Your last generator Maintenance Run

[HarryVanderpool]

I am totally in Industrial Toys' corner.
We have been dealing with power outages of varying lengths for over 35 years.
THE LAST thing we want is for a generator to fire up every time the power goes out.
Usually, the power is down for under 3 hours.
Our generator is not needed.
A few months ago, the power went out. We called the number and it said that the power should be up in 5 hours.
We lit candles, played cards and went to bed.
A GREAT BIG generator huffing and puffing away outside would not have accomplished anything except to waste money.
We woke up in the morning with the power on and every thing just fine.
Some outages have been over 4 days. We run the generator for a few hours in the am and pm.
Otherwise we are set up for months of off grid energy if necessary.
That's the key phrase, "If necessary".
Not to be Debby Downer! Run your generators and burn all the fuel that you want.
Enjoy life your own way. You have worked and earned it.
Just giving my $.02

 

[Sawyer Rob]

I'm with you, Harry...

We are the same way, and aren't energy hogs even when the power is on.

SR

 

[Industrial Toys]

Big generators are for bragging rights. The neighborhood is dark and you fire up your 200hp turbo cummins. Big cloud of black smoke drifts accross the community as she roars to life! Two days in and the fuel tank almost empty, and it's not such a great standbye system. Kind of like, would you like to eat Steak for two nights in an emergency and then be without food, or have two weeks of canned beans on hand?

Refridgeration, Internet, phones, lights and water are the important ones for me. That all takes very little power. People may think I'm mad to run 7 buildings off a 7.5, but I have done it with a 3.7 air cooled as well. Works great, but the margin of safety isn't there.

 

[HarryVanderpool]

Have you seen this;
Bluetti EB15 15Wh/1W-Portable Power Station-MAXOAK Technology Company

We bought one of these for a farm use, but it will sure come in handy in an extended outage.
In an extended outage we run our small generator 3 hours in the morning and 4 in the evening.
In future events, our home lighting circuits and the family room outlets will be powered all night by the MaxOak.
When the generator is running, it will be plugged in and charging.
The beauty is, is that at night we need no power. So when you flip a light switch the light will come on and when you turn the light off you are consuming zero fuel.
Unlike a generator that gulps fuel even if no loads are needed.

 

[RoyKing]

You be amazed how quiet and smoke free this genset is. Have glow plugs set for 30 seconds and it cranks up fast and no smoke clouds. Even when running hard you can't see any smoke, with sound cabinet the exhaust is dumped in with the radiator exhaust in three sided cabinet. You can have conversation sitting ten feet away. This could live in a suburban neighborhood without complaints, the turbo quiets it down and the large muffler is wrapped.

 

[3930dave]

Congratulations Roy - always nice to get a major project completed successfully.

I was going to use the standard line about Murphy, now that you have that in place...... but given FL's propensity to attract hurricanes, I expect you'll get some real hours on it over the next year or 3.

Not hammering the fuel issue, just curious.... post up the datasheet on that Perkins if you haven't lately, and if you are tracking your fuel during runs, please post that data too.

Trucks, tractors, generators, ATVs........ as long as you and the household CFO are happy :thumbsup:

Rgds, D.

 

[grsthegreat]

I just did a service call for an elderly lady that had her generator shut down after a 5 hour power outage. Her husband had the generator installed in an enclosed building which relied on an exhaust fan to vent out heat. The vent failed. Controller case melted. Controller survived, but buttons wasted. The generator still runs. She is having handyman remove exterior walls this week. I知 going to try and find a non working evolution 1 controller and swap out parts to try and save her $400 she can稚 afford.

Now I wish I never threw out the old controllers I had. I tossed them a few month back.

 

[90cummins]

We had an outage Sunday with 19 family members here for dinner.
It was funny because one of them asked me how often we lose power, I replied not often enough then the majority of the house went dark except for my priority circuits which pass-thru my off grid battery backup.
I went into the powerhouse & fired up the 10hp yanmar threw 1 breaker and the whole house was powered up.
As others have said you would be surprised how little power you require with proper management and energy efficient Appliances & lights.
I built my system for mileage and currently get about 5+- hours/gallon.
If necessary I could be off grid a very long time.
90cummins

 

[Industrial Toys]

Funny! Yeah, I knew rich people. Now deceased. Wanted a generator but heaven forbid you might see it. So put it in some kind of a dog house and it too melted! Some kind of a Northern 5.0 KW single cyl air cooled Yanmar. I replaced the genend. Northern was great to deal with.

 

[3930dave]

I just did a service call for an elderly lady that had her generator shut down after a 5 hour power outage. Her husband had the generator installed in an enclosed building which relied on an exhaust fan to vent out heat. The vent failed. Controller case melted. Controller survived, but buttons wasted. The generator still runs. She is having handyman remove exterior walls this week. I知 going to try and find a non working evolution 1 controller and swap out parts to try and save her $400 she can稚 afford.

Now I wish I never threw out the old controllers I had. I tossed them a few month back.View attachment 637130

Throw something out..... surely going to need it......... Makes me wish I had a Tardis garage..... saving too many things can make a 2000 sq ft garage small in a hurry !

Good point about enclosures...... redundant fans or over-temp shutdown worth considering.....

Rgds, D.