Bannedjoe
Well-known member
I've had my hands full for months now, so much going on, so little time to post, maybe I'll do an update soon, but onward to today's topic.
I have an older (15+ years) Generac Guardian 30K propane generator.
It's been a real champ. Other than oil changes and battery replacements, this thing has been beautifully reliable, and trouble free.
I fear we have reached the days where everyone is too young to no shit about anything.
If you can't plug a phone or a computer into something, folks are just plain lost.
Then add the current state of technology, whereas if YOU can't plug your phone or confuser into it, you're just about as screwed too!
Me? I'll still Macgyver the hell out of anything and make stuff do what it was never intended for if I have to.
I don't care how many usb ports or computers you have hooked to it, or whether it's tethered to some orbiting space module floating 22,000 miles above your home, an engine still only needs three things to run: Air, fuel, and spark.
I don't use this power plant real often, because it's probably large enough to run 3 homes, and can put a hell of a dent in a propane supply when under a good load.
But as shit would have it, we had a good storm last Sunday which brought us an unprecedented amount of snow that decided to hang around.
No sun, and a foot and a half of unflavored snowcones covering everything, including my panels, the house batteries started getting low, so I headed out to fire up the big guy.
It cranked, it cranked, then it cranked some more, but didn't feel like starting.
I just put a new battery in it a month ago, and I have hundreds of gallons LPG on hand.
Not wanting to run either the starter or the new battery into the ground, I gave up for a bit.
A few hours later dawning my nanook outfit, grabbing my favorite baby seal, and wishing I had a snowmobile, I trudged the 50 feet back out to the generac.
Normally it will fire inside of 10-20 seconds, and previously as of late, it seems to be taking a little longer now that I think about it.
I let her crank for about 30 seconds with no response.
Against my better judgement, I was seriously considering grabbing a can of ether.
At the time, feeling a bit despondent about the whole situation, I wasn't sure if I was going to huff the stuff, or use it to try and start the generator.
I gave minutes pause to my quandary, and hit the start button again, and again she just cranked.
I looked to the the sky, with a tear forming in my eye, and shouted, "Really Dude???!!! Do I deserve this???"
About that same second, 30,000 watts of pure power came to life.
I smiled, shouted thank you, and headed inside.
I gave the batteries a solid 4 hour equalization charge, then shut it down.
It ran without a hitch, and purred like a kitten.
About halfway through the following day, as I was reading stories about big trucks and cars needing to wait in line, or make reservations to get into the "Comedian" on I-40, it became obvious that the sun's return would be hastened by more clouds bearing free slushies and unassembled snowmen, and I should probably give the acid laden lead plates some more angry pixies.
I headed out to the genset, and the wife kindly offered to climb to the roof to sweep the snow off the panels.
Much to my dismay, the old girl (generator, not the wife) cranked away again with no signs of getting out of bed.
So the other 2 of us decided that since the third was going to lay in bed all day, we'd just as soon do the same, and did.
The following day the sun broke free delivering many ions and electrons, and I rested easy.
A day or so later it was warming up and the snow began to melt. The genset was still heavily on my mind, and I decided it needed some trouble shooting.
I looked for any loose connections, or signs of rodents attempting to increase their copper intake, and found none.
More cranks, and more of the same nothing.
I gave it a short shot of ether, and it acted as though it enjoyed it, letting me know that at least one of the major elements required for its operation was present; spark.
I hate using ether though, the horror stories are vast and wide, and I'd really hate to launch the heads off this nice little Ford 4 banger.
Next, I decided to make sure that propane was being delivered past the dedicated regulator designated to this unit.
There is a gizmo that looks a little like a fuel pump between the propane companies supplied regulator, and the line to the engines carb. It has an electric two wire gizmo attached, which I'd venture to guess is a valve or relay.
I opened the line between the two, and the smell of rotting corpses emerged quite fragrantly, letting me know the second element needed was present, at least that far down the line.
I let it bleed for a little while longer believing that if maybe there was some air in the line that it would be expelled.
I tightened the hose back up, and gave the starter motor another round of cardio.
Nope, still not going to start.
I pulled the air filter, (which I'll admit is due for replacement) for a look and a sniff in the carb.
The intake was clear, but the odor of any propane wasn't.
Now here's a bit of my downfall, I have little practical hands on experience with LPG carbs, but it can't be that hard.
I operated the electric choke mechanism by hand, and watched it's operation as I cranked the engine, and it appeared completely functional.
Needing a break, I decided to hit the webs, make some calls, and see what I could learn.
The first thing that I learned is apparently none of the techs at generac were even alive yet when this was built.
The concept of hands on "go, no go" testing was lost light years before they were even a lustful thought in either of their fluid swapping progenitors cranial crevasses.
On top of this, google search has really stepped up their game lately, for it appears the only thing you wish to learn or ask about, has never been learned nor asked about by any other soul who ever dragged knuckles on this planet.
But this only becomes apparent when you reach about the 15 page and see nothing but the same ads over and over again that have not one iota of anything to do with what you are searching for.
While trying for the bonus round with the techs at Generac, one of them offered to put a call in to a local "Distributor" to see if he could help.
The guy called, and as we spoke, it was painfully clear that this guy didn't know a sparkplug from a waffle iron.
He later admitted that he was only a distributor, knew a little about electrical installations in residential dwellings, but didn't have a clue about the operation of anything beyond his iphone and his microwave, but if I was willing to wait a few days, he would gladly drive the 5 hours from Timbuktoo, have a looksee, charge me for the trip both ways and try to take a guess at how many parts he might need to order, to charge me again to come back and install quite possibly in the end an entire new generator.
I kindly thanked him for absolutely nothing, and went out to troubleshoot some more.
Knowing I had spark, observing that I was breathing, indicating the presence of air, the only thing it can possibly be is fuel.
My next thought was to remove the fuel inlet line to the carb, stuff the hose up my beak, crank it over, and see if fuel was making it to the carb.
As I turned for yet another trip to the tool dept, something caught my eye, rang a loud school bell, and lit the bulb above my head.
What I had just spotted, and had completely forgotten that I had, (due to the absurdity of even owning one in the dry arid desert,) was a brand new propane weed burner that some other scared to shitless to use it friend of my wife's had given her.
I picked up the burner set up and walked it over the generator.
I once again removed the air cleaner, I then turned the valve on the 5 gallon tank to its on position.
I held the business end of the brushfire beast above the carb inlet.
With one hand on the let 'er rip lever, and the other on the generator start switch, I looked heavenward and hoped this wasn't about to be the stupidest fucking thing I had ever done in my life.
I cranked the engine, and blasted a torrent of propane/air mix down it's little gullet.
Varoom!
The genset sprang immediately to life, and ran for hours without so much as a hiccup.
So that reminds me, I had a question when I started writing this;
What do you think I should do?
Thanks!
Joe
I have an older (15+ years) Generac Guardian 30K propane generator.
It's been a real champ. Other than oil changes and battery replacements, this thing has been beautifully reliable, and trouble free.
I fear we have reached the days where everyone is too young to no shit about anything.
If you can't plug a phone or a computer into something, folks are just plain lost.
Then add the current state of technology, whereas if YOU can't plug your phone or confuser into it, you're just about as screwed too!
Me? I'll still Macgyver the hell out of anything and make stuff do what it was never intended for if I have to.
I don't care how many usb ports or computers you have hooked to it, or whether it's tethered to some orbiting space module floating 22,000 miles above your home, an engine still only needs three things to run: Air, fuel, and spark.
I don't use this power plant real often, because it's probably large enough to run 3 homes, and can put a hell of a dent in a propane supply when under a good load.
But as shit would have it, we had a good storm last Sunday which brought us an unprecedented amount of snow that decided to hang around.
No sun, and a foot and a half of unflavored snowcones covering everything, including my panels, the house batteries started getting low, so I headed out to fire up the big guy.
It cranked, it cranked, then it cranked some more, but didn't feel like starting.
I just put a new battery in it a month ago, and I have hundreds of gallons LPG on hand.
Not wanting to run either the starter or the new battery into the ground, I gave up for a bit.
A few hours later dawning my nanook outfit, grabbing my favorite baby seal, and wishing I had a snowmobile, I trudged the 50 feet back out to the generac.
Normally it will fire inside of 10-20 seconds, and previously as of late, it seems to be taking a little longer now that I think about it.
I let her crank for about 30 seconds with no response.
Against my better judgement, I was seriously considering grabbing a can of ether.
At the time, feeling a bit despondent about the whole situation, I wasn't sure if I was going to huff the stuff, or use it to try and start the generator.
I gave minutes pause to my quandary, and hit the start button again, and again she just cranked.
I looked to the the sky, with a tear forming in my eye, and shouted, "Really Dude???!!! Do I deserve this???"
About that same second, 30,000 watts of pure power came to life.
I smiled, shouted thank you, and headed inside.
I gave the batteries a solid 4 hour equalization charge, then shut it down.
It ran without a hitch, and purred like a kitten.
About halfway through the following day, as I was reading stories about big trucks and cars needing to wait in line, or make reservations to get into the "Comedian" on I-40, it became obvious that the sun's return would be hastened by more clouds bearing free slushies and unassembled snowmen, and I should probably give the acid laden lead plates some more angry pixies.
I headed out to the genset, and the wife kindly offered to climb to the roof to sweep the snow off the panels.
Much to my dismay, the old girl (generator, not the wife) cranked away again with no signs of getting out of bed.
So the other 2 of us decided that since the third was going to lay in bed all day, we'd just as soon do the same, and did.
The following day the sun broke free delivering many ions and electrons, and I rested easy.
A day or so later it was warming up and the snow began to melt. The genset was still heavily on my mind, and I decided it needed some trouble shooting.
I looked for any loose connections, or signs of rodents attempting to increase their copper intake, and found none.
More cranks, and more of the same nothing.
I gave it a short shot of ether, and it acted as though it enjoyed it, letting me know that at least one of the major elements required for its operation was present; spark.
I hate using ether though, the horror stories are vast and wide, and I'd really hate to launch the heads off this nice little Ford 4 banger.
Next, I decided to make sure that propane was being delivered past the dedicated regulator designated to this unit.
There is a gizmo that looks a little like a fuel pump between the propane companies supplied regulator, and the line to the engines carb. It has an electric two wire gizmo attached, which I'd venture to guess is a valve or relay.
I opened the line between the two, and the smell of rotting corpses emerged quite fragrantly, letting me know the second element needed was present, at least that far down the line.
I let it bleed for a little while longer believing that if maybe there was some air in the line that it would be expelled.
I tightened the hose back up, and gave the starter motor another round of cardio.
Nope, still not going to start.
I pulled the air filter, (which I'll admit is due for replacement) for a look and a sniff in the carb.
The intake was clear, but the odor of any propane wasn't.
Now here's a bit of my downfall, I have little practical hands on experience with LPG carbs, but it can't be that hard.
I operated the electric choke mechanism by hand, and watched it's operation as I cranked the engine, and it appeared completely functional.
Needing a break, I decided to hit the webs, make some calls, and see what I could learn.
The first thing that I learned is apparently none of the techs at generac were even alive yet when this was built.
The concept of hands on "go, no go" testing was lost light years before they were even a lustful thought in either of their fluid swapping progenitors cranial crevasses.
On top of this, google search has really stepped up their game lately, for it appears the only thing you wish to learn or ask about, has never been learned nor asked about by any other soul who ever dragged knuckles on this planet.
But this only becomes apparent when you reach about the 15 page and see nothing but the same ads over and over again that have not one iota of anything to do with what you are searching for.
While trying for the bonus round with the techs at Generac, one of them offered to put a call in to a local "Distributor" to see if he could help.
The guy called, and as we spoke, it was painfully clear that this guy didn't know a sparkplug from a waffle iron.
He later admitted that he was only a distributor, knew a little about electrical installations in residential dwellings, but didn't have a clue about the operation of anything beyond his iphone and his microwave, but if I was willing to wait a few days, he would gladly drive the 5 hours from Timbuktoo, have a looksee, charge me for the trip both ways and try to take a guess at how many parts he might need to order, to charge me again to come back and install quite possibly in the end an entire new generator.
I kindly thanked him for absolutely nothing, and went out to troubleshoot some more.
Knowing I had spark, observing that I was breathing, indicating the presence of air, the only thing it can possibly be is fuel.
My next thought was to remove the fuel inlet line to the carb, stuff the hose up my beak, crank it over, and see if fuel was making it to the carb.
As I turned for yet another trip to the tool dept, something caught my eye, rang a loud school bell, and lit the bulb above my head.
What I had just spotted, and had completely forgotten that I had, (due to the absurdity of even owning one in the dry arid desert,) was a brand new propane weed burner that some other scared to shitless to use it friend of my wife's had given her.
I picked up the burner set up and walked it over the generator.
I once again removed the air cleaner, I then turned the valve on the 5 gallon tank to its on position.
I held the business end of the brushfire beast above the carb inlet.
With one hand on the let 'er rip lever, and the other on the generator start switch, I looked heavenward and hoped this wasn't about to be the stupidest fucking thing I had ever done in my life.
I cranked the engine, and blasted a torrent of propane/air mix down it's little gullet.
Varoom!
The genset sprang immediately to life, and ran for hours without so much as a hiccup.
So that reminds me, I had a question when I started writing this;
What do you think I should do?
Thanks!
Joe