Your last generator Maintenance Run

[3930dave]

Some of you folks warned me about powering up the home AC unit w/ the gen..
Its been a week or so since I did it.. NOW the start/run capacitor died..
IDK if it had anything to do w/ it..?? The last time the service man was out here, he said the capacitor was at 75%..
Its a HEIL unit 4ton.. I've had more problems w/ it than any other unit I've ever had..

I know from my HVAC-contractor neighbour that some of the newer AC systems, while efficient, reduce reliability; somewhat by design.... (not just a Heil issue..... )

Big Stuff doesn't like brown-outs, and bells-whistles and nice enclosures tends to get more material budget $ than hidden things like upgraded capacitors...... so you might have helped that cap along to an early demise.

Not poking-eye-sharp-stick here ..... I view that cap as an alternate fuse, and a relatively cheap repair. File under lesson learned and call it a Day :thumbsup:.

grs or Chili M (or some other pro) may chime in on to what the limits are (gen size vs. Ton) with a Soft-Start module in front of that 4 ton..... I'd have to go looking to even begin to guess.

Rgds, D.

 

[grsthegreat]

There are so many factors that determine how large of a generator a person needs. But even the charts can be wrong. Fuel flows to a generator can fluctuate widely depending on load at time. I do know a 22 kw gen can actually use less fuel overall than a 16kw on same job, as it will not be called on to run full out as often to keep up with demand. I have had houses where a 4 ton heat pump will not start on a 22 kw generator, but would start effortlessly after I added a quality soft start unit( the soft start also helps eliminate the lights fluctuations when heat pump cycled). I use “sure start” units by Hyper Engineering.

 

[BRMyers]

Just ran both of my generators this morning. Left them running for about 40 minutes while I did some mowing. After watching the news of the earthquake in CA, decided it would be a good day to make sure the gens were ready to go.

 

[daugen]

I didn't realize there were propane fired AC units

don't think there are either, the propane side/combustion chamber is for heat only. Called gas packs I believe.
So you have a three part system, blower, a/c and propane heater.
In this area, probably could stick with straight heat pumps but original builder of this house must not have wanted
to be cold. Point of all this is low hvac demand during winter, only blower fans, vs high demand in summer for normal a/c.

 

[3930dave]

There are so many factors that determine how large of a generator a person needs. But even the charts can be wrong. Fuel flows to a generator can fluctuate widely depending on load at time. I do know a 22 kw gen can actually use less fuel overall than a 16kw on same job, as it will not be called on to run full out as often to keep up with demand. I have had houses where a 4 ton heat pump will not start on a 22 kw generator, but would start effortlessly after I added a quality soft start unit( the soft start also helps eliminate the lights fluctuations when heat pump cycled). I use 都ure start units by Hyper Engineering.

Thanks for the 411 grs..... a 4 ton is a bit tougher startup load than I would have guessed. (Didn't think it would be easy, but 22kw surprised me a bit...).

Rgds, D.

 

[3930dave]

Just ran both of my generators this morning. Left them running for about 40 minutes while I did some mowing. After watching the news of the earthquake in CA, decided it would be a good day to make sure the gens were ready to go.

Big events like that tend to remind us about generators. Funny though, the last really big outage we had here was during perfect weather.... you just never know....

Rgds, D.

 

[3930dave]

I didn't realize there were propane fired AC units

don't think there are either, the propane side/combustion chamber is for heat only. Called gas packs I believe.
So you have a three part system, blower, a/c and propane heater.
In this area, probably could stick with straight heat pumps but original builder of this house must not have wanted
to be cold. Point of all this is low hvac demand during winter, only blower fans, vs high demand in summer for normal a/c.

Often enough when I think there is Nothing New Under the Sun, I end up wrong..... so I had to ask ! That comment peaked my interest, as I've always been impressed by the efficiency of RV propane fridges. I don't know that end of thermodynamics well - not sure that you could scale propane enough to direct fire an HVAC AC unit.

Rgds, D.

 

[grsthegreat]

Thanks for the 411 grs..... a 4 ton is a bit tougher startup load than I would have guessed. (Didn't think it would be easy, but 22kw surprised me a bit...).

Rgds, D.

A 4 ton heat pump can have a 100 amp starting load.

 

[nikdfish]

LRA on our 5 ton is 135 amp per the equipment specs. The 22kw still manages to run it. I do plan to add a soft start (the sure start module mentioned above), but our HVAC guy hasn't followed through on the request yet.

 

[joeyd]

Just had to use my generator this morning the power went out last night about 11:30, thunderstorm with some pretty good winds. I figured when I woke up this morning about 5:30 it was time to get the freezer and refrigerator going. She started right up, I hadn't run it for about 6-7 months, I use stabil in the fuel tank. I have a sub panel for the house just for the generator it ran for about 30-45 mins. before the power came back on.

 

[Blaszer]

Power went out on Sunday around 5pm when a very isolated thunderstorm rolled through and snapped trees left and right. The genset was just serviced that Thursday. It started right up. The initial ETA on power was that night... well it turned into a 38 hour power outage. The genset ran flawlessly for all 38 hours, and used about 70ish gallons of fuel.

 

[3930dave]

Just had to use my generator this morning the power went out last night about 11:30, thunderstorm with some pretty good winds. I figured when I woke up this morning about 5:30 it was time to get the freezer and refrigerator going. She started right up, I hadn't run it for about 6-7 months, I use stabil in the fuel tank. I have a sub panel for the house just for the generator it ran for about 30-45 mins. before the power came back on.

Healthy fuel and gen.... so of course the line power came back shortly after spin-up :laughing:

'Ol Murph has many variants.....

Rgds, D.

 

[3930dave]

Power went out on Sunday around 5pm when a very isolated thunderstorm rolled through and snapped trees left and right. The genset was just serviced that Thursday. It started right up. The initial ETA on power was that night... well it turned into a 38 hour power outage. The genset ran flawlessly for all 38 hours, and used about 70ish gallons of fuel.

Lots of trees.... takes time to clear..... IIRC, that's a good-sized gen - not bad at less than 2 gal./hr.

Rgds, D.,

 

[BrokenTrack]

I have a 20 KW PTO generator, and I like it. It has more than enough power for my house.

Someday I would like to install a separate diesel engine for it, just so that when the power does go out, I do not have to tie up my tractor from other tasks. I got a Reefer Unit Izuzu engine kicking around that might work. That way I could hook it up to a 275 gallon oil tank. That would give me a month of back up power.

 

[3930dave]

I have a 20 KW PTO generator, and I like it. It has more than enough power for my house.

Someday I would like to install a separate diesel engine for it, just so that when the power does go out, I do not have to tie up my tractor from other tasks. I got a Reefer Unit Izuzu engine kicking around that might work. That way I could hook it up to a 275 gallon oil tank. That would give me a month of back up power.

Nice capacity. PTO only has a few minor drawbacks, and lots of benefits.

Not sure if that Izuzu would give you full output, but would free up the tractor and give you a useable portion of that 20's output.

Post pics pls if you do set that up :thumbsup:

Rgds, D.

 

[hr3]

A 4 ton heat pump can have a 100 amp starting load.

What about the new inverter style split units?? I have a 6 kw and when I turn on the AC it doesn't even give the gen. a bump. It's a 2.5 HP unit from Carrier..

 

[grsthegreat]

What about the new inverter style split units?? I have a 6 kw and when I turn on the AC it doesn't even give the gen. a bump. It's a 2.5 HP unit from Carrier..

Those mini splits use an inverter style startup, and only require a 20 amp , 240 volt circuit for the most part. They work great on a generator system.

 

[daugen]

serviced the little Champion 3100 inverter gen.
First I dug out the mud wasp work, for the third time, even under the factory cover.
Had run carb dry last time. Not doing that again...
Pulled ten times. Nothing. Pulled another five. Nothing. Sprayed a small amount of starter fluid in the intake area, before the filter,
and it started right up and ran perfectly. Ran a 1500 watt heater on it for about fifteen minutes, then changed oil.
Stuck on new label saying 10/30 Syn Aug 2019
Next time I'll change the plug, or rather inspect it and I'm sure it will be pretty clean.
We throw away so many spark plugs today for no reason, not like the old days
where your big buy from JC Whitney was a spark plug cleaner.

 

[RoyKing]

serviced the little Champion 3100 inverter gen.
First I dug out the mud wasp work, for the third time, even under the factory cover.
Had run carb dry last time. Not doing that again...
Pulled ten times. Nothing. Pulled another five. Nothing. Sprayed a small amount of starter fluid in the intake area, before the filter,
and it started right up and ran perfectly. Ran a 1500 watt heater on it for about fifteen minutes, then changed oil.
Stuck on new label saying 10/30 Syn Aug 2019
Next time I'll change the plug, or rather inspect it and I'm sure it will be pretty clean.
We throw away so many spark plugs today for no reason, not like the old days
where your big buy from JC Whitney was a spark plug cleaner.

You need to run it dry if it is going to sit for very long, keep a can of starter fluid, why are you changing plugs? At most a little fine sand paper, put it in a large garbage bag tied shut.

 

[RoyKing]

Power went out on Sunday around 5pm when a very isolated thunderstorm rolled through and snapped trees left and right. The genset was just serviced that Thursday. It started right up. The initial ETA on power was that night... well it turned into a 38 hour power outage. The genset ran flawlessly for all 38 hours, and used about 70ish gallons of fuel.

Wow that's lot of fuel how big is that unit, my 10k eats less gallon a hour, what is your load