I think I've had the generator about a year. I run it about every two weeks for an hour or two to test, and we've relied on it for about 3-4 multi-hour outages, and one 4 day run. It's been fantastic operating my all-electric house (heat pump, hot water, washer/dryer, well pump, etc).
A couple months ago, when running on the aux fuel (pulling from a 55gal drum right next to the generator), the generator shut down, and when I checked on it, the DC breaker had popped. Further attempts to run on aux triggered repeat behavior - popped DC breaker. With the gen motor stopped, turning the main switch to aux (engaging the pumps and I'm not sure what else) would trigger the DC breaker to pop. So, with a thousand other projects being juggled, of course I said, 'I'll get to that later.' And just started running from the day tank.
Last weekend I was doing my normal 1-2 hour test running (from the day tank), and now the behavior has shown up in the 'normal' (non-aux fuel) running position. Gen ran for 30-45 minutes totally normal, then shut down. Check on it, and DC breaker is popped. Again, with motor stopped, putting the rotary knob in the 'run' position WILL pop the DC breaker.
I spent some time trawling the TM's, but I don't see any real DC diagnostic procedures. I did pull the strainer's on the pumps and all 3 looked clean. I am not sure what other bits and bobs beyond the fuel pumps are powered in the run/aux fuel position. Given the similarity in behavior in the two different operating modes ('normal' vs aux fuel), it would seem likely to me the pump(s) are involved in the problem. Is there GPM+amp draw test/spec for the pumps? Any recommended places to look for wear on wires that might be shorting? Any recommended triage steps? Thanks!
ahm
A couple months ago, when running on the aux fuel (pulling from a 55gal drum right next to the generator), the generator shut down, and when I checked on it, the DC breaker had popped. Further attempts to run on aux triggered repeat behavior - popped DC breaker. With the gen motor stopped, turning the main switch to aux (engaging the pumps and I'm not sure what else) would trigger the DC breaker to pop. So, with a thousand other projects being juggled, of course I said, 'I'll get to that later.' And just started running from the day tank.
Last weekend I was doing my normal 1-2 hour test running (from the day tank), and now the behavior has shown up in the 'normal' (non-aux fuel) running position. Gen ran for 30-45 minutes totally normal, then shut down. Check on it, and DC breaker is popped. Again, with motor stopped, putting the rotary knob in the 'run' position WILL pop the DC breaker.
I spent some time trawling the TM's, but I don't see any real DC diagnostic procedures. I did pull the strainer's on the pumps and all 3 looked clean. I am not sure what other bits and bobs beyond the fuel pumps are powered in the run/aux fuel position. Given the similarity in behavior in the two different operating modes ('normal' vs aux fuel), it would seem likely to me the pump(s) are involved in the problem. Is there GPM+amp draw test/spec for the pumps? Any recommended places to look for wear on wires that might be shorting? Any recommended triage steps? Thanks!
ahm
