When those of you that routinely run your generator as a p/m act, do you put any load on it or just run it for a few minutes?
We have a 10 kw portable. We started with a Generac 10 kw portable, and it worked perfectly. We ran it a couple of times a year (routine) with full load for at LEAST an hour. Whenever it's time to shut it down, switch the load of the house back to commercial power, then let the engine idle for a few minutes as a "cool-down" period. Then I always shut off the gas shutoff valve, and let the engine use up whatever gas is in the line and carburetor bowl. The engine always RUNS OUT OF GAS! That way, even if the gas in the tank fouls, everything from the shutoff valve through the carburetor is clean. We use ethanol gasoline with no problems.
One year we lost power for just about a week. I was still working at the time. I'd get up every morning around 5:30 - 6 am to start the generator, and power the house. I had hot water and lights to get ready for work. Before I left in the morning I'd make sure the gas tank was full. My wife stayed at home, so the generator ran for her. I'd come home for lunch and top off the gas tank, and it ran all afternoon. I'd come home at 5 pm, and top off the tank again, and the generator continued to run until we went to bed around 11:30, at which time, I'd shut off the gas valve, and let it run out of gas. This went on for just about a week. We were the only house on the mountain that was lit up... Since then, there are several more generators on the mountain.
After several years, the generator accumulated 135 hours on it, and the bearing in the end of the generator started making a racket. Not always, but every now and then. I called Generac, and asked for an authorized repair dealer, because the place we bought it from has long since gone out of business. Also, Briggs & Stratton bought out the entire Generac portable generator line. Generac recommended 2 different small engine repair shops locally, and I had already been to the first one, but they were ENGINE specialists, not GENERATOR. So we made the mistake of taking it to the second guy. The generator worked perfectly, and he listened to it run, and said the bearing was a simple fix, but he was real busy. We left it with him, and he said he'd work on it when he had the time, and let me know when it was ready. He had it for almost 2 months, and finally called and told me it was ready. $185.00 to change the bearing in the generator. I started it up, and it would only idle. It has the auto-load sensing circuit, that if the load goes away, the generator falls back to an idle until it senses the load is back. It also has an over-ride switch that will force the generator to run at full speed (3600 rpm) all the time. He assured me that he tested everything before he put it all back together, and everything was fine, and probably a wire just fell off during the reassembly process. We left it with him again, and he would let us know when it was ready to be picked up. After another month I called him to find out what's with my generator. During that last month, we had a storm come through, and lots of folks lost power. Fortunately, we didn't. When I called him, he said I should come in to pick up my generator because it was fried, and there was nothing he could do with it. He said I hooked it up wrong and fried the generator. I told him it was working perfectly when I dropped it off to have a simple BEARING changed. He said it never worked. I reminded him that he swore that he tested it fine before he put it back together the first time, so how could he have tested it if it was fried? He changed is story about testing it the first time he called me and now he swore it never worked. I picked up the generator, and I looked him straight in the eye and told him, "Both you and I know the truth, and so does the Lord. You and I both know that YOU tried to use this generator during the last storm, and YOU fried it. In my opinion, you're not worth my time or effort to get upset with you. I'm just going to let the good Lord deal with you in his own way. You will pay for this one way or another, and you can turn to the Lord when he collects his due." He would not look me in the eye when I left.
Bottom line, the stator winding was shorted to ground, and there were only 3 windings for that generator in the country. At $800.00, if I chose to fix it, I'd still have a 20 year old generator for which parts are no longer made. It was recommended by another local engine repair shop to replace it with a new Briggs & Stratton 10 kw generator, which is basically the exact same generator made by Briggs. This other local guy felt that since I already got a raw deal from this other idiot, he gave me the name and number of the supplier from which he would order it. He told me to order it myself, and that would save me whatever he would have to charge for being the middle man. That saved me his shipping and commission, which amounted to almost $250.00.
I bought the new generator, and it runs every bit as well as the old Generac. I still run it under full load whenever I run it, and always shut off the gas shutoff after the cool-down time, and let it run out of gas. I can run the entire house, including the air conditioner. We have well water, so the generator is almost a necessity.
