Portable and standby generators

[Jhon]

I have a regular maintenance schedule for mine and I run it at least every six months. I like to keep my empty of gas or I would run it more often as it is a pain to drain the gas every time I test it.

 

[Hammermechanicman]

Don't know why folks dislike leaving ethanol gas in generators.
Makes me lots of money.

 

[mpqualdie]

Is anyone servicing generators before cold or bad weather hits?

I'm curious because they never seem to be thought about until an emergency arises.

Don't people plan ahead anymore?

I have an older Harbor Frieght 7200 watt and I have an older little small 2 cycle one from Harbor Freight. I only use non-ethenoyl gas in them and I run them at least once a year. When Helene hit being prepared paid off because we had to use the larger one to run the refrigerators and freezer and some house lights and appliances, like the coffee pot. The little one will run for about 7 hours on a gallon of gas and will run a TV, some lights and phone chargers. Run them once a year, turn the gas **** off and let it run until it runs out of fuel to store it dry and use only non-ethenoyl gas.

 

[toddsyr]

Our Eaton 14.5 KW generator is mounted on a concrete pad and hooked up to the natural gas line. It comes on and does a diagnostic test for 15 minutes every Thursday. We get it serviced once a year. They change the oil and run the diagnostic logs. It's 22 years old and works as good as ever.

 

[Perry]

Unfortunately it’s a sign of the times. People are ignorant because they were never trained or exposed how things work. Schools decided they aren’t going to offer auto mechanics, wood working, home economics classes.

What about a bit of home learning?

Funny thing is all the knowledge is so easily obtainable nowadays on the WWW but the young folk don’t have the interest until it’s broke and want a 5 minute fix without tools or basic knowledge.

A couple of years back, New Zealand experienced Cyclone Gabrielle. I live in one of the worst hit areas. I was lucky. That was on the other side of the river.
Some places were without electricity for a week or more. Cellular operators brought wheeled generators to the towers - then some low-lifes (gangs) stole them. It was almost funny watching the modern generation wandering around in a zombie-like daze, signal-dead, then battery-dead cellphone held out in front of them. I had no mains electricity for about 48 hours, so the generators were busy.

There’s a few youngsters doing what us old guys do but they are rare ( and cool!).

Rare indeed. I wonder how many (of the rest) can light a fire? Or even manage a can opener?

My daughter and I are what's called 'preppers.' I.e. We take civil emergency preparedness further than just the basics. We could likely last two months. We have 4 portable gennies between us. One is 3-phase (400v AC) standard. That's ffor my deep well pump. The others are the inverter-type. Unfortunately, the biggest one (an EFI) has lost it's eco mode (rpm-load-regulated) functionality.

I fire up each one at least once every six months. Usually, I boil a kettle of water, while it's running. I try to get a trickle charger on to each battery-start-unit every 3 months. Sometimes that stretches a bit, if it's become hard to get at. The second smallest unit must have a minor battery current leakage fault. After twice replacing the battery, far too quickly, I now disconnect it between uses.

My daughter persuaded me to build a web page to plain-language explain generators to folks in her friends' circle. I've modified it a couple of times; but any critique is welcome.

Generators - For home use - a buying guide and an attempt to demystify them.

 

[Honest Abe]

What about a bit of home learning?

A couple of years back, New Zealand experienced Cyclone Gabrielle. I live in one of the worst hit areas. I was lucky. That was on the other side of the river.View attachment 72471
Some places were without electricity for a week or more. Cellular operators brought wheeled generators to the towers - then some low-lifes (gangs) stole them. It was almost funny watching the modern generation wandering around in a zombie-like daze, signal-dead, then battery-dead cellphone held out in front of them. I had no mains electricity for about 48 hours, so the generators were busy.

Rare indeed. I wonder how many (of the rest) can light a fire? Or even manage a can opener?

My daughter and I are what's called 'preppers.' I.e. We take civil emergency preparedness further than just the basics. We could likely last two months. We have 4 portable gennies between us. One is 3-phase (400v AC) standard. That's ffor my deep well pump. The others are the inverter-type. Unfortunately, the biggest one (an EFI) has lost it's eco mode (rpm-load-regulated) functionality.

I fire up each one at least once every six months. Usually, I boil a kettle of water, while it's running. I try to get a trickle charger on to each battery-start-unit every 3 months. Sometimes that stretches a bit, if it's become hard to get at. The second smallest unit must have a minor battery current leakage fault. After twice replacing the battery, far too quickly, I now disconnect it between uses.

My daughter persuaded me to build a web page to plain-language explain generators to folks in her friends' circle. I've modified it a couple of times; but any critique is welcome.

Generators - For home use - a buying guide and an attempt to demystify them.

what millennial or younger generation even knows what a manual can opener is.... ahahahahaaaaa

 

[Auto Doc's]

I have an older Harbor Frieght 7200 watt and I have an older little small 2 cycle one from Harbor Freight. I only use non-ethenoyl gas in them and I run them at least once a year. When Helene hit being prepared paid off because we had to use the larger one to run the refrigerators and freezer and some house lights and appliances, like the coffee pot. The little one will run for about 7 hours on a gallon of gas and will run a TV, some lights and phone chargers. Run them once a year, turn the gas **** off and let it run until it runs out of fuel to store it dry and use only non-ethenoyl gas.

Hello M.,

A couple of years ago when I decided to hardwire in my Portable 15KW Generac to my house, I had no complaints from my family when it came time to put it to work in the heat of summer or the cold of winter.

Before then, I was using a smaller (bare minimum) 6.5KW portable generator to keep a refrigerator and freezer running along with a few lights but adding a couple of 1500 Watt space heaters was about the limit of what it could handle.

These days, I advise people if they are going to consider a standby or portable generator for emergencies, don't go small. Pay the money and get what they need to run the whole house if needed.

There are several good appliance calculation tables out there on the internet that only take a couple of minutes to fill in your appliances used.

 

[Auto Doc's]

Don't know why folks dislike leaving ethanol gas in generators.
Makes me lots of money.

Hello H.,

I agree to a point, but in our "throw it away" economy people don't want to pay for repairs hardly, especially on portable generators. I had a couple of them surrendered by customers this year, so I fixed them up and sold them.

 

[borisdmower]

I have 2 portable generators, 3.5Kva cheapie, like you get at Walmart, and a 7Kva Yamaha. Both I start every other month or so and let running powering the dryer or something for about 30mins. They both have fuel stabiliser in them and both have done very little actual work.

 

[Auto Doc's]

what millennial or younger generation even knows what a manual can opener is.... ahahahahaaaaa

Hello H.,

Many areas of the world have raised their children as government dependents with no real-world experience of having to be independent. I know 4th generation welfare families who think that is their way of getting by aka. "Making a living".

I grew up in the 60's out in the rural mountains of Virginia. All we had was self-reliance and a willingness to learn from our elders. People had a sense of direction.

Sadly, starting sometime later in my teen youth, parents began over-protecting their children from the cruel realities of the world around them. They stopped teaching many of important lessons at home. Heck, many parents stopped being at home most of the time. Kids were left up to the advice of their reckless peers.

Here we are now wondering where we went wrong.