I'm sure your weather is worse, but...

[Pilot]

Had a storm 2 weeks ago, lost power, fired up the old faithful generator, lights failed to come to full brightness. Not a lot dimmer than usual, but enough to question it. After a few hours I decided to check the voltage & read 106-108. Even with my limited knowledge of electricity (I know how to make sparks, but that's about it) I knew that wasn't good. Took the thing to a highly recommended shop, they said it would be ready if about 4 days.

Monday was day 4, counting only business days & they hadn't gotten to it yet, but said Tuesday morning they would be on it.

Tuesday morning, lots of wind, power went out, but I wasn't home & didn't know. But I started checking out new generators in the early afternoon after the shop said they were just starting to check it out. Called my bride at about 2 & that's when I learned about the outage. Bought the last 7KW generator that Lowe's had, $809 with the veteran's discount. Lowe's said I could return it if I didn't have to use it. Good insurance.

By the time I got home, power was on. Then off. Then on an hour later. Then off. An hour or so, on again. Took our chances, but then it failed again & we were out in the garage setting it up by flashlight. 4 failures in one day, the worst we've ever had. Zero last year and maybe once the year before.

This morning we had an ice storm.

Still haven't heard from the shop.

At least the new generator runs pretty well, and 7KW continuous, 10KW surge is nice.

 

[texasjohn]

Well, bad weather is all local.

Here, it will be 25 degrees tonight...below freezing last night, too. No power loss. Super early to drop below freezing.

Glad your new generator is working...will be interesting to find out what is wrong with your old one...to me, I'd wonder if the RPMs were up to par. Another possibility is that your load has increased, thus pulling all watts available and dropping voltage a tad. Did you check voltage under full load or no load?

 

[coobie1]

Back in 2011 bit the bullet bought a propane 17kv generac whole house gen.It was a little pricey installed $4650.The wife and I have been happy campers since.

 

[jix]

Had a storm 2 weeks ago, lost power, fired up the old faithful generator, lights failed to come to full brightness. Not a lot dimmer than usual, but enough to question it. After a few hours I decided to check the voltage & read 106-108. Even with my limited knowledge of electricity (I know how to make sparks, but that's about it) I knew that wasn't good. Took the thing to a highly recommended shop, they said it would be ready if about 4 days.

Monday was day 4, counting only business days & they hadn't gotten to it yet, but said Tuesday morning they would be on it.

Tuesday morning, lots of wind, power went out, but I wasn't home & didn't know. But I started checking out new generators in the early afternoon after the shop said they were just starting to check it out. Called my bride at about 2 & that's when I learned about the outage. Bought the last 7KW generator that Lowe's had, $809 with the veteran's discount. Lowe's said I could return it if I didn't have to use it. Good insurance.

By the time I got home, power was on. Then off. Then on an hour later. Then off. An hour or so, on again. Took our chances, but then it failed again & we were out in the garage setting it up by flashlight. 4 failures in one day, the worst we've ever had. Zero last year and maybe once the year before.

This morning we had an ice storm.

Still haven't heard from the shop.

At least the new generator runs pretty well, and 7KW continuous, 10KW surge is nice.

That shop which has your busted genny is giving you pure BS. Boy, don't that kind of treatment of a client put crab in my grass.

They know that if you get an honest answer about how long a job will take you will probably go elsewhere for service, so they LIED to you. Lying to customers is, for a business, a capital offense.

I would get my machine back IMMEDIATELY..and tell them why.

 

[RobertBrown]

Yea it's bad here too. I had to look for my sweatshirt this morning, and I probably won't be wearing shorts tomorrow.

 

[445A]

I think Texas John is on the money... too low of RPMs. Most gens I've worked on are between 3550 and 3750 RPMs and are usually adjusted with a screw that tightens up the governor spring raising the top speed. He is also correct on load, if you are pulling close to the max rating of the gen, it might just be running out of available horsepower/torque to run the load. Usually when this is the case, it will pop a breaker after a while because the amps are going up as the voltage drops. Glad you didn't spend any money with the repair shop. JIX put it straight, "they LIED to you. Lying to customers is, for a business, a capital offense.":thumbsup: Go get your gen back before they touch it. The best to you "happy campers!" 445A

 

[Pilot]

A small engine shop checked the rpm's first thing & raised them from 3500 up to 3610. After that we rechecked the voltage under no load & it was still low. He only works on the engines, which is why I then went to a shop that works on the electrical part. To be generous to that shop, he may have been swamped after the storm we had 2 weeks ago & most of his customers are commercial.

To add to aggravations, the wind blew off the chimney cap and the roof is covered with a layer of ice. It may melt today. I have balance problems so the wife won't let me on the steep roof & the chimney is too high for her to reach, so we'll need a sweep to reinstall it. First I'm going shopping for one that would be less likely to blow off--maybe a directional cap. We'll see.