So it works - anything I may have forgotten?

[Hectorsosa]

I bought a 002a back in March. Since purchase I've gone thru everything and then some thanks to the knowledge I got mostly from this forum. BTW: Thank you to everybody that contributes, this thing may have been a major PITA to figure out without forums like this. I've been running it for half an hour or so once a month. I bought some closeout 1500 watt space heaters in May, so the last three runs have been loaded between 5000 and about 7350 watts - heaters are just shy of 1500. In short as the title says, it works. I've run it just enough to have a decent feel for what's "normal" for this unit at 229 hours - had 223 when I got it. That said....

I'm posting because I'm officially comfortable that this thing is gonna fire and generate when I actually need it. That said, I'm curious if there's anything that everybody tends to forget that I may not even be aware of. I'm guessing that I'm overthinking it at this point, but no harm in asking, right? So, anything I should be looking at or should I just grab another beverage and wait for the power to go out?

 

[Light in the Dark]

Great spot to be in! What I would ask myself is how prepared am I to run this for an extended duration? Do you have all necessary consumption parts (oil filters, oil, air filters, glow plugs, etc) to run X amount of hours (this figure is only determined by your needs)? Do you have any spare items in backup should a failure occur (a spare fuel pump, for instance)? Do you have sufficient fuel stores to match the desired hour range?

 

[Guyfang]

Tell us what you did to get this far. Then we can maybe answer your question. If it's running, you did something right!!

 

[NDT]

Fuel storage is the big question. How many gallons worst case, can you rotate the fuel back into your daily driver/tractor after x months, if not how to stabilize so no algae blooms occur.

 

[Bmxenbrett]

Running only a half hour is not much of a run. Doing a run every month is a little more frequently than needed. Monthly run is more of a gas generator thing.
Having some conditioned fuel on hand and a few filters and oil would be good. I believe they have a 100hr oil change interval? So thats about 4 days non stop.
Filterbarn.com is a good source for low cost filters. I have yet to need a filter they didnt have.

My running interval is done when we change the clocks or before a forecasted storm, not many in the northeast. After its initial load bank run for about 15min i will run my house for a few hours. Changing loads is good for it.

 

[Hectorsosa]

So to answer the questions... I purchased the unit as a runner with all filters supposedly replaced. $1200 - a little steep from what I've read here, but it came from a reputable army surplus store that sells "pretty" 002a units all day long for $1800-2200. Mine's an ugly as sin brush painted green with a mismatched tan output box and some dents that probably occurred when other stuff that wasn't really needed got shoved in to it. Paint transfer kinda confirms this. I topped off the fuel tank on the way home (mistake 1) and ran it for two hours with a 1500 watt load (mistake 2) before I did anything else. After the two hour run I took the fuel strainer out to figure out why my fuel gauge didn't work. I don't think I've ever seen that much crud inside a fuel tank. Verified with a local farmer I had a pretty bad algae problem in that little tank - was told I'm pretty lucky I didn't plug everything completely shut.

So here's what I did: Pulled the tank and cleaned it thoroughly. Cleaned it again. Pulled the dip tubes and the fuel gauge and cleaned one more time. Pulled and checked all of the filters. replaced one fuel pump filter, everything else somehow managed to stay near spotless but I replaced the first fuel filter anyway. Cleaned everything else. Oil wasn't bad but looked like it had a little time on it, so I changed oil and replaced oil filter. Checked air filter. Checked preheat and glow plugs with multimeter - all good. Fixed 10k box so that it properly indicates percentage of 5k load, and no there wasn't enough wire in my box - I had to add about 20" to each wire. Turned reconnection switch to check functionality (mistake 3) then spent two hours loosening the nuts on the switch while still mounted in the output box to get it back to 120/240 single phase. Considered removing handle, probably will soon. Replaced dodgy herz gauge with a digital gauge that shows Hz and voltage. It's officially awesome to be able to see those numbers from 30' away. Made a cart for it out of 4x6 ash, extended exhaust to go just outside my barn with unit inside (yes I have a death wish) and made a nice heavy #8 suicide cord. Manual transfer switch and associated wiring is going in next month.

How prepared am I to run extended? Sorta kinda prepared. All three fuel pumps work on my unit, and I've already identified which hoses need to be swapped if one or both of the primaries fail. So while I don't have an official spare pump, I'm comfortable with what I have for now. When we lose power it's typically less than 12 hours, so I'm not too worried about filters. That said, I'm adding spare fuel filters, oil filter and glow plugs to my "need" list. If a fuel pump filter clogs I can steal off the auxiliary, and I'm not too worried about the air filter with the unit being inside. I suppose mice could create mischief and make for a bad day, but so far (fingers crossed) it hasn't happened with anything else.

Fuel stores - I have about 5/8 of a tank per the gauge plus a full 5 gallon can, so 12-15 hours run time if mine consumes the typical half gallon plus per hour. I have a list of the closest stations that sell diesel (pretty common in farm country) plus a friend with a bulk tank if things get bad. I'm a little lax on fuel stores because of my location - I'm the last house on the line serviced by Detroit Edison, with lines coming in from the east. West is Consumers Energy. Only once in 17 years have we had a severe enough outage that both companies were out in my neighborhood, so fuel is almost always 5 miles away in either direction.

Fuel storage - plastic cans (except the gennie itself) with known good seals. Fuel was treated with cetane boost/stabilizer and a double hit of biocide when it went in to the can. Fuel in gennie got same treatment. I verified when I bought in March that station was still on winter blend, so gelling shouldn't be an issue. I don't have any other diesel equipment, but father in law has a diesel mower and compact tractor. I'm planning to store fuel no more than a year and give whatever's left to him. Stabilizer bottle says fuel is good up to 2 years treated, and I've read on more than one forum it's more like 5 if it stays sealed so unless you tell me different I'm not too worried. As for running every month, I've been doing that mainly for two reasons - 1: to flush any critters hiding in the lines out and 2: to burn off a little fuel. I could easily switch to twice a year as that's about all my gasser saw, but I don't want to inadvertently store fuel for an eternity either.

On the subject of overthought, if the genset DOES fail I still have my 6500 watt gas unit. It's a tinker toy compared to the MEP, but it served it's purpose for 16 years. It still runs, but my fancy new high efficiency furnace really wants 60hz and minimum 115 volts or the onboard controller gets grumpy. Even after a carb rebuild and valve adjustment the old gasser just can't keep tight enough control on the settings to keep the furnace happy. The 002 is dialed in to 122 volts and 61 hertz. I don't touch it. Startup is 60.4 to 60.6 hertz, and after about 5 minutes we're humming along at 61. At 120% load (six space heaters at medium - 900 watts) the 002 drops to 121 volts and 59.8 hertz - scary how well something works when it's overbuilt for Uncle Sam. If I DO need the gasser I have an occasional use wood stove and probably a month's worth of firewood, so in theory we could heat with wood and run everything else off the little guy. I don't have a sump pump to worry about, so 12 hours of fuel could easily get me a couple days if I ran a couple lights off the RV batteries and inverter and just ran the gennie when it became necessity.

So... how'd I do?

 

[Guyfang]

Running only a half hour is not much of a run. Doing a run every month is a little more frequently than needed. Monthly run is more of a gas generator thing.
Having some conditioned fuel on hand and a few filters and oil would be good. I believe they have a 100hr oil change interval? So thats about 4 days non stop.
Filterbarn.com is a good source for low cost filters. I have yet to need a filter they didnt have.

My running interval is done when we change the clocks or before a forecasted storm, not many in the northeast. After its initial load bank run for about 15min i will run my house for a few hours. Changing loads is good for it.

View attachment 5kw MEP002 MilSTD DED 5-6115-584-12LO.PDF
This is the LO. Note, that you can vary interval times. First page, top left hand side. "The interval shall be changed to compensate for abnormal operation and severe operating conditions or contaminated lubricants. The interval may be extended during periods of low level activity, commensurate with adequate preservation precautions."

If I lived in El Paso, or some place where the dust and dirt were a problem, 100 hours would be maybe the right thing to do. Your location is not such a problem. It's more like here, germany. We ran 24/7, 365 days a year. A 100 hour schedule for oil and filter change was unrealistic. Remember, the LO is a GUIDELINE. Not a requirement. We asked for and received an exception to policy, for an extended time period for our services. The first time was for 14 days CONTINUOUS running time, 378 hours. Later, we went to 30 days, 756 hours. At the time, we were unable to parallel gen sets, and remove a gen set from pulling a load, to service it. Powering down an entire HAWK Air defence System, just so we could survive a Fire Control generator was simply not in the cards.

So if you need to run 24/7, for a power outage, I would consider extending the service interval, IF your environment dictates it. I think you would be safe with two weeks, 756 hours. In your case. White Sands, New Mexico is another case. And that is why the PMCS, Preventive Maintenance Checks and Services is so important. PMCS doesn't mean just looking at the meters. When you pull the dipstick, and oil shoots out, you have a problem. When you pull the dipstick out and the oil runs off like water and it smells like diesel, you have a problem. When the oil is suddenly over full, you have a problem. When the oil is gray/white, you have a problem. But if it looks, feels and smells OK, it probably is.

I guess what I am trying to say, is for you to consider your location, then decide if the LO fits. Consider your amount of operating time, and HOW it was accrued, then decide if the LO fits. I would not load test but every second month. BUT I would do a load test for at least several hours. A half hour is counter productive. The engine doesn't run hot enough, long enough to be of any good. The days of running a set so the batteries stay charged is long past. Use a solarizer or a trickle charger. One of the reasons I love OPTIMA batteries is because they hold a charge forever. Or simply remove the NEG. terminal. I have always felt that 100 hours, in a clean environment, is stupid. Take a look at the MEP-802A's LO. 250 hours between oil changes. Same oil, same filter technology. So why the difference?

 

[Guyfang]

So to answer the questions... I purchased the unit as a runner with all filters supposedly replaced. $1200 - a little steep from what I've read here, but it came from a reputable army surplus store that sells "pretty" 002a units all day long for $1800-2200. Mine's an ugly as sin brush painted green with a mismatched tan output box and some dents that probably occurred when other stuff that wasn't really needed got shoved in to it. Paint transfer kinda confirms this. I topped off the fuel tank on the way home (mistake 1) and ran it for two hours with a 1500 watt load (mistake 2) before I did anything else. After the two hour run I took the fuel strainer out to figure out why my fuel gauge didn't work. I don't think I've ever seen that much crud inside a fuel tank. Verified with a local farmer I had a pretty bad algae problem in that little tank - was told I'm pretty lucky I didn't plug everything completely shut.

So here's what I did: Pulled the tank and cleaned it thoroughly. Cleaned it again. Pulled the dip tubes and the fuel gauge and cleaned one more time. Pulled and checked all of the filters. replaced one fuel pump filter, everything else somehow managed to stay near spotless but I replaced the first fuel filter anyway. Cleaned everything else. Oil wasn't bad but looked like it had a little time on it, so I changed oil and replaced oil filter. Checked air filter. Checked preheat and glow plugs with multimeter - all good. Fixed 10k box so that it properly indicates percentage of 5k load, and no there wasn't enough wire in my box - I had to add about 20" to each wire. Turned reconnection switch to check functionality (mistake 3) then spent two hours loosening the nuts on the switch while still mounted in the output box to get it back to 120/240 single phase. Considered removing handle, probably will soon. Replaced dodgy herz gauge with a digital gauge that shows Hz and voltage. It's officially awesome to be able to see those numbers from 30' away. Made a cart for it out of 4x6 ash, extended exhaust to go just outside my barn with unit inside (yes I have a death wish) and made a nice heavy #8 suicide cord. Manual transfer switch and associated wiring is going in next month.

How prepared am I to run extended? Sorta kinda prepared. All three fuel pumps work on my unit, and I've already identified which hoses need to be swapped if one or both of the primaries fail. So while I don't have an official spare pump, I'm comfortable with what I have for now. When we lose power it's typically less than 12 hours, so I'm not too worried about filters. That said, I'm adding spare fuel filters, oil filter and glow plugs to my "need" list. If a fuel pump filter clogs I can steal off the auxiliary, and I'm not too worried about the air filter with the unit being inside. I suppose mice could create mischief and make for a bad day, but so far (fingers crossed) it hasn't happened with anything else.

Fuel stores - I have about 5/8 of a tank per the gauge plus a full 5 gallon can, so 12-15 hours run time if mine consumes the typical half gallon plus per hour. I have a list of the closest stations that sell diesel (pretty common in farm country) plus a friend with a bulk tank if things get bad. I'm a little lax on fuel stores because of my location - I'm the last house on the line serviced by Detroit Edison, with lines coming in from the east. West is Consumers Energy. Only once in 17 years have we had a severe enough outage that both companies were out in my neighborhood, so fuel is almost always 5 miles away in either direction.

Fuel storage - plastic cans (except the gennie itself) with known good seals. Fuel was treated with cetane boost/stabilizer and a double hit of biocide when it went in to the can. Fuel in gennie got same treatment. I verified when I bought in March that station was still on winter blend, so gelling shouldn't be an issue. I don't have any other diesel equipment, but father in law has a diesel mower and compact tractor. I'm planning to store fuel no more than a year and give whatever's left to him. Stabilizer bottle says fuel is good up to 2 years treated, and I've read on more than one forum it's more like 5 if it stays sealed so unless you tell me different I'm not too worried. As for running every month, I've been doing that mainly for two reasons - 1: to flush any critters hiding in the lines out and 2: to burn off a little fuel. I could easily switch to twice a year as that's about all my gasser saw, but I don't want to inadvertently store fuel for an eternity either.

On the subject of overthought, if the genset DOES fail I still have my 6500 watt gas unit. It's a tinker toy compared to the MEP, but it served it's purpose for 16 years. It still runs, but my fancy new high efficiency furnace really wants 60hz and minimum 115 volts or the onboard controller gets grumpy. Even after a carb rebuild and valve adjustment the old gasser just can't keep tight enough control on the settings to keep the furnace happy. The 002 is dialed in to 122 volts and 61 hertz. I don't touch it. Startup is 60.4 to 60.6 hertz, and after about 5 minutes we're humming along at 61. At 120% load (six space heaters at medium - 900 watts) the 002 drops to 121 volts and 59.8 hertz - scary how well something works when it's overbuilt for Uncle Sam. If I DO need the gasser I have an occasional use wood stove and probably a month's worth of firewood, so in theory we could heat with wood and run everything else off the little guy. I don't have a sump pump to worry about, so 12 hours of fuel could easily get me a couple days if I ran a couple lights off the RV batteries and inverter and just ran the gennie when it became necessity.

So... how'd I do?

You sound like your po po is all together. I think you will do fine. I highlighted the glow plugs, because unless you can find some real cheap, I would not worry about it. They rarely go bad. Or replace them when you can find some cheap, and never worry again for your natural born life.

The reason the AC output box was a different color was because it started its life on another set. I believe I remember when you started a thread, or jumped in on someone else's thread, and we discussed this. Wondered what happened to you! So stop worrying. You sound good. Someone else might have something to add that I overlooked. I hope so. The only real test, is to do it for a few days.

If you do have to run, say a week, the fuel gets to be a pain. Carrying cans and such. Look into maybe a fuel tank from a large truck. Mount wheels on it and use the AUX capabilities of the set.

 

[Hectorsosa]

I'll look thru the LO. I have a digital copy at home, but I don't think I printed that one. I may actually move to intervals LESS than 100 hours on things like oil change, mainly because I was told that once oil has been run thru an engine it gets a bit of a shelf life because now there's contaminants introduced. If this thing only sees 20 hours in the next two years I may change the oil just because. It's cheap insurance, and given all the old iron my grandfather had he must have been doing something right. If you were getting 756 hours on an air filter, I don't ever see myself changing the one that's in it.

As for run times, noted. I figured once the baffles opened I was getting it hot enough to say I officially tested it, especially given the fact that I'm warming it up for five minutes and then dropping 100% load on it for 20 minutes. If you're telling me it's not even starting to break a sweat yet I can easily switch to a 2-3 hour run time every six months, if not once a year. We usually get a couple outages a year, so being put into "regular" emergency service will probably meet this requirement. Carrying fuel - that's why I have a teenage boy. I've found that as long as you keep them fed they're useful for toting heavy things you don't feel like toting yourself. He also has gotten to the point where he likes to know how everything works, so I've let him fire the green beast up the last couple times. He's officially starting to become useful.

I'll consider myself ready unless anybody else chimes in with something. I'll look over the LO before my next anticipated run, and if anything catches my interest I may be back with a few more questions.

Again, thanks for the input everybody!

 

[Guyfang]

Air filters are a different thing. We normally waited until the red signal on the air restrictor popped up. Then we changed. And our sets were old, they had oil bath air filtering. Easier to get off. It's not easy to remove a filter while running, but it's not impossible. Well, normally. I have seen filters buckled due to constrictions. Even if you had to turn off the set, how long does it take to change an air filter. Keep a spare on hand, so you pop the dirty one out, pop the clean one in, and start her back up. Then clean the dirty on at your leisure.

Better a load test for 2-3 hours, every six months.

If you want to be really high tech, do AOAP. Oil Analysis Program. Its a pain to get started, but for high useage engines, a super deal. A friend of mine who retired after 34 years in the army, and took a job running the Fleet Vehicle Maintenance program for McDonalds here in germany, convinced the company to go to AOAP. The first year, they saved over a million Euro's. But that's high useage gear. Still, it saves money on oil changes, and lets you know when you have a potential problem comming up.

Yeah, I have two strong boys to handle the light work! If I can find them. As long as they lived at home, it was easy. If someone didnt want to work, no plate on the table. Man was that easy!