Exploding Generators
 

No, not mine. :) Saw this article yesterday and a couple things seemed fishy to me. Curious as to what you guys think. https://krcrtv.com/news/local/lack-o...de-during-psps

That's just a 3000 mile trip, certainly no need to stop for an oil change.


So the generators were operational (as far as we know), his guys serviced them, and then they exploded?? Hmmmmm

Re: Exploding Generators
 

What sort of generator engines are these? I've seen 500 hours on utility tractor diesels between oil changes. Not recommended, but not a guaranteed "explosion." I've heard of over 80,000 miles before the first oil change on a car before. Definitely not a recommended scenario, but the car was still running.

Re: Exploding Generators
 

They don't say, but a couple pics in the article appear to be Generac.

Re: Exploding Generators
 

Beings,,,,you Mike just bought a Generator ,,I ask ..does your maintanence manual tell you that if you run the generator non stop for 3 days you need to do things it takes to keep it from blowing up?

Re: Exploding Generators
 

Something doesn't sound right to me.

Re: Exploding Generators
 

That article didn't tell me anything. What explosion? Are they saying the engines "blew up"? That's not the same as explosion. My thoughts went to propane explosion. I've done a lot of work running a generator 8-12 hours a day with very slack maintenance. No problem. Fill with gas, check oil, and start. They rarely needed oil, only when there was some issue like a leak or old worn motor. Air filters usually got cleaned or changed when they were hard to start. Oil got changed every couple months. I took care of mine better than most. I never heard of any blowing the engine before their time that had the oil checked before starting. This was before automatic oil check.

I guess they're trying to say, in their dramatic and/or poorly written way, that during that period of everyone's use of generators that many failed due to lack of maintenance. They want to make people aware of the importance of proper maintenance.

I remember working for this guy who had an old generator with really low compression that was hard to start and it would put out a cloud of blue smoke when you first started it. It was mandatory procedure to check oil before starting. It definitely "used" oil. I have always placed the generator around the corner from where I work so I don't have to hear it or breath exhaust. One day after lunch, generator started, back to work, and I thought I'd ask the helper if he checked the oil, even though he knew he should. I yell over to him, "Hey, did you check the oi... <<tink!>>... and generator noise stops, no power at the saw. I knew exactly what happened. Walk around and see a hole in the side of the block and a puddle of oil. That was the only generator I ever knew of blow up.

Re: Exploding Generators
 

The manual calls for an oil change after the first 25 hours of operation. If below 40 degrees, or if it's run continuously in hot weather (above 85 degrees), change oil every 100 hours or every year.
Other than those conditions, change oil every 2 years.

I saw nothing in the manual about failure to follow that schedule causing severe engine damage. Incidentally, the unit will shut off if oil level is low.

Seems to me there is something wrong if 39 generators "exploded" right after being serviced by this guy's technicians. My inner skeptic smells a rat.

Re: Exploding Generators
 

Maybe all 39 were operating when the power company turned the power back on. Not sure if that would affect the engine, but the generator would likely be toast.

I saw a failed transfer switch cause 480 to hit 480 once at a job and all that was left of the surge protector was a black spot on the wall

Re: Exploding Generators
 

That could have happened to mine when I used to hook my well pump pressure switch to my generator, because it was still wired to the house as well (IIRC). I guess I would turn the main breaker off at the panel. But when professionals install back-up generators they are set up to isolate from the breaker panel.

Re: Exploding Generators
 

I'm thinking they must've had a propane leak or something.

Re: Exploding Generators
 

i have a littel 5000 watt that i installed a plug on my house to just lug it into i installed a kit on my main outside panel that would not let u turn on the breaker for the generator unless the main breaker was turned off

Re: Exploding Generators
 

x2

Re: Exploding Generators
 

"Pride Electric serviced 39 generators right before they exploded."

Id be a little reluctant to admit that publicly and I think that my first call would be to my insurance company to give them a heads up that they may be receiving a few phone calls.

I have been trying to run mine once a month for 30 minutes or so. I check the oil at the same time and top it off before starting. Oil and filter change once a year.

At work, our high voltage guys exercise the generators and transfer switches quarterly during grave shift. It helps bring problems to the surface before the generators are needed in a true outage.

There is another crew of "building engineers" that is supposed to check fluid levels on all of the generators 1x per week. By the end of the week they start all over again.

As of late, we've had a few of the redundant gen sets go down or just quit running. One of the High Voltage guys said they were having a hard time getting the engineers to work on them so I offered to take a look at a few of them.

The first two (that are housed together as A and B generators) showed that they had checked out o.k. on the onsite log sheet just a few days prior. Then I checked fluid levels and found both to be low on coolant and one was 1-1/2 gallons low on oil. We reported it to the engineers that afternoon and by the next morning, both generators are miraculously running again. :lol:

Maintenance is as important as regularly exercising the gen set, but damn, I'd be a little more than upset and asking some serious questions if I was one of those 39 generator owners that now had a propane paperweight that cost 12 large to replace after one year.:devil:

Id really be curious what the cause of the failures was? All the same failures? Different causes? Im thinking there is a common denominator...namely the company servicing them.

Re: Exploding Generators
 

Definition of Irony... CA has rolling black outs due to trying to source power from unreliable renewable sources, reducing carbon emissions. Fed up homeowners all install fossil fuel generators to make up for black outs, raising carbon emissions back to where they were previously :lol:

I've wanted to add one to my home, but they really are $$$ and our power grid is pretty reliable here. Duke finally came through and butchered a ton of trees that were causing lines to go down in storms. For me, the one or two times a year it happens for a few hours isn't worth it. We have gas for heat in the winter.

Re: Exploding Generators
 

Yeah, its pretty ironic......:lol:. But, it's California ya know:lol:

Re: Exploding Generators
 

Agreed on all counts, Chris..... well said.


Our grid has also been good :) but we don't have gas heat and our kerosene stove requires electricity. We have wood heat too, but that doesn't help with hot water for showers, and I prefer not to sit in the dark wondering when the juice will come back on.