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Really loving the Generac Whole House Generator today

Melensdad

Jerk in a Hawaiian Shirt & SNOWCAT Moderator
Staff member
GOLD Site Supporter
My old generator, a tri-fuel system that was piped into the natural gas line, was almost as big as my new Generac system, but it was much louder and it didn't kick on automatically.

We are having a nice blizzard today. 1" of snow per hour falling, supposed taper off and stop when we hit a foot of snow by morning. But 45mph winds, white out conditions on the roads, cars in the ditches and that was when I went to town about 4 hours ago before the storm really kicked in!

So the lights flickered a little while ago. Then went out. Came back on. Repeated that process again. Then went out again. 30 seconds later the generator started humming and the power kicked back on via generator power.

Comforting to have the new system. Old system worked great but required cutting over to generator fuse box in the basement, then going out to start up the system manually. Not a problem when its light out but a PITA at night.

After 15+ years of the old system I'm glad I got this new one :smile:
 

bczoom

Super Moderator
Staff member
GOLD Site Supporter
I'm jealous (of your generator, not your weather).

Mine is still a whole manual process. Not too bad since our power outages aren't as frequent as they used to be. Since I don't have nat gas or propane, I'm running on good ole gas or diesel but being manual, it allows me to pick the "right" generator. Too big and I'm just burning through fuel. I just pick the one I need (my generators in KW are 3, 5, 8, 15 & 30).
 

Melensdad

Jerk in a Hawaiian Shirt & SNOWCAT Moderator
Staff member
GOLD Site Supporter
Well now you have a reason to love your old generator.

My old generator lasted for 15 or 16 years.

My new Generac just failed. Its about 18 months old? Don't have a clue what is wrong with it. Red light and Yellow lights on the panel but that doesn't help diagnose a problem.

It had been running for just under 2 hours when it went out. Earlier today it did its normal exercise routine. Shortly after that we lost power. Generator kicked on like it should. Now, nothing!
 

Melensdad

Jerk in a Hawaiian Shirt & SNOWCAT Moderator
Staff member
GOLD Site Supporter
Opened the cover and there is oil spewed all over the inside of the enclosure.

Oil filler cap BLEW OFF the valve cover.

Took the front panel off and found cap, totally undamaged. My guess is it was not tightened securely and worked its way loose.

Refilled the oil.

Couldn't get it to re-start.

Called tech support. They gave me the button sequence to plug in to clear the error code. The panel showed a 5 second countdown -4-3-2-1 and it started up! All good now.
 

Snowtrac Nome

member formerly known as dds
GOLD Site Supporter
those safety circuits can save a generator. I see them bypassed all the time on boats I have to go hook them back up again when I work on them. when you have an engine not being watched its nice to have those switches because shit happens and now you don't need another generator cant wait to get my lister petter 8 k set wired in to my house
 

Melensdad

Jerk in a Hawaiian Shirt & SNOWCAT Moderator
Staff member
GOLD Site Supporter
those safety circuits can save a generator. I see them bypassed all the time on boats I have to go hook them back up again when I work on them. when you have an engine not being watched its nice to have those switches because shit happens and now you don't need another generator cant wait to get my lister petter 8 k set wired in to my house

Well it probably saved the system today.

The hardest part was getting in touch with tech support.

I was lucky I had the right oil, but I had a gallon that I bought to do an oil change on the tractor ... haven't gotten to that oil change yet. Good thing I didn't because if I had I wouldn't have had that gallon.
 

Snowtrac Nome

member formerly known as dds
GOLD Site Supporter
these new automatic systems with a sequence reset suck wouldn't it be better to just have a reset button like a boiler gun has
 

Melensdad

Jerk in a Hawaiian Shirt & SNOWCAT Moderator
Staff member
GOLD Site Supporter
ON A SIDE NOTE: the local power company is saying that over 3200 customers are without power in the town. If there are an average of 3 people per household that is over 9600 people without heat. That is more than the population of the actual town, which means the town + the outlying areas are pretty much cold and dark right now. We've been on generator since before 2pm.



these new automatic systems with a sequence reset suck wouldn't it be better to just have a reset button like a boiler gun has

I think the biggest problem is that the manual should simply list the restart sequence but doesn't. If it was in the manual I would not have had to call the tech support hotline.
 

300 H and H

Bronze Member
GOLD Site Supporter
Good deal Bob!

I have a manual set up, but I don't mind that much. Gives me something to do and stew over while the power is out. All I have to do is start and warm up the gen set, and throw the line disconnect, and keep and eye on the fuel supply...

Great to have electricity, during an outage. Really make you feel kinda manly!!

And the women in the house, think your a hero!

Regards, Kirk
 

Melensdad

Jerk in a Hawaiian Shirt & SNOWCAT Moderator
Staff member
GOLD Site Supporter

And the women in the house, think your a hero!


Regards, Kirk

Or at least not an idiot :yum:

As for the manual set up, I had that for a long time. Had it not died I'd still have it. But when it died I switched to this one and am loving the auto-on system because the old set up was not idea when I was not home and the power went out and I'd get a call from the lovely Mrs_Bob for instructions on how to get it running.
 

EastTexFrank

Well-known member
GOLD Site Supporter
Apart from your minor hiccup, I'm jealous. I still don't have my backup whole house generator. Something else always seems to crop up just when I'm about to pull the trigger. Last year it was the new water well. So, I'm still pulling out generators and running extension cords. To be honest, we don't lose power all that often these days although we did lose power for about 2 hours last night. Over the last 5 years that has been about the extent of it ... a few hours and then the lights come back on. I probably don't really need a backup generator but it's just a comfort blanket kind of thing. Maybe this year if something else doesn't blow up around this place.
 

bczoom

Super Moderator
Staff member
GOLD Site Supporter
I'd get a call from the lovely Mrs_Bob for instructions on how to get it running.

Although I could walk Mrs. Zoom or my son through the process for whole house power, I'd send them down the easy path.

I have a couple inverter setups. Deep cycle battery in a marine battery box with a 1KW inverter strapped to the top. I keep these around so I have near immediate power for the woodstove fans. Those I want to keep running if the power goes out so we at least have heat and the stoves won't overheat. Just plug a light or whatever is needed into that inverter. :smile:
 

XeVfTEUtaAqJHTqq

Master of Distraction
Staff member
SUPER Site Supporter
My family freezes in the dark if I'm not around. :(

I could explain it ten times, write detailed documents, make videos, and my wife wouldn't be able to follow any of it. She has a complete mental block to listening to anything I say.

My oldest daughter is the only one that shows any hope. I should probably walk her through stuff now that she is almost a teenager.
 

Melensdad

Jerk in a Hawaiian Shirt & SNOWCAT Moderator
Staff member
GOLD Site Supporter
...

I could explain it ten times, write detailed documents, make videos, and my wife wouldn't be able to follow any of it. She has a complete mental block to listening to anything I say...

I had instruction printed ON the old generator. And instruction printed ON the old transfer switch.

But nothing helped. It was always a phone call with me explaining it while they followed the instructions :hide:
 

Melensdad

Jerk in a Hawaiian Shirt & SNOWCAT Moderator
Staff member
GOLD Site Supporter
WE HAVE POWER AGAIN.

Generator switched off a few minutes ago. So the outage was from roughly 2pm to 8am.
 
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