Thanks for the post, samven. What you've said makes good sense. As I mentioned, I looked at things and this generator fit what I had calculated. It actually was a bit over sized a bit as I was actually looking for a 5000 to 5500 running watt dual-fuel generator but everything in that range seemed out of stock. One thing I noted on this particular generator is that it has AVR, which I think will probably run everything in the house but some small battery chargers (mostly camera battery chargers) and a UPS I have hooked to the Tivo DVR. Hmm, I wonder how phone chargers will work...no biggie if they don't, plug'em into the car or a pigtail on one of my deep cycle batteries. Thanks again for the reassurance about my purchase!
Getting ready for new generator....questions (of course!).
- Thread starter Intheswamp
- Start date
Thanks again for the feedback! Predators were in the running. They are good engines if treated properly. That is if they are of as good of quality as the old Thoroughbreds were. I haven't got the propane situation handled yet. I'm going to call the propane company tomorrow. They emailed me and said they could set things up with no problem but someone was supposed to call me. I found a missed call on my cellphone which might have been them. I'll find out tomorrow. But, I want to do maintenance runs for both gasoline and propane to be sure the generator is ready for whichever fuel might be called on to power it. In the winter the propane would be used for heating during a power outage so I don't want to be caught low and not have it ready to power up with gasoline....if all that makes sense.
I figure that when the generator is called on to power things during an outage that it will be running for extended periods and getting hot...I think the Mobil 1 HM will work out well.
I like rule number 1!Rule number 1: no such thing as too much generator.
I would recommend a easy break-in with your oil of choice. Get the engine running good and warm and then start plugging in space heaters to add load. the oil filled heaters with three settings work great to vary the load every now and then.
First couple hours I change oil and repeat every couple hours until the oil stops coming out with break-in glitter. I also only run ethanol free fuel and store the tank full with stabil mixed as an extra measure. Cheers!
I've got about half a jug of Mobil 1 Extended Mileage (or is it Performance?) that I'm thinking will probably be used during the break-in and then fill with the Mobil 1 HM for the long haul. I've got a couple of electric heaters to use for the break-in but not oil-filled ones. Maybe throw a couple of 100w incandescent bulbs in the mix and go to the side-by-side refrigerators on the second or third break-in run. Thanks!
The main reason people say to break-in with dino oil is for cost. Buy whatever brand is on sale and use it. Change it every few hours until it drains clean without "glitter" from the break-in process. Then switch to your more expensive oil of choice.
On my generator, I did oil changes at: 30 min, 2 hr, 5 hr, 10 hr and 20 hr. The 10 hr and 20 hr changes looked clean, so I think I'm good to go for the oil change interval in the user manual. It is a little OCD, but all those oil changes totaled less than $10 in oil. It now has Mobil 1 in it for the long haul. I also installed a magnetic oil dipstick. It collects a small amount of metal 'dust' from the oil. I wipe it clean when I check the oil level before each use.
On my generator, I did oil changes at: 30 min, 2 hr, 5 hr, 10 hr and 20 hr. The 10 hr and 20 hr changes looked clean, so I think I'm good to go for the oil change interval in the user manual. It is a little OCD, but all those oil changes totaled less than $10 in oil. It now has Mobil 1 in it for the long haul. I also installed a magnetic oil dipstick. It collects a small amount of metal 'dust' from the oil. I wipe it clean when I check the oil level before each use.
It makes sense to use the cheapest oil for the break-in, can't fault anybody for that. I may just do that myself.
Other than the difference in price, I think I've read where the synthetic versus dino oil break-in debate revolves around conditioning of the seals within the oil system of the engine. Dino proponents arguing that it helps the seals to swell to properly fill the area they are intended to seal. Whereas synthetic oil proponents argue that seals are "different" in modern, recent-vintage engines and that synthetic oils do just as well as dino oils. Did I dream that up or is that somewhat the situation?
A 5-quart jug of the Wallyworld oil should give me four oil changes (sump holds 1.2 quarts)...if I went for five changes as you did I could use some of the half-jug surplus Mobile 1 EP oil for the last change. I recall seeing the Walmart brand 5-qt jug for around $14. For and extra $3 more they've got a 5-qt jug of Valvoline synthetic.
I looked at the magnetic dipsticks...dang, they're proud of the ones for the Champion generators...seems they're running $25-$26. They have anodized and non-anodized finishes...I'm figuring the anodized finish would be the preferred one?
Forget the NGK they ran terrible in Nissans and Subarus
Nippon Denso W20 EPRU "Hot - U"
Or just the Champion N9YC
or good old Autolite A 63
what does the ENGINE manufacturer state for gap?
most Asian plugs with reverse spark ignition gapped at 1.1mm
SO if the dash number at the end is -11 then that's the designed gap.
its OK to tighten the gap but NOT to open it beyond designed geometry.
I d leave the factory plug in UNTIL you have a perceived issue. Its just one minute to change it out with tools in hand
Please try to Ignore Youtube and social media - its mostly nonsense and blown out of propotion
Don't worry about the oil. Mobil 1 0W40 or Castrol European Car 5W40
Mobil 1 10W30 is not Synthetic. and its too thin for an air cooled engine in Alabama
It even too thin for me up here in New Hampshire.
Whatever plug you decide on, I would have a few on hand. My gen is set up to be tri-fuel. It primary runs on NG. For some strange reason, the plug doesn't last very long. After about 50 hours time on the plug, it gets hard to start, until I change the plug, then it fires right off. If I don't shut it down at night, it'll run way past the 50 hours. Kinda acts like a fouled 2 stroke plug, the plug looks great when I replace it though.
The permanent mount Generac, Cummins etc. gensets, list yearly plug changes as routine maintenance.
The permanent mount Generac, Cummins etc. gensets, list yearly plug changes as routine maintenance.
Plug should last the life of the genset with occasional use. or 20 years
No fiddling required once you get the RIGHT one in there.
No fiddling required once you get the RIGHT one in there.
I'm having trouble following you. Are you recommending I go with 10w40 or 5w40? Champion recommends 10W-30 and the manual shows that 10W-30 should cover from about 5F to 120F. I'm hoping we don't get to either of those extremes down here. But, I do understand that small engines run hot over extended periods of time. The manual states that a 10W-40 oil covers from 70F to 120F. I had really rather have an oil that I can keep in the generator year long...change it once a year.
Also, on the front of the Mobil 1 jug the label states "Advanced Full Synthetic Motor Oil". How do they get away with that if it isn't full synthetic...seems like that would be false advertising and someone would have called there hand on it. To say the least, this and the oil weight issue has confused me a bit....but, it doesn't take much to get me confused.
I'm hoping the generator won't see much use except for maintenance runs, so maybe 20 hours a year. Unless an extended outage is experienced I figure there will be only an annual oil change. I can judge how the generator is running at that time and determine if I want to swap out the spark plug. I had planned on having an extra plug on hand but I think I'll follow your advice and get a few more. Thanks for the heads'up!
Champion states a gap of 0.028-0.031 inch.
Thanks for the feedback! Especially the gapping information, very helpful! I'm definitely no oil or small engine guy, but I'm able to look at most things and figure them out with some research. I'm thinking the research can get a bit overwhelming at times with nobody's fault but my own.
Very interesting. The freightline is delivering the generator tomorrow. We are under a tornado watch until 3am. I wonder how this is going to play out. 
I replaced the torch plug that came in my generator with an NGK iridium. It starts fantastic with it. You have to be careful gapping them, you don't want to scratch or break the center precious metal. I use a feeler gauge rather than a wheel gauge.
BPR6ES would be a BPR6eix in iridium.
BPR6ES would be a BPR6eix in iridium.
The size of your engine will not do well with a 20 lb barbecue tank. It won't evaporate enough. Use your existing giant tank.
Most electric dryers have medium, low, and air dry modes if the siege of a power outage drags on long enough to do laundry.
We still haven't heard about your well/ AC situation, but this unit should handle it. I 2nd the idea of a little 5000 btu window AC just to keep the clamminess down.
Fuel consumption will be huge, but with your huge propane tank I assume you get infrequent fillups and this use might not be able to really pin down.
Spark plug gap specs assume gap growth over time-- the spec is a service limit, not a discard one. You'll probably mess with a small engine plug way more often than a car one, so can gap a little wider. Wider is better as long as it doesn't stress the coil.
M1 10w30 is fine.
Most electric dryers have medium, low, and air dry modes if the siege of a power outage drags on long enough to do laundry.
We still haven't heard about your well/ AC situation, but this unit should handle it. I 2nd the idea of a little 5000 btu window AC just to keep the clamminess down.
Fuel consumption will be huge, but with your huge propane tank I assume you get infrequent fillups and this use might not be able to really pin down.
Spark plug gap specs assume gap growth over time-- the spec is a service limit, not a discard one. You'll probably mess with a small engine plug way more often than a car one, so can gap a little wider. Wider is better as long as it doesn't stress the coil.
M1 10w30 is fine.
I meant to order a couple of the iridiums today for pickup tomorrow. Nobody apparently keeps them in stock around here. No rush, though, I'll do the break-in with the Torch and on the oil change for the long haul I'll swap out the plug. I had noticed that the tips on those things looked a bit fragile, not to mention the metal itself. I sure don't want to waste an expensive plug like that! I do like what people say about it making their engines crank easier. The Champion I'm getting is pull-cord only...which I hope I don't live to regret.
4WD
$50 site donor 2024
I have a couple Champion 4000’s that are easy to pull start and a PowerStroke about the size of yours. It’s about as big as you’d want to go on pull start … but on LP you don’t have the carb issues and it should crank in a couple pulls.
Pretty much all “Chonda“ motors anyway …
My WinGen9500/12500 is 12v start … that’s getting a bit large to tug on IMO …
Another recommendation i would make, is a magnetic dipstick. If you can find one to fit yours, its great to do the first crank up with it in there. Mine caught a lot of ferrous material on the first 2hr run. I have it on my generator and pressure washer.
magnetic fill plug
New pressure washer. Ran it today for 2 hrs with amsoil HDD 5w30. Will dump before next use. This is the magnetic fill plug after 2 hrs. Oil is still clear. I really like these for engines with no filter.
bobistheoilguy.com
Ok, so to keep from getting frustrated it sounds like I don't need to fool around with running the generator on propane until I get the hookup for the big tank installed? No rush. I'll try it on gas, probably do the break-in with gas. I'm hoping to have the gas connection installed within the next week or two. Seems me and the propane guy are playing phone-tag.
Roger that on the dryer. Hopefully the outage won't go that long. Even if it does I've got some trees I can string a line between...just might have to keep the birds away!
No well, not one in working order anyhow...on county water. Our central unit is a roughly 5-ton geothermal unit, the installer did not install heat-strips so no draw for that. But, when the system turns on you can tell it pulls the house electricity down for a moment. The system is now 20 years old. I have a small 5k btu window unit that if we need to can stick in a window if needed. It might not be really easy, though, as our old steel roll-out windows (house built ~1950) are too narrow for the window unit. But, I've got one spot we could possibly slip it into.
Propane fill-ups are usually annual. Only thing left on propane is water heating and propane heaters (for emergency backup to the geothermal). The fill-ups usually take place in the fall of the year when there is a "pre-buy special". I may buy some extra that I can have put in later at the beginning of hurricane season...just to make sure the tank is full then.
Thanks for the info on the spark plug and assurance on the 10W30. It's a good crowd here!
I dont know what size motor a genset that size uses but I would guess no more than 11 or 12 HP. My offset mower uses a 12 hp pull start and if you pull slow till you get compression and then let the rope back in and pull hard its not really too bad. Really not much more than a lawnmower because they use compression release on almost all the larger engines.
