour long run at 3.5kw which is just shy of max load. Started on the first turn and ran flawlessly.
I also finished the rebuilds on my Yanmar L90 and L100 both of which are for generator use and will interchange with my L70.
The L90 received a new standard piston & ring set and also a new pto side main bearing.
The L100 was rather needy needing a new crankshaft with 2 new main bearings, new rod and standard piston & ring set.
All parts genuine Yanmar and were ordered thru Jamieson's Tractor at 570-253-4810, a good person to do business with.
Ran both engines to verify proper operation while checking the oil filter screen several times which is removable to check for any signs of distress.
All looks good now I need to mate them to a generator to verify all is well under load and to get the break-in started.
Also filled my oil tanks so I have approx. 600 gallons of #2 on hand.
I'd like to mention also my new solar electric system by Solarcity is installed and waiting on National Grid to install the new Net Metering meter.
While this was being installed I installed a 30amp 120/240 receptacle on my auto transfer switch to plug my generator into.
90Cummins

Whew ! You've been busy 90 !

Do you have gen heads already on the shelf for the 2 Yanmars that you just overhauled, or do you plan to just use them as backup engines ? I'm curious about gen heads, as to what is common/popular these days, or good from another era.

Do you use a lot of diesel every month ? For storage, how do you treat that much fuel ?

Rgds, D.

 

[3930dave]

Can't complain really, but today we had our first electricity outage since March of this year. We got back home from shopping in town, to a house without power. I waited an hour and nothing happened, so I started up our backup generator and put it on load. I will run it for two or three hours with the house (summer) load and then shut it down for the night. Three hours should get the freezers and frig temps down to where they should be. The early summer load without any air conditioning is around 1200 watts - once all temperatures have been reached. Much better than the winter heating load for us - geothermal but still a heavy load.
Yes, it sure does pay to have the back up generator system. If I ever moved from this place, one of the first updates to the new property would be another standby generator installation.
So, the back up generator gets a much needed workout today.

Always great to have backup power, esp. with the price of food these days.

Good to hear that yours started and ran well Jim.

Rgds, D.

 

[3930dave]

30 minutes every two weeks and service annually.

Onan 150 kW Standby rated with Turbo Cummins and 180 gallons Diesel.

I'm thinking at work UR, unless you found a great deal, and decided to backup your whole residential neighbourhood ! :thumbsup:

At average load (with the grid down), what runtime do you get out of that tank of fuel ?

Rgds, D.

 

[ultrarunner]

Yep... it's at work and I installed it in 1995 and has a little over 400 hours on it now.

Fuel consumption varies... at full load one spec come close to 10 gallons per hour... I find somewhere about half that.

Sad thing is may have to junk it soon... the Air District has targeted stationary diesels that are non compliant and in 1995 that would be me. Can only test 20 hours per year.

Required to have 4 hours standby at all times... I buy fuel when it's down 100 gallons because this is supplier minimum for delivery.

Wanted a larger tank back in 1995... city said no... so had to settle for 180 double containment belly tank.

 

[3930dave]

Yep... it's at work and I installed it in 1995 and has a little over 400 hours on it now.

Fuel consumption varies... at full load one spec come close to 10 gallons per hour... I find somewhere about half that.

Sad thing is may have to junk it soon... the Air District has targeted stationary diesels that are non compliant and in 1995 that would be me. Can only test 20 hours per year.

Required to have 4 hours standby at all times... I buy fuel when it's down 100 gallons because this is supplier minimum for delivery.

Wanted a larger tank back in 1995... city said no... so had to settle for 180 double containment belly tank.

Hey.... at least you know where it could get a good home !

So the city limited you to 36 hours runtime..... for a hospital, I'd be hoping for 3-4 days at least on a tank - bureacrats aren't necessarily known for engineering prowess though, or strong disaster planning.

Rgds, D.

 

[ultrarunner]

We are also part of the county emergency preparedness plan...

Should the county declare an emergency... the county will supply diesel from the city yard... or so the plan states.