Curses, Oiled Again

[kdmac]

Ok, I hate to admit I did something stupid...Actually the older I get the easier it is to admit my failings....I thought it wise to share this with you in the event it could help someone down the road (pun intended).
I am dry-camping and using my Honda 3000 generator on a daily basis to recharge my RV battery and to enjoy the amenities in the evening. It was on my mind to check the oil on Monday evening before starting it up that night...it was grieviously low. Since it was late and all stores were closed I didn't use it that night and drove into town next day. Stopped in at the RV/Generator repair place and bought my oil and was given a card for the generator repair guy that comes in for a few hours each day. I go back to my campsite and follow the directions for adding oil...it has a nice dummy-proof diagram next to the dip stick. It shows adding the oil in at an "unfriendly" angle, kinda dumb I thought. So, I tilted the generator to more easily get the only in the hole and not all over the place......"I don't need no stickin funnel"......"It sure is taking an inordinate amount of oil", I said to myself. So, I start er up after the oil is in and blue smoke flies out of it like a crop duster; it chokes and dies. Then doesn't start again. I realized what I had done and emptied the oil down to the proper amount but it was too late. Good thing I had the "card" from the repair place. I called and he said c'mon down.

Of course since I had put way too much oil in, because the tilted angle allowed it all to pour past the reservoir and into "everything", spark plug, cylinder, filters, etc. He had certainly seen this before and took out the spark plug and filters wiped up as much as he could, blew some cleaner into the cylinder, etc. and replaced the spark plug and started it up, plugged in a portable heater to make it work harder and it blew smoke out for half an hour. Blue smoke filled the sky, boy, was my face red. He assured me it wasn't damaged and it would burn all the residual oil out and the filter would be fine, all was well. He told me not to feel stupid, said I wouldn't believe some of the things that men have done, this being just one of them. Turns out I learned some things while there. About using the "Environmental friendly switch" which causes it to run at a lower RPM and burns the carbon out, said I should use that setting (unless running something big like the A/C) and once a week go ahead and run it at full RPM so it that gets used too. Told me to run the generator to get it hot before doing the oil change (which is really easy to do, even for me) that way the oil is hot and will run out real quickly and fill the reservoir more quickly. So, $65 later I am back in business and a little smarter.

[cpatinjones]

Thanks for sharing this story. It is good advice for owners and future owners of generators.

[JoanE]

I'm glad your learning experience was only $65. It is exactly situations like this that give me anxiety. We don't know what we don't know until we find out we didn't know it and it could be catastrophic....like being stranded somewhere in the boonies or very expensive to repair/undo. Re generators...I have been told that it is important to run your generator periodically. Having said that, I have been on hook ups for most of the past two months, so have not had the necessity of running the gen. Not having many hours on your generator is NOT a good thing.

Thanks for posting your experience. Serves as a reminder to me that there are a couple of things that need my attention/maintenance.

[sharon]

Don't feel bad, we've all done dumber things than that! 65 bucks is a lot of money, but it sure could have been worse! Lesson learned and no harm no foul.

[Nasoosie]

Thanks, KD----I'll certainly remember to NOT tilt the generator to add oil, but use a funnel instead! I probably wouold have done the same thing you did, had I not had a funnel!

I now wish I had bought the Honda 3,000, with a set of wheels for it, and I could ramp it up into my truck. That would run my generator, and my Yamaha 2400 will not, although the RV dealer told me it would. Now I just carry my Honda 2000 and plan to get its companion 2000i and a joiner so I can have AC if needed----should I EVER get to a desert, for instance. I can easily carry each of those units, and use just the one most of the time, so I guess, eventually, it will be a better choice for me than the 3,000 would have been. Come to think of it, I also need to run my Honda for a while now----thanks for this post. I also didn't know about running the environmentally kind switch thingy, either. Good to know stuff!

[kdmac]

I'm glad your learning experience was only $65. It is exactly situations like this that give me anxiety. We don't know what we don't know until we find out we didn't know it and it could be catastrophic....like being stranded somewhere in the boonies or very expensive to repair/undo. Re generators...I have been told that it is important to run your generator periodically. Having said that, I have been on hook ups for most of the past two months, so have not had the necessity of running the gen. Not having many hours on your generator is NOT a good thing.

Thanks for posting your experience. Serves as a reminder to me that there are a couple of things that need my attention/maintenance.

I copied/pasted this from the internet.
•Run your generator at least once a month for 20 or 30 minutes.
Running, or exercising, your generator regularly helps to insure it will start when you really need it. It lubricates the engine by circulating oil, runs fresh gas through the carburetor, and works to recharge the battery. This keeps the generator ready to go when the power goes out.

I noticed they didn't mention plugging it into a heater or something to make it work a bit harder than just idle...that is the thing to do.

[Liz]

And that's why I always pay someone else to service my generator.

[Acadianmom]

Soos, we bought a 3,000 or 3,500 portable generator after one of the hurricanes and it wouldn't run the air conditioner on my motorhome. I don't know how much it weighed but I think 2 men would have had trouble getting it up a ramp into a truck. Before you buy something check and see that it will do what you want done.

I seldom need my generator so when I leave on a trip I start it and run the air conditioner for an hour or so while I'm going down the road.

Martha

[Forestgal]

Another good, preventative measure is to add a gas additive. I hadn't done that & let my generator sit for too long. Ended up gumming the carburetor up. $85 later I was good to go. But now I run the generator dry and store it wtithout gas. When I do add gas I always add an additive just in case.

Laura

[kdmac]

Another good, preventative measure is to add a gas additive. I hadn't done that & let my generator sit for too long. Ended up gumming the carburetor up. $85 later I was good to go. But now I run the generator dry and store it wtithout gas. When I do add gas I always add an additive just in case.

Laura

Oh, yes, I should have mentioned that . I always add a "stabilizer" additive to the gas if I end up with a tank of gas that I know isn't going to be used in the near future...certainly best to run it empty of gas before that happens. Yesterday the wonderful fellow did tell me that the main problem he sees is "gas that has been allowed to sit with no stabilizer and the carburetor is gummed up. You buy the stabilizer at any auto parts store and add ounces per gallon per instructions...

[AlmostThere]

And that's why I always pay someone else to service my generator.

I'm with Liz on this one! But I am glad that you got it fixed fairly easily and didn't have the expense of having to replace your gen.
Thanks for sharing the lesson.

[JoanE]

New info needs clarification for me. My gen runs on my rig's gas so what does running it "dry" mean?

[sharon]

New info needs clarification for me. My gen runs on my rig's gas so what does running it "dry" mean?

That's info for the gals that have trailers and portable genny's. You couldn't run yours dry. Well, you possibly could, it'll run itself dry before it runs your gas tank dry. You're fulltiming, so that's not gonna happen. Just exercise it once a month and you'll be fine.

[Birdie]

kdmac, Kathy, glad you got that fixed at such a reasonable price. Yes, we sometimes have to do something not right to learn how to do it right...been there and done that....on different things several times.

Joan, you need to check your generator manual on how to run it correctly for exercise. I have to plug mine into the interior plug that is made for it within the electric bay. (Most genny's are not supposed to be running while plugged into the campground electric socket because of back power.) Then start it. Also I have to have at least 1/2 tank of gas. The exercise has to have something to make it work (commonly called a load). So depending on all things including where I am and what's happening, I always run the refrigerator but that is only 2 or so amps. The m/w uses a lot, but how much water can you heat and reheat to pull a load. In the winter I turn on one of the heaters as they run either 1500 or 1800 watts. Guess you could turn the hair dryer on and defrost your freezer while running the genny...Probably wouldn't take an hour though. I keep a sticky note pad above the generator timer and write down date and time of start and stop and then move that info to the Generator manual. If I am not getting enough time, I run it driving down the road. I didn't do a good job of running it monthly last year and had to have it worked on this spring. Now it is going great and I am more disciplined about making sure I run it a minimum of one hour a month with a load. Don't want to pay for that twice. Which reminds me that I need to check the oil on my unit before I run it for December.

Generators are a good thing!

[JoanE]

Sharon/Birdie, your info makes sense for me. My gen runs off my gas tank and it turns off if my tank gets to 1/4 tank. (To keep me from running out of gas and being stranded.) I do run my gen periodically but will reread my manual to make sure I am doing it enough.