MEP-1040 Owners

Hi All,

I see that the MEP-1040's are slowly starting to trickle out onto the market based on the GP site. Does anybody have any real life use on them as a comparison to the MEP-803A's or anything? I'm very happy with my 803 but I'm genuinely interested to hear about the feedback on these as far as maintenance and capability is concerned. I think I saw another user used them after the hurricane up in the FL panhandle this year?

I have a 1040 and love it. It is quieter than the 803, and uses less fuel at .69 gph. Of course for the past few years since going from a MEP-802a to a 1040 my power never goes out to put it to good use.

I think Brother DAYBREAK has several of them.

They seem cute... but the more electronics you shove into a set, the more problems you are asking for. Electronics work great, until they don't (and we arent talking about off the shelf items).

Light in the Dark said:

They seem cute... but the more electronics you shove into a set, the more problems you are asking for. Electronics work great, until they don't (and we arent talking about off the shelf items).

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Being able to link multiple units together does make them more appealing though!

smokem joe said:

Being able to link multiple units together does make them more appealing though!

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Especially in disaster situations because fuel conservation becomes more important than having power.

Run smallest one that can parallel, that will be the nighttime set if its even needed, last year 1 house needed it and one didnt need night time power. come daybreak when you need the power bring another online, and another if really needed. (fuel consumption of an 831 during the night and running a 803 during the day was optimal for 1 house)

Off topic but my boss wanted 150KW for his building where the "disaster situation these loads must stay running" is about 20kw and daytime minimal services is closer to 50 kw. Datacenter where cooling is a necessity in the summer. The goal is 2x 006a gens paralleled because he about shat himself when I showed him what idle fuel consumption would be and what wetstacking is.

I have a pair of 803s I switch out for day use and 831 for nighttime. The 831 won't fire the AC but a 5kw would. One of those 1030s running at night and fire a second in the day would be a pretty sweet setup.

I think I'll stay with my MEP-803A. I just saw one of these 1040's go for nearly $7300 at GP today . That's alot of scratch for a used generator with no guarantees. Can't you buy a new civilian unit with warranty for around that price?

But did you see what the 44 hour MEP-803a went for? $6525 plus auction fees and taxes, ouch!!!!

Looks like it is time to put my MEP-1040 on the old auction block. The final 1040 (128 hours) sold for $8160

Auction prices on everything have been nuts! Sellers on eBay can't bring in the prices from recent gov auctions.

devilphrog said:

I think I'll stay with my MEP-803A. I just saw one of these 1040's go for nearly $7300 at GP today . That's alot of scratch for a used generator with no guarantees. Can't you buy a new civilian unit with warranty for around that price?

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Yup, all crazy talk

And besides, for that money... I would be working up a cogen setup with a new 1800rpm diesel, but utilizing the waste heat for my garage.

Light in the Dark said:

And besides, for that money... I would be working up a cogen setup with a new 1800rpm diesel, but utilizing the waste heat for my garage.

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I know right, sinking over $9k (I would surmise that this is around 75% of new MEP-1040 acquisition cost to Uncle Sam?) into an emergency backup for my house puts me into the territory of "screw it, let's just stay in a hotel" after a hurricane for my family's situation.

A 1 in 100 year hurricane (Hurricane Michael, etc.) putting you out of power for a month would still be cheaper in a hotel at these prices, and could potentially be covered by insurance (with the right policy). Furthermore, if a 1/100 storm comes through as a direct hit, there might not be much left in areas where power is out for a month so a generator might be a moot point?

In a place like where Michael hit, apparently 95% of the homes had power restored within 13 days by Gulf Power according to their website. I would surmise most of us on here see less than 100 hours of service per year on our gensets with normal outages (used as standby / backup generators for our homes, not off grid work so to speak), so 3 years of use in 1 'black swan' event.

Using a 500 hour amortization schedule on the unit (I'd guess 5 years of 'regular' use), that 9000 dollar used genset is going to cost you $18/Hour before fuel. Using the data tag information of .69 gallons of fuel per hour, with fuel being approximately 3.00 per gallon ($2.07 per hour at this burn rate), your surplus genset is costing you approximately $20 per hour, excluding unscheduled maintenance and associated PM costs.

Running 24 hours a day costs you $480, and that notional 30 day outage will set you back a cool $14,400. A mid tier hotel like a Hampton Inn or Courtyard by Marriott is going to set you back around 150-200 per day, and you'll get breakfast in the morning. ****, you could rent an apartment for that same running for a month price for a year in some places.

I got my MEP-803A after Irma and still feel like I overpaid a bit (bought 2 units and the prices averaged out to $1700-$1800 each and I had to put an additional $500-700 work into them combined) due to disaster surge pricing, but in the end buying a military generator was a Hobby purchase for me... something to tinker with and have something useful to my family and myself at the end of the day. At approaching $10K, I'd rather buy a used boat.

I have a feeling that deals on GP are not really a thing anymore. Perhaps the military vehicles and aux equipment are victims of what we could call the "Steel Soldiers" effect? There is so much knowledge and information sharing on here that it becomes public knowledge with a quick google search and folks capitalize on it. When I looked on the auction site, it says 96,000 people participating?

I think Yogi Berra said it best regarding the GP auctions, "Nobody goes there any more, it's too crowded."

hcso2332 said:

Looks like it is time to put my MEP-1040 on the old auction block. The final 1040 (128 hours) sold for $8160

Auction prices on everything have been nuts! Sellers on eBay can't bring in the prices from recent gov auctions.

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I saw one on fleabay. He was starting at like 17K for one on a trailer!! Who in their right mind would pay that? I'm sticking with my 803a unless one would happen to fall in my lap. Prices at auctions, even on the 80x series, has been crazy.

While I agree with what devilphrog said, and from what I experienced when I went up to panama city to help out for a few weeks, the value of some things just change. For people who prep for a 1/100 hurricane, they think about being prepared, what to power, fuel, etc... not so much operating costs. For people who have been through it, it becomes needing to operate and fuel burn becomes a VERY important item due to money. A lot of people simply cannot go grab a hotel 50 miles away (or lucky to get one closer). These are the people who actually still need to actually be there. It simply isnt sustainable to be away while areas are rebuilt and still have something to come back to.

There are a bunch of situations which require people to stay put, where being home with a generator partially or all of the time occur where the cost to be running a generator becomes less important.

Being there to see the hotel and housing situation, its not going to happen. your choices either become move away and find work, or find a way to work in the middle of it all which involves the return of a little bit of normalcy (electric) when you can get it.

There is so much more I learnt having been through Irma (locally for me) and Michael (I arrived on day 1 with generators for family) and learnt the most with Michael. It boils down to if you are in any position that could even be considered essential, you are staying and staying requires power, regardless the cost. This is why fuel burn becomes big because these essential positions are normally working class blue collar. Sure if you are in a career + family position where you could go away for a month then yes that makes sense, but not for the people who have to stay.

Not to get off topic, just wanted to point out how operating costs go out the window for some people and becomes much less of an issue, but those operating costs still hurt which leads to getting smaller more fuel efficient gens and reducing your electrical demands. (which helps your pocketbook during non-emergency situations)

Demoh said:

While I agree with what devilphrog said, and from what I experienced when I went up to panama city to help out for a few weeks, the value of some things just change. For people who prep for a 1/100 hurricane, they think about being prepared, what to power, fuel, etc... not so much operating costs. For people who have been through it, it becomes needing to operate and fuel burn becomes a VERY important item due to money. A lot of people simply cannot go grab a hotel 50 miles away (or lucky to get one closer). These are the people who actually still need to actually be there. It simply isnt sustainable to be away while areas are rebuilt and still have something to come back to.

There are a bunch of situations which require people to stay put, where being home with a generator partially or all of the time occur where the cost to be running a generator becomes less important.

Being there to see the hotel and housing situation, its not going to happen. your choices either become move away and find work, or find a way to work in the middle of it all which involves the return of a little bit of normalcy (electric) when you can get it.

There is so much more I learnt having been through Irma (locally for me) and Michael (I arrived on day 1 with generators for family) and learnt the most with Michael. It boils down to if you are in any position that could even be considered essential, you are staying and staying requires power, regardless the cost. This is why fuel burn becomes big because these essential positions are normally working class blue collar. Sure if you are in a career + family position where you could go away for a month then yes that makes sense, but not for the people who have to stay.

Not to get off topic, just wanted to point out how operating costs go out the window for some people and becomes much less of an issue, but those operating costs still hurt which leads to getting smaller more fuel efficient gens and reducing your electrical demands. (which helps your pocketbook during non-emergency situations)

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Demoh, I wholeheartedly agree with you Sir on essential services and costs being a factor. I went through Irma and such myself in Central FL, and my family was lucky with minimal damage only requiring a reroof and a couple of dropped trees. Agree that leaving isn't a really sustainable solution as well.

My point in a roundabout way was folks should consider the economics thereof when bidding on these units. I believe there is a financial tipping point on surplus generators. If I were to use my personal MEP-803A as a data point, the $2300 total initial acquisition cost is more bearable for use. Using my previous math of a 500 hour (probable 5 years of ownership use for somebody in a suburban / semi rural area running their home during outages) amortization + fuel costs, I'm looking at a per hour cost of ($2300/500 hours) or about $4.60/hr, and with diesel at a notional 3 dollars per gallon and the MEP burning 1 Gal/Hr for easy math, my running cost is right around $7.60 per hour, $182.40/Day, $5472/Month.

With the prices that these generators are demanding now, I'm wondering if it would be cheaper to buy a Harbor Freight gas powered unit, and run it to failure and just buy another. I would guess you could probably get a unit to last month long outage, and after month 1 of outage I would assume although one may not be able to acquire one locally, but could order through Amazon or Home Depot when weaknesses begin to show in the original unit and have it in hand in a few days.

I've derailed this thread incredibly (my fault!) but I'm glad to see the Cummins MEP-10XX series finally starting to hit the market and am glad folks are happy with them. Hopefully parts sales for them will catch up soon!

For the guys who have been around for awhile. When the 800 series (802a/803a) models came out, the prices were crazy just like today with the 1000 series. Just wait it out and prices will go down.

They were high. But GL was a lot more reasonable on almost anything that GP. GP must think there is gold in some of these units. I wish prices would come down. I'm not buying anything at the current rates.

If you remember GL just put the units out with unknown condition, so you didn't know what you got. GP is starting the units so you know if it runs and generates power, that's a game changer. Re-sellers are willing to pay up for runners because they don't have down time trying to get it to an operating condition, then they pass the added cost off to the buyer. Also, GP does a really good job in marketing so more people are finding the auctions.

GL was totally incompetent. GP is now doing what GL should have done and I'm sure the government is very happy. Prices have gone way up but it is an auction. The bidders are setting the final prices. It seems like prices have reached a non sustainable level judging from the feed back on here. I too am out of the market but I don't blame GP.