Demoh
Member
- 217
- 26
- 18
- Location
- St Pete, FL
Its almost been 2 weeks and I am curious as to who is running MEPs up there in the Panhandle. I have family up there and after it hit and hearing from family I loaded up 3 gens (831, 802, 803 one of each) and made my way up there along with many other supplies. I have family in Chipley who got power back last week, and family in 2 houses (same property in the woods) around Bayou George who as of yesterday when I left there are still many power lines still just laying in the road with no (very few) power crews working the main road there. I estimate they will be without power another week. Since the hurricane Ive only spent 3-4 days back home in St Pete, all other time I was up there on a chainsaw or tractor or hauling supplies around.
For the generators I always knew the 802a was the unsung hero of these situations. Rarely need more than 5kw unless you have a monster air conditioner to run, but even under disaster situations I know that fuel conservation is key. I always ignored the 831 generators as I rarely thought of them as anything more than a portable unit, but now I am contemplating working an 831 into my own disaster plan. During nighttime hours when large loads arent needed the 831 is perfect.
Report on each generator:
802a, started at 18 hours, now 130+, now on standby and only used when laundry needs to be done. Was connected to 1400sq foot house and due to age would not fire up 4 ton AC (expected). The house has a 12kw gasoline gen which was drinking fuel like you wouldnt believe. The 802 ran consistently at around 30% load and consumption was around 4-5 gallons per 20 hours.
Failures: Fuel level float connection vibrated loose which caused aux fuel not to work.
oil pressure switch wires broke off no less than 4 times during 100 hours. Extended the wires by 12 inches and routed so that vibration wouldnt affect the wires, but it still scares me to not have oil pressure shutoff if a wire breaks again (piss poor design, the oil pressure switch should be CLOSED when operating so that if the wire breaks the gen should shut down instead of how it currently is). I will relocate the oil pressure sender and switch at a later date.
started getting low fuel shutdown after 80 hours, the connector for the float module vibrated itself loose so I corrected that one too.
Overall pleased as this 802 is my primary unit for my own house.
803a: running time so far around 120 hours. This started as a unit that I havent rebuilt yet but I brought all of my rebuilding supplies to repair this generator onsite. Roughly 10 hours worth of work went into this gen to repair. Only notable was the AC reconnection switch having desert sand in it. almost had to manually connect the gen head to bypass the switch but was able to flush it enough to get solid connections eventually. Had to adjust the injection pumps and currently running without a 'weatherproof' fuel tank so it is currently shrouded to prevent water getting in the fuel.
This unit has no problem with running 3 air conditioners in a new 4000 sq ft house (3.5 ton, 2.5 ton, and 2 ton, all multistage compressors) AND one of the water heaters all at once. During the day this unit is run and the only items kept off is one water heater and no washing of clothes unless other breakers are turned off.
The drawbacks are fuel consumption and starting to see evidence of wet stacking. Exhaust flap is soaked and have now gone to a small gasoline 4kw to run the fridge, freezer, and well pump (serves both houses on property) at night and 803 only when AC / showers are needed.
831: running around 200 hours now under constant operation. 1 oil change so far.
This unit was also brought up as an incomplete unit with a bad inverter but I brought an extra 2 from other units I had. Of course the SLC100 was out of adjustment or bad, so the unit ran full open one night (I was going on 40 hours no sleep constant work) then a metal plate taped to the magnet which worked great until a replacement governor controller arrived (thanks Kurt) which was field installed while kneeling in a fire ant mound.
After installing and adjusting the linkage unit runs absolutely great. This unit is running an RV in 120v mode and with the ac is around 60%. Most consumption is about 110% constant if the refrigerator is in electric mode and unit has no complaints.
Consumption seems to be lower than the 802, overall is a great workhorse. The 802 was moved to this location to run the clothes dryer as the uniform companies are a bit slow to make their rounds for my brother's uniforms.
The whole family lucked out in terms of damage. 36 acres of pine (not for harvest, just land to live on) got pretty beat up and you can now see the neighbors, but the houses all survived with minimal damage (a window, gutter, some vehicle damage) but a lot better than neighbors where right next door people are missing sections of roof.
The time I spent up there I havent seen ANY other MEPs which was very surprising to me. Im curious to see how everybody else did and how their MEPs have been treating them (any field repairs, etc)
For the generators I always knew the 802a was the unsung hero of these situations. Rarely need more than 5kw unless you have a monster air conditioner to run, but even under disaster situations I know that fuel conservation is key. I always ignored the 831 generators as I rarely thought of them as anything more than a portable unit, but now I am contemplating working an 831 into my own disaster plan. During nighttime hours when large loads arent needed the 831 is perfect.
Report on each generator:
802a, started at 18 hours, now 130+, now on standby and only used when laundry needs to be done. Was connected to 1400sq foot house and due to age would not fire up 4 ton AC (expected). The house has a 12kw gasoline gen which was drinking fuel like you wouldnt believe. The 802 ran consistently at around 30% load and consumption was around 4-5 gallons per 20 hours.
Failures: Fuel level float connection vibrated loose which caused aux fuel not to work.
oil pressure switch wires broke off no less than 4 times during 100 hours. Extended the wires by 12 inches and routed so that vibration wouldnt affect the wires, but it still scares me to not have oil pressure shutoff if a wire breaks again (piss poor design, the oil pressure switch should be CLOSED when operating so that if the wire breaks the gen should shut down instead of how it currently is). I will relocate the oil pressure sender and switch at a later date.
started getting low fuel shutdown after 80 hours, the connector for the float module vibrated itself loose so I corrected that one too.
Overall pleased as this 802 is my primary unit for my own house.
803a: running time so far around 120 hours. This started as a unit that I havent rebuilt yet but I brought all of my rebuilding supplies to repair this generator onsite. Roughly 10 hours worth of work went into this gen to repair. Only notable was the AC reconnection switch having desert sand in it. almost had to manually connect the gen head to bypass the switch but was able to flush it enough to get solid connections eventually. Had to adjust the injection pumps and currently running without a 'weatherproof' fuel tank so it is currently shrouded to prevent water getting in the fuel.
This unit has no problem with running 3 air conditioners in a new 4000 sq ft house (3.5 ton, 2.5 ton, and 2 ton, all multistage compressors) AND one of the water heaters all at once. During the day this unit is run and the only items kept off is one water heater and no washing of clothes unless other breakers are turned off.
The drawbacks are fuel consumption and starting to see evidence of wet stacking. Exhaust flap is soaked and have now gone to a small gasoline 4kw to run the fridge, freezer, and well pump (serves both houses on property) at night and 803 only when AC / showers are needed.
831: running around 200 hours now under constant operation. 1 oil change so far.
This unit was also brought up as an incomplete unit with a bad inverter but I brought an extra 2 from other units I had. Of course the SLC100 was out of adjustment or bad, so the unit ran full open one night (I was going on 40 hours no sleep constant work) then a metal plate taped to the magnet which worked great until a replacement governor controller arrived (thanks Kurt) which was field installed while kneeling in a fire ant mound.
After installing and adjusting the linkage unit runs absolutely great. This unit is running an RV in 120v mode and with the ac is around 60%. Most consumption is about 110% constant if the refrigerator is in electric mode and unit has no complaints.
Consumption seems to be lower than the 802, overall is a great workhorse. The 802 was moved to this location to run the clothes dryer as the uniform companies are a bit slow to make their rounds for my brother's uniforms.
The whole family lucked out in terms of damage. 36 acres of pine (not for harvest, just land to live on) got pretty beat up and you can now see the neighbors, but the houses all survived with minimal damage (a window, gutter, some vehicle damage) but a lot better than neighbors where right next door people are missing sections of roof.
The time I spent up there I havent seen ANY other MEPs which was very surprising to me. Im curious to see how everybody else did and how their MEPs have been treating them (any field repairs, etc)
There are still people in our county without power.
