# A Story about Generators in Hurricane Laura of 2020



## Airstreamer67 (Oct 3, 2020)

This is my first post here, so I thought there is no better introduction for a generator forum but to tell a generator story. I thought someone may be interested in how one guy handled power outages from a hurricane. So here goes:

I live in Louisiana where we were hit with Hurricane Laura, a Cat 4 monster which came ashore this August 27 with winds of 150mph. 

My inventory for power outage protection consists of two generators:

My main "storm" generator is a 5000/5500W unit with a Japanese-made Yanmar diesel engine powering a USA-made Gillette generator head. I bought this unit new in 1995 as my only source of outage relief. It has served very well during many outages suffered in these past 25 years.

My backup "storm" generator is a 4000/4500W Japanese-made Honda EX4500S with a gasoline engine. I bought this unit new in 2003 to power my mother's home during outages. When she passed away a few years later, I kept it as my home backup unit. Prior to that, I had no backup option except for perhaps the little Honda 1000 which I bought in 1995 for RV trips, but being rated at 900W continuous, it represents woefully inadequate backup for home service.

This year during the hurricane outage, I'm really glad I had a backup unit able to power my house because if I hadn't, I would have been out of service for most of the 7.5 days outage that we suffered.

The rest of the story:

Hurricane Laura's "eye" crossed Louisiana's coastline about 1 am on August 27, moving north from the hot Gulf of Mexico. I live about 130 miles northeast of where it came ashore. The winds began really affecting my area about daybreak. At 6:30 am my utility power failed, so I went out to my little metal "barn" in the back yard to fire up the faithful Yanmar-Gillette diesel. 

A day before the storm, I had extended 50 feet of cable comprised of four 8-gauge wires from the barn, where I have my generators and fuel supplies, to the transfer switch on my house. My transfer switch is configured to only power the 120V circuits in my house. I don't have and don't want enough generation to handle everything in my all-electric house, so my transfer switch doesn't power any 240V circuits. To me, the big advantage of this configuration is less demand for fuel during long outages, since I don't have natural gas service and I don't want a big propane tank. So, I depend on liquid diesel and gasoline that I haul home myself.

My generators each use about half-a-gallon per hour when serving a normal household load of about 2500 watts, which goes up momentarily when motors start up. So, I use about 12 gallons during each 24-hour-per-day of continuous running. Since I only run one generator at a time, that's how much fuel I need to keep power flowing.

My on-site fuel supply consists of:

Diesel: 80 gallons in a transfer tank installed in the bed of my diesel pickup truck, and 40 gallons in 5-gallon cans in the barn, for a total of 120 gallons. This represents about 240 hours of continuous generator operation, which gives me 10 days from the Yanmar-Gillette. This is my main outage option. If I really had to, I could also siphon another 30 gallons or so from my truck's fuel tanks for another 60 hours or 2.5 days. 

Gasoline: 40 gallons of gasoline in 5-gallon cans in the barn, representing a total of about 80 hours, or 3.3 days, of continuous operation from the Honda. Again, if I had to, I could siphon another 40 gallons, or about 3.3 days worth from my three gasoline vehicles hanging around the house.

Although siphoning fuel from vehicles is doable, it's a slow hassle to mess around with. It would be considered only as a last resort. I've never used it.

So, with these preparations in place I began generating with the faithful Yanmar-Gillette diesel at 6:50 am on August 27. All went well for the next eight hours until I installed an 8000 BTU window air conditioner that I use for such hot-weather outages to cool one bedroom of my house, which is especially good for comfortable sleeping. I didn't put the air conditioner in the window until about 3 pm that first day because the temperature didn't become uncomfortable until then.

But my heart sank when I introduced the air conditioner load to the Yanmar-Gillette along with the other loads, and the voltage faltered and the generator tripped off line. I tried a couple more times to get the generator to carry the air conditioning load along with the others, but again and again it failed to hold. My diesel generator had problems with adding that air conditioner to the load group for some reason.

Darn.

On to Plan B with winds now howling at 100mph.

I pulled out my Honda backup, which had not been run since 2012. I'm not disciplined enough to test my generators every month, so I had this backup generator in "mothballs" until needed, and then crossed my fingers that it will start and run when needed. My version of mothballing the generator is to drain the fuel tank, carb and sediment bowl, change the oil, service the air filter, pull the sparkplug and put a little engine oil in the cylinder and turn the engine turn to distribute the oil before reinstalling the sparkplug, and then cover the genset with a tarp. In addition, I also put a couple of little 120VAC "Goldenrod" heater / dehumidifiers inside the generator's housing case to keep moisture away while it's in storage in the unheated barn. Louisiana is well known for high humidity, and so I have these little 40-watt heater/dehumidifiers to keep temperatures just slightly above ambient within the housing case, just enough to keep the air warmish and circulating by convection in order to keep things from rusting.

And so it was with fingers crossed that I filled the four-gallon Honda tank with fresh gasoline, connected the 12 volt battery, and turned the key. After a few revolutions, the faithful old Honda caught and fired for the first time in eight years, and continued to faultlessly run for the next 7 days, air conditioner and all, until the utility power came back on.

I ran the Honda 24 hours a day, refilling it on a schedule of every 6 hours to make sure I had at least a gallon's cushion so I wouldn't run out of fuel with a load on the generator. This made my refueling schedule easy to remember, consisting entirely of fours and tens: 4 am, 10 am, 4 pm, 10 pm. I only failed to follow that simple schedule one time, missing my 4 am fuel call the first morning due to my failure to wake on a timely basis. When I finally did wake up around 6:30 am to find the power off, the air conditioner quiet and the temperature rising, I quickly got up and refilled the tank with the requisite four gallons of petrol, and she fired right up. I began setting an alarm clock for the 4 am call after that.

By the way, I refill my generators fuel tanks with a couple of 12VDC electric fuel pumps, one for gasoline and one for diesel. This cuts down on spillage because I don't have to lift and balance a 35- or 40-pound tank of volatile fuel while pouring it into the hot generator. At 77 years old with a bad back, using a pump really helps. I just stick the suction hose of the pump into the fuel supply can, put the pressure end of the hose in the generator tank, and push a button for several minutes until the generator tank is full. With a push-button pump control switch, I can't walk away with a running pump and so have to be there watching, because as soon as I remove my finger from the "dead-man" button, the fuel flow stops. I configured it this way for safety. I also have fuel filters fitted the pump hoses, so any contaminants in the fuel supply cans are filtered out before reaching the generators.

Since I was running my gasoline backup and not the diesel, I only had a little over three days of fuel reserve that I could use. I knew from the widespread damages that we would be out much longer than that. I was afraid I'd have to join the parade going out of town to replenish my gasoline supply. Or, I would have to begin shutting off the generator at night and just let the temperature rise, sweaty sheets and all. Fortunately, utility service was restored to some local gasoline stations during the third day, so this was just in time to enable me to get gasoline at a station just a mile from the house without having to travel to distant supplies and/or to wait in the inevitable long lines with the rest of the fuel-less.

Had my Yanmar diesel performed as it always had in the past, I would have had more than enough fuel to last the entire outage without worrying about having to replenish it. But it was not to be, so my backup Honda had to save me. And it did.

Incidentally, I just picked up my Yanmar-Gillette diesel from a generator repair shop today. They tested it several times under rated load and said it held the load, so they had no recommendations for fixing what they can't find broke. So, I paid them for their trouble and put it back as first call option of the fleet. It may have been some type of transient voltage situation that was knocking it off line, some type of weird interaction between the air conditioner motor requesting startup amperage along with the two refrigerators and two freezers doing the same all at the same time. You can bet I'll be watching it in the future.

So, that's my story of the great hurricane outage of 2020. I've put the Honda back in mothballs with an oil change, a new air filter, fuel drained, and Goldenrod dehumidifiers.

The newly confirmed Yanmar-Gillette is now back in place, refueled and ready again for first-call service. I also keep the Yanmar covered with a tarp and with Goldenrods inserted at its base to keep the humidity factor down. It's easy to do, and I believe worth the effort. It's certainly easier than running it out and testing it every month or so. On the other hand, I will admit that testing might have caught the failure that I just experienced, but on the other-other hand the service shop couldn't get it to fail so why would I? Electricity in general and electric generators in particular can present mysterious gremlins that keep you on your toes if not on your heels.

I'm hoping my generators now will be able to rest for a while, but it may not be too long. The next eligible "outage event" for us is a couple of suspicious tropical storms brewing in the Caribbean as I type, and the hurricane season doesn't end until November 30. Or perhaps the next outage will come from one of those rare-for-Louisiana ice storms this coming winter that can emulate hurricanes in terms of service outages. Or maybe it will come from a tornado like our community got hit with just a year ago, causing the commensurate intense damages and outages. Or maybe it will come from a regular ole thunderstorm that can disrupt service just about anytime for a day or so. Or...well, I need to quit thinking about it and go chain-saw some firewood from that big hickory laying by the house. Oh, I didn't mention that hickory:

I was extremely lucky that my home wasn't damaged during Laura, but it came very, very close. As the storm passed through, high winds from the south pushed over an enormous 75-year-old hickory tree which was growing 20 feet northeast of my house. The tree fell northwestward away from my house and so caused no damage. But had the tree fallen when the winds were blowing from the north side, which they did part of the time as the eye moved along, it would have caused massive damage to my home. No generator could have helped me through that.

And one last observation: Hurricane Laura took about the same tract as Hurricane Audrey did in 1957. I sat through a long power outage from Audrey as a teenager, but my folks didn't have a home generator and we were days without power. The really important difference between those two storms is, Audrey killed over 500 people due to storm surge on the coast and lack of evacuation by many of the residents. Laura was much more kind in that regard and the residents were much more willing to evacuate and the forecasts were much more accurate. Nevertheless, there still were more than 30 souls lost in this latest 150mph iteration of Mother Nature's violent ways. May they rest in peace.

My thoughts and prayers go to the thousands who suffered Laura's highest winds, who lost homes and businesses, and who will be struggling with the devastation and damage for months and years to come.


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## exmar (Jun 29, 2015)

Great story! Thanks for sharing.


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## MariaWintheiser (Oct 6, 2020)

Nice story! keep sharing


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## iowagold (Jan 22, 2020)

on to the air con issue have you tried a soft start on the air con yet?
click here for the generator section with a link for the soft starter
those units rock!
the state fair folks swear by them here in Iowa!
they let a good sized ac compressor start on a smaller gen set.

you might look in to extended run fuel tank systems for your gen sets.
it sure saves a lot of messing around with refueling during an BIG event like you get down there.
the last thing you want to do is be out in it..
think a fuel tank for the 50 hour oil change. if you are doing a gen with out a spin oil filter.
and 200 hour for the gens with a spin filter setup.

gillette is a good company!
we have a few of the honda twin powered gens in the fleet.
watch the caps... if they are over 10 years old replace them.
I just rebuilt 4 of the older units this summer.
the new caps brought them back up to full power!


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## jkingrph (Sep 18, 2017)

Airstreamer67 said:


> This is my first post here, so I thought there is no better introduction for a generator forum but to tell a generator story. I thought someone may be interested in how one guy handled power outages from a hurricane. So here goes:
> 
> I live in Louisiana where we were hit with Hurricane Laura, a Cat 4 monster which came ashore this August 27 with winds of 150mph.
> 
> ...


Good story. I remember Audrey, She blew on up north and I was about 12 years old that year. We lived in W. Monroe, La, and the house had an attached carport, with a small storeroom on the south end and about a 4 or 5 foot wide pass through to the back yard. I do remember rain coming through that opening and going the length of the long carport and out the front. That was my first hurricaine. I now live in E. Texas and the way they were predicting Laura I got my big 11KW Honda out and connected to the house in case, I did not want to have to move it across a wet yard to my storage shed now being 75 years old, that's a job and that thing weighs 400+pounds. I do have a trailer hitch custom made for it and a long drawbar so I can pull it behind my lawn mower, but did not need it. After all threat was past, I did start it up and ran the house on it, I have a big double throw disconnect with an inlet for the generator wired in, and control load via my breaker box. I turned off the electric hot water and ran it about an hour main load being central air. Then drained fuel tank and put in fresh fuel, also drained oil and replaced, even though it only had an hour running time, figuring oil is cheap 25 hp engine is not. I have been treating it like that for the 18 years I have had it and it has allways performed well. I store it in the mentioned shed, which is insulated, and I keep one of the electric radiator heaters on low in winter to control humidity and help prevent rust on other tools, works well. The only downside of that generator is that it is thirsty, I keep about 60 gal of gas during hurricaine season on through winter when we might get the occasional ice storm, running that gas through the mower during summer, so keep it in constant rotation.


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## drmerdp (Apr 10, 2018)

Good story. I hope you tested the diesel on the house to confirm their repairs. Good luck with Hurricane Delta It’s going to be catagory 3 at landfall.


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## jkingrph (Sep 18, 2017)

Good luck with Delta. Hope it goes more east. SW Louisiana had enough a couple of weeks ago without another big blow. Hope you got your diesel unit up and running if you need it.


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## Airstreamer67 (Oct 3, 2020)

Yo folks, thanks for the kind thoughts!

Yep, we've got another hurricane looming towards ole bleeding, battered and tired Louisiana. This time she's named a Greek alphabet letter that's shaped as a triangle, named Delta. You can bet that we're battening down the hatches again in order to be as ready as we can for whatever lies ahead. 

In reference to generators on this generator forum, I only burned three or so gallons of diesel during Laura due to the mysterious fault on my Yanmar-Gillette generator, so I've still got about 10 days' worth of diesel on site if the outage should go that long, heaven forbid.

In the event the generator shop was wrong and there is an still undiagnosed problem with the generator that shows up in this oncoming storm, then I've still got 38 gallons or so of the gasoline stash for the Honda 4500 that I bought during Laura. Although the Honda is already mothballed, it takes only half an hour to get it ready should I need it, just as happened in August during Laura.

I appreciate the good wishes! I'll try to update the forum about what happens after this upcoming blow.


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## Putttn (Aug 28, 2020)

Great sory and thanks for sharing. You folks are a lot tougher than us. We live in Eastern WA state and the only thing we get is a cold winter.


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## iowagold (Jan 22, 2020)

rough year!!
yup get your backup stuff in order!!
as well as food water...
make sure every thing is mouse proof and water proof.


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## jkingrph (Sep 18, 2017)

The worst we usually have here in mid E. Texas is outages due to the rare ice storm, getting more rare. and those due to wind storms, trees taking out power lines. We had one such outage and we were out less than 24 hours. One neighbor on opposite side of street coming into our area was out about ten days. Power fed from a different direction and they had big problems. That's what convinced me to get a generator.

About 3 years ago we were at our house over in N La. when what they called a straight line storm blew threw, funny I had trees down in different directions. We saw something about the storm, and finally got through to neighbors who said power was out and it was very difficult getting into neighborhood, so we delayed coming home for twodays, figuring with house closed and no one bothering refrigerator and freezer they would be ok, which was the case. We started seeing power lines down about 12-15 miles out of town and when we turned off onto the side road leading to our subdivision it looked like a war zone, power and phone lines down in the road, and it was blocked to a narrow one lane. Got home and no real damage, just a couple of trim pieces on free standing carport, lucky there. I dragged the generator out and used it off and on for about 3 days before we got power back. No fun and had we had a lot of damage it could have been worse.


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## Tboney (Sep 9, 2020)

Airstreamer67 said:


> This is my first post here, so I thought there is no better introduction for a generator forum but to tell a generator story. I thought someone may be interested in how one guy handled power outages from a hurricane. So here goes:
> 
> I live in Louisiana where we were hit with Hurricane Laura, a Cat 4 monster which came ashore this August 27 with winds of 150mph.
> 
> ...


Thanks for the story Airstreamer. I can relate - I live down the coast near Mobile, AL and I've got friends in Lafayette. They faired pretty well during Laura but had some minor damage from Delta a couple of days ago. Hope you made it through that one ok. 

I've been trying to come up with a simple way to refuel on the go also. It's a pain to turn all my breakers off, shut the generator down, refuel it and then reverse the process. I've got two generators, one with a 5 gallon tank and one with only a 1.6 gallon. I try to run the bigger one at night so I'm not up and down all night refueling. Don't mind it too bad in the daytime so I use the smaller one. I've been thinking about getting a little 12v pump and follow your example. Only thing that worries me is the vapors off the gasoline finding their way to a heat source (like a gas powered generator directly below where I'm putting in gas). I may put a little fan closeby to hopefully disperse the fumes away from the generator. 

Please let us know how you fared when Delta blew through south Louisiana.


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## BobS (Aug 26, 2020)

I have been without power for up to 2 weeks at a time in the past due to hurricanes. When I was dependent on gasoline generators, I picked up a 13 gallon portable boat fuel tank and 10' of fuel line. I put the fuel tank approx 6' from the generator on a table that was higher than the generator and bypassed the generator's fuel tank. No additional fuel pump was needed - gravity feed. I could keep the generator running while I was refueling without the danger of the gasoline coming in contact with the hot generator. I also only had to refuel twice a day. I didn't have to get up in the middle of the night or worry about the generator running out of fuel. This reduced the stress during a stressful time.


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## iowagold (Jan 22, 2020)

Tboney said:


> Thanks for the story Airstreamer. I can relate - I live down the coast near Mobile, AL and I've got friends in Lafayette. They faired pretty well during Laura but had some minor damage from Delta a couple of days ago. Hope you made it through that one ok.
> 
> I've been trying to come up with a simple way to refuel on the go also. It's a pain to turn all my breakers off, shut the generator down, refuel it and then reverse the process. I've got two generators, one with a 5 gallon tank and one with only a 1.6 gallon. I try to run the bigger one at night so I'm not up and down all night refueling. Don't mind it too bad in the daytime so I use the smaller one. I've been thinking about getting a little 12v pump and follow your example. Only thing that worries me is the vapors off the gasoline finding their way to a heat source (like a gas powered generator directly below where I'm putting in gas). I may put a little fan closeby to hopefully disperse the fumes away from the generator.
> 
> Please let us know how you fared when Delta blew through south Louisiana.


see the page below
click here for the gas can and fuel pump page
also see the extended run page below
click here for the extended run fuel page
we use the marine fuel tanks with honda quick couplers for no fuel spill when swapping out the tanks.
easy to refuel the remote tank too!


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## Tboney (Sep 9, 2020)

Thanks BobS and Iowagold. The generator I would most like to extend the run time on is a Champion 100233 - 3400 watt inverter. It does not have a fuel pump so I can't feed it in through the cap like a Honda. Any of the transfer systems could be used but again, I'm concerned with gasoline vapors so close to the hot generator. I kinda like the idea of gravity feeding gas directly to the fuel line on the generator but I think all boat tanks are connected to the top of the tank and rely on a siphon effect, at least to get it started. If I could find a tank that fed out the bottom I think I'd like that better.


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## Tboney (Sep 9, 2020)

Just read this. So sad. 
BATON ROUGE, La. — Louisiana officials have announced a death from Hurricane Delta.

Gov. John Bel Edwards said Sunday an 86-year-old man from St. Martin Parish died in a fire that started after he refueled a power generator in a shed. The governor said it didn't appear that the man had let the generator cool down before refueling it


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## iowagold (Jan 22, 2020)

yup sad story!
you can do the t valve on the current fuel line and use an external tank that is remote mounted.
and then use the marine quick couplers for safety.
they make larger gravity tanks.
pm me of you need links for good mfg's on them.
I have one client that has a 20 gallon remote tank as gravity.
there are in line safety valves for line brake issues.

yup all fuels are a big hazard if it is not treated with respect!!
closed in and no vents is not the way to go..
trapped fuel vapor is a BIG bang!!

same on LP and NG fuels..


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## Airstreamer67 (Oct 3, 2020)

This is the OP here who reported about generator stuff that happened during Hurricane Laura and its aftermath in August and September. I'm back to do the same with Hurricane Delta in October.

Despite the sorry odds, Delta took virtually the same route as Laura did here in Louisiana. Fortunately, Delta was not as intense for us. Although Delta had gotten as high as Laura's Category 4 in its long path over water, fortunately Delta was down to a Category 2 by the time it came ashore in Louisiana. You might remember that Laura hit us as a Category 4 at landfall. 

It is heartbreaking that many folks who had roof and other damages from Laura and who had blue tarps installed to limit future rain damage until permanent repairs could be made, watched Delta tear the tarps off and pour much more rain down onto the damaged roofs and into their homes and businesses. It's terrible. 

Many folks who evacuated from the coastal areas are still in shelters. It will take months and years to repair all the damage.

I was one of the lucky ones who had no further damage in Delta except, of course, for the inevitable power outages. Only this time, I was out of grid electric service for just 22 hours in Delta instead of the 7.5 days in Laura. I had plenty of gasoline left over from Laura because I had just refilled my stash when the power came on in September, so I used my Honda 4500 gasoline generator in Delta. The Honda performed flawlessly during the outage as it always does, so my generator story is a mundane non-event. 

Unfortunately, there are a lot of folks in Louisiana who are still out of electric grid service, so we still have a lot of generators operating in some areas.

I'm very thankful it wasn't worse.


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## drmerdp (Apr 10, 2018)

Two hurricanes within a month is nuts. Rough stuff. Did you get your diesel generator straightened out?


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## Airstreamer67 (Oct 3, 2020)

I'm beginning to look into the problem with my Yanmar diesel. After 25 years and hundreds of hours of faithful service during storms, it did falter during Hurricane Laura as I described in my first post. The generator shop couldn't find a problem when I brought it to them, but after I got it home from the shop, I was able to get it to fault just like it did before I brought it to the shop. 

That's what I get for depending on the pros :-/

So, I'm going to see if I can find the problem myself, but I need to take it slow. It's the only speed I have at my advanced state of decay.  Besides, hauling a 250-pound genset back and forth to a shop ain't a casual job for me anymore.

I'll report on what I find later. Thanks for the interest!


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## iowagold (Jan 22, 2020)

so does the Gillette generator work when plugged in direct to the 8k btu air con unit?

maybe an un balanced load on the gen head?
or a generator cap failing?
click here for the generator test gear with a cap tester on that page
that supco cap tester is cool for finding these issues.

put on meters for when it fails and see what is dropping out..
did the gen repair shop do a high current load test to max current?


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## Airstreamer67 (Oct 3, 2020)

Hi iowagold, thanks for the interest!

Frankly, I don't know what the gen repair shop did. They told me they couldn't get it to fault even at rated load, which would be about 5500W.

Well, I got it to fail with half that load after I hauled it home. I think the problem is with the diesel engine rather than the generator head. Here's what I know up to this point in my troubleshooting:

I configured an L14-30P plug to fit the generator receptacle that I use for powering the house. To that plug I wired two 120VAC 15-amp sockets, one for each 120V circuit on the generator. I did this so I could test the generator, because the two 15-amp GFCI receptacles that came on the generator haven't worked for a long time. I haven't bothered to fix them because they're not useful to me anyway.

So, after warming up the diesel and plugging in the L14-30P rig, I attached a 1500W electric heater on one leg and a 1000W hot plate and 500W of lighting on the other leg. I then had a total load of 3000W, which should be easily handled by a generator rated at 5000W continuous.

A few seconds after hooking up this load, the diesel began slowing down like I had hit the kill switch. I removed the load and the engine recovered and continued running. I concluded it was the engine that is having a problem. No?

Anyway, I first wanted to determine if I may be having a problem with the low-oil-pressure switch, which has been reported to fail sometimes. To determine if the switch is at fault, I used a test light via alligator clips, with one test light clip on the sender's electric connection that the generator has a wire attached to, and the other end to the 12V battery. When the engine is not running, the light is not on. When the engine is running, the light is on. So, the low-oil-pressure switch provides a ground to the electric connection only when there is oil pressure. I concluded the sender must be working as intended, because if the engine loses oil pressure during operation, it will break the continuity by removing the ground, thus alerting the generator to shut down. Does this sound right?

So, next I want to see if the solenoid that controls the engine's speed control is working correctly. This solenoid is a Trombetta Electromagnetics 0610 - B1V12. When the engine's ignition switch is turned on and the starter is pressed, this solenoid pulls the speed control to the "run" position, which allows it to start and run. When the engine's ignition switch is turned off, the solenoid releases its pull and the speed control returns to its original position and the engine stops.

I'm thinking that perhaps my problem with the genset is that the engine's solenoid begins to fail and is not holding the speed controller to the correct open position as demand on the engine increases as it must in order to handle the electric load demanded by the generator.

I'm planning to install a new solenoid to see if this might be the problem. Does this sound feasible?


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## drmerdp (Apr 10, 2018)

The load test is good, but I’d like to see the voltage numbers as the engine begins to lose speed. If the voltage takes a huge dive then the engine starts to slow I’d point to the alternator. Otherwise seems like it’s the engine.

In my experience oil pressure switches are closed when no oil pressure is present. This closes the circuit to ground and a light illuminates. When pressure is present the switch opens the light turns off.

I know very little about small Diesel engines, I’m of little help.


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## iowagold (Jan 22, 2020)

what is the "500W of lighting "
is it halogen?? some gens do not like them...
I use led now on every thing for that reason...

try the same model of space heater on each leg...
those little milk house heaters are an good low cost load.

hummm...
diesel low power...
what is the exact model on the diesel engine?
snap a pix of the tag for me...

basics first:
check the fuel filters, and diesel injection and lift pump and fuel tank screens.
maybe diesel bug in the fuel corking up the fuel delivery???

does it have a lift pump before the injection pump?
some of the real small units do not have them...
is this a one or two cyl?

you might want to replace the 125 vac gfci outlets..
those could be an issue..
i would go with the 20 amp versions.
and buy flip covers for the fronts of them as an up grade.

while you are in there
do the same for the twist lock.

what do you have for test gear?
do you have a clamp meter for ac?
click here for the test gear page
you could use current meter and volt meter at the same time to watch the load.
see if the voltage drops off big time...

does this have a gov?
or is it fixed speed?
check the hz... should be 59-61 hz with and with out load...

I am still thinking bad cap...
or gfci bad and loading internal...
lol or bad crimp connections in the panel!!

oh yea how many hours on the unit??
what do the brushes look like??
snap some pix of the brushes and arm.


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## Airstreamer67 (Oct 3, 2020)

_drmerdp Quote: The load test is good, but I’d like to see the voltage numbers as the engine begins to lose speed. If the voltage takes a huge dive then the engine starts to slow I’d point to the alternator. Otherwise seems like it’s the engine. _

The voltage is 115+ before the engine begins faltering. As the engine stumbles and loses speed, the voltage plummets as the rpms fall.

_drmerdp Quote: In my experience oil pressure switches are closed when no oil pressure is present. This closes the circuit to ground and a light illuminates. When pressure is present the switch opens the light turns off._

This oil pressure switch is reversed of that; ie, it is a normally closed switch. Before the engine is started, a multimeter on the sensor's electric element on which the generator has a wire connected shows full continuity of "1" and the test light connected to the element is "on." After the engine is started and is running, the continuity is "0" and the test light is "off." So, the sensor is a path to ground with the engine still, and isn't with the engine running. That's a diesel for you  

_iowagold Quote: 
what is the "500W of lighting "
is it halogen?? some gens do not like them...
I use led now on every thing for that reason..._

These are plain ole incandescent shop-lights on a stand. Nothing to see there. 

_iowagold Quote: 
"hummm...
diesel low power...
what is the exact model on the diesel engine?
snap a pix of the tag for me..._

This is a Yanmar Yanmar L100 AE-DEG. It is a single-cylinder direct-injection diesel. I've seen it variously rated at between nine and ten horsepower in the literature. I bought it in 1995 and has been very reliable through the years. About the picture: sorry, no can do. Too dumb and too old.

_iowagold Quote: 
check the fuel filters, and diesel injection and lift pump and fuel tank screens.
maybe diesel bug in the fuel corking up the fuel delivery???_

Fuel filter was changed after the first fault; no improvement. Test of the fuel injector and its pump will come in the future if I can't find a problem beforehand. No lift pump: gravity fed. No diesel bugs. The fuel is cleaned by a big in-line diesel filter as it's pumped from the 5-gallon cans into the generator's tank. This fuel had been previously run through two filters, one sediment and one water, as it was pumped from my 80-gallon stash in the back of my pickup truck into the 5-gallon cans. 

_iowagold Quote: 
you might want to replace the 125 vac gfci outlets..
those could be an issue..
i would go with the 20 amp versions.
and buy flip covers for the fronts of them as an up grade_ 

Those outlets have not worked in many years. The GFCIs won't reset. I'd like not to fix this unless it is causing the engine to falter, because this genset is used exclusively to power the house through the 240V locking plug. Also, with my new test setup previously described, if I ever need 120V service directly from the generator, I can use the two newly minted 120V receptacles.  

_iowagold Quote: 
what do you have for test gear?
do you have a clamp meter for ac?
click here for the test gear page
you could use current meter and volt meter at the same time to watch the load.
see if the voltage drops off big time..._

I've got a multimeter and a clamp ammeter. I use the ammeter to make sure the generator's two 120V circuits are balanced as well as my household circuits will allow. For the voltage and frequency, I have a plug-in meter that I use in the house to watch those two parameters. As noted earlier, I also have my generator sending power through a SurgeGuard that terminates service if the voltage is outside of its 102VAC to 132VAC range. That thing probably saved my refrigerators and freezers when this problem with the diesel cropped up during Hurricane Laura; I doubt they would like the seriously sagging voltage from a faulty genset. 

_iowagold Quote:
does this have a gov?
or is it fixed speed?
check the hz... should be 59-61 hz with and with out load... _

Yep, it's got an internal governor. The engine has a speed regulator mechanism which keeps it at nominal 3600RPM, and I do monitor the hertz as noted above. It all seems to be well regulated except, of course, for this new problem. As I noted in my OP, the engine has a solenoid that holds the speed regulator properly open to allow the engine to start and run at 3600RPM, and I'm planning to replace it in case it is no longer doing its job after 25 years of service. 

_iowagold Quote:
I am still thinking bad cap...
or gfci bad and loading internal...
lol or bad crimp connections in the panel!!_

I did have a capacitor changed a few years ago due to voltage. As noted, the GFCI receptacles haven't worked in many years. Is it common for such things to cause the generator to overload the engine? Actually, when the engine stumbles, it doesn't sound like an overload with the engine straining and producing dark smoke, etc, but more like the throttle being pulled back or an ignition short causing an engine shut-down, like when I turn off the ignition to shut it down.

_iowagold Quote:
oh yea how many hours on the unit??
what do the brushes look like??
snap some pix of the brushes and arm._

It has 300 hours on it, since it is dedicated only to home service and is not regularly run in-between storms. This is a brushless design generator.

Thanks for the interest! 

I'm glad I've got my Honda waiting to step up to the plate again. Can you believe there's another storm heading for Louisiana. It looks like this one is aimed to the east side, maybe around New Orleans. Lord, we don't need that.


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## Airstreamer67 (Oct 3, 2020)

OK, I just tested my diesel generator again. Here are the "latest" observations:

With a small load of about 3.5 amps distributed almost equally between the two 120V circuits, the generator ran well at about 120V and 62H. 

With a larger load of about 25 amps again about equally distributed between the circuits, the engine began struggling, the voltage dropped to 105V and then lower, the speed had dropped to 50Hertz when I looked at that gauge, and the engine kept struggling until the Surge Guard terminated service probably at 102V, all happening within maybe 10 or 20 seconds. 

When the engine was struggling with the 25A load, I noticed the push-pull solenoid on the speed-control mechanism maintained its normal "run" position, so I don't think that solenoid is the problem. I couldn't even push it back with my fingers, so it seems strong and steady.

But there is some reason, the engine just can't hold the heavier loads. 

The search for truth continues.


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## iowagold (Jan 22, 2020)

disconnect both the gfci's and cap off those wires.
just to get them out of the ckt.

hummm on the horse power drop off on the diesel!!
compression test!!
they have those on the tool rental plan at oreilly's for high pressure diesel.
big note they are not the same kit at the gas engines use.

maybe an injection pump issue??
or a rubber fuel line partial closed up inside?
or corked injector screen not doing high flow?

replace all the rubber lines...
clean the injector.
clean the injector pump...
watch the parts on the injector pump!!
lots of super small parts under spring pressure!!

how hard is it to pull the head?
might be a good idea to get a gasket and take a look inside.

when was the last time you set the valves??
300 hours is not a long time
but in a truck that would be 18,000 miles!!


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## Airstreamer67 (Oct 3, 2020)

Well, yesterday I checked to make sure the fuel pump control was not stuck in place, which I've read sometimes happens. It was found to be operating alright as observed through a dedicated sight port, but I may need to pull the pump for further checking if things don't improve.

I pulled the fuel injector. The tip was dirty with carbon. I used a carb cleaner and got all that off the outer surfaces. Then I checked the injector spray pattern as I cranked the engine. It looked fine, spraying uniform atomized fuel bursts in all directions as the engine turned over. I reinstalled the injector, cleared bubbles from the fuel line and pushed the start button. She fired up immediately as always. Unfortunately, there was no operating improvement: still gagging on 16A loads, acting like I've got 3HP instead of 10.

Today I'll check valve clearances. I last did it 250 hours ago, and it is recommended to check them every 300 hours. Maybe I'll get lucky. One stumble-step at a time.

Have you seen the electric side of the genset equation cause such engine behavior, such as bad crimping, GFCIs, bad capacitors?


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## Airstreamer67 (Oct 3, 2020)

I think I found the problem with my Yanmar L100 diesel that starts and runs good but can't handle a load of more than a few amps.

This morning I pulled the cap off the valve train to check the clearances. As I turned the engine over with a socket on the crankshaft nut, I noticed that there wasn't a lot of resistance as the compression stroke came up, and I could hear air leaking from what sounded like the valves. 

I don't have a compression test adapter, so without further testing, I assume that I have low compression due to valve leak. Of course, this means a weak engine, which seems to fit its current performance. Diesels are noted for "wet stacking" when run under partial load, and I'm aware that the load on this generator has often been well less than half for most of its life, and I'm sure I've been running it with less than 10 amps during nighttime hours for many hours. As a result, I believe there is probably a carbon buildup on the valve seats.

I guess my next step would be to remove the head and get the valves cleaned and touched up. I'm not a mechanic so don't have any lapping or valve tools or experience doing so myself.

Does all this sound about right to y'all?


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## iowagold (Jan 22, 2020)

yup!
carbon on the seats
then burn the seat metal.
lapping by hand is easy!
a bit of lapping compound and a couple of hours you can do a v8!
yea also look at head gasket!
diesel they only last 5-10 years...
the high pressures get them over time.

rent on of those compression testers for diesel..
or buy one if you do several in a year
click here for the test tools page
there is a good otc unit for diesel on that page for under $135.00 usd

they sure will save a lot of work!!
inspect before a BIG tear down.
it might be in ok shape..

but i bet at the least you will be doing a tear down to clean cyl
, head and intake and exhaust runners..

hey that is a thought!!
is there any issues with exhaust??
like a corked muffler or spark screen?


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## Airstreamer67 (Oct 3, 2020)

iowagold, have you ever tried using a water spray into the intake to get rid of carbon? 

I've seen it done on cars, producing a big cloud of black smoke from the carbon. 

I installed a water-injection kit on a gasoline-engine truck years ago to reduce detonation while towing trailers up mountain grades. 

I know that water injection kits are available for diesel trucks to reduce exhaust gas temperatures and, if methanol is added to the water, even increase power a bit. Such trucks are said to have sparkling clean combustion chambers from the water that is turned to steam in there.

Just a thought.


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## drmerdp (Apr 10, 2018)

I’ve used water to steam clean combustion chambers and it does work. It’s doesn’t perform any miracles if the valve seats are pitted but it does reduce carbon. Careful not to inject too much water too quickly.

Id personally start with sea foam or CRC injection cleaner. An aerosol cleaner threw the carb is quick and easy. warm up the engine throughly and spray small bursts timed apart until you use a reasonable amount cleaner then let the engine run for 30 seconds before shutting down. Let the solution sit for a few minutes (whatever the instructions say) then fire the engine back up and let it burn up the dissolved carbon. 

Water-methanol injection is great for performance gas engines. The water reduces intake temps, and the methanol increases octane.


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## iowagold (Jan 22, 2020)

Airstreamer67 said:


> iowagold, have you ever tried using a water spray into the intake to get rid of carbon?
> 
> I've seen it done on cars, producing a big cloud of black smoke from the carbon.
> 
> ...


sure, but in this case you need a tear down.
if it is that bad of shape you need to clean the rings and the pistons.
and the head!!

and watch the water injection you can snap rings with that in high rpm setups.
only if you load it up too heavy..
we used a mix of alcohol and water in the drag cars back in the late 1970's.
13k-14k rpm engines!!
yea too much water % at 13,500 rpm will make things happen!!
at least it was in the dyno room!!
but it was a mess for sure!


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