This came up in an RV group I'm in. Attached is the oil recommendation from an ONAN RV Generator manual. I find it interesting that they recommend 15w-40 from 10F to 100F and straight 30 from 32F and above. With my little pea brain I would think that the 40 in 15w-40 would be better above 100F. What don't I know?
ONAN RV Generator Factory Recommendation
- Thread starter rneal55555_NH
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Perhaps because gen sets run for longer periods of time ... 30W oil would be thicker in 40F temps but just for a couple minutes, the units likely run for hours at a time. Lower oil burn with 30W is typical for small engines when compared to 10w-30.
I have 15-40 Rotella synthetic in it and don't plan tp change, I'm really wondering what the engineer's were thinking.
Oh, I am just an average dummy, sorry.
I run 0-40 in my whole house Onan. Easy to crank in cold and good for hi heat. I had a MH with one and ran 0-40 in that.
Most likely oil consumption was the preference of a mono grade vs multi-grade. 30 Grade being a preferred oil grade for lot's of air cooled engines is most likely formulated for such equipment. However, the 15w-40 pretty much covers most weather conditions & so long as you check it's level to add when necessary is an excellent choice. I will say that a 5w-40 HDEO is what I prefer in a generator year round.
After I used all the 15w40 several years ago I just run the same oil as the 6.0L.. 5w30 PP Ultra. It’s been just fine.. well hasn’t blew up yet. I run 5w40 in the scooter which also calls for 15w40 so guess I could switch over.
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