Had a Generac part failure today

[NormanBuntz]

On my 16 kw Generac standby generator, today we had a 100 minute power outage, but my unit did not come on. Error message: low oil pressure. Oil level seemed unusually low, so I added about a half quart. When I did a manual start, oil spewed out of the oil pressure sensor switch. Apparently a common poorly made or designed part. I was able to run the generator by disconnecting the two sensor leads, installing a brass plug and running it in Manual mode. Naturally the power quickly returned. Got a replacement sensor late in the day for $27. Too hot this afternoon. I'll install it tomorrow.

 

[benjamming]

I have a propane unit from 2006 with same (or is it 15?) kW rating. What year was your unit made? How many hours are on it?
What’s the part number? I might need to look at that too.

 

[jkasch]

On my 16 kw Generac standby generator, today we had a 100 minute power outage, but my unit did not come on. Error message: low oil pressure. Oil level seemed unusually low, so I added about a half quart. When I did a manual start, oil spewed out of the oil pressure sensor switch. Apparently a common poorly made or designed part. I was able to run the generator by disconnecting the two sensor leads, installing a brass plug and running it in Manual mode. Naturally the power quickly returned. Got a replacement sensor late in the day for $27. Too hot this afternoon. I'll install it tomorrow.

I noticed my 16KW oil pressure sensor was leaking when I was doing an oil change. That part has been redesigned and is an easy fix.

Generac 0C30250SRV Oil Pressure Kit​

 

[repairman54]

I had to change a oil pressure sensor on a buddies 10k unit. Was only 3 yrs old with light usage. Was false tripping low oil pressure causing shutdown.

 

[geoffrey23x]

lol last year i had around 120 of those failures of that sensor. The old ones (look like a cone) use to drip no big deal. They changed it in 2014 had the yellow band and I think 2018 they changed to the white band those leak about 1.5 qts in around 15 seconds.. N.O and N.C is the difference.

 

[Donald]

I think a lot of Generac models are consumer grade. Made to sell at a price point. When you get to water cooled and 1800 RPM you are getting into quality generators.

 

[UncleDave]

Im 3 years into a 20K Kohler RESC Unit.

So far over 100 power outages (30 a year average here) worst anywhere I've ever lived by far.

Zero mechanical issues - one electronic issue.
End of last year It failed to power down after an outage - made the call - guy came out and one wire had backed out of a terminal.

Since it was under warranty I made the call guy was out in 2 hours.

If I had been on my own and pulled the cover I'd have spotted it in an instant.

 

[Donald]

Im 3 years into a 20K Kohler RESC Unit.

So far over 100 power outages (30 a year average here) worst anywhere I've ever lived by far.

Zero mechanical issues - one electronic issue.
End of last year It failed to power down after an outage - made the call - guy came out and one wire had backed out of a terminal.

Since it was under warranty I made the call guy was out in 2 hours.

If I had been on my own and pulled the cover I'd have spotted it in an instant.

If I have one a year that's a lot. DEC is an electric cooperative. They seem to put a lot of money into the electrical infrastructure. I read they can automatically back feed down an alternate path if the main path fails. Hard to justify an investment in a whole house generator. I do have a 10KW portable dual fue generatorl and 500 gal of propane.

 

[UncleDave]

If I have one a year that's a lot. DEC is an electric cooperative. They seem to put a lot of money into the electrical infrastructure. I read they can automatically back feed down an alternate path if the main path fails. Hard to justify an investment in a whole house generator. I do have a 10KW portable dual fue generatorl and 500 gal of propane.

I installed this backup on the modem and wireless routers as it still takes 10 seconds for the gen to fire an that amount of time it crashes hard - then takes a full 5 min to come back on line and some devices like the irrigation controller are stubborn and if they lose signal before power down need manual intervention - a total pain.

Here's the number of outages from Jan - today

 

[Donald]

I installed this backup on the modem and wireless routers as it still takes 10 seconds for the gen to fire an that amount of time it crashes hard - then takes a full 5 min to come back on line and some devices like the irrigation controller are stubborn and if they lose signal before power down need manual intervention - a total pain.

Here's the number of outages from Jan - today


View attachment 301994

Good idea for a UPS. I have used CyberPower UPS. The more important ones I have replaced with APC ones that are network attached. Difficult to lift onto the rack. Huge & heavy battery.

 

[k1xv]

I gave up on generators, and have installed two TESLA Powerwalls leased from my utility company. The lease price is not much more than what I was paying for a maintenance contract on my propane Generac. And when power from the utility fails, the power in the house instantly goes over to the batteries. I am a radio amateur, and do not want my equipment to experience power loss when in use, The Powerwalls essentially are a UPS for the entire house.

 

[nickaluch]

Our relatively new Generac natural gas generator at my school fails the test every Tuesday morning when it's below 40 degrees. Generac says not enough gas pressure because of high demand in the area. Gas company says enough pressure to run it. I'm stuck in the middle just letting the big boss duke it out.

 

[Frankrank]

I gave up on generators, and have installed two TESLA Powerwalls leased from my utility company. The lease price is not much more than what I was paying for a maintenance contract on my propane Generac. And when power from the utility fails, the power in the house instantly goes over to the batteries. I am a radio amateur, and do not want my equipment to experience power loss when in use, The Powerwalls essentially are a UPS for the entire house.

That's a good idea. How many hours can they provide power?

 

[SC Maintenance]

I installed this backup on the modem and wireless routers as it still takes 10 seconds for the gen to fire an that amount of time it crashes hard - then takes a full 5 min to come back on line and some devices like the irrigation controller are stubborn and if they lose signal before power down need manual intervention - a total pain.

Here's the number of outages from Jan - today


View attachment 301994

You loose power but you do not loose internet? Is it regular cable supplied hard wired or do you have starlink or something?

 

[UncleDave]

You loose power but you do not loose internet? Is it regular cable supplied hard wired or do you have starlink or something?

Correct - the cable modem and router stay up as do the platforms which are all mac laptops with big monitors so they can buffer the 10 seconds easily.

The most important thing is not dropping off group calls we both make all day long when working from home.

IF the router drops its 5 full min to a reboot. When you're on the phone with 2 law firms at once that becomes real money.
Almost as critically as spending money that way loosing precious team time is incredibly costly

My nut is 50K an hour or 833 a minute x 5 minutes x about 20 times a year and it's a no brainer to keep everything running and purchase a home backup genset and point defense backup.

At some point Ill put a big battery on eth wall but they arent where I need them to be yet and the backup gen works great.

 

[UncleDave]

I gave up on generators, and have installed two TESLA Powerwalls leased from my utility company. The lease price is not much more than what I was paying for a maintenance contract on my propane Generac. And when power from the utility fails, the power in the house instantly goes over to the batteries. I am a radio amateur, and do not want my equipment to experience power loss when in use, The Powerwalls essentially are a UPS for the entire house.

Powerwalls are great in the city where you don't have to run multiple pumps concurrently or have incredibly high long run baseloads like a 2HP irrigation pump 16x7

I think the power wall 3 is good for 11KW continuous - not enough for me so Id need 2 and even then Id flatten them pretty quick under such high load to where Id need a genset in short order anyway.

I would like at least one power wall and like the whole house instant back up idea but I would have to make a pony panel and break off specific circuits I wanted powered vs just power the whole main bus like the big 20K set.

 

[k1xv]

That's a good idea. How many hours can they provide power?

The two of them are good for about 40 KWhr. They come with a phone app so you can see the rate at which they are discharging, and the remaining charge. The longest outage I have gone through is 17 hours. My average daily energy use is about 20-25 KWhrs. I have been here for 23 years, and have never experienced a utility outage that went longer than 24 hours.

 

[SC Maintenance]

Correct - the cable modem and router stay up as do the platforms which are all mac laptops with big monitors so they can buffer the 10 seconds easily.

The most important thing is not dropping off group calls we both make all day long when working from home.

IF the router drops its 5 full min to a reboot. When you're on the phone with 2 law firms at once that becomes real money.
Almost as critically as spending money that way loosing precious team time is incredibly costly

My nut is 50K an hour or 833 a minute x 5 minutes x about 20 times a year and it's a no brainer to keep everything running and purchase a home backup genset and point defense backup.

At some point Ill put a big battery on eth wall but they arent where I need them to be yet and the backup gen works great.

Whenever the power goes out here, so to does the internet. I assume there is some sort of powered hub within the sub that gets knocked out also.

 

[92saturnsl2]

The two of them are good for about 40 KWhr. They come with a phone app so you can see the rate at which they are discharging, and the remaining charge. The longest outage I have gone through is 17 hours. My average daily energy use is about 20-25 KWhrs. I have been here for 23 years, and have never experienced a utility outage that went longer than 24 hours.

I find this interesting and want to learn more. I used 2097 KW last month (68 per day) but that's with charging an electric car, and summertime AC use in a 6 person household.

What is the lease rate for the Powerwalls if you don't mind me asking? Electricity is cheap here (about 0.13 per KWh including base rate and all taxes). I have a 10KW multi-fuel (gas/propane) portable generator that I can connect to the house for long duration outages. A couple years ago we were without power for 3 days, I spent about $90 in fuel during that outage but had to be careful and stagger usage on large applicances like water heater, stove, AC, etc. Convenient living otherwise.

I suspect powerwalls succumb to calendar ageing as much as any Li-Ion battery, but I'm sure it's baked into the lease rate. That said, I feel like you'd need frequent power outages to recoup the investment / montly payment. Piece of mind is worth a lot, however, knowing there'll be little or no interruption. But what does one do when the batteries draw down?

 

[k1xv]

Its a 10 year lease, and the monthly rental is $50.00, added to my electric bill.

Its a finite resource. If the batteries run down to zero and the utility is still down, your lights go out unless you have a generator. But, unless you are on natural gas, a propane generator will also stop if you run out of fuel after several days. So the trade off is

pro Powerwall no maintenance, instant back up if the power from the utility goes out, no worries about the generator not starting. Silent, no exhaust fumes No propane tank

Pro Generator May be able to run longer for a multi-day blackout if you have enough fuel.

I will add, if it is a very high demand period on the utility, and no storms are expected, the utility will take me off the grid and onto my battery for a few hours. They then re-charge the battery after the peak. However, when weather is predicted that could interrupt grid electricity, such as a snow storm or thunderstorms, they charge me to 100% and will not "borrow" power during the storm period.