Wow... as a self confessed perfectionist I love your attention to detail! It's very clear you take pride in your work as its a quality very few people exhibit today. NOTE: The Generac maintenance manual also it recommends you inspect the valve clearance after the first 25 hours and then again after every 400 hour interval. FYI: When checking valve clearance you perform the operation when the engine is Cool and NOT hot as some TH-cam videos suggest. Adding to the confusion is cool is a relative term since warm to one person may be cool to another. The Generac maintenance clearly states the engine should be cool but doesn't actually specify an actual temperature. For reference purposes a Honda generator manual also states if the engine was running prior to checking valve clearance you should let it cool down adding -100 degrees F or 28 C.
when performing maintenance, do you simply press the off button on the generator and begin working? or do you have to turn off the main circuit breaker panel and utility switch inside cabinet like when it's under load? just want to be sure. thanks.
This was so helpful! Generac and Honeywell hide lots of secrets! Even in their manual it doesn't tell you what grade of oil to use OR what the filter size is--and the filter itself has no number on it either! Yikes. Thank you so much, Dan! I had a killer day of empowering fixes and maintenance before a big storm and this video made it PERFECTLY EASY to prep my genny for the impending onslaught of Henri!
It's to bad Generac could not afford another 6" of rubber hose on the oil drain. I swear at that every time I change the oil. My generator sits on a rock bed like yours but closer to the two height 4x4 cribbing and it would be nice to be able to just drain it without watching where the oil is going. I think I will put a new hose on mine when I change the oil later in the summer. Thanks for reminding me.
I use one of those oil suckers they sell at Walmart, I modified mine so it works Great ! Note: it is best to warm up the engine first but do your valve adjustment first thing before the oil change. The valves need to be adjusted every 25 hr .
One of the reasons they are picky about the oil situation is because automotive oil does not contain no where near the zinc and phosphorus that small engines need I highly recommend using Generac oil or even better is Amsoil 5w30 true small engine oil it is 100% synthetic Mobil 1 and just about every other so called full synthetic oil is about 90% there's a number they must meet to be labeled as full synthetic the reason why the automotive oils don't have much zinc and phosphorus is because of emissions most of them are around 800 to 900 ppm diesel has a bit more but small engine oil is like racing oil at least 1200 to 1500 ppm the problem with racing oil its designed for frequent changes so very little detergents for dirt also make sure you adjust the valves around 300 to 400 hours between 2 and 4 thousandths of an inch those engines have mechanical lifters I replaced my Generac with that 1L engine with a new one and the 816cc that has hydraulic lifters no adjustments needed I don't run my central air on it so went with 14kw I can take block out run it just can't run everything I have couple small window units it will run I'm in colder climate so didn't want spend thousands more the 14kw is a really good unit its over powered and true 14kw LP or NG that same engine runs the 18kw but the electrician recommended the 14kw one other thing if you are in cold climate the Amsoil is what you want nothing comes close in cold weather flow do to the molecules they control all of it because its 100% sorry for rambling but been playing with these things for over 20 years always like to help
Wow... as a self confessed perfectionist I love your attention to detail! It's very clear you take pride in your work as its a quality very few people exhibit today. NOTE: The Generac maintenance manual also it recommends you inspect the valve clearance after the first 25 hours and then again after every 400 hour interval. FYI: When checking valve clearance you perform the operation when the engine is Cool and NOT hot as some TH-cam videos suggest. Adding to the confusion is cool is a relative term since warm to one person may be cool to another. The Generac maintenance clearly states the engine should be cool but doesn't actually specify an actual temperature. For reference purposes a Honda generator manual also states if the engine was running prior to checking valve clearance you should let it cool down adding -100 degrees F or 28 C.
when performing maintenance, do you simply press the off button on the generator and begin working? or do you have to turn off the main circuit breaker panel and utility switch inside cabinet like when it's under load? just want to be sure. thanks.
I just hit the off button.
This was so helpful! Generac and Honeywell hide lots of secrets! Even in their manual it doesn't tell you what grade of oil to use OR what the filter size is--and the filter itself has no number on it either! Yikes. Thank you so much, Dan! I had a killer day of empowering fixes and maintenance before a big storm and this video made it PERFECTLY EASY to prep my genny for the impending onslaught of Henri!
It's to bad Generac could not afford another 6" of rubber hose on the oil drain. I swear at that every time I change the oil. My generator sits on a rock bed like yours but closer to the two height 4x4 cribbing and it would be nice to be able to just drain it without watching where the oil is going. I think I will put a new hose on mine when I change the oil later in the summer. Thanks for reminding me.
Hahah, it is annoyingly short.
I use one of those oil suckers they sell at Walmart, I modified mine so it works Great ! Note: it is best to warm up the engine first but do your valve adjustment first thing before the oil change. The valves need to be adjusted every 25 hr .
One of the reasons they are picky about the oil situation is because automotive oil does not contain no where near the zinc and phosphorus that small engines need I highly recommend using Generac oil or even better is Amsoil 5w30 true small engine oil it is 100% synthetic Mobil 1 and just about every other so called full synthetic oil is about 90% there's a number they must meet to be labeled as full synthetic the reason why the automotive oils don't have much zinc and phosphorus is because of emissions most of them are around 800 to 900 ppm diesel has a bit more but small engine oil is like racing oil at least 1200 to 1500 ppm the problem with racing oil its designed for frequent changes so very little detergents for dirt also make sure you adjust the valves around 300 to 400 hours between 2 and 4 thousandths of an inch those engines have mechanical lifters I replaced my Generac with that 1L engine with a new one and the 816cc that has hydraulic lifters no adjustments needed I don't run my central air on it so went with 14kw I can take block out run it just can't run everything I have couple small window units it will run I'm in colder climate so didn't want spend thousands more the 14kw is a really good unit its over powered and true 14kw LP or NG that same engine runs the 18kw but the electrician recommended the 14kw one other thing if you are in cold climate the Amsoil is what you want nothing comes close in cold weather flow do to the molecules they control all of it because its 100% sorry for rambling but been playing with these things for over 20 years always like to help
The way that engine is running, the valves need to be adjusted…..
They might yea, it’s going on 6 years old. How can you tell from the sound?
Why did you upgrade from a 14kW to a 22kW! That’s a big change in kilowatts.
So I could put the whole house on generator. 14kw was not big enough to run the whole house.