Your last generator Maintenance Run

[dragoneggs]

The pacific northwest has been hammered with winds and snow this year. Saturday i was out repairing a whole house generator when a jet ranger helicoptor flew overhead at tree top level. He was blowing snow off of the trees and powerlines to help prevent damage to powerlines. Pretty cool to watch....cept he blew snow all over me and my truck.
Ive been working 6 days a week ...10 hour days for over a month setting up generators and transfer switches. Some areas were without power for 5 days last month...and again for 5 days this week. Im getting 3-5 calls per day to give bids on whole house systems.

Getting pretty tired of looking at generators right now. Ive installed so many this year im starting to get loopy. I was hoping for a few months off, but thats not going to happen any time soon.

Cool use of helicopters!

 

[GaryLock]

I was asked to go through a woman at work's generator and fix a wood chipper as well. It turned into a nightmare. Everything I touched in the fuel system was either gummed up or degrading so badly that fuel lines would simply crumble in my hands. If they had needed this, and were able to get it running (doubtful) it probably would have leaked gasoline and ended up in a fireball. After replacing all the fuel lines with modern fuel lines, and adding fuel filters and such, it ran fine for them. I taught them about maintenance runs and how to start, run, load, and run dry once a month during winter, every three during summer. What a mess.

 

[grsthegreat]

Are you still able to get your inspections done when conditions are bad?

Just curious.

yes, but itsucks. Most of the calls are on older units that have seen no maint for many years.

 

[buickanddeere]

I hope no one has brain surgery scheduled in the new year.

A commercial pilot friend once told me something interesting. Not sure if it's true, but Toronto Airport (Pearson) has their own generating plant, and uses the Utility as the back-up.

Toronto International -Pearson has had natural gas turbine co-generation for at least the past 25years .

 

[3930dave]

Thanks, i'll be giving that a try!

Welcome..... I like to share new items that looks promising+useful....

Rgds, D.

 

[3930dave]

I was asked to go through a woman at work's generator and fix a wood chipper as well. It turned into a nightmare. Everything I touched in the fuel system was either gummed up or degrading so badly that fuel lines would simply crumble in my hands. If they had needed this, and were able to get it running (doubtful) it probably would have leaked gasoline and ended up in a fireball. After replacing all the fuel lines with modern fuel lines, and adding fuel filters and such, it ran fine for them. I taught them about maintenance runs and how to start, run, load, and run dry once a month during winter, every three during summer. What a mess.

Good save Gary, that would have likely been a FD/911 call.

Rgds, D.

 

[3930dave]

Cool use of helicopters!

I can see that the job Needs Doing, but man, I'd hate to see the bill for that snowblower !

Rgds, D.

 

[3930dave]

yes, but itsucks. Most of the calls are on older units that have seen no maint for many years.

Ignore, Ignore, Ignore...... then panic when something critical breaks down........

Yeah, I'd have to bite my tongue during those conversations.....

Rgds, D.

 

[3930dave]

Toronto International -Pearson has had natural gas turbine co-generation for at least the past 25years .

Makes sense, thanks for the confirm.

I'd expect many large sites with low-cost access to Natgas to be doing the same, or tri-gen.

Rgds, D.

 

[grsthegreat]

I am going to have to replace an engine in a 2006 generac as theres no compression in one cyl and only 20 psi in other. Was about 1/2 full of a sludge i guess was oil at one time. I had a hard time draining it to do service change. New oil didnt help. They said it hasnt been sounding too good for quite some time before it gave up the ghost. Had a sticker stated last oil change,,, 2009.

Still replacing engine is alot less than replacing generator. But shouldnt have happened. Cant beet maint to save $$$$ in the long run.

 

[3930dave]

I am going to have to replace an engine in a 2006 generac as theres no compression in one cyl and only 20 psi in other. Was about 1/2 full of a sludge i guess was oil at one time. I had a hard time draining it to do service change. New oil didnt help. They said it hasnt been sounding too good for quite some time before it gave up the ghost. Had a sticker stated last oil change,,, 2009.

Still replacing engine is alot less than replacing generator. But shouldnt have happened. Cant beet maint to save $$$$ in the long run.

Not surprisingly, there was a report recently concerning a broad decline in IQ test scores..... above is a good example of that trend.

Not like you need the work right now grs, but the upside is there are worse problems than having people throwing money at you.

Wow. :confused2:

Rgds, D.

 

[kevin37b]

Just a question . How does a large facility ,ie hospital do the testing and transfer from utility to genset without wrecking all that sensitive equip ? I had a colonoscopy Tuesday and the power went out while I was on the slab . Must be a seamless transition . Just curious .

 

[ultrarunner]

A lot of hospital equipment is really battery powered either fully like monitors, defibrillators or just the control circuits for things like Steam Sterilizers.

For critical applications like Laser Eye Surgery there is a large external UPS dedicated... we also have them for our eye microscopes... a few seconds of darkness through the scope is not what you want even with the instant on room lights...

Of course all critical and life safety circuits are on Generator Power...

My Genset will be up and transferred from cold in 7 seconds... heck of a way to treat a diesel... cold start and full throttle... we do have coolant block warmers...

Some of the newer facilities will have a bank of UPS in the Panel Room... makes it simpler to have most of the batteries in one location.

One of my pet peeves is the Generator Circuits are to be used for Life Safety and other Critical Systems... can't tell you how often I will find portable bed warmers and similar plugged into the Red Outlets and every week I check them all...

 

[kevinwak]

A lot of hospital equipment is really battery powered either fully like monitors, defibrillators or just the control circuits for things like Steam Sterilizers. For critical applications like Laser Eye Surgery there is a large external UPS dedicated... we also have them for our eye microscopes... a few seconds of darkness through the scope is not what you want even with the instant on room lights... Of course all critical and life safety circuits are on Generator Power... My Genset will be up and transferred from cold in 7 seconds... heck of a way to treat a diesel... cold start and full throttle... we do have coolant block warmers... Some of the newer facilities will have a bank of UPS in the Panel Room... makes it simpler to have most of the batteries in one location. One of my pet peeves is the Generator Circuits are to be used for Life Safety and other Critical Systems... can't tell you how often I will find portable bed warmers and similar plugged into the Red Outlets and every week I check them all...

it is always good to reserve one red outlet for the coffee pot.

 

[bullbreaker]

Went over yesterday to a some good friends house . Helped them a bit around property . They said they had a generator which they thought might need some work because it had been sitting for about eight years , if I could help them get it running . I never saw one before but it turns out its a McCulloch FG6000MK 5700-Watt generator . I put fresh fuel in it , it had been sittin tank empty,checked oil . I pull plug all before trying to start , didn't like how plug looked . So send his wife to mom and pop hardware close by for for a plug . She returns I put plug in it . Switch it to on, open fuel to carb , choke . Gave it one pull and dang thing fires rite up and runs like a champ.

I did some research on it (mtr) and turns out its suppose to be a Chinese knockoff of a Honda 340gx 11 hp motor whatever that is and parts are "suppose" to interchange. Needless to say my friends where happy how it ended up . The generator was suppose to have been purchased in 2006 .

pic is one I took of web I forgot to take pic of it while there .

 

[3930dave]

bb - plugs tend to get forgotten; your friends should be good for a few years now. I have an old McCulloch chainsaw that still runs well, but I'd never seen their gens before.... reminds me of Champion, which many people have put many hours on.

Always nice to know that something you depend on in emergencies is healthy.....

Rgds, D.

 

[90cummins]

I keep a charger on my L70 Yanmar generator and thought I'd hit the key quickly to see how it would crank, nothing!
Appears the battery charger failed even though the light indicated it was working.
I had no spare batteries other than the batteries that were still in my lawn equipment so I thought now was the time to remove them for the winter and use one for the generator.
So while I was working on it I gave it a good run.
I installed the battery hit the grid heater for about 30 seconds and it started on the second turn at 27 degrees.
These engines start very good cold.
After about 2 minutes of warm-up I plugged it into my 4kw Xantrex inverter/battery backup and ran the house for 3~4 hours.
It ran perfect, oil pressure was about 70 psi after 3 hours of operation.
Fuel consumption is 2~4 hours/gallon depending on load.
Topped up the fuel rolled it back in the garage and hooked up a good battery charger.
Good to go!!

90cummins

 

[3930dave]

I keep a charger on my L70 Yanmar generator and thought I'd hit the key quickly to see how it would crank, nothing!
Appears the battery charger failed even though the light indicated it was working.
I had no spare batteries other than the batteries that were still in my lawn equipment so I thought now was the time to remove them for the winter and use one for the generator.
So while I was working on it I gave it a good run.
I installed the battery hit the grid heater for about 30 seconds and it started on the second turn at 27 degrees.
These engines start very good cold.
After about 2 minutes of warm-up I plugged it into my 4kw Xantrex inverter/battery backup and ran the house for 3~4 hours.
It ran perfect, oil pressure was about 70 psi after 3 hours of operation.
Fuel consumption is 2~4 hours/gallon depending on load.
Topped up the fuel rolled it back in the garage and hooked up a good battery charger.
Good to go!!

90cummins

I have a couple of small battery-backed systems where I've permanently installed an analog 12vdc panel meter.

Your post illustrates a small generator issue I hadn't considered...... I'm gonna toss another one of those meters onto my larger gas gen. On these systems, I don't install the illumination bulb as I don't want that load on the battery.

(ex. 2 in. 8 to 16V DC Voltmeter Gauge | Princess Auto )

Good save 90.... entropy does take it's toll on everything. Nice setup you have there.

One of the reasons I selected the 1kw Xantrex I bought a number of years back was the low Standby Idle current - I'm curious, what is the Standby current on your 4kw inverter ?

Rgds, D.

 

[Diamondpilot]

I just built a new home and had my whole house 200 amp transfer switch installed yesterday. Same basic setup I had at my last place for 14 years.

What I would like to add is something inline with the generators input feed lineup show volts on each leg, amps on each leg, and frequency. Does anyone have something like that?

Chris

 

[90cummins]

My system uses 8w in search mode.
Diamondpilot; I think I have what you want.
I have a xantrex xw4024 a hybrid inverter system capable of handling and managing inputs from solar panels, windmills, batteries and portable generators.
I have a remote a control panel in my kitchen that displays among other things the voltage and amps on each leg along with the frequency.
One feature that is very unique feature is the Generator Assist function that will assist my (small) generator when the load exceeds a preset point preventing an overload, under voltage situation using 24v DC power from the battery pack.
This allows me to use a smaller more fuel efficient generator.
When the generator is in use it feeds into the inverter thru to the loads and uses excess available power (if any) to recharge the batteries.
I've had this system for over 2 years with no issues.
90cummins