New Generator Question

[canesfan]

Actually 3 questions:

Added some more fuel to it and put some orange (ethanol) Stabil in it and ran for about 45 minutes. The dealer only put a few gallons in it and said they put Stabil in it but I wanted to be sure.

1. The hour meter seems to run fast. Like I said, I ran it for about 45 minutes, the meter showed I ran it an hour. I know it's not rocket science but I would expect it to be somewhat accurate.

2. With a certain load, the gen seemed to cycle, or surge, or whatever you want to call it. Very slightly, but it did. Kind of like my little Honda when the jets are starting to get clogged. Ran smooth otherwise, under idle it was fine, with the AC on it was fine, but the fireplace seemed to be the culprit.

3. When I turned it off and went outside there was a pretty strong smell of raw gasoline coming from the area of the gen. It lasted about 15 minutes. Didn't see anything leaking but it concerned me. Is this normal for one of these gens?

[denverpilot]

Many hour meters are based on less than 100% load.

[dyna_rider98]

The hour meter is DC powered generator load has no bearing on accuracy. If it is truly reading fast it is defective.

[Stublejumper]

Originally Posted by dyna_rider98

The hour meter is DC powered generator load has no bearing on accuracy. If it is truly reading fast it is defective.

Agree ,applying any voltage to a hour meter that it is intended for starts a timer, if it is accurate based on a reliable time piece .

[denverpilot]

Doesn't that depend on if it's tach based, or just a timer?

[Bombfixer]

The surging that you refer to is normal in any generator operation. The fluctuations in power demands from the load placed on the generator cause it to "surge" as you refer to it. It tells you that the generator is working properly.

Does your hour meter have a tenths reading? If it does not then that might explain why it appears to read fast. For example the gauge might have read 6 hours when in fact the reading was 6.5 hrs. Running it for 45 min would cause it to display 7 hours because the true reading was 7.25 hrs.

When you shut off the generator did you take all the load off of it first and allow the generator to run at idle for 10 min or so? If not then the smell of unburned gas you had might have been from shutting the unit down while under load. With a load on the generator the fuel pump sends a stronger flow to the carb. If you shut off under load that unburned fuel needs to dissipate. If you idle the generator with no load the fuel flow can lower itself to minimal flow.

Hope this helps..

Sent from my NX008HD8G using Tapatalk

[crash]

I agree with bombfixer

[SAABDOCTOR]

HEY DENVER PILOT!! IT'S a generator not an airplane no "Tach time" it's just gonna cost more per hour to fly

[canesfan]

Originally Posted by Bombfixer

The surging that you refer to is normal in any generator operation. The fluctuations in power demands from the load placed on the generator cause it to "surge" as you refer to it. It tells you that the generator is working properly.

Does your hour meter have a tenths reading? If it does not then that might explain why it appears to read fast. For example the gauge might have read 6 hours when in fact the reading was 6.5 hrs. Running it for 45 min would cause it to display 7 hours because the true reading was 7.25 hrs.

When you shut off the generator did you take all the load off of it first and allow the generator to run at idle for 10 min or so? If not then the smell of unburned gas you had might have been from shutting the unit down while under load. With a load on the generator the fuel pump sends a stronger flow to the carb. If you shut off under load that unburned fuel needs to dissipate. If you idle the generator with no load the fuel flow can lower itself to minimal flow

Thanks for the replies.

1. Hour Meter - It has a tenths reading. It was 1.9 when I started it and 2.9 when I stopped it 45 or so minutes later.

2. Surging - I'm not sure we're talking the same thing. I understand the gen will run at different speeds depending on load, but this is speeding up and slowing down on a regular cycle of say 20-30 seconds over and over.

3. Gas Smell - I forget if I turned everything off or not. I'll try again when the weather gets nice for a day again, although I'm pretty sure I turned most big things off like AC, fireplace, etc.

[denverpilot]

Originally Posted by SAABDOCTOR

HEY DENVER PILOT!! IT'S a generator not an airplane no "Tach time" it's just gonna cost more per hour to fly

LOL. Sorry.

Yeah I'm probably too used to tach time in the airplane, eh?