MEPs and Hurricane Irma

[Russ Knight]

I really don't think guy is being arrogant. He is trying to help people prepare, it doesn't take much time to read and exercise the machine each month. I know everyone has very busy lives but when your faced with a deadly situation and you can't keep your family safe because you didn't have enough time to learn about your machine, kind of makes people who prepare, irritated. We want to help but we can't, when you the SHTF.

It wasn't an issue of keeping my family safe. It was an issue of keeping my family comfortable. If it was a safety issue, we would have evacuated.

 

[dav5]

If you were more familiar with Guy's contributions I doubt you would ever call him arrogant. He bends over backwards to help out anyone who asks. It must be very frustrating when questions arise that are easily answered by reading the more superficial parts of the manual. I saw his post as an attempt to give some good advice.

 

[glcaines]

My whole house has been running on my MEP003A for about 4 hours now. The unit has never let me down. It burns about 1 gallon of diesel per hour, but the advantage is that it runs the whole house, HVAC, ovens, etc. I've had it for quite a few years now. It has never even used any oil. One of my favorite aspects is the auxiliary fuel pump. I have two M35s, two JD diesel tractors, an F250 diesel pickup and a diesel VW Jetta. I just pull fuel out of the vehicle tanks, which is always fresh, and don't have to store any diesel. Mine is also M116A2 trailer mounted, which makes it portable for use in remote areas of my property. I also use the 3 phase to run some power tools. Best thing I ever bought from GL.

 

[Daybreak]

Howdy,

1st things first.
You bought a generator at auction not knowing its working function.
Some are not runners and takes a lot to get them up to speed.
Some are and have minor issues.
If you want a turn key generator, pay up for a unit which is ready to run.

Just because you buy a generator, you should read, and understand is operation and failure components.

I have very full listing of filters and parts. The 2nd post has quick links to many issues found with the MEP-8xx units.

Fuel filters, oil filters, fuel return lines, gaskets, fuel pumps, starting procedures, operating 60Hz and 240 volts, grounding, using a real meter to verify your gauges, etc...

It's all here in the forums. All the TM's, the knowledge from members, problems with the MEP-8xx units and fixes.

Like I said before, you have found the right location for your generator information and assistance.

NOTE: Posting a thread ; they do not charge you by the word count. If you have a failure, describes any and all things going on. Pictures are great. Just don't say, it doesn't run and go away.

Big boys generator club

NOTE2; Haoleb is right. You know you have a 10kw when your looking for more stuff to turn on.

 

[Triple Jim]

Guy is not arrogant. He spends a huge amount of time here purely to use his experience to help others.

 

[Chainbreaker]

I was one of those people. I had just got the units and had not had time to do any significant research on them. You don't have to be an arrogant DH. You really don't. At least we weren't too proud to ask for help, and I do appreciate the help I received. I own a plumbing and electrical supply house. I help people every day. That's what I do. People, like me, can ask some really ignorant questions. If I talked down to my customers like you just talked down to me, I'd be bankrupt in 6 months.

But hey, I have thick hide, and I'm a forgiving kind of guy. Rant on mate.

For whatever reason, you seem to be taking Guy's advice a bit too personal. He didn't call anyone out by their identity, yes he did offer some examples of what happens when people aren't as prepared as they need to be when facing an impending natural disaster at their door step. He's certainly not an "...arrogant DH", he only was using examples to help drive home important points, at least that's the way I took it.

BTW, these machines can electrocute and kill those that do not treat them seriously or are not skilled enough to install and operate them in a safe manner. Even if managing to not electrocute oneself there are ways to screw up one's wiring and electrical systems if installing a genset, or operating one, is rushed or done improperly. So please everyone lets learn from ours and others mistakes and feel free to express a lack of knowledge and ask for help. However, the responsibility still lies with the operator to become proficient just as is required to drive a car or pilot an airplane. We are all here on this forum to learn and share!

If I recall correctly, you have one unit that is down and one that is working so hopefully you are still up and running. You will get through this, there are many here to help!

 

[Guyfang]

Russ,

I ment no harm. Yes I used you as an example. And if it helped get the ideas across, that's good. I did not use your name. Nor would I ever do that for any reason. I did not call you names, nor insult you in any way. I have often "hung my butt out" by telling some story about how I screwed something up, to illustrate what I want to explain to folks. If I offended you in any way, please forgive me. That was not the intent. The intent was to encourage folks to work together. Share the hard earned Knowage accrued during this time. And yes, to vent a bit. I am a old crusty soldier. If we're not bitc@ing, we ain't happy. So if your skin is thick. Good. Mine too. And DH isn't even close to the worst thing I have been called. So let's kiss and make up. Now, back to work! 3.5 hours until lift off! Rolling Stones in Munich!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[Russ Knight]

Russ,

I ment no harm. Yes I used you as an example. And if it helped get the ideas across, that's good. I did not use your name. Nor would I ever do that for any reason. I did not call you names, nor insult you in any way. I have often "hung my butt out" by telling some story about how I screwed something up, to illustrate what I want to explain to folks. If I offended you in any way, please forgive me. That was not the intent. The intent was to encourage folks to work together. Share the hard earned Knowage accrued during this time. And yes, to vent a bit. I am a old crusty soldier. If we're not bitc@ing, we ain't happy. So if your skin is thick. Good. Mine too. And DH isn't even close to the worst thing I have been called. So let's kiss and make up. Now, back to work! 3.5 hours until lift off! Rolling Stones in Munich!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

You didn't offend me, you pissed me off, lol! I'm an old curmudgeon too. Believe me, I understand your frustration with people who are ignorant. I've been in the plumbing / water well drilling, and now the wholesale plumbing and electrical business for decades. I have a lot of experiential knowledge that I share with those customers who will receive it. Yes, I sometimes get frustrated with them. But one thing I have learned is shaming someone for their ignorance either directly, or by implication, is generally not a good practice. I try hard not to make people feel stupid (even if they are). It's just not productive.

Having said that, apology accepted as I offer mine as well, and thank you again for your help. I look forward to learning from you and the others here.

Russ

 

[glcaines]

My whole house has been running on my MEP003A for about 4 hours now. The unit has never let me down. It burns about 1 gallon of diesel per hour, but the advantage is that it runs the whole house, HVAC, ovens, etc. I've had it for quite a few years now. It has never even used any oil. One of my favorite aspects is the auxiliary fuel pump. I have two M35s, two JD diesel tractors, an F250 diesel pickup and a diesel VW Jetta. I just pull fuel out of the vehicle tanks, which is always fresh, and don't have to store any diesel. Mine is also M116A2 trailer mounted, which makes it portable for use in remote areas of my property. I also use the 3 phase to run some power tools. Best thing I ever bought from GL.

Power is now back on and I shut down the genset. Good luck to everyone still without power.

 

[DieselAddict]

It certainly is frustrating when someone pops onto the forum for a quick easy answer when its obvious that they have put zero effort into figuring anything out for themselves. It can come across as disrespectful to the members here and especially to the members that go out of their way to offer help.

One of the things that may be helpful (in my opinion) is to make a sticky for the top of the forum with some basic instructions on how to find the answers to the most frequently asked questions. Kind of a READ THIS FIRST BEFORE POSTING kind of thing. I'd be happy to contribute to that.

I've really enjoyed participating here since the group is very much a git-er-done crowd.

 

[m32825]

I've really enjoyed participating here since the group is very much a git-er-done crowd.

I want to second that sentiment... and because we're going on 32 hours of enjoying the benefits of generated power you know it's sincere!

-- Carl

 

[csmitty]

20hrs off the grid here in ATL. Ran 8 Monday afternoon on the 802 and shut it down for 7-8 while we slept since temps were cool, if it was cold would have left it going for the furnace. Also didn't want it running at night and standing out, not that anyone would run off with a 1100lb generator. I just jacked it up, but a dolly under it and moved it back in the garage. Started it up this morning and ran for 4 hrs before power came back on.

It ran mostly below 25% load the whole time. I found the 5kw is kind of a tweener. It would run the electric cook top (only tried one burner at a time) and the oven at 350 (mainly to work it some). With lights and oven on it loaded it to 75% and it seemed ok with it. I did turn everything off and try the water heater (4500W) and it flipping on would load up the 802 and seemed to be stable but then would get an overload trip and dump the load, so I didn't fight that anymore.

It did not like the dryer on low heat but was fine turning it with just air fluff (no heat)

I did turn on a 1500W heater in the garage to help load it up some as well for a little bit.

I can see the allure of the 10kw 803 now and will be on the look out for a good deal. It would be nice not to have to worry to much about what gets turned on and when. I love the little 802 though and we rode out the power outage and winds just fine, on the other end of the house you wouldn't even know you were on gen power. Once its in its permanent spot in the yard it will be even more subdued I'm sure. Just a few things to go over and fix.

This is a wonderful site for support on these gen's. Learned a vast amount since I've joined but as its been said these aren't plug and play persay, you def. need to understand them and double and triple check everything, especially wiring. I was back feeding my garage subpanel (with main breaker off) with a L1430 outlet. I needed another 240 outlet anyways, so when I was finishing up adding it to the sub I was double checking I didn't have the ground and neutral bonded, but sure enough I was getting continuity between the neutral and ground bar, with the EGC from the main panel removed. Only thing I could think of was I tied a ground in with a circuit from the main panel somehow, so started taking the grounds off one by one at the sub and rechecking. When I took my new 30A circuit ground off I realized that it was the culprit. So I went over my extension cable and my wiring at the gen output lugs. Then it hit me, the bonding bar on the genset was still connected. Doh. After that all was good.

 

[boatman69]

Your 802 should handle the pure resistive load of the 4500w water heater with no problem.

 

[Bmxenbrett]

With my 802a i have ran the electric oven and one burner just fine, with about 12 CFL lights on also. I did turn the electric dryer on and it ran just fine but was at 100* so didnt run it long. The 802 ran my heat pump water heater, 240v well pump and some lights with the oven on just fine. I had a 803 right next to it when i did these test and ended up selling it because i didnt want the extra fuel consumption.
Becids the dryer these tests were done by my lady un beknowns to her. Had the unit running the house when she got home from shopping and i didnt tell her. She went about her business like nothing wad different so i consider that a big enough generator.

 

[jamawieb]

20hrs off the grid here in ATL. Ran 8 Monday afternoon on the 802 and shut it down for 7-8 while we slept since temps were cool, if it was cold would have left it going for the furnace. Also didn't want it running at night and standing out, not that anyone would run off with a 1100lb generator. I just jacked it up, but a dolly under it and moved it back in the garage. Started it up this morning and ran for 4 hrs before power came back on.

It ran mostly below 25% load the whole time. I found the 5kw is kind of a tweener. It would run the electric cook top (only tried one burner at a time) and the oven at 350 (mainly to work it some). With lights and oven on it loaded it to 75% and it seemed ok with it. I did turn everything off and try the water heater (4500W) and it flipping on would load up the 802 and seemed to be stable but then would get an overload trip and dump the load, so I didn't fight that anymore.

It did not like the dryer on low heat but was fine turning it with just air fluff (no heat)

I did turn on a 1500W heater in the garage to help load it up some as well for a little bit.

I can see the allure of the 10kw 803 now and will be on the look out for a good deal. It would be nice not to have to worry to much about what gets turned on and when. I love the little 802 though and we rode out the power outage and winds just fine, on the other end of the house you wouldn't even know you were on gen power. Once its in its permanent spot in the yard it will be even more subdued I'm sure. Just a few things to go over and fix.

This is a wonderful site for support on these gen's. Learned a vast amount since I've joined but as its been said these aren't plug and play persay, you def. need to understand them and double and triple check everything, especially wiring. I was back feeding my garage subpanel (with main breaker off) with a L1430 outlet. I needed another 240 outlet anyways, so when I was finishing up adding it to the sub I was double checking I didn't have the ground and neutral bonded, but sure enough I was getting continuity between the neutral and ground bar, with the EGC from the main panel removed. Only thing I could think of was I tied a ground in with a circuit from the main panel somehow, so started taking the grounds off one by one at the sub and rechecking. When I took my new 30A circuit ground off I realized that it was the culprit. So I went over my extension cable and my wiring at the gen output lugs. Then it hit me, the bonding bar on the genset was still connected. Doh. After that all was good.

It should take the dryer fine with lights, tv, etc. on at the same time. On my 802a, the dryer takes it to 100% load so you should be able to run the dryer without a problem. You may have to look at adjusting the governor a little so it will hold the load. Now for the overload trip on the water heater. It should have not tripped the overload, you will more than likely need to take the top panel off and clean the reconnection switch. There are several threads on this topic because this is one of the biggest issues with the 802a and 803a models when referencing loads.

 

[CARNAC]

Guy,

My gen set isn't running.......oh wait, it's 1200 miles away from me and I can't reach it from here. Nevermind.

 

[Chainbreaker]

With my 802a i have ran the electric oven and one burner just fine, with about 12 CFL lights on also. I did turn the electric dryer on and it ran just fine but was at 100* so didnt run it long. The 802 ran my heat pump water heater, 240v well pump and some lights with the oven on just fine. I had a 803 right next to it when i did these test and ended up selling it because i didnt want the extra fuel consumption.
Becids the dryer these tests were done by my lady un beknowns to her. Had the unit running the house when she got home from shopping and i didnt tell her. She went about her business like nothing wad different so i consider that a big enough generator.

I'm like you, given the choice between a 5 kW or 10 kW genset, I chose a 5 kW rated genset due to 1/2 the fuel burn rate or twice the time before having to worry about refueling in the case of a long term outage. Using our MEP-002a (which can output ~7 kW at our altitude) We ran for a week 15 hrs/day burning only ~ 35 gallons that week at house and still had fuel left over and had to do very little load management. We ran 60" plasma TV, 2000 watt espresso machine, well pump, septic pump, lights, garage door openers and just about anything else in our normal routine. We have propane water heater, furnace and cook top which certainly helps the situation. If we really needed to run our 5600 Watt electric dryer I would turn off the espresso machine, and keep an eye on the load meter (it makes for a good load tester during monthly runs!). During any outage I think of it as running on "emergency power" and making small sacrifices (no hot tubbing or long roasting turkey dinners!) as standard operating procedure during an outage.

Of course, those with all electric houses and needing AC would in all likelihood need a 10 kW genset to maintain normal living conditions. So I can see both sides of the coin.

 

[robson1015]

Guy might be tokin on a 'twisty' at the Stones concert....

 

[Chainbreaker]

Guy might be tokin on a 'twisty' at the Stones concert....

Yeah, probably don't want him diagnosing any genset problems right now while he is grooving to the music or enjoying anything else

 

[Hard Head]

If I lived near the coast I would have a PLC monitoring and testing my generator on a schedule. Guy is one of the best contributors in these generator threads. I try to read everything he has to say. He is brilliant troubleshooter. He attended life's university in the field with these units. So I can understand why he says what he says and I respect him. Believe me when Summer comes around I am checking my generator on a weekly basis since I can can't take off enough clothing to stay cool I guess he gets like me when I try to reason with a millennial. I just want to tap them on the head and ask is there anyone in there?