Your last generator Maintenance Run

[Will S]

Will, nice looking gen and setup.
GRS, sure is nice having your knowledge here
If Generac can sell modules and relays for load shedding,
couldn't they have a soft start module that is remote installable at the hvac power input line?
This is why most of us should call electricians...

Meters and gauges. Remember when you could specify the "full gauge package" on your car?
I wish one could do that for an important piece of machinery like a generator.
Oil temp. Oil pressure, cylinder head temps, voltage, amperage, distortion, max and mins, fault codes
Information is power.
Then you can start getting fancy and install vibration sensors.
I spent several years installing Schlumberger electronic recording pods/sensors on power plant turbines. The biggest generators of them all.
Trend analysis, predictive monitoring, all in front of you on your big color pc screen. And not down on those ancient
strip chart recorders. My boss was the engineer, I was the marketing gopher, but field trips were great fun. All that huge humming equipment.

but I just want a 300 dollar optional gauge package please. No wifi needed but that could be another option.

DynaGen manufactures quite a few engine and/or generator controls with instrumentation, and something like TOUGH Series(R) TG35 Generator Controller | DynaGen Technologies may work for you.

 

[3930dave]

DynaGen manufactures quite a few engine and/or generator controls with instrumentation, and something like TOUGH Series(R) TG35 Generator Controller | DynaGen Technologies may work for you.

A Canuck company I hadn't heard of..... thanks for posting that Will.

Rgds, D.

 

[90cummins]

Recently I did a minor rebuild on my nephews 7kw standby Briggs&Stratton generator model R040320A.
The engine was a model 319775-0-109 (310000 series)
The problem started a couple years ago when it would randomly fail to start and burn-up the starter.
This happened several times requiring him to replace the starter.
While doing a routine oil change the oil came out looking like nickel neversieze.
At this time he called on me for my opinion.
I suggested he pull the engine and bring it to me for a teardown inspection.
Upon opening the engine I found the 2 connecting rods for the balancer broken into pieces.
Surprisingly the crankpin & rod were in surprisingly good condition.
I told him we could rebuild it BUT I suggested he purchase a new engine at the cost of $1100 +.
Received the new engine and all was good until there was an outage that lasted 3 full days.
It ran non stop during the outage but on the next exercise cycle it kept shutting down, no voltage.
An electrician came up and flashed the field and all was good.
Weeks later during a routine exercise the engine started burning oil and actually fouled the spark plug.
During a short outage the engine shut down due to low oil.
Once again he pulled the engine and brought it to me.
The internals looked ok but when I pulled the piston out there was no resistance. The rings were stuck in the ring lands.
I was able to easily reinsert the piston back into the cylinder with no ring compressor.
The ring lands were not carboned up and everything was checked out to be well within specs.
The only visible issue I found was a burnt exhaust valve/seat. Closer inspection found it to be carbon buildup possibly from the valves not having proper clearance.
Cleaned all parts & measured with no discrepancy's found. After cleaning the piston & rings they fit properly requiring a compressor to install.
I told him I would replace the rings, gaskets and seals and recut the valve seats.
Received the new rings, seals and gaskets and reassembled after checking for proper clearances.
He reinstalled the generator into the housing and called me for the start-up.
I brought 2 heater units to put a load on it and my optical tachometer.
The engine started right up but shut down due to overspeed.
I re-adjusted the governor so it was running at 61hz then put a 3kw load on it for 30 minutes. Engine was shut down and we drained the oil to inspect, oil looked good so he refilled with new oil and finished installing he housing covers.
My thoughts is,
The outage was in cold weather, the house is very small and energy efficient and his wife was told not to operate anything.
The primary electrical load was the wood boiler with a couple circulators.
With a very small base load I'm thinking that the engine ran cool to cold because of the light load which caused the rings to stick in the groves. I say this because after I cleaned everything the rings were free in the ring lands and fit in the cylinder properly.
Diesel generators are known to wetstack if not run under sufficient load to keep combustion and coolant temperatures up. In cold weather a 40 to 50% load would be suggested.
Gasoline and propane engines are subject to the same problems to a lesser degree but it can happen.
I suggested he purchase a Killawatt meter and measure all the loads and if necessary purchase a couple 1500watt electric heaters to use in the house to provide enough load to keep the engine happy.
My thoughts on small gas/propane high speed generators. They are fine for short term outages but 2, 3 or 4 day continuous runs are more than they are designed for.
During operation in very cold temperatures you should be aware of the possibility to overcool the engine and take measures to keep it warm by adding electrical load and/or providing tempered to maintain proper operating temperature.
A small load bank (portable heaters) can be used to provide a sufficient load to keep the engine at operational temperature. At the very least you should load the generator to 50~70 percent load for an hour or so every couple hours in cold weather.
Small heaters can be used to provide additional load and be placed in house as a heat source.
While loading consumes more fuel it helps maintain the engine and generator health.
1/8/2021 Update; Nephew reports it has never run so smooth and quiet.

90cummins

 

[3930dave]

Thanks for the update 90 - glad that rebuild worked out for your son.

Interesting post-mortem. Being your son, I expect he paid appropriate attention to the oil, and the type he used..... it would be interesting to know what oil brand and viscosity was in it.

Reminds me a bit of the conversation I had with a tech about a GM 5.3 p/u he bought used. Not that old or high miles, but had a not un-typical 5.3 high oil consumption. Did one oil change right away, dosed accordingly with Seafoam. After only maybe 500km, he dropped by a friend's shop to change it again. When his buddy pulled the plug, he said "What is this thing, a diesel ?". Oil was BLACK, black, black. Shortly after that oil change, he soon found that the oil consumption had dropped to almost nothing.

His theory - cylinder deactivation had certain cylinders running too cold, with similar results to your B&S fault cascade.......

Too Hot or Too Cold.... both extremes can cause failures.

Rgds, D.

 

[90cummins]

It was my nephew and he is not the proactive type unless he is prepping for hunting season.
Odds are it was overdue for an oil change and he certainly did not check valve clearances after the initial break-in.
Heck I am not sure the owners manual that was supplied with the unit even recommended a valve adjustment.
This was an expensive two strike lesson.
Time will tell if he will pay better attention to maintenance.

90cummins

 

[3930dave]

Eyeballs not working (here) tonight.....

Pain or no pain.... some people learn, some people don't. Hopefully, he does.

Rgds, D.

 

[grsthegreat]

Power has been out now for 25 hours. Still no idea when it will be back up. Those winds, along with warm temps that thawed the ground, wrecked havoc accross the county. Our coop still has 15,000 without power. Combine that with the other 3 coops and avista, its a mess.

I shut down the standby system when i went to bed though as it was still 36F outside. predicted to get down to 28f by 6 am. Woke up at 4 am and it was only 30 outside. If it was alot colder i would have let it run all night.

I had to do 6 service calls yesterday on generators not working. Got all of them working as they all were minor issues. One funny one was a brand new unit that had no battery. The installer forgot to install it. Hard to run that way.

I have 2 more service calls that came in last night, and both those sound bad. All older units and one has oil all over the place. We will have to see what the day brings.

 

[TheMan419]

Power has been out now for 25 hours. Still no idea when it will be back up. Those winds, along with warm temps that thawed the ground, wrecked havoc accross the county. Our coop still has 15,000 without power. Combine that with the other 3 coops and avista, its a mess.

I shut down the standby system when i went to bed though as it was still 36F outside. predicted to get down to 28f by 6 am. Woke up at 4 am and it was only 30 outside. If it was alot colder i would have let it run all night.

I had to do 6 service calls yesterday on generators not working. Got all of them working as they all were minor issues. One funny one was a brand new unit that had no battery. The installer forgot to install it. Hard to run that way.

I have 2 more service calls that came in last night, and both those sound bad. All older units and one has oil all over the place. We will have to see what the day brings.

Good luck! Glad you are around to do the job for these folks. Note to self, change oil and check spark plug on generator this weekend.

 

[LittleBill21]

Power has been out now for 25 hours. Still no idea when it will be back up. Those winds, along with warm temps that thawed the ground, wrecked havoc accross the county. Our coop still has 15,000 without power. Combine that with the other 3 coops and avista, its a mess.

I shut down the standby system when i went to bed though as it was still 36F outside. predicted to get down to 28f by 6 am. Woke up at 4 am and it was only 30 outside. If it was alot colder i would have let it run all night.

I had to do 6 service calls yesterday on generators not working. Got all of them working as they all were minor issues. One funny one was a brand new unit that had no battery. The installer forgot to install it. Hard to run that way.

I have 2 more service calls that came in last night, and both those sound bad. All older units and one has oil all over the place. We will have to see what the day brings.

i thought you were retired?

 

[fried1765]

Power has been out now for 25 hours. Still no idea when it will be back up. Those winds, along with warm temps that thawed the ground, wrecked havoc accross the county. Our coop still has 15,000 without power. Combine that with the other 3 coops and avista, its a mess.

I shut down the standby system when i went to bed though as it was still 36F outside. predicted to get down to 28f by 6 am. Woke up at 4 am and it was only 30 outside. If it was alot colder i would have let it run all night.

I had to do 6 service calls yesterday on generators not working. Got all of them working as they all were minor issues. One funny one was a brand new unit that had no battery. The installer forgot to install it. Hard to run that way.

I have 2 more service calls that came in last night, and both those sound bad. All older units and one has oil all over the place. We will have to see what the day brings.

I guess I can understand now why my shares of IDACORP have dropped so dramatically in the past few days.