Generator solutions

[kevm14]

Next I tackled the outlet. I decided to just install the L14-20r receptacle right on the front panel, with no outlet box nonsense.

First, I took note of the wiring on the old 240V outlet.

Not enough wire to just swap over to the new outlet. Figures.

Next, I used a 1-1/2" bi-metal hole saw that I got from Home Depot. I used AJ's mandrel. Then I worked the hole evenly with a grinding stone on my Dremel. I was needlessly worried about this. It wasn't long at all before the hole was just right for the 1-9/16" outlet. You can also see the holes I drilled to mount the outlet.

From the back.

Test fitting. Looks good!

Screwed in. I also screwed in the old outlet, even though it isn't wired. That way there isn't a big gaping hole (or two). If I can find some kind of plug to go in those holes, I will use that. I happened to have the right nuts on hand to secure the outlet, which was nice. I want to say #6-32 but don't quote me...it is a standard screw for outlets I think. Notice the missing upper 20A breaker...more on that in a second.

Close up of my work. I would have put a little paint on the raw sheet metal if I was feeling less rushed. I'm sure this will last a long time anyway. By the way, I don't know what that hole is on the top of the outlet. It was actually a hole in the sheet metal that I exposed when the saw pulled the plastic sheeting off the front panel during cutting. It may be for another breaker, on a different model.

The wiring. I had to cut off all of the crimped slot connectors. And then I did the following: one leg of 120V was in two wires, so I twisted them together, added a patch piece of 12 gauge, and wire nutted that. The 12 gauge patch piece went to one of the brass screws (X or Y). I did the same with the other leg of 120V (two wires, connected to a third patch piece, run the patch piece to the other brass screw). The old outlet had the neutral and ground bonded right on the outlet ground. I kept that by twisting them together. But since the new outlet needs neutral AND a ground, I had to splice TWO additional patch pieces into those other two (4 wires total), and run them to the neutral and ground. I have not tested this yet but I expect it to work.

One thing I wish I did a little differently: drilled the hole just a bit farther away from the old outlet. They are actually in direct, firm contact. That's why I'd like to remove the old outlet and blank out the holes. I could install an external cover with some kind of gasket, except it would probably touch the new outlet (since it's so close). So I may, in fact, do nothing at all.

Oh yeah, remember the breaker? I broke off the retaining nut. Amazingly, Radio Shack carries an assortment of those and the one that fit was a 3/8-32 thread (which is finer than normal fine, as I found out while trying to buy a regular nut).

Next step would be to wire on the house side. I bought 15 feet of 10/3 and a 20A 240V breaker. Maybe I'll do that tomorrow. I can't really test the outlet under load until I do that...

[kevm14]

Found it! This can fill the hole left by the now non-functional Nema 6-15r outlet.

http://www.kyleswitchplates.com/duplex- ... 1087-2bnk/

[kevm14]

I got the bug to test the whole shebang (generator, new generator wiring, new cable, new inlet receptacle). Inlet receptacle installation here: http://forums.kevinallenmoore.com/viewt ... =20&t=1410

Short version: everything worked perfectly. The entire house had power, and worked as normal (did not try dryer or oven but I'm sure it would handle a burner on the cooktop).

This was my first running test since the new mounts and they seem to isolate well. There isn't much vibration at all at the front panel, which means my wiring job shouldn't spontaneously fail.

The highest load I tested was furnace burner + fan, hot water heater burner and the well pump. In addition, I had my garage lights on, basement lights on, and any parasitic loads around the house were also on. I don't know if the fridge was on, but I don't think it is a big load so I'm not worried. Anyway, with all of that, the generator load meter was reading around 65%, which is great.

Powering the house. About 30% load here. I lost track of what individual loads I had on.

65% ish, with basically the critical loads all at the same time. This leaves me with enough headroom that I probably won't have to worry much about the simultaneous states of the well pump, water heater or furnace when doing normal things. For bigger loads, I could always shut the furnace off if it is running.

This may have been the dehumidifier. I forget. 30% load again.

Assuming the generator holds up, I think I will be in a pretty good place next time we lose power. The only thing I might do is wheel it around the side of the garage to keep the noise in the house down a bit.

Another benefit of wiring an L14-20r receptacle into this generator is that if this thing stops working and I decide to replace it, I can plug my cable into any 5000W or smaller generator (which should have this receptacle on it) and be in business.

For fuel consumption, modern OHV generators of the ~4000W continuous rating seem to be rated for 1/3rd of a gallon per hour at 50% load. Mine is an older, larger flathead engine so if I conservatively estimate 1/2 a gallon per hour at 50% load, my 23 gallons of total fuel storage should last a solid 48 hours of continuous usage. That probably multiplies to at least 4 days if I ran the generator 12 hours per day. Even that is probably a bit more than I would. Within 4 days it is highly likely that I will be able to drive somewhere and get gas. I don't need to prepare for the apocalypse here. This is a huge step up from my 1500W inverter and Caprice (as cool as that was). And I still have that. It just can't do 240V loads like my well pump.

From a prepper standpoint, my Caprice does hold 23 gallons as well, so I could get a pump solution. But I don't think that is necessary.

[kevm14]

Video here: https://youtu.be/rv-gm-dr7UI

[kevm14]

Woke up at around 2:40am last night to no power (UPS in room beeping, air filter shut down). It cycled on, off, on, off a few times (as it always seems to right before the real outage), and then went out. I was able to eventually determine via the National Grid website that 1,801 customers were effected. I was really under the weather last night (some kind of weird fever/light upper respiratory). But that didn't stop me from being restless, wishing it wasn't the middle of the night so I could quickly fire up the generator.

It came back in 45 mins or so. I will say it was nice to have a CFL night stand lamp on the UPS pulling only 20W.

I had to mute both UPSs since I think those, combined with Ian's night light and fan shutting off, woke him up. He was upset and Jamie found him at the window looking outside. Interesting that he wanted to see what was going on.

I also was reminded that I do not have my wireless router or cable modem on a UPS anymore, like I used to in NK. Just means the desktop and tablet becomes useless until I get the gen going...

There will be a next time.

[kevm14]

Got the blank plate for the old 240v outlet and put it in. Looks good.

[kevm14]

Been a while since I've run it. Had a lot of trouble starting it. I went for a hammer and lots of light taps on and around the fuel bowl. Eventually that worked. I really should just rebuild this carb since I finally have a good fuel filter on it.

[kevm14]

It's been over a month and I decided to run it again. Two pulls and it was good. No hammering needed.

It is so warm, in fact, that I was able to completely pull off the choke after like 5 seconds of running.

I last tested it under whole-house load in October so I decided it was due for that, as well.

Random observations:
- It did not want to start my compressor until I aired it all the way down to zero. I believe it can when it's the only load. This compressor will actually trip a 15A breaker if it runs for a bunch of cycles, so it's a pretty heavy load.

- I tried the toaster oven. It worked. Just need to be cautious with load management.

- Tried the dehumidifier again. No problem at all.

- I got bold and tried a big burner on the cooktop. It worked, but again, I think I'd want pretty much nothing on that particular phase. I do not know which phase is which, so that still needs more research.

- My RRE/breaker process is, connect the cable ends, and then start the generator. Go to the breaker panel, switch off main. Switch off 40A oven and 30A dryer breakers. Switch generator breaker on. That's it. Everything lights right up, no big deal. Now that won't ALWAYS work but it's unlikely that a bunch of stuff is going to want to run the instant I flip the breaker on, and if a bunch of stuff WAS running prior to using the generator, you can bet that I would shut it off first.

- In general, it performed flawlessly and did not give me any indication that it will be flakey in a real power outage, which is what I want to see.

I checked the oil after I ran it (lol). It's just a hair from the top. If I check it each time I add fuel, I will be just fine.

We lost power around 3am for a few minutes. Nothing exciting there...

[kevm14]

Bill and I were talking about his generator today and I thought I'd post the oil requirements for the Briggs that is attached to my generator.

Oil viscosity recommendations:

Somewhat surprisingly, this 30 year old engine manual suggests synthetic for operation below 0F. Frustratingly, it recommends 30 weight for operation above 40F. I dunno if M1 5W-30 is really appropriate year round. Maybe Delo 400 5W-40 would work. Decent cold weather performance but also HDEO performance at high temps. Maybe BITOG has an opinion for a year round oil for small air cooled engines. And I also wonder if my old Briggs I/C with its low specific output, cast iron sleeve and valve in head design is less picky about oil than some newer stuff. I bet it is. If nothing else, it is because it's 30+ years old and oil was not as good.

Also, brain fart - it takes 44 ounces of oil. More than I remembered. At least it has a dipstick.

Oil change intervals:

Oil change recommended after 5 hours, which is more like what I would expect.

After that, it is 50 hours or 25 in high load or high temp. Since I am specifically trying to run the best oil I can, I would probably push it to 50 hours. It does not have an oil filter or pressure lube.

[kevm14]

For fuel consumption, modern OHV generators of the ~4000W continuous rating seem to be rated for 1/3rd of a gallon per hour at 50% load. Mine is an older, larger flathead engine so if I conservatively estimate 1/2 a gallon per hour at 50% load, my 23 gallons of total fuel storage should last a solid 48 hours of continuous usage. That probably multiplies to at least 4 days if I ran the generator 12 hours per day. Even that is probably a bit more than I would. Within 4 days it is highly likely that I will be able to drive somewhere and get gas. I don't need to prepare for the apocalypse here. This is a huge step up from my 1500W inverter and Caprice (as cool as that was). And I still have that. It just can't do 240V loads like my well pump.

Funny thing...my old generator seems to be about as fuel efficient as a new generator of similar size. And that gives me more like 69 hours of continuous run time. Which should translate into about twice that for power outage duration, which is 5.75 days. As stated previously, I think I could extend that by running the generator much less than 12 hours per day. I think I'd be able to get gas before running out anyway, even if not locally. Also, humorously, in an outage like that, I'd be looking at one oil change in the middle of it.