Your last generator Maintenance Run

[3930dave]

If it was something besides gasoline fueled once a year is probably fine.

+2 on that. (Although.... even modern diesel is a bit more problematic these days, IMO....).

If somebody has a practice that is working for them, consistent Results are what matters. Show Me - after that I prefer to understand why results differ among people.... that takes longer to figure out sometimes.....

I don't have the time/$/resources to do an actual controlled study, but glimpses I've had in this thread (and others) leads me to think that one factor with gasoline (on the storage/re-starting-fine front) is regional fuel formula differences. Smog or other additives being present at a regional refinery, or not, I can see as possibly being a prominent factor in how well storage works out for the end-user.

Even Jay Leno doesn't have the resources to operate two massive personal garages on opposite sides of the country, so I'm not expecting to test that ^ theory anytime soon .

Rgds, D.

 

[3930dave]

Don’t agree at all. You have to keep moisture in oil under control for one thing. You need to keep lube thru machine. Running it once a year is foolish in my opinion…for what thats worth. But I only maintain engines for a living now, and I’ve seen units that haven't run in a year, and there usually a mess.

I watched a Camarata video recently..... IIRC, it was a 1936 Allis-Chalmers he recovered from a customers site and got running again.

He was going thru things, prepping for a July 04 parade. He does good camera work.... had a great shot of dropping the engine oil.

You could see the gray in the oil, when it started to drop..... OK, admittedly an extreme example (he spent part of the vid re-installing the original oil-filter "Durn, dem tings are spendy !" ) somebody had bypassed.... but often @ the End Limit is where you first see noticeable effects....

Living in a climate with huge temperature swings AND high-humidity much of the year (including Winter, which is more common here now, than 40 years ago....) I've learned to pay more attention to condensation factors.

^ .... makes me long for a shop in the desert....

Rgds, D.

 

[3930dave]

It was on a Tyson farm. I tore some houses down that collapsed from the snow. Those people had six houses and two collapsed. Built back new ones. This summer it started melting the service back to the transfotmer. The goof balls didn't have any fuel in the generator and two houses of chickens died in a few minutes. No excuse for that.

Guys like ur and grs often post classic site-stories about what people had done/not done..... That ^ is another one.....

I haven't seen those actual contracts, but I can guess.... that likely would have created a double hit $ wise.... direct loss of chicken, then there could well be a major Fine built into the contract for dropping production......

To say nothing about how much modern diesels like being run-dry....

To many times, I keep hearing Forrest Gump's words again....

Rgds, D.

 

[3930dave]

Mine ran this morning. An hour early. Guess it doesn't update itself.

First-World Problems ?

I've dropped into your thread about your system here and there.... congrats on getting that all done .

Rgds, D.

 

[3930dave]

would you run a car engine once a year?

I was at a buddy's shop yesterday. His son fired up a Belarus my buddy got running again.

Fired up better than many modern diesels, and ran like a charm.... I commented on how sweet-sounding that engine was.... you know how some just sound really healthy.

I have had more than one conversation lately, about how much easier some old stuff comes out of (often not well prepared...) hibernation than modern equipment.

That ^, IMO, is another variable in the Will It Start/Run lottery....

Rgds, D.

 

[TractorGuy]

I run my diesel generator at 40 amps for an hour every month.

When I was working we had a large generator to protect the contents in -80c and a -140c freezers. If you want a bunch of pissed off professors on your hands let that generator not function during a outage.

They originally had a natural gas unit with a 427 gm engine. They found a crack in the radiator tank on one of the PMs. The idiots had it soldered up instead of replacing the radiator. Next outage it cracked a few inches over and for some reason the overheat protection didn't work. We came in the next morning to a blown engine a a bunch of pissed off professors.

The moral is stress cracks in metal indicates the need to REPLACE THE WHOLE THING.

They replaced the generator with a diesel that gets a monthly test.

 

[grsthegreat]

Generac generators don’t self correct for daylight savings time, unless their tied to mobile link …. Or genmon system like mine. These do self correct. My genmon does it instantly, but the mobile link may take some time to update. Im Not sure if the free version of mobile link does or not.

but honestly, exercising an hour later or earlier is no big deal in the great scheme of things.

 

[ROUSTABOUT]

Guys like ur and grs often post classic site-stories about what people had done/not done..... That ^ is another one.....

I haven't seen those actual contracts, but I can guess.... that likely would have created a double hit $ wise.... direct loss of chicken, then there could well be a major Fine built into the contract for dropping production......

To say nothing about how much modern diesels like being run-dry....

To many times, I keep hearing Forrest Gump's words again....

Rgds, D.

Plus, Tyson usually has about 20 bucks in each bird, 15000 birds in each house... Those are the super chickens. They don't go to a store. Go to layer houses. Roosters are kept between 17-19 lbs. Chickens lay an egg a day. They are plain chickens but are selected by size and bred with other big ones. I have never seen Tyson do any hormones. I would know. I only have seen vitamins and rarely antibiotics. But only if a lot are dying off. Plus, these are not food birds, they are breeders. They do end up on a plate but we have a safe period to not give any meds per FDA. We absolutely watch that. Some of them go to McDonald's. I am very impressed because they do unannounced drop in inspections. Never any problem here. Always a pleasant visit. I'm just as impressed with Tyson. They do what they do, not because someone Is on their tail about it, but because they genuinely want to strive to do better.

 

[3930dave]

When I was working we had a large generator to protect the contents in -80c and a -140c freezers. If you want a bunch of pissed off professors on your hands let that generator not function during a outage.

Studying Area 51 bodies ?

Middle of Nowhere or BackWoods Shoe-String operation, many of us would or have MacGyvered up a patch. Then, same TBN crew would have also replaced the part, as soon as $/Time allowed....

In your work (and most others) environment, no real excuses apply IMO....

Rgds, D.

 

[3930dave]

They do end up on a plate but we have a safe period to not give any meds per FDA. We absolutely watch that. Some of them go to McDonald's. I am very impressed because they do unannounced drop in inspections. Never any problem here. Always a pleasant visit. I'm just as impressed with Tyson. They do what they do, not because someone Is on their tail about it, but because they genuinely want to strive to do better.

Great performance in food-safety systems.... music to my ears.

Thanks for the details on that. I had (based on very limited data) a good impression of Tyson..... good to hear that my spidey-sense was on-track there....

Rgds, D.