# Generac has major personality issues with cold weather, they'll be on Maury next week...



## Ground Fault (Jun 9, 2020)

I'm probably preachin' to the choir here, but I just found out that my XP8000E that otherwise will crank easy in the summer doesn't want to even turn one rpm when it is 16 degrees. The 9Ah Interstate battery I bought in June has been maintained correctly. Went out there this morning just to crank it and let it run a few minutes in preparation for tonight's single digit rolling blackouts and it does not have enough cold cranking amps to even rotate the crank. Took a jumper battery to get it to turn over. You'd think it would have run in and loosened up sufficiently in the 58 hours it has on it.

What do you guys who live up north do in this situation? It hasn't been in the single digits here since 1909, and only gets in the teens about every five years, so I have no background in dealing with this. Heck, I only put on long pants for the first time this winter three days ago, been wearing shorts and teeshirts otherwise. Is there anything I can do other than jump it to get it to crank over with that 9Ah battery? Old dog needs to learn some new tricks. Thanks in advance!


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## exmar (Jun 29, 2015)

5W-30 synthetic oil first and foremost for easy winter starting and lots of other reasons. Some folks use dipstick or stick on magnetic heaters. Generac and batteries almost seem to be mutually exclusive, either they won't charge the battery or it is too weak to start the unit, or early battery failure. Some of the whole house units around here have upsized the battery and added maintainers, disconnecting the charging circuitry to avoid the issue totally.


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## Old man here (Nov 5, 2020)

5W-30 synthetic oil, battery maintainer on it all the time, exercise it monthly. Generac GPE 15000. No issues.
Quit whining about the cold, this old man may have to whup your young ####!


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## Ground Fault (Jun 9, 2020)

Sixty-four years young! Yes, it still has 30W in it right now. Was lucky last night. We did not get a blackout here, thank the Lord. Was 9 degrees this morning at 5:20 am on my mercurial thermometer hanging in the yard, and on Weather Underground. First time it has been in the single digits here in my entire lifetime. We are less than an hour from the Gulf of Mexico. I'll get that 30W out of there, save it, and put the 5W-30 in. Thanks!


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## LenD (Jan 12, 2021)

Ground Fault said:


> What do you guys who live up north do in this situation? It hasn't been in the single digits here since 1909, and only gets in the teens about every five years, so I have no background in dealing with this. Heck, I only put on long pants for the first time this winter three days ago, been wearing shorts and teeshirts otherwise. Is there anything I can do other than jump it to get it to crank over with that 9Ah battery? Old dog needs to learn some new tricks. Thanks in advance!


Maybe consider something like a battery trickle charger like this





CTEK: ESSENTIAL & EMERGENCY VEHICLES


CTEK charges the frontline. We have chargers for emergency vehicles so important equipment can be ready to go at all times.



www.amazon.com





I have a Ctek and a Battery Tender (TM) for my cars. What with covid, we are in lockdown and not going anywhere. If you put one on that battery (it has a "small" ie motorcycle-size setting which is what your little battery is), it'll maintain it at 100% all the time and when the power goes out, just disconnect it and with a lighter weight oil, well no problemo in starting .

Currently -12C (10F) here so all is good.


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## Old man here (Nov 5, 2020)

Ground Fault said:


> Sixty-four years young! Yes, it still has 30W in it right now. Was lucky last night. We did not get a blackout here, thank the Lord. Was 9 degrees this morning at 5:20 am on my mercurial thermometer hanging in the yard, and on Weather Underground. First time it has been in the single digits here in my entire lifetime. We are less than an hour from the Gulf of Mexico. I'll get that 30W out of there, save it, and put the 5W-30 in. Thanks!


Both of my sisters still live in Texas, one in College Station and one up in the panhandle In Plainview. Our family lived outside of Lubbock when I was a kid. I remember some harsh winters back then. I'm sure this storm is going to be a record breaker for you guys. Good luck and stay safe.
P.S.
I'll be 70 next month.


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## janjj3 (Nov 2, 2020)

Ground Fault said:


> I'm probably preachin' to the choir here, but I just found out that my XP8000E that otherwise will crank easy in the summer doesn't want to even turn one rpm when it is 16 degrees. The 9Ah Interstate battery I bought in June has been maintained correctly. Went out there this morning just to crank it and let it run a few minutes in preparation for tonight's single digit rolling blackouts and it does not have enough cold cranking amps to even rotate the crank. Took a jumper battery to get it to turn over. You'd think it would have run in and loosened up sufficiently in the 58 hours it has on it.
> 
> What do you guys who live up north do in this situation? It hasn't been in the single digits here since 1909, and only gets in the teens about every five years, so I have no background in dealing with this. Heck, I only put on long pants for the first time this winter three days ago, been wearing shorts and teeshirts otherwise. Is there anything I can do other than jump it to get it to crank over with that 9Ah battery? Old dog needs to learn some new tricks. Thanks in advance!


I'm in Connecticut, have a 17 year old 12KW Briggs and Stratton/Cutler Hammer with 1100 hours on it. Temps range seasonally from 0 to 95 degrees, the Briggs gets a real workout here. Through the years I've had my share of battery, solenoid, oxidation on contacts, bad starter, and bent push rod problems. Using 5W - 30w Mobil 1 is a must. I also have a variety of spare parts including batteries I keep on float chargers. Living in rural CT, losing power is expected, hurricane Irene tree damage put me out of 11 days last summer, and since then I've lost power 4 times, again due to rotted trees that fall. I've added a Briggs oil heater which probably isn't necessary, using the correct oil viscosity, and having a fresh battery are key. Checking valve clearance and changing the oil after long runs also helps tremendously. Also, make sure the frequency (60Hz) is spot on under load. Back in October of 2011 we had a noreaster, tree fell on our house, we were w/o power for 14 days, the Briggs was a huge help. There's a 7.5KW portable parked in my garage that I can backfeed into my panel as a backup. Truly sorry you folks in Texas are having this nasty weather. Hang in there!


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## Ground Fault (Jun 9, 2020)

Thanks for the info guys! We are so very Blessed. Our little section of SE Texas is not on the Texas power grid that crashed. We are on Entergy, a company based out of Baton Rouge, and their little "finger" of a power grid runs up through here, and then on out to just east of Austin. There were some rolling blackouts, but none here. Ends up I never had to crank the Generac. The last of the ice is melting now, but still quite cold. Never been so glad to be "stood-up" in my life! 

Frozen wind turbines. Pipelines shut down. How'd these idiots get in charge?


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## tabora (Sep 6, 2018)

Ground Fault said:


> Took a jumper battery to get it to turn over.


If it turned over fine on the jumper pack, I would posit that the issue is the battery and not the generator. I have 14 pieces of sporadically used equipment (generators, mowers, snowblower, motorcycles, extra cars, etc.) that have starting batteries. All of them have Battery Maintainers (not trickle chargers; Optimate or Schumacher maintainers) attached to them year-round when not in use. This is the only way I've found to keep battery dollars in my pocket over the long haul. It's been years since I had a piece of equipment that wouldn't start when required. My favorites are the Optimate 4 & 6 maintainers.





Battery Chargers Archives - OptiMate







optimate1.com


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