Old Red
Platinum Member
Hey, good idea! My sons little polaris 110 four wheeler is fuel injected and I bet it will work in there as well!
Your last generator Maintenance Run
- Thread starter 3930dave
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Hey, good idea! My sons little polaris 110 four wheeler is fuel injected and I bet it will work in there as well!
In this thread, and others, people have been successful using various approaches. Fuel sources, equipment characteristics, storage environment, and local weather are some of the variables.
I've been successful with full-tank/wet storage, along with using Stabil, Startron, Seafoam (not necessarily all at the same time
). Other approaches can work, up to and including carb modifications.Rgds, D.
nikdfish
Veteran Member
The Generac man was out to do the annual maintenance visit on the 22kw whole house unit. It only had 5 hours run time since install (note: best way to prevent outages in your neighborhood is install a whole house unit...). Plugs & oil looked new, but changed anyway (part of annual svc contract fee).
There was some slight indication of condensation i.e. a bit of milky trace from the dip stick guide tube on the dip stick edges but none from the oil on the indicator portion of the stick. He recommended running for an hour under load once a month to let everything heat up enough to purge any moisture. I had considered doing that earlier, but it had slipped off the radar; with this recommendation though, it will be on the calendar.
He also updated the unit's firmware to the current revision via a thumb drive in the unit's USB port. The only customer obvious effect of the update is the green LED lamp on the side of the unit will now blink when the unit is running during an outage ...
The unit was tested under load & left running to get things up to temperature. I'll cut it off after an hour.
Nick
There was some slight indication of condensation i.e. a bit of milky trace from the dip stick guide tube on the dip stick edges but none from the oil on the indicator portion of the stick. He recommended running for an hour under load once a month to let everything heat up enough to purge any moisture. I had considered doing that earlier, but it had slipped off the radar; with this recommendation though, it will be on the calendar.
He also updated the unit's firmware to the current revision via a thumb drive in the unit's USB port. The only customer obvious effect of the update is the green LED lamp on the side of the unit will now blink when the unit is running during an outage ...
The unit was tested under load & left running to get things up to temperature. I'll cut it off after an hour.
Nick
DEWFPO
Veteran Member
- Joined
- Jun 2, 2007
- Messages
- 1,100
- Location
- "Up High in the Rockies"
- Tractor
- 2009 Bobcat Toolcat 5600 D
IMO, an hour seems excessive. You'll be burning through a lot of fuel each month for nothing. If the engine is under a good load, it won't take long for it to reach operating temps. Once at oper. temp. 10 mins will burn off the condensation. Besides that, I find running mine every 2 months is plenty fine but I keep my battery on a maintainer all the time.
DEWFPO
Sawyer Rob
Super Member
My gen set manual says to run it "at least" 30 mins at 50% load, every 6 months...
That's to dry any moisture in the generator head...
SR
That's to dry any moisture in the generator head...
SR
You're pretty thorough yourself Nick, but there's often benefit to having another set of experienced eyes look things over.
Up North, I'm pretty conscious of engine moisture, but your post is a good reminder for all. Modern residential auto-standby systems are fairly high capacity, and often don't see much for loading under normal exercise runs.
Rgds, D.
coralhead
Silver Member
- Joined
- Nov 24, 2012
- Messages
- 198
- Location
- Floyds Knobs, IN
- Tractor
- kubota B7100hst Branson 4520r Massey Ferguson 135 diesel
My smaller automatic genset has a "exercise" mode that will start the motor and run for 12 min weekly at a predetermined time to keep it ready. It came on yesterday evening to assure it is working properly.
nikdfish
Veteran Member
Our unit also has a weekly exercise period programmed in, but;
1)is not under any load, so heat build up is minimal
2)is too short a time (~10 min) to heat up enough to drive out all potential moisture/condensation.
Nick
Sawyer Rob
Super Member
I like to get some "useful" use, out of my generator while it's exercising... SO, I (or my wife) washes a couple loads of cloths, and I use the electric dryer while the gen is running to dry them.
Our house just doesn't use much electricity, so may as well get something done, that needs to get done, while the gen is running.
SR
Our house just doesn't use much electricity, so may as well get something done, that needs to get done, while the gen is running.
SR
farmer2009
Elite Member
Mine runs weekly under load for 15 minutes then a cool down periods of 15 minutes without a load. I make sure I hear it run every week. Sure I could save fuel by not testing it but the cost are too high.
2pm Tuesday of this week bright sunny day with light winds(under 10mph). Lost power. I'm eating lunch. Generator on before I can get to the door. Switch over was smooth. I get to generator shed to check gauges. 200+ amp load. You could here the load on that 5.9L 135hp Cummins. Power line fell about a quarter of a mile away. Outage length =1 hour. 95* outside temp. All the chickens knew was the lights blinked and it was noisy outside.
2pm Tuesday of this week bright sunny day with light winds(under 10mph). Lost power. I'm eating lunch. Generator on before I can get to the door. Switch over was smooth. I get to generator shed to check gauges. 200+ amp load. You could here the load on that 5.9L 135hp Cummins. Power line fell about a quarter of a mile away. Outage length =1 hour. 95* outside temp. All the chickens knew was the lights blinked and it was noisy outside.