Gen set humor ? because it's so stinking cold.

[mciikurzroot]

So we here in Texas near the entrance to Hell somehow have left the barn doors open and this massive Artic cold is at our doorsteps. So genius here has been getting things prepped and ready, extra wrapping on pipes, chain saws ready to go, ropes and chains in the truck, all that sorta stuff. Finally i get the 15kw set pulled up and making the cables into the Xfer switch all set up. So I'm ready to crank err up and test and just be sure all is good. Primary pumps come on and things are sounding NORMAL so far ? Remember on the new Cummins sets you just momentarily go to START and the controller takes over, well sure enuff its cranking and making several new wierd ass sounds, my mind is racing, what can this be ?

POW ! is the next sound I hear, soon ice and crap is falling on me... Yup I did all my work, just forgot didn't remember to check or un-stick the exhaust flapper as it was stuck frozen from the ice that had formed and was keeping it closed, not letting the starting exhaust escape till it broke open..
Exhaust force can be powerful..
Supposed to reach down to 8 tonight and 3 tomorrow nite, the overhead power distro lines are already very taught, no sag, i fear we are not done yet..

Stay warm.. mac/mc

 

[Guyfang]

Been that way here a week or so. I could not get the trash can rolled out to the street, and then had to bang on the top to get the paper container open. The construction rubble containers were taken to be emptied, and came back half full. Cant empty them out, its all frozen solid. I hate winter.

 

[Slate]

West Texas here and mine is fueled up and ready. 11 degrees and falling.

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[mciikurzroot]

Been that way here a week or so. I could not get the trash can rolled out to the street, and then had to bang on the top to get the paper container open. The construction rubble containers were taken to be emptied, and came back half full. Cant empty them out, its all frozen solid. I hate winter.

Slate is sorta not telling it like it is, i grew up in Midland, between W Texas and the Artic circle is only barbed wire fencing ..

Oh seriously however, this has worse written on it before we get better, the coldsoaking on the trees and now and tomorrow, maybe on Tuesday or till it warms up, lot of limbs gonna break and knock out lots of power.. And Guy thats bad when your trash is frozen and wont come out of the dumpster..

You gotta admit, this new president has really accomplished a lot within the first 30 days toward his Global Warming agenda/program..

 

[Mullaney]

Slate is sorta not telling it like it is, i grew up in Midland, between W Texas and the Artic circle is only barbed wire fencing ..

Oh seriously however, this has worse written on it before we get better, the coldsoaking on the trees and now and tomorrow, maybe on Tuesday or till it warms up, lot of limbs gonna break and knock out lots of power.. And Guy thats bad when your trash is frozen and wont come out of the dumpster..

You gotta admit, this new president has really accomplished a lot within the first 30 days toward his Global Warming agenda/program..

Does that mean that H E Double Toothpicks might be freezing over?

 

[nextalcupfan]

I've been testing how well my generator starts in this cold, since it's pretty much as cold as it usually ever gets.

I also found an oil leak, which is lovely.

 

[Guyfang]

I have shared this tip many times before, but will again. When its super cold, take a small gas torch, and hold it in front of the air intake. Gen set starts up right now! Quick, easy and safe. In the field we used welding rod, with a bit of cloth pinched on the end. Dip it in the fuel tank and let it stop dripping. Then light it on fire. Hold it in front of air intake and wallah, starts right now.

 

[CMPPhil]

I have shared this tip many times before, but will again. When its super cold, take a small gas torch, and hold it in front of the air intake. Gen set starts up right now! Quick, easy and safe. In the field we used welding rod, with a bit of cloth pinched on the end. Dip it in the fuel tank and let it stop dripping. Then light it on fire. Hold it in front of air intake and wallah, starts right now.

Good tip- I've been using a variant of this for years, electric hair dryer. Whenever my wife says her hair dryer is slowing down I grab it for the shop 1400 to 1875 watts with a thermal cut out around 140F. I even have one that is mounted to a welding magnet to hold it place. When I want to start one of my 6 volt MVs in real cold, just open the hood stick the hair dryer aimed at the carb close the hood and come back in 1/2 hour hit the starter.

Years ago during a sub 0 spell one of my neighbors called because his diesel Mercedes would not start, he had already run the battery down wondered if I had charger, I went over with heavy extension cord, charger, and hair dryer, he looked at me kind of strange. Open the hood aimed hair dryer at the injector pump (1980s) hooked up the charger, close the hood and said let's go inside and have cup of coffee. When we came back moved the hair dryer snout to the air intake. Yup it cranked over and started.

Cheers

 

[jamawieb]

I've been testing how well my generator starts in this cold, since it's pretty much as cold as it usually ever gets.

I also found an oil leak, which is lovely.

Are you sure its oil? Looks like wet stacking coming from the exhaust manifold gasket. Have you been running it with little or no load several hours?

 

[nextalcupfan]

Are you sure its oil? Looks like wet stacking coming from the exhaust manifold gasket. Have you been running it with little or no load several hours?

I do tend to run the genset at low load but I burn off wet stacking regularly with a 13kW load.
I thought it was wet stacking at first too, but the drips going down the front of the engine are definitely oil.
It was also low on oil at its last oil change.

 

[MrShawn305]

Made sure she fired up in this cold. Worked great, so of course we didn't lose power

 

[AfghanVeteran2010]

My 831a was jelled up on Monday when I lost power at 3am. Barely wanted to turn over and ran for a few minutes and died, from lack of fuel. It being 3am my 531a is way too loud for me to want to run, I went back to bed figuring power might be restored in a few hours. Woke up and still no power stared my 531a and pugged in the gas furnace after an hour of trouble shooting turns out my furnace does not like the power the 531a provides. So I had to get my 831a running again a heat gun and 30 minutes later I had it running, add some more anti jell to the fuel tank and hopping it doesn't repeat. Power was restored around 3pm. So now I know the joys of cold weather and diesels.

 

[dav5]

My 831a was jelled up on Monday when I lost power at 3am. Barely wanted to turn over and ran for a few minutes and died, from lack of fuel. It being 3am my 531a is way too loud for me to want to run, I went back to bed figuring power might be restored in a few hours. Woke up and still no power stared my 531a and pugged in the gas furnace after an hour of trouble shooting turns out my furnace does not like the power the 531a provides. So I had to get my 831a running again a heat gun and 30 minutes later I had it running, add some more anti jell to the fuel tank and hopping it doesn't repeat. Power was restored around 3pm. So now I know the joys of cold weather and diesels.

I routinely run my 831A at my camp in northern Ontario Canada in -25 C temperatures without additives but I make sure I buy my diesel after the cold weather arrives. The suppliers automatically put all the additives in. I guess such low temperatures are so rare in Texas you have to supply them yourself. I hope your weather returns to normal soon.

 

[Sazabizc]

I’m got the mep-003a running now . Started it in 32 degree weather . It always start even with just 3 glow plugs working . Last night it was freezing rain and I was worried that something like the master controls switch or breaker would freeze in place . So I got our 10 buy 10 pop up canopy out and put it over the generator to keep the rain off it . It’s now 21 out and it’s still purring away. Had a lot of trees falling and branches breaking . Never seen or heard anything like it before . It was like Godzilla was stumping around . Then I heard the transformers blew . Power went off last Thursday and came back on Saturday night . Now it’s off again. Neighbor had 3 tress fall on his house and one on his garage,Did a lot of damage . Part of the tree that hit his garage broke off and landed on his truck . I think it totaled it . Had trees down all over the drive way and the power line is laying in the drive way . It was a interesting night to say for sure .


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[AfghanVeteran2010]

I routinely run my 831A at my camp in northern Ontario Canada in -25 C temperatures without additives but I make sure I buy my diesel after the cold weather arrives. The suppliers automatically put all the additives in. I guess such low temperatures are so rare in Texas you have to supply them yourself. I hope your weather returns to normal soon.

How does you battery hold up in that weather? Mine Barely had the capacity to turn the engine over around -17 C, also might be the fact I'm using two UPS batteries for it 18AH in series.

 

[Guyfang]

Its all about CCA. Cold Cranking Amps. And if the battery was fully topped off to begin with.

 

[dav5]

How does you battery hold up in that weather? Mine Barely had the capacity to turn the engine over around -17 C, also might be the fact I'm using two UPS batteries for it 18AH in series.

I don't have any battery problems. I was able to find a 24 V OEM battery on eBay and I leave a Noco 24V maintainer plugged in 24/7. I also have a spare 831A with 2 12V gel batteries that work well too. Both generators start immediately in cold weather The biggest problem I have is a short circuit fault. I have to run it for 20 minutes or so to dry it out then shut it off and restart to clear the fault.

 

[Light in the Dark]

I've been expecting fuel gel to be an issue in this storm, especially in the lands which never see temps low enough for it to occur. Good luck to all.

 

[Slate]

And on top of it all.

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[Sazabizc]

Wanted to post this just in case someone else has this problem to. Our generator never did charge it’s own batteries. I think it’s the rectifier. But anyway you can use 12 volt battery chargers on it while running to keep them charged. I just have one charger on one battery and the other on the the other battery and it’s charging fine . Got them plugged into the outlet on the front. And so far the military grade batteries it came with have been doing great .


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