Kudos To My MEP 003A

[cuad4u]

I don't know if this is the proper place for this comment, but...............

As many of you know I bought a nice looking, clean but inoperative MEP 003A about two months ago from a GL. Before that date I honestly never even heard of any of the MEP generators. Over the past 6 weeks many of you helped me get it running and generating 100% by patiently answering the many questions I asked on this site.

I live in lower-mid SC and the once-in-a-century ice storm that passed through a couple of days age devastated this area. I live in the middle of a 700 acre farm and my private "driveway" is over a mile long. I am the only residence served by a mile long power line. We lost power at 9PM Tuesday night and as of 9AM Friday power is still off. Since I live in such an isolated area, it could be many more days before power is restored.

When I built the house 1998 I had the electrician install a 100A transfer switch mounted on the rear of the house with the prospect of having a "whole house" generator "one day". Sensing that this was going to be a bad ice storm on Monday afternoon, I pulled the trailer mounted MEP 003A near the transfer switch and connected 60 ft of #2 wire from the generator to the transfer switch.

When the power went out at 9PM Tuesday night the temperature was 23 degrees. Even though the MEP 003A started right up and has been running non-stop ever since - over 60 hours. I have a rather large house and the bottom floor is heated and cooled by a 5 ton Carrier heat pump with emergency electric resistance heat strips. I have not tried to run the 5 ton heat pump from the generator, but the MEP 003A runs everything else in the house, lights, 3HP well pump, water heater, stove, oven, dishwasher, washer, dryer, coffee pot, vacuum cleaner, etc.

Every morning and every evening it has become a joke that I have to go outside and "feed" the green monster. The green monster "eats" about 10 gallons of diesel fuel every 12 hours. Living on a farm with tractors, trucks, and backhoes, diesel fuel is one thing I won't run out of.

My wife does not like spending money, but she commented this morning. "I don't know what you paid for the green monster, but it was worth every penny".

 

[Ray70]

I'd say this was the right place to post your comment!
I live North of you in RI and the same storm passed through yesterday, luckily I'm close enough to the SE that we only got 6" of snow and no power outage.
I bought 3 MEP-002A's ( 2 from GL and 1 broken unit on e-bay) to power my house, my shop and my in-law's house after we had 2 recent outages lasting about 4 days each. "unfortunately" we haven't lost power since so I've yet to need to use them, but I wanted to get away from the gasoline powered noise makers I've been using and discovered the "MEP" series generators after painting a couple (MEP-005 and MEP-006) generators my brother purchased to supple 50HZ 3 phase power to test equipment his work builds for use in Europe. Believe it or not, I'm kind of anxious to see how the -002a's will perform in an emergency.
Glad to hear we have yet another satisfied MEP owner to add to the group! Good luck, hope power is restored soon.
How is your load meter looking with everythin gelse running? I'd say keep your stove, dryer and well pump off and fire up the heat pump and see what you got on your load meter.

 

[Rapracing]

Don't you love it when a plan comes together. I got my first one, an 002 going mid summer. I have used it 4 times. Like your wife mine thought I was a little crazy but she sure likes it when the power goes out.

 

[Bill W]

Mines been running since Wednesday.
I've owned two 003a's in the past 16 years and this is the first time I've ever had to use one and its been running like a champ and also burning less than a gal/hr.

 

[Chainbreaker]

I know exactly how you feel! I recently bought a MEP-002a this last summer since we live on acreage outside the city and have wells, pumped septic system etc. My wife was not too crazy about me spending the money for "that ugly thing on the trailer". She reminded me that we only lost power twice for short periods of time in the 5 years we lived here. I informed her how lucky we have been and we may not always dodge the power failure bullet for as long. Now just this last Saturday we lost power after a hard snow followed up by 1/2" of freezing rain which brought down lots of tree branches on power lines all across the PNW area. My wife was happy as a clam when I fired up the generator and she was able to watch the Olympics on the big screen Plasma in total comfort as the rest of our neighborhood sat in darkness. She was especially pleased the next morning when the espresso machine was going strong serving up lattes with our toasted bagels and it was "life as usual" at our house. We were only without power for two days. When she returned to work on Monday she heard all the horror stories of co-workers that did not have power all weekend and how cold their houses were and some that still do not have power restored. Now she is reminding me that I need to refill the auxiliary tank on the genset. She is actually watching out for our baby now!

 

[max bowtie]

So good to hear these stories! I just recently found out about these generators last week when we lost power for 3 days and have been reading through this forum since! Tons of info and you guys are great! I'm trying to get my hands on one or two so I can run my house and also my grandparents. Picked up a non running MEP-016c for $200 two days ago and got it running. It's in great shape and pulliing like a champ with the few test loads I put on it. Now I'm addicted and need the big ones!

 

[1800 Diesel]

Great write-up! Always nice to hear a good story about a resurrected MEP providing reliable service to a family home in need of power... If you happen to shut the unit down every now & then, be sure to check the oil in case it's burning a little. Also might want to add a little outboard motor oil or other lubricity product to the fuel.

Stay warm & enjoy the "luxury" of having power when the grid goes down!

Kevin

 

[Triple Jim]

It's a good feeling when you lose commercial power and have an MEP ready to go. We lost power for only about an hour yesterday, but it was a comfortable hour with the 003A running.

 

[storeman]

Mine were ready but not needed this time. We are so far out in the sticks that, if its ice or hurricane, it means about 10 days w/o power. We were just on the edge of this one with snow but changing to rain then warmer temps. My sons in northern VA have over 18" in a mixture, but fortunately still have power at both homes.
Jerry

 

[dangier]

One of my 002's is connected to the house and the other is on a trailer for "emergency response". We got 12" of the white stuff and spent most of the time plowing. Good to know the MEP's are ready and waiting (even though we may not need them for a few years). I keep trying to find uses for them to stay in "practice".
David

 

[Knuckles]

I feel less "crazy" when I hear how these MEPs are helping you guys. I have my 003a hooked up to the house ready to go, but we didn't lose power - although I did get the 18 inches of snow here in Northern Virginia. My wife thinks I totally went off the deep end so I kind of need the power to go out so she knows the benefit of having it. We lost power three times in the last couple months but none since I hooked the 003 up. The other two generators sitting out back may have helped her form her opinion of my mental health - I got bit by the MEP bug bad

 

[Bill W]

I finally got my power back Friday evening.
I put 48.3hrs on the 003A and it only used 1qt of oil.

 

[cuad4u]

Commercial power was restored to my house Saturday at 5:30PM. My MEP 003A ran from 11PM Tuesday until 5:30PM on Saturday - about 90 hours NON-STOP. After each 12 hours of constant running it took around 10 gallons of fuel to fill the tank, which I did every morning and every evening. It used less than 1/2 quart of oil and oil pressure held constant at 40PSI. The generator ran everything in the house (3HP well pump, 5500 watt water heater, washing machine, dryer, stove, oven, lights, TV, computer, vacuum cleaner, dish washer, etc) everything except the 5 ton Carrier heat pump, which I did not try. Gas logs provided the heat. Right now my MEP 003A is enjoying a much needed rest.

 

[storeman]

"Right now my MEP 003A is enjoying a much needed rest."

And you are a HERO!

 

[gimpyrobb]

I have two too, and enough parts to build a third, but have yet to need any of them. I'm sure one day I will be glad they are mine.

 

[dangier]

gimpy-like that avatar better...... Did you do it just for me?
David

 

[Speddmon]

It sucks that people have been without utility power for so long, but I love hearing stories like this. I had to run my MEP-003a last summer for a solid 7 days. After a very bad storm came through and knocked out power for most of Southern Ohio. I started it on a Friday night at about 6:30 p.m. and my utility power came back on the next Friday at about 6:30. I put 168 hours on it in that week, did an oil change after about 120 hours or so. Oil pressure never swayed and never lost a drop of oil. The spin on oil filter made the oil change a matter of minutes an was back up and running in no time.

I forgot to mention that the temps were 90 degrees plus every day!!! I ran the whole house, heat pump, water pump, wife did laundry and used the electric dryer...EVERYTHING!. Life was just like normal other than the outrageous diesel bill for the week.

 

[storeman]

Speddmon,
Nothing is worth it...until you need it.
Jerry

 

[Triple Jim]

+1 forgimpyrobb's avatar, and great story Speddmon. Nothing that interesting here yet, but I have had to run my 003A twice in the last week or so when the power went off for an hour at a time. I really do appreciate not having to decide what to do without during the outages.

 

[Speddmon]

Speddmon,
Nothing is worth it...until you need it.
Jerry

You got that right Jerry. I'm just thankful that the suppiers didn't try to gouge us on fuel costs. IIRC I used about 105 gallons of diesel that week...and it was worth EVERY PENNY!!!!