Am I a victim of foul play or incompetence? LOL.

[Powerlinefixer]

After the power outage this week I changed the oil filter, fuel filter, fuel/water separator, topped off and then treated the fuel before putting the generator away.

Everything went fine until I went to change the water separator. Notice the gasket.



Bone dry.

And that lead to this:

View attachment 20250227_184058.jpg

So, I'm a Muggle (non-military) and I don't understand why someone would install a spin on filter gasket dry. Am I a victim of a prank or incompetence? Am I the one in the wrong? Is the separator gasket supposed to be installed dry?

 

[Chainbreaker]

Well, it did eventually come off with use of a persuader.

Unless I were to have some kind of filter that had specific instructions to NOT lube the gasket (pre lubed with grease or whatever), I always dip a finger in oil and lube the gasket.

So, it appears you're a lineman. What utility you with? We are on Lane Electric and I thought with the big rain and windstorm the other night we were going to lose utility power but we didn't. Though a friend a few miles away did lose power and it wasn't restored until morning. Of course, I had all my gensets prepped and ready for "lights out" but not even a power flicker here!