Your last generator Maintenance Run

[3930dave]

oh.. and this reminds me

A few weeks ago we had another power outage, but it hit my house only for maybe 15 minutes. One of my old clients called me and they told me that neither of their 2 units fired up when they lost power, and wondered why.

I went over the next day and took a look at their 15kw and 10 kw generac units. In the first one the battery was showing 8 volts, had 3 dry cells and the generator dip stick was showing no oil on it.

The second unit had an EXPLODED battery and no oil on dipstick. These units were 7 years old. The owner told me hes never serviced them.

Go figure.

I went and got 2 new batteries and drained and refilled all fluids. Both units fired right up and checked out 100%. Cant fault generac on this one. I know alot of people dist generac units, but i have yet to ever find one that has failed with proper maintenance.

When we lost power last weekend, this same client called me and thanked me for repairing his units. hopefully he'll remember to service them now.

Wow ! That's all the expressive words I can use in a public forum.

Spend all that money on a comprehensive, and perhaps automatic, "emergency" backup, then don't maintain it at all :confused2::drool: ?

As seen elsewhere (cars, trucks) people confuse Low Maintenance with No Maintenance !

Rgds, D.

 

[grsthegreat]

I'm curious; why don't you want it running automatically when you are not home ?

I'm thinking of fridge, freezer, sump pumps, furnaces etc..... that create spendy situations w/o power.....

Rgds, D.

in my situation, i will always be home in the evening, so i can start it up when i get home. Freezer, fridge etc will last 12-24 hours without any issues. I dont have sump pump to worry about. Were on a community well, so no issues there ether. My house is so well insulated that it can last 2-3 days without any heat before there are any issues (My furnace fan burned up 2 years ago and system was down for 2 days waiting for parts..... in winter.... house maintained temp)

Me, i dont want a gen to eat 2-3 gal/hr of propane at $2.50+ per gal if not needed. Now, if i had an elderly person living here, or medical issues, then i would run it automatically.

 

[Lou66]

Wow didn't know propane cost so much.. I can see why you wouldn't want it to run all the time.. with my 22kw generac I did the numbers one day after I got it installed.. it was going to coat around 150 dollars a day.. but in the last two years the cost of natural gas has came down a lot.. now it would cost around 65 dollars,, if my numbers are right.. still around 2000 dollars a month.. Mine is more for a hurricane and with 100 degree temperature.. I would gladly pain the two grand a month,, just so I won't have to listen to my wife complain about how hot it is..:laughing: Lou

 

[3930dave]

in my situation, i will always be home in the evening, so i can start it up when i get home. Freezer, fridge etc will last 12-24 hours without any issues. I dont have sump pump to worry about. Were on a community well, so no issues there ether. My house is so well insulated that it can last 2-3 days without any heat before there are any issues (My furnace fan burned up 2 years ago and system was down for 2 days waiting for parts..... in winter.... house maintained temp)

Me, i dont want a gen to eat 2-3 gal/hr of propane at $2.50+ per gal if not needed. Now, if i had an elderly person living here, or medical issues, then i would run it automatically.

Gotcha - sump pump is usually the short term limiting factor, so that makes sense.

Rgds, D.

 

[3930dave]

Wow didn't know propane cost so much.. I can see why you wouldn't want it to run all the time.. with my 22kw generac I did the numbers one day after I got it installed.. it was going to coat around 150 dollars a day.. but in the last two years the cost of natural gas has came down a lot.. now it would cost around 65 dollars,, if my numbers are right.. still around 2000 dollars a month.. Mine is more for a hurricane and with 100 degree temperature.. I would gladly pain the two grand a month,, just so I won't have to listen to my wife complain about how hot it is..:laughing: Lou

For less than $3/hr, to keep SWMBO happy - priceless !

Rgds, D.

Edit - actually, your tag line explains it all !

 

[Diamondpilot]

I am actually quite impressed with my 8550 watt unit. It uses 9 gals of gas per 24 hours, so about $30 per day or $210 per week. A small price to pay in a blizzard to have heat, water, tv, and lights.

Chris

 

[3930dave]

I am actually quite impressed with my 8550 watt unit. It uses 9 gals of gas per 24 hours, so about $30 per day or $210 per week. A small price to pay in a blizzard to have heat, water, tv, and lights.

Chris

That cost is good, and I'm sure the modcons are well appreciated in your household !

Propane and Natgas are delivered cost, so part of what you are paying for there is convenience. You also have a small cost adder for stabilizing gasoline, but most of us want to have it around anyway, for other small engines, and road vehicles in an extended emergency.

I think we'd all agree..... regardless of fuel type, so long as the generator is well maintained and fires up when needed, we are really glad it's there :thumbsup:, when the utility is down for an indeterminate time......

Rgds, D.

 

[V1Rotate]

I agree that the cost of running a gen is worth it.
I can't really compare the cost of running a gasoline powered gen vs running natural gas because I haven't had to use my nat gas unit during an outage yet. Even though the unit runs for 12 minutes each week I don't see any real increase in my gas bill each month. I realize that when any unit runs with no load, the fuel consumption is very low, but when running with a load the consumption goes way up, so it will be interesting to see how much it uses if/when we get a long outage.

 

[3930dave]

I agree that the cost of running a gen is worth it.
I can't really compare the cost of running a gasoline powered gen vs running natural gas because I haven't had to use my nat gas unit during an outage yet. Even though the unit runs for 12 minutes each week I don't see any real increase in my gas bill each month. I realize that when any unit runs with no load, the fuel consumption is very low, but when running with a load the consumption goes way up, so it will be interesting to see how much it uses if/when we get a long outage.

For typical household emergency use, your nat gas consumption probably won't be crazy high. High levels of direct heating and cooling being exceptions.

I like nat gas in general (it's a really clean burning fuel), and I think it's a great match for fully automatic backup systems - the only things humans are routinely needed for are oil and filter changes.

I'd always have at least one portable generator around regardless, but outside of major earthquakes and errant contractors, the nat gas supply is usually reliable.

If the daytime electricity rates get any higher here, it may actually be cheaper to run a nat gas generator, than use utility line power

Rgds, D.

 

[V1Rotate]

For typical household emergency use, your nat gas consumption probably won't be crazy high. High levels of direct heating and cooling being exceptions.

I like nat gas in general (it's a really clean burning fuel), and I think it's a great match for fully automatic backup systems - the only things humans are routinely needed for are oil and filter changes.

I'd always have at least one portable generator around regardless, but outside of major earthquakes and errant contractors, the nat gas supply is usually reliable.

If the daytime electricity rates get any higher here, it may actually be cheaper to run a nat gas generator, than use utility line power

Rgds, D.

It's funny you said that you always would have a portable gen, just in case.
Well I've got an old Generac 5.5 kw portable also. I figure it's not worth a whole lot if I try to sell it, but it might come in real handy some day if the standby unit fails, or if one of my neighbors needs power.