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I'm blaming SweetSue...
Drug out the monster diesel gen this weekend. Had to get it out of the way and had a better place to store it. The blue tarp on the shed was folded and protecting the generator, so I had to find another tarp and shove it around some... seemed like a good time to crank it up.
Drained it's oil and replaced it with fresh. Cleaned the "oil filter" which consists of a screen that looks a lot like my coffee filter.
Cleaned the air filter.
Unclogged the fuel valve... it seems to clog every year. I use a plunger on the fuel fill hole to push fuel thru the valve till it flows freely. I tried to cheat this year and used the output side of a shop vac... way too much airflow... blew diesel fuel everywhere.
Drained all the fuel and replaced it adding the appropriate amount of diesel fuel preservative. I use the preservative whenever I've not run it or if I'll be storing it. It seems to be keeping the fuel in the system 'edible' between runs.
Nice thing about diesel... no spark plug or ignition system to deal with.
Opened the fuel valve, pushed the run-stop lever to run, clicked the compression release, pulled it just once... just once, and she cranked right up. She sputtered for a moment as the air in the fuel line was purged, but she did great.
It's been stored for a year outside under a tarp. After she settled, I powered the shed (AC, lights, fans) for about 3 hours. Used about 1/4 tank. In the past, I've run indoor AC window units, fridge, chest freezer, plus lights and AC in the grow shed for days. She drinks a bit more running all that stuff, but she's an incredibly strong performer.
Oh... and I pulled a muscle in my back yanking the gen around the yard. SweetSue's fault... she guilted me into all the manual labor!
Drug out the monster diesel gen this weekend. Had to get it out of the way and had a better place to store it. The blue tarp on the shed was folded and protecting the generator, so I had to find another tarp and shove it around some... seemed like a good time to crank it up.
Drained it's oil and replaced it with fresh. Cleaned the "oil filter" which consists of a screen that looks a lot like my coffee filter.
Cleaned the air filter.
Unclogged the fuel valve... it seems to clog every year. I use a plunger on the fuel fill hole to push fuel thru the valve till it flows freely. I tried to cheat this year and used the output side of a shop vac... way too much airflow... blew diesel fuel everywhere.
Drained all the fuel and replaced it adding the appropriate amount of diesel fuel preservative. I use the preservative whenever I've not run it or if I'll be storing it. It seems to be keeping the fuel in the system 'edible' between runs.
Nice thing about diesel... no spark plug or ignition system to deal with.
Opened the fuel valve, pushed the run-stop lever to run, clicked the compression release, pulled it just once... just once, and she cranked right up. She sputtered for a moment as the air in the fuel line was purged, but she did great.
It's been stored for a year outside under a tarp. After she settled, I powered the shed (AC, lights, fans) for about 3 hours. Used about 1/4 tank. In the past, I've run indoor AC window units, fridge, chest freezer, plus lights and AC in the grow shed for days. She drinks a bit more running all that stuff, but she's an incredibly strong performer.
Oh... and I pulled a muscle in my back yanking the gen around the yard. SweetSue's fault... she guilted me into all the manual labor!