Generator Generator Won't Start AGAIN!!

[@brianmillion-osborne6747]

Thanks for the video. I work in condos and they have massive indoor generators. I have been working on these sites for years and never seen any work done on them except generator testing.

[@HVACRSurvival]

🤣🤦🏻👍👍. The commercial generators are built much better.

[@brnmcc01]

@@HVACRSurvival Biggest one I've been to is an Aksa Power generation unit. I had never heard of AKSA before but all the components are great 'off the shelf' stuff. Perkins twin turbo diesel engine, Stamford alternator, and DeepSea electronics controller capable of loaded and unloaded exercise, and even auto sync to grid for loaded exercise option so the customer doesn't lose all the employee time clocks, computers resetting etc. Don't even hardly see the lights flicker. Very little in the way of issues, and most of the stuff you can just go get somewhere locally, very little in the way of "OEM" parts like that oil pressure switch. I think their company philosophy is some of their units get shipped off to remote craphole places like remote areas in India, Africa etc, and the last thing you want to happen is one of your customers to be down half way across the world for lack of a simple OEM part, when they can just run to their local hardware store and get something that will work etc.

[@golfwipe]

6:55 filter is holding a prime for next cold start? A ford can Rattle a few seconds before building oil pressure, then this thing goes to govern speed as soon as it starts! Can I spray the connectors ? And board to stop moisture? Mine starts better had valves set , smashed new air filter in? Change oil and filter yearly past 10 years and caving Basement wall in? 😮

[@kc5hgv]

@4:42, Where did you get that tool bag from?

[@HVACRSurvival]

Trutechtools.com use survival for 8% off

[@jasonjohnsonHVAC]

The Rickster......magician of the HVAC world.

[@richardrumplik7023]

Ty , I’m a DIY guy and done a bunch of issues on my 14 k gen rack , since I built my house 2003 . I had a bad battery and no crank. Changed battery and then I had a crank but no firing! Ck propane 👍 I Ck the oil switch with the wires on it to see if it was working and it fired up? lol I didn’t Ck psi . I didn’t have a gage. It sounded like it always did. I’m going to replace the switch. I’m glad I watched the video. I wish I had seen it before I went through on my own Ck list. But it wasn’t much more than what you did . Ty

[@thisislargemouth5566]

I'm (hopefully) starting a job here soon where they have created a position just for a generator tech. I ran my own small engine business for a whole and I'm very comfortable working on the generators but these videos are just giving me an the more confidence I need. Nobody wants to work on these things and personally I love it.

[@HVACRSurvival]

I used to like it, obviously as you hear me speak I don't anymore. As long as you like it that's the only thing it matters 👍👍

[@thisislargemouth5566]

@@HVACRSurvival yeah I'll like it for what they offered me lol. I'm going to make almost twice the money I'm currently making and there's opportunity for me to get electrician experience as well. I'm going to ride this wave as long as I can haha.

[@thesilentonevictor]

Rick is at it again clean job

[@thestallion504]

Can you do a bag setup video on ur mb3 please?

[@stanleyroberts2461]

I understand that you have moved on from generstors and now doing a lot of different stuff now. But it ma,kes you va,ulable to your company that you ha,ve different skill sets. Dont worry about the haters you show those adjustable wrenches all the time. I like you have different tools for each job and enjoy them so much. Just watched again your crane that you made replacing semi hermatic compressor that was very smart and hopefully you get paid for all those extra's that you thought of. Again sorry your not feeling well ! Been there and done that worked when i wasnt up to speed. Its your great work ethic . Enjoy your channel ,your doing so much with trade teaching others. Wish when i was starting to work my way up in the trade to have these resources as channels like your self. Your're a great teacher and may the Lord continue to bless you and your family now and coming years!! se

[@HVACRSurvival]

@stanleyroberts thank you very much for such a thought out message. I really appreciated reading it.

[@tbelding]

Agreed on the tools. I, personally, prefer using fixed width wrenches - but I don't attack anyone for using the flat jawed "adjustables". Frankly, I think that a lot of folks that buy them probably _do_ still round the nuts, but those jokers will round the nuts with a box end wrench, by using an SAE for a metric, or vice versa, rather than using the right tool for the job. I also own way too many sets of tools - but then, you don't want to go searching in the garage when you're in a second floor workshop, in the car, on site, or in the first floor workshop. So, you end up with at least four basic sets.

[@RodrigoRamirez-fc5hv]

Good troubleshooting.

[@HVACRSurvival]

Thank you!

[@Eddy63]

The only thing that Generac generates is problems ... Good vid and get better ... Thx ...

[@frankjones2521]

Have you run across on an older Guardian 4390 that shuts down on a solid overspeed light that the Hz went above 70, the volts 360 that ended up being the voltage regulator? Trying to determine if it's an engine speed problem or AVR issue. Thanks for your informational videos.

[@HVACRSurvival]

More times than not if you’re getting 360 V that’s the voltage regulator. In theory the motor speed is what controls the frequency. I would start with a regulator first then see if you can adjust the RPM to 3600

[@frankjones2521]

​@@HVACRSurvival Thank you for responding sir!

[@frankjones2521]

​@@HVACRSurvival So it turns out Ideal 61-342 meters are crap. I put the new regulator on and fired up and stayed running, when I checked the Hz, it 1st flashed 62, then it jump up to 120, which I knew wasn't right because the RPM didn't change, probably would've blown the engine! Anyway, hooked up a different meter and got as close to 62.5 Hz, and adjusted voltage to 245 with the covers on, no load. There definitely is a difference with the covers off & on. Turns out the guy said he had 4 different techs look at it and said he needed a new generator. Thanks again for your help!

[@shine-cg9uf]

👍🇺🇸💪❄️ Nice vid thanks for sharing

[@dougking7592]

Oil switches, battery chargers, controllers if generac could figure out how to make them last the gensets would not be that bad to have like the videos brother

[@Sctronic209]

Get feeling better soon Rick.

[@HVACRSurvival]

Thanks! A lot better now

[@sterlingarcher46]

Knipex for the win 🤜🤛

[@detaronrockydoo6957]

Your a great mechanic/tech !!! Wish we had someone like you to service our generac. The guys around us...just guess alot and want to charge you alot! Not wanting to have to do the repair needed...just charge alot for service calls and head out again. I've never had one do the testing i see you do!! In the Houston area and its soooo hot now...I now they want trouble shoot...they'll just want me to buy a new one! Mine is a 20kw ..10 years old

[@HVACRSurvival]

Yeah they're not repair technicians, they're sales technicians, it's a sad thing they've kind of gone to with all these make your company Big and Rich fast schemes that they're coming up with. I like the satisfaction of completing a job, I don't think a lot of people care.

[@briancarlisi2224]

Good idea for the electrical tape container.

[@HVACRSurvival]

Those are awesome for all kinds of small storage needs.

[@robertferreiro3466]

Great video..thank you

[@HVACRSurvival]

Glad you enjoyed it👍👍

[@tedpuckett2779]

Good vid. Planning on getting a portable generator set up for our home this spring. Like others have said I really don’t see a lot of positive things about permanent mounted generators. Also can’t use it for anything other than the house. Thanks for sharing.

[@tbelding]

Portable generators are all right, especially if you get them installed on a wheeled cart. You still want to add a transfer switch and power cable setup to your breaker box. Reasoning behind permanent generators is a few things. 1) Can run on piped propane or LNG. 2) Much larger sizes available. 3) Harder to have walk off. 4) Automatic tests. (You do NOT want to fire off a test while stored in your garage, for example). Realistically, if you put in a permanent stand-by generator, as long as you aren't dumb about it, they'll last. 1) Build a dog house for it. Don't just stuff it out in the open, but do what you can to protect it from weather. It's not like it's hard to build it so you can flip up the 'roof' and 'walls'. Use ball lock pins to hold them into a frame. Just make sure you don't restrict air flow. (heck, pipe the muffler out further). 2) Do the maintenance. Run it regularly, make sure the fuel is in good shape, so on, and so forth. 3) Remember it's there. That is, don't forget about it until you're desperate for it to work :)

[@peterking1134]

Seems to run a bit long without the ‘oil pressure’ signal being true.

[@HVACRSurvival]

The switch is normally closed with the engine not running, when the generator is running, it is open, what I was trying to demonstrate in the video was unhooking the switch removes any oil protection, and it will run nonstop with no oil protection. That's why I verified that it shut down after I was finished testing the switch and why I hook the switch back up to protect myself against any liability of engine damage if I was to leave it on hooked.

[@brnmcc01]

That's by design, they have a delay in the logic to give time for oil pressure to build, such as after an oil change with an empty filter.

[@kevinclaywell9716]

Oh great another generator video

[@HVACRSurvival]

I have another to🤣

[@nspro931]

That oil is old and dark, you could see it when you pulled the switch. Oil color on the dipstick is not a reliable indicator of oil condition. Get them to have it serviced once a year, good for them, good for you.

[@joehead1294]

Might be Pennzoil, starts off dark.

[@HVACRSurvival]

I'm doing the service when I return.

[@brnmcc01]

Well if the sticker was right it was about 2 years old.

[@KgiMedia601]

Ik this is a old video but those nexus controllers always do goofy stuff to me during pms. The evo is better but im on your side a portable thats taken care of blows the standbys out of the water if your not lookin for 20+kw of output

[@HVACRSurvival]

🤜🤛👍👍🍺

[@hartsfire5706]

awesome videos thank you for them. as you say generac are just trash, if i have some one come to me and say my Generac has a problem i tell them #1 i do not work on there junk and i am sorry that you have one. and when they get tired of fixing it come back and i will talk about a hole and i mean hole house diesel.

[@HVACRSurvival]

🍺👍👍

[@brnmcc01]

Diesel has it's own issues, the biggest one being the fuel goes bad because 90% of residential don't have very long power outages and if they do they're quite rare, maybe once a year from a bad storm thats about it. And then there's all the problems with the newer ones with DPF/EGR and SCR issues, and the constant need to do forced regen on them with a laptop, because they don't get loaded enough. Residential load is so unpredictable, half the time nothing is running, except maybe 1 fridge and a couple lights. Then a big peak load for a couple hours when everyone gets home in the evening and starts doing laundry, dishwasher, cooking, vacuuming etc all at the same time. Then it's back to nothing when everyone goes to bed and everything is turned off. I've seen houses with a 400 amp service only pulling 5-7 amps total while I was there during the day... On the other hand, with like large commerical customers, I have a fairly large nursing home for one of my customers, they have a 600kw backup generator, and the load there is never under 50%, and nearly never over 70% on hot days in the summer. Most of the equipment and lighting is on 24/7. So that waives the state requirements for an annual load bank test, if the monthly on-load test is at least 50% of the nameplate rating. Exercise is once a week, but monthly it actually synchronizes with the grid, then switches over to full generator power for awhile, then resync to grid, parallels for like one second then drops out. Deepsea controller so much better than Generac's. But Generac are fine for a house, as long as they're either natural gas preferably or LP.

[@hartsfire5706]

@@brnmcc01 when you start talking about DEF and filters you do know that residential generators are only cat3 and do not have that junk? as to the fuel 1 quart of SeaFoam in a 100 gallon tank and you are good for years. Diesel vary seldom goes bad but it will grow algae the SeaFoam stops that and at the same time prevents gel in vary cold weather. and before you go there i have diesel generators i work on that are 25 years old and they have never failed to start in the cold or hot. there is this thing called maintenance and block heaters. i consider this discussion closed i will not blow up this nice gentleman's video's.

[@brnmcc01]

@@hartsfire5706 Yes for sure, I didn't say anything about cold weather starting. Diesels that have decent injectors and good compression don't usually have any trouble starting in cold weather. I have a little yard crane with a very old 4 cyl Detroit 2 stroke, and it never fails to start even after sitting outside for weeks at a time :) I did not know the small ones weren't T4, the diesels I'm familiar with are newer (2007+) Cummins units at manufacturing plants and they only run in exercise once a week, and seldom get used so once in awhile have to connect laptop with Cummins Insight and do a forced regen to clear the DPF. We took out a 70 kw unit that was 15 years old at another facility few years ago and that diesel was so bad it looked like used engine oil... They never tested the fuel or added any Seafoam etc. It might have had the same fuel in it since it was installed. I was shocked how bad the fuel was in it.

[@williamparker2623]

If I hated my job that much I would find a new line of work

[@joehead1294]

He has started to lean a little negative lately... Age and wear take the toll.

[@HVACRSurvival]

You'll both love my next video where I tell people how they can service their own generator and basically tell them all the stupid things they do to screw themselves.

[@billyhorton5779]

What after replacing the oil pressure switch it still has problems? The military way of testing small generator low oil pressure/low water switches and safety circuits is to install a small shut off valve between the block and switch. Start engine with valve open, then close valve to simulate a low oil/water condition, the shut down circuit, wiring, circuit board, programming , etc , should kill the engine. Everything is pipe thread and can be easily purchased as a tool for testing. I am sure Generac is not built to military grade specs. The principle is the same, regardless of generator size. Just an idea...

[@joehead1294]

How do you bleed off the pressure in the switch after you close off the valve?

[@HVACRSurvival]

@billy I proved the switch was bad when I removed the switch from the circuit, did you notice it ran for well over a minute and something? (That's why I didn't edit that space out with the video.) Then I reversed the operation by putting the switch back in the circuit when I was finished. Plus I also did it with my electrical meter, it's just an N.C. switch that opens while running at normal pressure, it's not a variable voltage switch.

[@Sctronic209]

@@joehead1294 I was thing the same thing.

[@billyhorton5779]

@@joehead1294 If the engine doesnt stop, crack the fitting on the switch side slightly.

[@jameslang9170]

Generac isn’t any worse than any other standby gen that runs on propane/natural gas imo.

[@HVACRSurvival]

Depending on what year it was, the first generation from 2004/2005 area has lots of problems , the newer ones are clones of what Kohler was doing much sooner with integrated controls. The other problem was customers not taking care of their equipment, the majority of the problems in the beginning were mainly mechanical failures.

[@harrydickson4575]

👍👍👍

[@stephwaylonwells3218]

👍

[@johnq5307]

Maybe it tried to start in auto because it was exercise time?

[@eastcoast186]

👍👍👍🇺🇸

[@dissociativecat7495]

furnaces break in the winter and air conditioners break in the summer generators break in bad storms, it ain't rocket science

[@kaboommusicmixer8149]

It’s a way for the government to make you spend money

[@chet3larson]

I kinda just laugh at the constant complaining about gen service and it ends up being stupid simple service call. Can’t get much easier. Half the time is a control board swap or lack of maintenance needing to be addressed. Seems just like my boiler or hvac system that has an issue with a board every two years…and those sit inside

[@HVACRSurvival]

To each their own. I told the shop to send someone else to class. I don’t want to work on them. But these things are such shit units the get a lot of views so I might as well make a video on them.

[@Sctronic209]

That’s a poor design, open circuit and it runs. 🤔

[@brnmcc01]

It's a trick to fool the homeowner who just makes a little jumper to jump out the limit switch. It won't work, and then they'll call someone. It's not a poor design, it's just reverse psychology.

[@c_young-hvac4586]

Nota wrench hater ..just a jealous non wrench haver .....until meow

[@HVACRSurvival]

🤣🤣🤣👍👍🤙🤙