{"id":5127,"date":"2018-10-12T08:46:50","date_gmt":"2018-10-12T12:46:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.backwoodshome.com\/blogs\/MassadAyoob\/?p=5127"},"modified":"2018-10-05T19:52:09","modified_gmt":"2018-10-05T23:52:09","slug":"generator-suggestions-guest-column-by-steve-denney","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.backwoodshome.com\/blogs\/MassadAyoob\/generator-suggestions-guest-column-by-steve-denney\/","title":{"rendered":"Generator Suggestions Guest Column by Steve Denney"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Folks, it\u2019s hurricane season where I live, and will soon be Nor\u2019easter season where I used to live. When bad storms happen, lots of folks get in trouble with generators, and some people die from misusing them.\u00a0 A generator not cared for, or one without enough fuel, becomes useless.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Thanks to my friend Steve Denney for the following guest commentary, especially useful for first-time generator users:<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<ol>\n<li>The generator MUST be run periodically. 30-45 minutes, every 2-3 months should be sufficient, as long as you carefully abide by #2.<\/li>\n<li>Keep \u201cStabil,\u201d or some equivalent gasoline stabilizer in ALL stored gas for the generator, including the generator gas tank and any extra gas cans. Modern gasoline is only good for about 30 days storage without stabilizer and no more than a year with stabilizer.\u00a0 Rotating gas through the generator and any storage cans is a good idea.\u00a0 Stock up on gas if a need is anticipated or hurricane season is approaching.\u00a0 Run the generator regularly and rotate through your gas supply.\u00a0 When the season is over, or an extended outage is less likely, rotate any gas through your auto gas tank and keep a minimal supply of fresh, stabilized gas available for routine periodic generator operation.\u00a0 I prefer not keeping gas for more than 6 months, just to be safe.<\/li>\n<li>Keep a minimal amount of gas in the generator gas tank, unless there is an increased possibility that you will need to use it. That way, it is easier to make sure gas is rotated through the generator itself, and spare containers can be dumped and refilled with ease.\u00a0 This also helps with the overall weight of the generator, if it has to be moved around.\u00a0 Gas weighs approximately 6 pounds per gallon, so a full gas tank on the generator can add 50 pounds, or more, to the overall weight of the unit.<\/li>\n<li>Before running the generator, check to be sure the oil level for the engine is at the correct level. Generator expert John Strayer recommends basic 30 (single) weight motor oil. The generator should not use much oil, but during heavy use it will probably use enough that it needs to be checked regularly.\u00a0 Check this before running the engine.\u00a0 Keep a quart on hand for topping the oil off.<\/li>\n<li>The usual procedure for starting the generator is as follows:\n<ol>\n<li>Make sure the generator is in a safe operating location, well ventilated to exhaust away CO gas and allow sufficient cooling of the engine. Also keep flammable materials well away from the unit.\u00a0 It will get hot.<\/li>\n<li>Check the oil level<\/li>\n<li>Check the gas level<\/li>\n<li>Turn on\/open the gas supply line valve<\/li>\n<li>Turn on the motor switch<\/li>\n<li>Set the choke<\/li>\n<li>Pull the starter cord<\/li>\n<li>When the engine starts, set the choke to normal run position.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<\/li>\n<li>While the generator is running, periodically monitor it, just in case there is a problem.<\/li>\n<li>The best way I have found to shut the generator down, if it is not going to be restarted again soon, is the following:\n<ol>\n<li>Turn off\/close the gas supply line valve. This will allow the gas in the feed line to run through the carburetor and will \u201cstarve\u201d the engine of fuel and the engine will stall.\u00a0 This usually takes about a minute.<\/li>\n<li>After the engine stops, turn off the motor switch.<\/li>\n<li>It is a good idea, if you have time, to check the oil level again.<\/li>\n<li>If it will be run again soon, it is safest to fill the gas tank AFTER the motor has time to cool. Also, it is not necessary to shut off the fuel line valve, if the generator will be used again soon.\u00a0 Clearing the fuel line is for preparing the unit for longer term storage.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<\/li>\n<li>Another generator operating tip is to run it with some sort of load when you are running is for standby\/maintenance purposes. If you have something you can plug into the generator while it is running, it will help.\u00a0 For example, I have an electric leaf blower that I run off of mine, just to put a bit of a load on the system.\u00a0 This is not absolutely necessary, but it is a good idea, if you can do it.<\/li>\n<li>Finally, don\u2019t forget to check the air in the tires of your generator, if it has inflatable tires. The weight of the generator puts a lot of pressure on the tires, so I have found that I need to add air from time to time.\u00a0 Again, anticipating this may make a difference if you need to move the generator around after it has been sitting for a while.\u00a0 I just use a regular old-fashioned bicycle hand pump.\u00a0 Nothing fancy.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Other thoughts on generator operation with the transfer switch:<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<ol>\n<li>Follow the instructions you received with your transfer switch regarding the basic power cable connection and disconnecting from the main electrical power grid.<\/li>\n<li>Once everything is connected, turn off all individual breakers in your house panel.<\/li>\n<li>Start the generator.<\/li>\n<li>When the generator is running smoothly, start turning on the circuits that you need to power, one at a time. Allow a few seconds for circuits that will supply motors that have a significant starting draw, such as refrigerators, freezers, etc., to stabilize before turning on more circuits.\u00a0 This will provide better starting for those appliances, as well as moderating the load (demand) on the generator.\u00a0 How many circuits the generator will power depends on the generator capacity, so figure out in advance what you need to have running, then prioritize the rest of the circuits from there.\u00a0 It may be necessary to alternate circuit use, for example shutting off some or all other circuits if you want to run the hot water heater or the clothes dryer.\u00a0 If you have a well, the well pump is a primary concern, so you need to figure out the circuit utilization in advance.<\/li>\n<li>Once you have figured all this out, make sure your panel beakers are marked to indicate which ones supply what you need. The generator you have will probably not supply the heavy stuff, like the heat\/air conditioning, or the oven.\u00a0 (But you may still be able to use a range top burner for cooking.)\u00a0 It is a good idea to test this all out well before an outage hits, so you don\u2019t have to be doing it in the middle of a storm, or in the dark, etc.<\/li>\n<li>How long you can run the generator also depends on the recommendation by the manufacturer. Mine may be smaller than yours, but I ran it for 4-5 hours at a stretch, then shut it down for a while to let it \u201crest\u201d and cool down.\u00a0 I also don\u2019t feel comfortable with running it all night while we are asleep, but that may not be a problem with yours.\u00a0 I just wouldn\u2019t want it to have some sort of problem while I wasn\u2019t in a condition to recognize or react to it.\u00a0 Your owner\u2019s manual should have something to say about running time.<\/li>\n<li>Once you do start using the generator, even for routine maintenance running, you should try to figure out how fast it uses gas. Then you will have a handle on how much gas you need to keep on hand, or how often it will need to be refilled if there is extended run time.\u00a0 I was actually surprised during Hurricane Irma when I realized that my generator was not using gas nearly as quickly as I had anticipated.<\/li>\n<li>One final thought about gas during an emergency: My town is a tough place to get gas in the middle of a crisis.\u00a0 You should have at least a couple of days supply on hand, if there is an anticipated need.\u00a0 Another thing I figured out from Irma was that it would be handy to have a siphon pump system to be able to get additional gas out of the gas tanks of our cars, if we needed the generator more than we needed transportation.\u00a0 That could help get you through another few days, if the local gas stations were out of commission.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Folks, it\u2019s hurricane season where I live, and will soon be Nor\u2019easter season where I used to live. When bad storms happen, lots of folks get in trouble with generators, and some people die from misusing them.\u00a0 A generator not cared for, or one without enough fuel, becomes useless. &nbsp; Thanks to my friend Steve [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":6428,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-5127","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-uncategorized"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.backwoodshome.com\/blogs\/MassadAyoob\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5127","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.backwoodshome.com\/blogs\/MassadAyoob\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.backwoodshome.com\/blogs\/MassadAyoob\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.backwoodshome.com\/blogs\/MassadAyoob\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.backwoodshome.com\/blogs\/MassadAyoob\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5127"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.backwoodshome.com\/blogs\/MassadAyoob\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5127\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5128,"href":"https:\/\/www.backwoodshome.com\/blogs\/MassadAyoob\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5127\/revisions\/5128"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.backwoodshome.com\/blogs\/MassadAyoob\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/6428"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.backwoodshome.com\/blogs\/MassadAyoob\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5127"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.backwoodshome.com\/blogs\/MassadAyoob\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5127"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.backwoodshome.com\/blogs\/MassadAyoob\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5127"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}