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Figures Little Genset would act up today!

crane operator

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If we have to live with solar power, does than mean I get to stop working at dark?

That depends, does someone that knows you, think you currently work? Cause all I do some days is sit in a cab and pull levers, and there are a lot of people who wouldn't classify that as work. :)

And, well, some of us do our best work in the dark, but I don't need your personal information.
 

John C.

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You all are making the best pitch for automation I've heard in a long time.
 

Nige

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G..G..G..Granville.........!! Fetch your cloth.
FWIW the information I have regarding autonomous mining trucks is they are not as maintenance-intensive as their human-operated counterparts. Accident damage and minor dings are zero. Not long ago we had a loaded truck reverse into another one that cost us a $120k cab, and that was just for starters.
 

RZucker

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And of course you guys jinxed me. The new to us Motorhome has a built in that worked fine a month ago. Checked it this afternoon and it runs perfectly for 15 seconds than quits. Probably a pressure switch thing. I'll get it going when I don't have to kneel in wet snow. I do still have the other gen from the old motorhome as a spare. But it's an outside model.
 

fast_st

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Mass
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And of course you guys jinxed me. The new to us Motorhome has a built in that worked fine a month ago. Checked it this afternoon and it runs perfectly for 15 seconds than quits. Probably a pressure switch thing. I'll get it going when I don't have to kneel in wet snow. I do still have the other gen from the old motorhome as a spare. But it's an outside model.

What kind of generator? what year? Onan low rpm one? could be a switch or a module, or the fuse is loose.
 

crane operator

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. I have it handled... Got the manual and a multimeter.

I got a can of ether- I can come over and spray it at it for you. Isn't that the operator solution to every no run problem? Wait, I'll bring my big hammer too. That's my only other solution. If it can't be fixed with ether or a big hammer, well- its just broke then.
 

RZucker

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I got a can of ether- I can come over and spray it at it for you. Isn't that the operator solution to every no run problem? Wait, I'll bring my big hammer too. That's my only other solution. If it can't be fixed with ether or a big hammer, well- its just broke then.
We are running now. Bad pressure switch wiring that controls the electric fuel pump. Some little rodent modified things for me.
Funny you mentioned ether, my old gen had an auto start that cycled 3 times with an auto choke. Below 30 degrees the stupid thing would not start after 9 tries, I drilled a 1/16" hole in the air filter cover and give it a tiny sniff of ether and off it goes. So much for using the remote start.
 

kshansen

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Well to get back a bit more on the original topic.

Finally had some time and a little ambition. So I wrestled the old electric stove out in the open and hooked it up with cord so I could plug it straight into the genset on the 220 outlet.

I did look at the spec tag on stove and it shows 14KW which I'm assuming is the maximum load it should put on the system with all burners on High and oven and broiler turned on. As the genset is only rated at 10KW continuous I think I should be able to load it down pretty good.

Genset does not have any gauges at all so I'm just guessing how much load I have on it at any time. Right now I have had it running with oven on but door open so thermostat doesn't turn it off and the two large top burners on high.

My digital VOM does have a frequency scale and I checked it on house current and it reads right at 60 cycles. Well with the load I mentioned above the genset is floating between 59 and 60 cycles. If I turn on the two small burners along with the other loads the cycles drop down to 54/55. So I'm thinking that is a little over loaded at that point.

The only thing that might be a bit off is the voltage. While running with the load that it keeps at 59/60 cycles the voltage at the 120 outlet is only 106 volts. I did not measure it with no load, probably should check that!

OKay just checked with no load 120 volt outlet shows 126 volts and with just the oven on for a partial load the 120 volt outlet drops to 112/113 volts.

I have had this genset running now for something over an hour under a good load and it has not quit yet so not sure why it did the other day when power was off at the house unless the bit of gunk in the bottom of the carb was somehow killing it. Thinking about getting some carb cleaner to run through it just to be sure I got all the gunk out!

I think I mentioned above that I had it running with light load several days ago with an pressure gauge installed and it held right at 29/30 PSI.

So any of you genset experts feel free to comment!
 

DMiller

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Power sounds good, 10kw should have a margin for overload where the 14kw should be total stove load not just the oven elements.
Voltage should not drop below 110v, 120 is a closer figure but most homes will dance 114-124 just too hard to keep consistent. Cycles is the important aspect to keep from cooking 60 cycle motors and volts to keep from over amps loads. V x A =W
Electrical Formula.jpg
 

Birken Vogt

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One thing to consider, is your meter reliable. Most DVOMs other than Fluke are pure garbage when it comes to reading frequency off a genset. All my Flukes have been spot on however.

On a mechanical governor I prefer to adjust to 60.0 Hz at the maximum expected load of the house. So figure out what your house draws when on generator on the heavy side of normal. Then turn on enough burners to approximate this load. Then adjust the gov spring for 60.0. Then turn all the loads to nothing and it should not rise over 62.5 my personal preference. Make sure the oil is good and warm for this test. If it does rise over 62.5 then start playing around loaded/unloaded to split the difference. Really anything down to about 58 Hz should be fine but don't want to go much below that.
 

kshansen

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One thing to consider, is your meter reliable. Most DVOMs other than Fluke are pure garbage when it comes to reading frequency off a genset. All my Flukes have been spot on however.

Mine is not a Fluke but like I said I did test it on the house current before trying on the generator just to give me a base line and on the house current it was right on 60 cycles.

Wonder if I could adapt a Woodward Hydrulic UG-8 governor to the little two cylinder gas job to keep the rpms a bit closer?:eek: Those seemed to work fine on the D379, D398 and D399 Cat Generators we had at one time at work!
 

John C.

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Likely to take more power to run the governor than the power plant.
 

Birken Vogt

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The house power is a nice clean sine wave, almost 100% pure. Generator waveform will be any number of strange looking things. It doesn't really affect appliances that I have ever seen, but it will mess with a cheap meters frequency display.

The only thing cheap I have seen read reliably besides a Fluke is a Kill-a-Watt. If you don't have one, they are useful for many things.
 

kshansen

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Well for now I'm thinking I can live with this generator as the power has only gone out for more than a couple hours here maybe three times in the last forty years! And I heat 90% with wood so I'm not going to freeze to death.

One last problem I may need to address is the fuel cap, just as it was getting low on fuel it started to break-up. While it was still running I opened the cap to see how low the gas was. The second I opened it the engine started running good again.

Plastic cap appears to have some kind of check valve in it. Don't see a way to get it apart. Generac parts book shows cap having a gauge in it which this one does not have and that one comes up as "obsolete". There is a brand name, forget it off top of my head, might see if I can source one direct from them. Worst case would be to drill small hole in cap. Unit is always stored inside and only outside if running.
 

MarshallPowerGen

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One last problem I may need to address is the fuel cap, just as it was getting low on fuel it started to break-up. While it was still running I opened the cap to see how low the gas was. The second I opened it the engine started running good again.

Plastic cap appears to have some kind of check valve in it. Don't see a way to get it apart. Generac parts book shows cap having a gauge in it which this one does not have and that one comes up as "obsolete". There is a brand name, forget it off top of my head, might see if I can source one direct from them. Worst case would be to drill small hole in cap. Unit is always stored inside and only outside if running.
The cap should have a vent, since it's just a gravity feed through that tiny fuel line. Cap should be a standard
size for generators, pressure washers, etc. Might want to see if any small engine shops still exist in your area and see if they have an old one with the fuel gauge sitting in the yard.

Worst case, drill a small hole and just put some electrical tape over it when not in use.
 

kshansen

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The cap should have a vent, since it's just a gravity feed through that tiny fuel line.

I understand that very much. What I'm not sure of is why this cap has what sounds like a ball rattling around inside and on the inside there appears to be a yellow pin sticking in the hole on the inside. Even more odd is the fact you can blow in the hole on the underside and air will go through but if you try to suck air through it seems like there is no flow. Also the small hole on top side is nice and clean

I just thought, maybe the cap off one of my snow blowers would fit this tank. If it does then I'll just order a new one from Briggs. Then I will dissect this cap and try to understand how it should work. Have to wonder if it is some kind of deal to prevent spillage during transport or fumes from venting during storage.
 
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