- Joined
- Jul 30, 2024
- Messages
- 17
Save your money, you're going to need when you see your gas bill!!!! I have a Genrac that runs off propane. It will suck a 500gallon tank dry in no time!
24 Hour run on Natural Gas Generator - Change oil or no?
- Thread starter SupremePossum
- Start date
The folks who installed my generator told me to change oil if it ran consecutively for 3 days. I am on natural gas. About the only thing around here that would cause that would be a direct hitting hurricane. We were without power for 2 weeks after Hugo hit here in September, 1989.
$11 per 24 hours at my current load, natural gas is nice and cheap compared to propane
What generator? 72 hours isn't very long on a single run
- Joined
- Jul 30, 2024
- Messages
- 17
I live up north and am heating with gas in addition to wood as well as using the electric for hot water, refrigeration, lights , laundry, etc. The ironic thing is I'm not that far from the Niagara Falls Power project which supplies a large portion of the Eastern seaboard yet the area has some of the highest electric prices in the country. I own a home in Buffalo too, our natural gas prices there aren't cheap either. If I didn't have family here to help out with I'd pull up stakes and leave like 1/2 the state already has!
Last edited:
Holy bejesus! That's a lot of money in fuel cans! Those things are a minimum of $50 in my area..
- Joined
- Jul 30, 2024
- Messages
- 17
I hope nobody smokes!
Great question, That is at the end of the year & it sounded like you wanted to have some reserve Incase you need to run it again for several days the following year. 62 hours in your is simply 1/2 that time of 125 in your manual but stretched out for the whole year. I've heard NG or propane can become acidic more so than other types of fuels. I did mention to keep the oil in for 2 years if left under <62 hours. Trying to leave you some "reserve" runtime w/o going over the 125 hour ODI. Go ahead & play with the numbers as you see since only you know how much you might use it in any given year but as you know the grid/weather is sometimes unpredictable. You can extend it to whatever you'd like so long as you know that you'll need to change the oil at 125 hours even if it's in the middle of a power outage. As you well know that's not the most convenient time to fiddle with that or have it down for a change. This was some general advice to allow you some preparation for those oil changes. Using <62 hours for up to two years I think is reasonable. Just play around with the numbers as you want but try to PLAN for it's change out that allows for enough runtime in any given year. Like I mentioned, Ideally I'd not want to hit 125 hours & then the power goes out for 2 days. That's over the 125 interval & puts you at changing it's oil during that event. I was down in TX when that power fiasco happened & it was not fun. I have seen they've put some more $$$ into more reliability & seems to be working a bit better for you Texans.
125hr OCI is crazy short. Even 250hr would be overkill.
Lot of natural gas gen set powering places here, they are on 1000+hr oil changes, and these are engines with 40-50k+ hrs between rebuilds.
Lot of natural gas gen set powering places here, they are on 1000+hr oil changes, and these are engines with 40-50k+ hrs between rebuilds.
I paid about $60 or so for most of them, got a good deal a few years ago. They are about $90 each now! Glad I got them when I did
Thankfully these Wavian cans can withstand a bit of fire
Ah I see, I thought you were saying to change it at 62 hours each time
I guess we'll find out when I get the oil report, but I suspect your thinking of much higher quality, higher duty cycle units
250hr OCI is fairly normal "severe service" for equipment.I paid about $60 or so for most of them, got a good deal a few years ago. They are about $90 each now! Glad I got them when I did
Thankfully these Wavian cans can withstand a bit of fire
Ah I see, I thought you were saying to change it at 62 hours each time
I guess we'll find out when I get the oil report, but I suspect your thinking of much higher quality, higher duty cycle units
That gen set only hold a few qts of oil?
It holds about 4-5 quarts, its a Mitsubishi 4G6 2.4L
When in doubt change it out.
I would have counted that as a break in and changed it.
How much did the unit cost - how much does an oil change cost?
If you are running a fleet of trucks or many generators - doing extended oil change intervals can - with proper management save you big dollars.
Running one generator - once every 6 months - seriously- the cost of changing the oil often VS having a failure DURING A MAJOR POWER OUTAGE is not worth it.
Your choice -
I saved $175 on oil changes over the last 20 years - and never had a failure!
I planned on saving $175 on oil changes over 20 years but in year 5 my generator locked up and we spent 2 weeks in the dark!
I would have counted that as a break in and changed it.
How much did the unit cost - how much does an oil change cost?
If you are running a fleet of trucks or many generators - doing extended oil change intervals can - with proper management save you big dollars.
Running one generator - once every 6 months - seriously- the cost of changing the oil often VS having a failure DURING A MAJOR POWER OUTAGE is not worth it.
Your choice -
I saved $175 on oil changes over the last 20 years - and never had a failure!
I planned on saving $175 on oil changes over 20 years but in year 5 my generator locked up and we spent 2 weeks in the dark!
Already well past break in
United costed $20K. Oil change costs $20~ if I do it myself, which of course I do
Its the hassle of changing it, and if it doesn't need it, then there is no point. I actually a 6+ day outage after this and went past the OCI, and Blackstone reports the oil is still good
I had a Yamaha Virago - I can't recall the OCI but lets say it was 5K miles or 6 months.
In some 6 month periods I only rode 1,500 miles.
The oil filter was a PITA to remove - a prior owner had installed some extra bars or whatever you call them and one of them blocked the oil filter.
So I would just change the oil and skip the filter. That took less than 10 minutes and was really easy.
Before I hit 5K I would do the filter. A few times I would do an oil only change 3 times before I did the filter.
It was a compromise - getting 90% of the benefit with only doing 10% of the work.
I have also started skipping the filter every other oil change on my 2007 Tahoe. The manual wants oil changes every 10K.
The next oil change is coming up and I will have about 3K on the oil & a little over 6K on the filter.
If the unit cost $20K when new - what would that be today if you needed to replace it? $25-$35K?
But the real issue - for me - with things like a generator is you want it to be there when you need it - and not break down during a major weather event.
YMMV
In some 6 month periods I only rode 1,500 miles.
The oil filter was a PITA to remove - a prior owner had installed some extra bars or whatever you call them and one of them blocked the oil filter.
So I would just change the oil and skip the filter. That took less than 10 minutes and was really easy.
Before I hit 5K I would do the filter. A few times I would do an oil only change 3 times before I did the filter.
It was a compromise - getting 90% of the benefit with only doing 10% of the work.
I have also started skipping the filter every other oil change on my 2007 Tahoe. The manual wants oil changes every 10K.
The next oil change is coming up and I will have about 3K on the oil & a little over 6K on the filter.
If the unit cost $20K when new - what would that be today if you needed to replace it? $25-$35K?
But the real issue - for me - with things like a generator is you want it to be there when you need it - and not break down during a major weather event.
YMMV
BrendanC
$100 site donor 2024
i service two 27kw water cooled generac’s with the 4 banger in them. OCI is once per year with M1 0w-40 and this year was Carquest Premium filters. i want to find iridium plugs for them so i never have to touch them again.
both generators ran for 1 week following beryl in houston heat and the oil came out perfectly clean. just make sure you change it, one of the generators had gone 4 years without an oil change and the oil was so thick (yet clean) my mityvac couldn’t suck it out. i had to start it for 10 minutes then use the messy drain hose for an hour.
both generators ran for 1 week following beryl in houston heat and the oil came out perfectly clean. just make sure you change it, one of the generators had gone 4 years without an oil change and the oil was so thick (yet clean) my mityvac couldn’t suck it out. i had to start it for 10 minutes then use the messy drain hose for an hour.
How often are you changing plugs on them? I'm still on stock plugs but have a bunch spare ready to go. Last time I looked, they seemed new still
BrendanC
$100 site donor 2024
i change them yearly because they’re so cheap.
Guess I should change mine out
Have you ever come across one with issues because they weren't changed? I figure NG burns pretty clean
Have you ever come across one with issues because they weren't changed? I figure NG burns pretty clean
BrendanC
$100 site donor 2024
i haven’t, i always just change them yearly.
If it was in a car that would only be about 1100 miles assuming a 40-45 mph average. It's still like new
Similar threads
