Over the Thanksgiving weekend we went back over to the island and spent 4 days working. I took some time to wire the generator into the power panel using the correct lockout kit. It took a bit but I tracked down the kit for under $75.00.
A few things that I found out after running the generator almost non stop for 4 days. -
- The generator has some oil leaking somewhere around the fan area. I didn't have time to dig into it to find the origin.
- I put 4 quarts of oil in the generator and it still showed low on the dipstick after several hours. Oil pressure was 40-60 psi
- My wife didn't think about the power being used. With the generator powering the fridge, water heater, the washer, the dryer and the microwave, it will overheat and shut down without boiling water passion. I guessed the amperage at around 55 before the microwave kicked on for 5 minutes.
- The aux pump does not work. Voltage was to the pump at 24V but nothing happens.
- It will shut down with a no fuel indication after several hour and still has about 3 gallons of fuel. The Battle Short will let it run to empty. I had my son stick his hand in there and the floats are not stuck
Lingering question - When running at a smaller load, when the well pump kicks on the lights surge brighter. Why?
I also managed to get an auxiliary tank hooked up, although not the way it's intended. Being short on time I had to figure out a way to make the external tank run the generator. I disconnected the fuel line from the main pump and routed the aux. tank line to it. Go figure, the aux tank connector and the main connector are different sizes! A hose clamp solved that problem. I then took the fuel return hose and routed it back to the aux. tank through a covered funnel. It's not pretty but it's functional. To get past the no fuel shutoff issue, I put 5 gallons into the main tank.
Given the loads that I put on the generator, I was burning around half a gallon of diesel per hour.
The day before we left, they got some power into town which is a blessing. There is talk that electricity will be to our end of the island in the next three weeks!