Generator Dummy Load

[Tx Jim]

millions upon millions of home GAS powered standby generators run their weekly or monthly exercises WITHOUT ANY LOAD on the alternators.

Otherwise the generator will run for 5-12 minutes (depends on generator model) and WILL NOT TRANSFER THE LOAD, every week , bimonthly or monthly.

Thank you for your reply, Jim

 

[LittleBill21]

Thank you for your reply. I'm disabled so getting generator out of my storage building that's attached to carport then getting generator out from under carport so I can avoid any carbon monoxide problems & lower noise level of the generator then attaching cable from generator to special electrical generator outlet inside door of storage building & then changing safety switch on main electrical breaker box in my Barn dominium is very challenging for me. When I've exercised my generator after operating several minutes in the past I've turned gasoline off & let engine run out of gasoline. That practice plus gasoline stabilizer I hope will be sufficient to keep it operating if I ever need it.
Thank you, Jim

gas has a time limit on it. I drain the tanks completely dry on my stuff. I have gone 2 years on gas, but it has a rough smell when it runs, make sure you rotate it out once and a while

 

[Tx Jim]

gas has a time limit on it. I drain the tanks completely dry on my stuff. I have gone 2 years on gas, but it has a rough smell when it runs, make sure you rotate it out once and a while

Do you use gasoline stabilizer? Have you ever used non ethanol gasoline in genny tank?

 

[LittleBill21]

Do you use gasoline stabilizer? Have you ever used non ethanol gasoline in genny tank?

No I run everything completely out of gas. I only use ethanol

 

[bdhsfz6]

I use this Tera pump to remove as much gas from the generator tank as possible:

Amazon.com

I then add a pint of Tru Fuel just before the engine dies.

Amazon.com

It ensures a one pull start, even after a year of storage.

When it's time to rotate stored gas, I also use the Tera Pump to transfer gas from my 5 gal generator gas cans into my vehicles.

The pump fits into the mouth of most gas cans and the nozzle fits the gas tanks on most vehicles. It's tough to do with pour type gas cans on some cars.

 

[BackRoad]

Mr. BDHSFZ6, the pump sounds interesting, have you used it much? Just wondering based on some of the "1 Reviews".

 

[MAX-24-Dean]

I have a portable Honda EM6500SX and I run it monthly for about 30 minutes with a 4500 watt shop heater plugged into it. This load is about 2/3rds of its maximum. Is this too hard on it? It gives a nice grunt when I turn it on, after a warmup, and handles it well without any sense of straining.
View attachment 2017709

I've maintained those specific models on constrution sites for years, putting 4 to 5 thousand hours on the 6500sx models and never having problem with surging loads. We would load them up to 5,000 watts, but typically ran them in the 3,500 to 4,500 watt range. They are a quality unit.

 

[bdhsfz6]

Mr. BDHSFZ6, the pump sounds interesting, have you used it much? Just wondering based on some of the "1 Reviews".

Yeah, I saw those reviews but bought it anyway. I actually have two, one for gas and the other for diesel. I've had one for 4 years and the other for 8 months. I use them every couple of months to pump 10 gal or so, and have had no trouble with either.

The plastic tubing is the weak point. You have to be careful not to kink it since it gets brittle in cold weather.

To save the hassle of having to plug in the pump to AC or 12V, I mounted this adapter to the pump housing and use my M12 Milwaukee cordless tool batteries:

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B08NPP3VHG/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1

 

[LittleBill21]

I've maintained those specific models on constrution sites for years, putting 4 to 5 thousand hours on the 6500sx models and never having problem with surging loads. We would load them up to 5,000 watts, but typically ran them in the 3,500 to 4,500 watt range. They are a quality unit.

whats your oil change interval? and typical failure point at the 5k hours

 

[DarkBlack]

I've maintained those specific models on constrution sites for years, putting 4 to 5 thousand hours on the 6500sx models and never having problem with surging loads. We would load them up to 5,000 watts, but typically ran them in the 3,500 to 4,500 watt range. They are a quality unit.

Makes you realize how we over baby our engines in general, fussing about oils, and which oil filter brand is good enough for our pampered engines every 150 hours, and here’s simple splash lubrication with no filter at all, going 5,000 hours.

 

[MAX-24-Dean]

whats your oil change interval? and typical failure point at the 5k hours

The oil was changed every week or 50 hours of operation (typ weekly hours was a minimum of 30), whichever came first. Total hours were recorded daily and the hour interval was strictly adhered to. Valve adjusment checked every 200 hrs. (Edit: or once per month.)

Typical failure to place out of service was when oil blowby was present in the exhaust, caused by scoring on the cylinder walls.
I believe the early failure was due to employee laziness, not rinsing off all the metal particles on the magnetic drain plugs and not running a small amount of oil through the engine to purge the particulates at oil change.

 

[MAX-24-Dean]

Makes you realize how we over baby our engines in general, fussing about oils, and which oil filter brand is good enough for our pampered engines every 150 hours, and here’s simple splash lubrication with no filter at all, going 5,000 hours.

With off grid solar installs I have seen portable generators with 6000 hours on them very often. But the name on the side of the unit was always Honda or Yamaha.
I have seen 2 smaller honda 1000 watt inverter gensets with this many hours.

If you don't change the oil at specified intervals, then you kill an air cooled engine early.

 

[LittleBill21]

The oil was changed every week or 50 hours of operation (typ weekly hours was a minimum of 30), whichever came first. Total hours were recorded daily and the hour interval was strictly adhered to. Valve adjusment checked every 200 hrs. (Edit: or once per month.)

Typical failure to place out of service was when oil blowby was present in the exhaust, caused by scoring on the cylinder walls.
I believe the early failure was due to employee laziness, not rinsing off all the metal particles on the magnetic drain plugs and not running a small amount of oil through the engine to purge the particulates at oil change.

how did the valve adjustment go? was it initially off? and slowly not needed to be adjusted or was it constantly needing an adjustment its entire life?

and this was an average across all the generators? how many made it to these numbers on average. did hp size or engine design play a factor in longevity?

 

[MAX-24-Dean]

how did the valve adjustment go? was it initially off? and slowly not needed to be adjusted or was it constantly needing an adjustment its entire life?

and this was an average across all the generators? how many made it to these numbers on average. did hp size or engine design play a factor in longevity?

The small engine mechanic did all the mechanical maintenance, so I don't know the answer to how the valve adjustments went.
Better than 80% of the 6500 watt generators made it to the 16 month repurchase change out. About 275 hours per month runtime per unit on average.
Not an engine mechanic, so I don't know about your last question, they had a honda 390 engine in them and were over head valve if I recall correctly.

 

[LittleBill21]

The small engine mechanic did all the mechanical maintenance, so I don't know the answer to how the valve adjustments went.
Better than 80% of the 6500 watt generators made it to the 16 month repurchase change out. About 275 hours per month runtime per unit on average.
Not an engine mechanic, so I don't know about your last question, they had a honda 390 engine in them and were over head valve if I recall correctly.

always the same model? you guys never extended oil to 100 to see the life expectancy difference?

 

[MAX-24-Dean]

always the same model? you guys never extended oil to 100 to see the life expectancy difference?

Not to my knowlegde. Just followed the company policy.

 

[Robin Veerman]

The above few posts are a good read. I run a magnetic drain plug also, and in all my other small engines.
My EM6500SX is babied in comparison to those serving commercial duty. It starts easy, runs strong and quiet and is very fuel efficient…

 

[kpack]

I’ve made several homemade load banks before, most were crude.
As mentioned earlier water in a big plastic tub and a hot heater water element will work. The one I made was out of a big commercial hot water heater, somehow I attached a 2x4 to the element and when I laid the board across the top of the tub I had it set to the right height, you have to trickle a water hose in the tub and just let it run over on the ground because the water gets hot pretty quick. If you want more load you throw salt in it, you’ll hear the generator grunt. I don’t recommend this it’s to crude and dangerous.
The best one I’ve had if you have room for it is an electric stove, I found a free one on FB. I believe with all four burners and the bottom baking part it would draw about 45 240 amps. Had to put some buckets or pots of water on the burners or cook something but you could set it at any amount of amps.

 

[bdhsfz6]

Thanks to all who posted.

At this point, I'm going to take the advice of an earlier poster who suggested using UPS backup for the sensitive equipment and just use the house as a load.

The UPS will cost close to the same as the electrical components I was going to use, and will help during the power outages we get here.

 

[Bentrim]

As someone that has worked on generator and was trained by generac for portables. I would like to make these comments.
Be careful when using UPS's with generators they may not play together.
A portable generator has NO field boost. Most if they sit too long will lose their magnatism and need remagnatized. This is why they need started and exercised.
Stand by unit have a field boost so even though they get exercized regularly they don't lose they magnatizm.
The bigest killer of generators is overload. The circuit breakers will not keep from overloading the generator.
Most standard generators do NOT put out clean power. Some are better than others. Be careful with electronics, they don't like dirty electric. They must run at 3600 RPM for 60 cycle output, note unloaded speed should be 3750 and under load most will to 3580 fully loaded.
An inverter generator is clean power and can be safely on electronics. They are quieter and more fuel effcient than a standard generator, but more expensive to purchase and repair.The engine speed will vary with the load, so they are usually quieter.
If you are using extension cords be sure the size meets the length and load requirements. They can kill a good generator.
Only run outdoors carbon monoxide is a killer.