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The sound of the 831 is more noticeable in the house than the 803 is. Too funny.
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MEP-803A sipping fuel.
- Thread starter csheath
- Start date
![ORG_DSC00615[1].jpg](/data/attachments/510/510547-9e18016bbb74a9da0da3616b115cef9b.jpg)
69birdman
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Glad to hear you guys are ok and getting by with these awesome machines. 
Just got power back on. Only 52 hours run time after a hurricane is a record for us. The last two storms we were out from 4 to 7 days. Still a lot of folks in our area to go. Last year they had all but a few hundred when ours was restored so it's good to be on the front end for a change.
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The repair crew has reached the downed line causing our outage. They said they would have to replace the pole. If they can avoid that it will be a quick fix.
gatorbob
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Very glad you are okay. I am really impressed you can get diesel delivery this soon after the hurricane. I just south of Jacksonville and I have yet to find any diesel distributors that would do residential delivery. Your post is helpful because it reminds me to get my act together. Really impressed with the fuel usage levels here.
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Utility power was restored last night just after sunset. Ran through the numbers on my end this morning. Total run time on the 803 was 16 hours spread over 2 days. When I started the fuel gauge was just under 1/2 tank. I put around 4.5 gallons from a fuel can in the tank to top it up. When I was done the fuel gauge was above 1/2 tank. I'm guessing around 4 gallons. That comes out to 0.25gph which is pretty much what I expect the minimum fuel burn on that machine to be. Since we didn't need much in the way of AC and I heat my water with solar the generator didn't do anything but keep laptops powered and lights on. Not nearly enough load for that machine.
The estimate to restore the power was originally tomorrow so I switched over to the 831 since I was using so little power in the house. It ran for about 5 hours. I can't tell that it burned much fuel at all. At most 1/2 gallon.
So.. I guess I confirmed the minimum fuel burn rate for a 803 is around 0.25gph.
Next I'll get my water heater element load bank assembled and give the 803 an actual work out for a bit.
No complaints here. Both machines ran well with no problems. Even the wife was impressed.
The estimate to restore the power was originally tomorrow so I switched over to the 831 since I was using so little power in the house. It ran for about 5 hours. I can't tell that it burned much fuel at all. At most 1/2 gallon.
So.. I guess I confirmed the minimum fuel burn rate for a 803 is around 0.25gph.
Next I'll get my water heater element load bank assembled and give the 803 an actual work out for a bit.
No complaints here. Both machines ran well with no problems. Even the wife was impressed.
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Bmxenbrett
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Why even run the generator for just lights? Led lanterns are realy cheap.
The only reason we need to run ours is for AC in the summer or to take a hot ahower. Heat is a wood stove.
The only reason we need to run ours is for AC in the summer or to take a hot ahower. Heat is a wood stove.
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Here its obviously more than lights. Its a fridge full of food and a well pump to keep the water going. Also a few creature comforts such as phone chargers and a fan in the window. I was working from home so I had my work computer powered up. There is a small server farm in the office that does security video, weather data, etc. BUT even with the seemingly long list of items the "area under the curve" of power consumption is in the range of 0.4kw/h. A few short term demands in the 2-2.5kw range when the water pump kicks on or the wife decides to heat a pot of water for tea (don't try to deny a Chinese woman a constant source of hot water to drink. You're life will quickly descend into ****.). Most of the time its just a few hundred watts.
Since the 831 was a brand new unit I hadn't wired it up for the house so I started with the 803. Once day 2 got going and I saw how long the estimate to restore power was I went out and got the 831 ready to go.
While I was out getting the 831 ready I noticed several of the neighbors didn't have generators running. I did a walk by to check on them and ended up towing the 831 around the neighborhood behind the lawn mower for part of the day to give the neighbors a chance to cool down fridges. During that time the 803 was still running at my house.
Once the lap around the block was done with the 831 I brought it back and switched over. It ran for the rest of the time till the power came back on that evening.
Now that the 831 is wired up and ready to go the it will be the go-to machine if I know I don't need AC. Its much better suited to the base load of the house. I'm also in the middle of adding solar/lithium battery power to the house. That setup will provide a day or two of base power for the house further reducing the need for generator power.
Anyway, thats the long version.
lonesouth
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Still no power on the street. I did see crews working the mainline that feeds our street, but there is still one pole down on our street and a tree across the line going to my house. 803 has been running non-stop since 2pm wednesday. I was greeted by a wet stand last night, so I've got a small leak somewhere, it is on the starter side of the engine, but I have not had a chance to track it down. Not gushing fuel, just a very slow drip. I haven't checked the fuel today, once I get the kid down, I'll take a look. The wife has been adamant about having the AC, so I'm money ahead burning diesel vs picking that fight.
gatorbob
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lonesouth
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Just got power back at 21:00 Sunday, so we were running for roughly 100 hours. I did not have my tank full, and I just added another 55 gallons this afternoon, so I'm guessing we burned about 70 gallons. We had the AC running pretty much the whole time, I didn't turn off any circuits, adjust the AC temp, or do any other power saving activities. The consumption is a bit more than I was expecting, since I'm certain we were only drawing an average of about 4kw in a given day, but I'm not terribly concerned. I can't estimate how much we lost from the suspected fuel return line leak.
Still happy with the MEP, and glad it got the job done. Now to read up on replacing the return line.
Still happy with the MEP, and glad it got the job done. Now to read up on replacing the return line.
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At 4kw you should be in the 0.5 GPH range. If your estimate is correct you are a bit higher than the average. Lets hope you weren't leaking 0.25 GPH of fuel from the return line.
Replacing the lines is a simple task. Remove the top cover over the engine for good access and you'll see its not so bad. Be careful with the plastic TEEs. They can be easy to break. A good pair of hemostats or needle nose pliers is a must to get down by the fuel injectors if you have large hands.
Replacing the lines is a simple task. Remove the top cover over the engine for good access and you'll see its not so bad. Be careful with the plastic TEEs. They can be easy to break. A good pair of hemostats or needle nose pliers is a must to get down by the fuel injectors if you have large hands.
Bmxenbrett
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The part number for the braded return line is good in the mep parts and filters thread. Its more than enough to do a complete 803. Dont forget to replace the whole return line all the way to the tank. You will need to remove the panel by the fuel tank to do this. At that stage your only a few minutes more work into changing the well nuts, both of thwm.
Much easier to get the 1/8" Gates fuel line from O'Reilly's. That is what I use on mine.