Ha! Ha! Hey this is getting great.
Three things.
You run across those thrown away Honda units, best to snap them up. Betcha’ the majority had just carb problems. Spare parts gold mine.
I’ve seen this freezing condition in the PVC system on a lot of vehicle too. Gets worse on worn blow-by systems. Aware you can just clean, clean, clean the whitish foamy snot.
Some of the new Dodges and Nissans I worked on even came by their 2-3rd production year with added in coolant heated PCV vapor lines.
Sigh. I hate the vehicles with the added liquids coolant heater loops. All at 1. to 1.1 ATM pressure. And just another coolant leak waiting to bite you in the ass.
Just count all of the rubber connector hose in a VW van wasserboxer! 13! Or was it 15?!
Full sized American vans and Suburban’s with rear heater the same - many leaks older.
Past four coolant hoses I know I will have bitten-ass coolant loss problems. Again.
And yes Dan much can be said about a engine source you will keep up, running and operational.
On the dairies we did learn though. You had to have at least three tractors.
One tied up stationary at the milk-room generator head could not be over pumping out the manure holding tank, topped over, and spilling. Or Silage loading bulk feed. Or snow removing to get the milk tanker truck in and out.
Ha! But you know this and already have more than one, eh.
S.U.
Opps. Forgot. I’d pictured seen one of AndyS’s small engine woodgas mixers on a previous forum.
When I tried to make a better one, I failed big time. Four times failed to match his, let alone improve. Says he’s got it down alright. Give him the call TomH.
Please note our eu3000i has been in continuous use for 11 years. We didn’t have enough solar in the early days to run the fridge, so it was used all season. I would say six hours a day for 11 years.
Yup it always seems if there is only a single machine that can do a critical job you end up with trouble. Unfortunately I am still trying to get one of my most important tractors fixed. But such is life on a small farm where you are more taking care of family than farming.
I know a guy that has run his homestead for years with 2000 watt honda inverter gens. Has more PV now but for years got all his juice from a almost continually running gen. Changed the oil every 150 hrs always with Mobil 1. He is a small engine mechanic and knows a few tricks but still the idea of running that engine day and night always amazed me.
After the first few weeks it flips your awareness upside down. It’s when the generator shuts off that is weird.
Also if another engine is coming down the road or trail, the two vibrations syncing up is louder then trying to hear a far off engine. (Iraq paranoia)
Generator running daily then reflect that there is 168 hours in a week.
So once a week (pick a remembered day like Sunday) when the generator has been ran dry from fuel just tip-dump it out just after ran out of fuel. Warmed.
Have a premeasured container (the original oil bottle) pre-filled and a dedicated tight fitting no spill funnel. Just dump in.
An honest three minutes. Done and done.
On our Honda 2000 we get many changes from a 5 quart jug. 10 as I recall.
I used to favor Castrol 5-50 full synthetic in all of my air cooled. Seems impossible to get. Have used Mobil One. Now using pretty much Pennzoil Premium synthetic.
The Honda 2000 engine uses a phenolic overhead camshaft driven by an oil wet composite toothed belt. Quality lubricate, and do not overheat, cook these. I have three of these OHC Honda engines. The oldest at 10 years ~2000 hours. The cam&belt is still fine. Bit of ring smoke started from cold now.
Just as important is the spark plugs.
Keep a dedicated tool set attached to the generator. With at least two spare, proven known-good brand of spark plugs. I have evolved to using E-3 brand in all of my small engines including the Stihl’s now. They start quicker. And provided longer start-quicker service’s. No real longer lives. These small engines and rings wear/oil, and deposits, kills all spark plugs. Iridium’s will do no better here.
Learn well and train others how to spark plug OUT without plug wire-boot damaging. And best angle of turn tighten.
Yeah. Yeah. I can’t get the wifie to this stage either.
Cranks no-start and you’ll want, quick-quick, spark plug removal to see if: no-fuel dry?
Over fueled, wet?
To know how to proceed.
Plug life?
Hard ran - replace once a month.
Or, by visible build up and wear. “When in doubt, change it out”.
The guy I know claims to average over 20,000 hours on his Honda’s. I’d have to look it up but he mentions that a [ maybe} cam gear or oil pump gear is made out of nylon or something non-metal and doesn’t wear as well as the rest of the engine.
I wore out a Hondq fourtrax 300. It went through spark plugs like they were free. Could never figure that out. The machine would just quit. No point in trying figure out why. Just put in a new plug. I was doing good to get a couple of months out of one. The problem with honda anything is once they are broke, chances are the parts to repair it are going to cost more than the machine ends up being worth.
For a new house, I would just build in a whole house inverter system with solar and battery backup. Then if you want, you can cobble together a generator system that can feed it because the inverter is taking care of the AC stuff.
In some states, you can add the system as a lien on your property tax bill so you don’t have to come up with all the cash upfront.
I would also look at soil management to see if that can’t help get the water drained out faster. I know you have a river flooding, but you also don’t want the residual standing water for any longer then absolutely necessary on your property.
He did an update because he did not do the sound test correctly. He was too close with his sound meter. Really not much of an update. I bet the engine has a higher compression ratio for propane.
I got a free Predator 2kw inverter generator that way. Buddy at work knew I liked small engine stuff and gave it to me, his friend that owned it said it was trashed.
Piston seized in engine, the goober he knew didn’t put oil in it.
Buttered it up with ATF/Acetone magic juice and coaxed the flywheel to spin. I’m definitely going to make a gasifier for that little thing, and a new frame for it since the suitcase frame broke to pieces from baking in the sun.
Progress with the generator, I have wired things to my satisfaction. After some research, the breaker panel interlocks are acceptable where I’m at, and they satisfy the real-world safety issue. I installed this kit from GenInterlock.com:
It requires half a brain to shut off the 220v breakers before running the 110v-only inverter generator, but that’s simple enough I can rely on the wife to do it. And if we ever get a bigger 220 capable (probably tractor-PTO) generator, I’ll be ready to go.
So, I’ve tasted being off-grid, and I like it. I successfully ran the entire house (minus the 220 stuff), which fluctuated around 700 watts, about 25% of the gen rating. That’s powering 3 fridge/freezers, lights, ceiling fans, a TV/stereo, and my computers. Very good power quality! We will be quite comfortable should the power go out, and my fuel-sipper seems to burn about one quart per hour making that much power.
Outstanding Chris! Fair warning the off grid taste of independence is hard to get out of your mouth once you see the return on your pocketbook! Leaves some extra cashola for the fun projects later down the road side note I sure wish that switch was code compliant here, the enforcement folks would crap a cow if they saw one
So Chris is that the type of Panel we talked about? It looks like you have the double lockout breakers. Did it have the neutral from the generator going to a lug on the generator breaker? Apart from the loose plug next to the panel it Should pass the most stringent electrical codes. Plus it leaves you a lot of room for growth down the line. Won’t be long til you hook up an inverter for those loads, then panels, then a gasifier charger then a bigger array…
Cheers, David
No, the neutral goes to the regular neutral bus, is that wrong? it’s a standard 30A breaker. I wired it just like a welder plug, two hots on the breaker and the neutral and ground going to the bus bar.
Is there a different type of breaker I should use? I’ve never seen what you’re describing.
The generator itself is floating (not grounded), which I think is correct in this situation. Both hots are joined using an adapter cord. The house wiring is ready for a real 220v generator.
Oh, and the plug to the right is mounted to the wall, maybe it looks loose but it’s bolted down.
side note I sure wish that switch was code compliant here, the enforcement folks would crap a cow if they saw one