Your last generator Maintenance Run

[3930dave]

52 years ago I took electronics 101 in college, affectionately known as Shocks For Jocks. I was no jock but had always liked following stereo equipment,
and later owned a Radio Shack franchise where I could sell anything I wanted. Sold a zillion battery testers, simply voltage driven not all that useful meters. We all know you need to put a load on it.

Shocks fer Jocks.... liking that one

Having worked in electronics, I'm like the mechanic with a beat up car..... most eras of my life, just about anybody else had a better stereo than I. Spent some time working with pro sound-reinforment equipment at a young age, so that's a bit like getting used to having a 400hp farm tractor around....

Audiophile addiction..... deep rabbit hole to go down. Wife's uncle dabbled a bit; because of him, a guy he worked with got the bug.... ended up basing the design of his new house primarily around upper-end Klipsch speakers.... the mortgage was due more to the sound system, than the house !

Rgds, D.

 

[3930dave]

One of the first things I bought was a commercial battery tester... money well spent.

With your fleet is one enough ?

(Not insulting your mtce practices, just thinking of the scale and geographic diversity...)

Rgds, D.

 

[3930dave]

I have 3 UpS units with bad batteries right now. Those batteries don’t last long.

Yeah.... there's the thing......

One back-back-burner option I may consider is going to a large UPS designed for external battery banks. I don't know the contractual timing, but I suspect that some get retired from major data-centres at a relatively young age. If I can find one at the right price, I'll start with a smaller battery bank (something like deep-cycle Group 31), and scale it up if/when desired.....

Rgds, D.

 

[grsthegreat]

The last battery backup industrial system i installed for the state of idaho cost in the neighborhood of $80,000 for equip & batteries. An APC Symmetra scalable design. They will use it until its toast.

what happened on the old one was as the batteries mature and wear out, they had a tendency to smoke out the building. After the 3rd or 4th time that happened, they pulled the entire thing and trashed it. Was replaced with similar new system. I know i wouldn't want that old unit installed in my building Even if it was free.

 

[3930dave]

Being a monopoly, govts have the luxury of no meaningful penalty for failure..... taking equipment out to it's end-limit isn't really an option for commercial data centres.

Obviously, no industrial power system should have that happen...... deficient hardware, sloppy installation, badly performed or skipped maintenance can all be factors. Does illustrate the value of a dedicated external battery shed though.....

Rgds, D.

 

[ultrarunner]

With your fleet is one enough ?

(Not insulting your mtce practices, just thinking of the scale and geographic diversity...)

Rgds, D.

I was 16 working at the parts store... it was a major expense working for $2 an hour but quality that has lasted.

 

[ultrarunner]

The last battery backup industrial system i installed for the state of idaho cost in the neighborhood of $80,000 for equip & batteries. An APC Symmetra scalable design. They will use it until its toast.

what happened on the old one was as the batteries mature and wear out, they had a tendency to smoke out the building. After the 3rd or 4th time that happened, they pulled the entire thing and trashed it. Was replaced with similar new system. I know i wouldn't want that old unit installed in my building Even if it was free.

Had a UPS go bad... entire hospital on the weekend wreaked...

The manufacturer replaced it way past warranty and sent a call tag for failure analysis.

Again way past warranty but documented battery swap every 24 months.

 

[grsthegreat]

Hmmm, now i have to go install another generator replacement motor. Not sure what retirement means.

 

[ultrarunner]

Last September retired neighbors with medical needs reached out to Generac to quote a whole house system.

One year to the week the estimator came out… neighbors said he spent a lot of time asking questions and sitewalk.

The gas line may be too small for the does everything genset.

It will be two weeks tomorrow and no bid… estimator said some units have quite a wait list.

In the meantime I help them with their EU 3000i Honda… very nice portable and one pull start and easy on fuel…

Generator for oxygen concentrator and some lights etc…

 

[grsthegreat]

Actually, generac has gotten their backlog down to only a week or so on most units. Liquid cooled are still a ways out though.

the engine in above post was on a truck same day i ordered it.

 

[nikdfish]

It's been a while, but I finally got around to pulling out the Champion 7k dual fuel at the tractor shed. The battery was too low to turn it over but the pull start worked fine once I remembered to open the valve on the propane bottle. It has only been used with propane since the whole house unit was installed in 2016 & I stopped stockpiling gas for it (now I keep a half dozen propane jugs stashed).

I put a 1500 watt heater on each leg & let it run for an hour. No problems other than the low battery.

 

[3930dave]

Had a UPS go bad... entire hospital on the weekend wreaked...

The manufacturer replaced it way past warranty and sent a call tag for failure analysis.

Again way past warranty but documented battery swap every 24 months.

You'd want fresh batteries anyway, but that could well have factored into their decision..... unless it's an already-known defect, any responsible OEM should be doing FA on events like you describe.....

Rgds, D.

 

[3930dave]

Hmmm, now i have to go install another generator replacement motor. Not sure what retirement means.

You beat me to it.....

People like me are getting scared.... you are making retirement look like a lot of work !

Rgds, D.

 

[3930dave]

It's been a while, but I finally got around to pulling out the Champion 7k dual fuel at the tractor shed. The battery was too low to turn it over but the pull start worked fine once I remembered to open the valve on the propane bottle. It has only been used with propane since the whole house unit was installed in 2016 & I stopped stockpiling gas for it (now I keep a half dozen propane jugs stashed).

I put a 1500 watt heater on each leg & let it run for an hour. No problems other than the low battery.

Power in-shed, or does the 7k self-charge its battery ?

Backup to the backup.... Never a Bad Thing.....

Rgds, D.

 

[nikdfish]

No line power in the shed, 100 watt solar panel & deep cycle battery for interior led lights & outside led motion lights. The 7k gets used with welder & compressor when needed.

 

[90cummins]

What failed on the engine?
Is there a common failure mode?
My BIL brought up a Generac 22+- kw engine for me to check out. It blew oil all over the interior of the cabinet but was still running.
Would like me to check it out & rebuild as a spare if feasible.
I recall reading somewhere that very cold ambient temps can cause this to happen when the breather tube freezes.
90cummins

 

[grsthegreat]

Not sure what occurred on this unit. it had real bad knocking sound in engine, bad compression one side. Ill tear into the old one after i get it back to the shop to see what happened. Rest of generator good shape.

 

[Fallon]

Fired up the Onan/Cummins 4000 in the RV getting ready for camping this weekend. Started fine, ran fine. Stut it down & then got around to checking the oil. Opened the dipstick fill port & out came flowing our WAY over full. Didn't smell like gas as much as I'd have expected, but thats the only fluid it could be. Or the last guys that serviced it managed to fill it higher than the fill port.

Carb had a couple drips on it so I'm assuming it's leaking inside & out. Gambled on a $35 Chinese carb off Amazon. The OEM carbs are not rebuildable & cost $100 or so. Will see if I made a good call or not tomorow.

 

[3930dave]

Fired up the Onan/Cummins 4000 in the RV getting ready for camping this weekend. Started fine, ran fine. Stut it down & then got around to checking the oil. Opened the dipstick fill port & out came flowing our WAY over full. Didn't smell like gas as much as I'd have expected, but thats the only fluid it could be. Or the last guys that serviced it managed to fill it higher than the fill port.

Carb had a couple drips on it so I'm assuming it's leaking inside & out. Gambled on a $35 Chinese carb off Amazon. The OEM carbs are not rebuildable & cost $100 or so. Will see if I made a good call or not tomorow.

View attachment 759653

Keep us posted..... many people have had good luck with those ChinaCarb deals.....

Rgds, D.

 

[buckeyefarmer]

I got a generac quote today. They have unit in stock. Don’t think I’m going to get it, but was curious on price.