Generator

  • Thread starter Thread starter Burnham
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Does it have a drain or do you have a siphon? You can also simply drain the fuel if it's gonna sit for awhile, so you are constantly using up the fuel keeping it fresh. Which reminds me that i should be doing this rather than perfecting my carb cleaning abilities lol. Honestly tho, since my larger stuff has marvel carbs, it's so easy to rebuild them it's not really a problem. Seafoam, either homemade or store bought is another simple solution. The homemade kind is simply naphtha (camp stove fuel, which you likely have around the house anyways), isopropyl alcohol (very cheap fuel additive) and kerosene (highly refined diesel). It's mostly the camp stove fuel tho, so that's what i use in a pinch, adding some heet alcohol if needed. Use the drain plug on the carb to get good fuel to it and you're off to the races. Then just run the crap out of it for a bit and it's like new.

I recently sold my old half ton to a buddy, fuel injected but had been sitting for a few years. Some new fuel and seafoam got it running for awhile, he's been running it every few days after work, and has got it running like a top again just running it letting the seafoam clean up the fuel system.
 
Burnham, I think you misunderstood me.
I'm not suggesting you USE alkylate fuel.
I'm simply suggesting you keep a can of it ready for when the electricity goes to Hell, because ity won't go bad on you..

After the 1999 storm that took out power in the whole country for weeks, we decided to put ALL wires underground.
Haven't had a power loss since.
Commies are smart like that.

Makes arb work a lot easier, too.
 
I might add in loss of power or "brown out " conditions they've found by having power on a freezer ,refrigerator 20 minutes in a two hour period will stop food spoilage if you don't open the doors up too often .
 
Reminds me of a story a friend told me. He was digging in Corning NY area. The engineer told him you are going to hit some old power lines but don't worry they are dead. Zap.... he had to sit in his machine for quite a while til he got the all safe.
 
Hydrovac excavating is making huge inroads, but still power in the dirt terrifies me. Just thinking of all the ripped gas lines I've seen over the years (which are dangerous enough) and how the outcomes would have been dramatically different if they were buried power. This last summer i did a landscaping job for my aunt, a bunch of brick edging, river rock, and flower planting. They had buried power, gas, and a ton of irrigation lines and wires all within the same area, so i ended up using a pressure washer and a shop vac to do all the digging in that area. I hit something in every hole. Wondering how many other landscapers or homeowners would have known to do that, vs just digging holes everywhere and killing themselves.
 
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  • #57
Tree09 said:
Does it have a drain or do you have a siphon? You can also simply drain the fuel if it's gonna sit for awhile, so you are constantly using up the fuel keeping it fresh. Which reminds me that i should be doing this rather than perfecting my carb cleaning abilities lol. Honestly tho, since my larger stuff has marvel carbs, it's so easy to rebuild them it's not really a problem. Seafoam, either homemade or store bought is another simple solution. The homemade kind is simply naphtha (camp stove fuel, which you likely have around the house anyways), isopropyl alcohol (very cheap fuel additive) and kerosene (highly refined diesel). It's mostly the camp stove fuel tho, so that's what i use in a pinch, adding some heet alcohol if needed. Use the drain plug on the carb to get good fuel to it and you're off to the races. Then just run the crap out of it for a bit and it's like new.

I recently sold my old half ton to a buddy, fuel injected but had been sitting for a few years. Some new fuel and seafoam got it running for awhile, he's been running it every few days after work, and has got it running like a top again just running it letting the seafoam clean up the fuel system.
Click to expand...

It does have a drain for the fuel tank.
 
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  • #58
stig said:
Burnham, I think you misunderstood me.
I'm not suggesting you USE alkylate fuel.
I'm simply suggesting you keep a can of it ready for when the electricity goes to Hell, because ity won't go bad on you..

After the 1999 storm that took out power in the whole country for weeks, we decided to put ALL wires underground.
Haven't had a power loss since.
Commies are smart like that.

Makes arb work a lot easier, too.
Click to expand...

I understood, Stig. I misled you with the point I made about using 40 gallons a year, I think. That was just to show it will be easy to rotate out the 5 gallons or so of stabilized fuel I will keep on hand, dedicated to the generator alone.
 
My son was working on a job this past summer. They
Tree09 said:
Hydrovac excavating is making huge inroads, but still power in the dirt terrifies me. Just thinking of all the ripped gas lines I've seen over the years (which are dangerous enough) and how the outcomes would have been dramatically different if they were buried power. This last summer i did a landscaping job for my aunt, a bunch of brick edging, river rock, and flower planting. They had buried power, gas, and a ton of irrigation lines and wires all within the same area, so i ended up using a pressure washer and a shop vac to do all the digging in that area. I hit something in every hole. Wondering how many other landscapers or homeowners would have known to do that, vs just digging holes everywhere and killing themselves.
Click to expand...


My son worked on a job this past summer. They called to have lines marked. Lucky no one was killed. They drilled into lines leading to house. They only mark main lines.
 
Happens all the time, mismarked or unmarked lines happens all the time. I've seen 4" distribution mains unmarked and then hit. All you can do is let it blow and evacuate the area. If that's power you likely have a dead operator and laborer.
 
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  • #61
Update:
Finally received the heavy duty extension cord I ordered to bring power from the genny into the kitchen. Filled with 5W-30 synthetic blend. Fueled up with Stabil Storage variety fuel treatment/regular gas from the new dedicated 5 gallon fuel can. Started on the second pull. Settled into smooth run. Plugged in a few things, and it's making electricity.

I'm very happy with it to this point.
 
I have been a Honda 2000watt inverter owner for nearly 20 years. Does the wen have a link to run to run 2 together? I have done this with Honda for years. 4000 surge watts enables me to weld. Remember my electric motor driven capstan? The 2000watt runs that bad boy too! I have lived off grid for years and made a cap that you can now buy that adapts a marine portable outboard fuel tank as the generator tank. I made mine multi fuel with a propane adapter for times when exhaust is a concern. Whew generators! The Wen sounds like a great find.
 
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  • #68
Much simpler. I'm only wanting to run the refrigerator/freezer. All a dedicated line wired in would end up being would be a buried extension cord, more or less :). After all, it's just a small portable generator.
 
If you do a hard wire you gotta put in a huge auto disconnect switch thing in to be to code. They had too many linemen getting lit up from people running generators, so there's huge fines if you don't have that.
 
Maybe it's for the automatic start ones, can't remember atm. A sparky was telling me about it once years ago. If you are plugging it in that's one thing, but if it's hardwired in its a different thing because of backfeeding issues. Hardwired as in its always connected, and is started with a switch or voltage sensing thing. As a fitter and someone who doesn't have a whole house generator i never pursued it further, despite working on several industrial and commercial setups (fuel and coolant lines mainly). I once was familiar with the medical gas requirements, which also have backups due to generator requirements, but I've forgotten most of it.


Edit: national code, excluding ones that you have to physically plug in.

445.18 Disconnecting Means Required for Generators.

Example of a generator with provisions for locking the starting mechanism in the off position.
www.electricallicenserenewal.com
 
Yeah, people are dumb. Anymore i refuse to even go near stuff unless I've done the lock out procedures myself, seen too many things go wrong.
 
Neighbors power line got taken down in an ice storm. It ripped the service entrance cable off the house but the meter channel was intact and the cable was ok. Well meaning friend cut the SE cable off the power service drop and put it back up on the house anticipating the power co would be along to put the wires back up. About a week later. They get to the homeowners problems last.
 
I don't think running power to your panel box and switching the main off is technically legal. A transfer switch makes it mistake proof.

I know lots of people do it that way. Hazardous with the wrong people at the controls.
 
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