- My Forums
- Tiger Rant
- LSU Recruiting
- SEC Rant
- Saints Talk
- Pelicans Talk
- More Sports Board
- Fantasy Sports
- Golf Board
- Soccer Board
- O-T Lounge
- Tech Board
- Home/Garden Board
- Outdoor Board
- Health/Fitness Board
- Movie/TV Board
- Book Board
- Music Board
- Political Talk
- Money Talk
- Fark Board
- Gaming Board
- Travel Board
- Food/Drink Board
- Ticket Exchange
- TD Help Board
Customize My Forums- View All Forums
- Show Left Links
- Topic Sort Options
- Trending Topics
- Recent Topics
- Active Topics
Started By
Message
re: Generac generator crapping out
Posted on 9/2/21 at 5:34 pm to OLDBEACHCOMBER
Posted on 9/2/21 at 5:34 pm to OLDBEACHCOMBER
We have a GE (Rebranded Kohler) Model 20. It's running great but had to top off the oil yesterday after 60 hours. Tech is supposed to change today.
0
Posted on 9/2/21 at 5:54 pm to lsu777
Shavings we’re not in the oil, 7; they were on the floor under the generator. Maybe I drilled something. Oh well. Thanks.
Posted on 9/2/21 at 6:00 pm to OLDBEACHCOMBER
Air cooled aren't going to run 24_7 multiple days..liquid cooled is the way to go for extend use
Posted on 9/2/21 at 6:03 pm to SG_Geaux
quote:
I don't know, mine is clearly sucking a ton of air in one end and pushing it out the other. Seems like opening the top would seriously disrupt that flow.
I have a Cummings, it has a pretty complex air cooling system, removing any panels or shrouding defeats the design, I would think the same is true for Generac
Posted on 9/2/21 at 6:12 pm to lsu777
quote:
ok so explain why i can stand over the generator, have someone put more load on it, watch the stepping motor adjust and here the motor ramp up?
As load increases the engine requires more fuel, the stepper motor opens the throttle to whatever setting is required to maintain 3600rpm, the engine sound changes pitch because it is working harder. If you go up a steep hill in your car you will have to gradually mash the gas pedal to maintain the same engine RPM/ speed.
Posted on 9/2/21 at 6:22 pm to RCDfan1950
I’ve posted this on a couple other generator threads,the people around my community that have Generacs that are 4-5 plus years old have had good luck with them.People that put them in last couple years tend to have them fail fairly rapidly.Someone always chimes in that they’ve had theirs 6 or so years and never had any trouble.That’s exactly my point,the older ones seem reliable,the newer ones are junk.Apparently Generac has cheapened up their manufacturing or they are putting out so many their quality control is non-existent.
Whatever it is I’m glad I didn’t get one.I was planning on it but as I started researching it I decided I don’t want any part of a Generac.
Bunches of bad reviews on pissed consumer.com and Consumer Affairs.com.
Whatever it is I’m glad I didn’t get one.I was planning on it but as I started researching it I decided I don’t want any part of a Generac.
Bunches of bad reviews on pissed consumer.com and Consumer Affairs.com.
Posted on 9/2/21 at 6:27 pm to lsu777
Thanks for the info. Good stuff. What are your thoughts on the larger, liquid cooled Generacs, like their 36 or 38kw?
Posted on 9/2/21 at 6:33 pm to baldona
quote:
I don’t think they suck as much as people ask too much of them.
If you install one of these things and it sits for years and you do no maintenance or upkeep and are surprised when it shits itself after a week of continuous use, you’re the idiot.
Posted on 9/2/21 at 7:33 pm to 385 Tiger
quote:
Thanks for the info. Good stuff. What are your thoughts on the larger, liquid cooled Generacs, like their 36 or 38kw?
I think that's the way to go. Now if you can afford to pay like 3k more for the Cummins I would do that.
Posted on 9/2/21 at 7:41 pm to lsu777
My Generac 22kw was installed 4 weeks ago THANK GOD.
Came on 9pm Sunday night. Ran until 5pm Monday and I did the initial oil change.
Ran it 72 hrs straight. Power came on today and after it cooled down I checked the oil and added 1/8 quart.
After following this thread a while, if something like this happens again in the future I will likely shut it down every morning and check the oil going forward.
Only bad thing is now I can't check to see if it glows in the dark
Came on 9pm Sunday night. Ran until 5pm Monday and I did the initial oil change.
Ran it 72 hrs straight. Power came on today and after it cooled down I checked the oil and added 1/8 quart.
After following this thread a while, if something like this happens again in the future I will likely shut it down every morning and check the oil going forward.
Only bad thing is now I can't check to see if it glows in the dark
This post was edited on 9/2/21 at 7:42 pm
Posted on 9/2/21 at 7:47 pm to SG_Geaux
Pretty much my experience too. Did stop it this morning and check oil. Was still full.
Posted on 9/2/21 at 7:57 pm to lsu777
quote:
I think that's the way to go. Now if you can afford to pay like 3k more for the Cummins I would do that.
Let's say I have one of these Cummins. 25kw liquid. How would I be able to know how much load this thing is under? it was put in our new construction home during the build. I have 400a switch with it. House it 4k feet pretty efficient, with 3 Bryant 17.5 seer I believe. ALL led lighting. The owner of the biggest gen company around told me I could run just about anything. I see Kva on the display. With all 3 AC running it's only showing like 6-7kva
Posted on 9/2/21 at 8:27 pm to achenator
quote:
Let's say I have one of these Cummins. 25kw liquid. How would I be able to know how much load this thing is under? it was put in our new construction home during the build. I have 400a switch with it. House it 4k feet pretty efficient, with 3 Bryant 17.5 seer I believe. ALL led lighting. The owner of the biggest gen company around told me I could run just about anything. I see Kva on the display. With all 3 AC running it's only showing like 6-7kva
Should be fine. As far as load you can use a calc to see about what each appliance uses. Google it.
Posted on 9/2/21 at 8:30 pm to SG_Geaux
quote:
Only bad thing is now I can't check to see if it glows in the dark
Ok so we lost power with the storms that came through earlier. Have 5 houses on my street and the two behind us are all running generac air cooled. 20 or 22kw.
We lose power lot so pretty much a must have
We have been out less than 2 hours. I checked air flow and it's sucking in the motor side of housing and blowing out the housing on generator side. I opened lid and it doesn't change air flow. The air coming out is stupid hot.
This is a pic I just took. You can see under the aluminum shroud the orange glow already
Posted on 9/2/21 at 8:33 pm to OLDBEACHCOMBER
Briggs and Stratton 35k natural gas. Quietest on market when I bought 5 years ago. Has worked great....you do have to make sure your plumbed for necessary capacity.
Posted on 9/2/21 at 8:35 pm to Out da box
B&S is up there with Cummins from reviews I have seen
Posted on 9/2/21 at 8:38 pm to kywildcatfanone
Ran our craftsman 5000w for 3 straight days with no problem. Put gas in and got energy out.
Posted on 9/2/21 at 8:57 pm to scottfruget
quote:
Dude. Chill out. We understand you know more than the average Joe who is actually believing what they were told by the installers and the manual.
Bottom line is the average Joe ain’t comfortable changing oil or even shutting the thing down cause they don’t do any of this for anything they own (car). They rely on people who do maintenance to keep things working.
So it’s really awesome that you think we should have bought 15k liquid cool generators, but for now us plebs have what we have and will have to make due.
We appreciate the advice and still pray our power is back on before we reach mad max level use of our generator we all thought was a pretty good purchase.
Now I’ll crawl back in my corner and feel bad you weren’t out preaching this before the storm hit so we could order up our new Cummins liquid cooled that would sit unused 99.9% of our life.
Posted on 9/2/21 at 9:32 pm to financetiger
I have a Generac 22KW. Been running since Sunday night. It was 2 months old attached to a home we bought as a tear down. Had it removed and had a maintenance service company put it in storage until my house was built, then reinstalled it. For the past 5 years, I’ve had maintenance performed by this service company 2x a year. It also runs a weekly test for 10 minutes. Shame on me for not bothering with it before now, but wanted to see what it took to change the oil the other day and realize I don’t have a key to remove the enclosure. So I called the service company and got on their list to service it. I have no idea when that will be. The problem is I’m not home until Sunday. I pray they come soon to check on it and change the oil. I suspect it will crash before then. The load is a few ACs set at 77 and 80 deg and 3 refrigerator/freezers. Nothing else worth mentioning. I have switches that do not allow it to get overloaded. Am I screwed?
Posted on 9/2/21 at 9:40 pm to Jimmie the Geek
I think all Generac keys are the same. So if you know anyone with one, they can go open it up and shut it down for you.
Page 9 of 11
Back to top
Follow TigerDroppings for LSU Football News