[highwater]

The gen plug on the outside of the house.

I pulled AWG 6 x 4 for the gen, plus a 12 romex for the 110v plug.

 

[highwater]

This broader picture is taken from about the point where the 1.25 inch poly gas line comes from around in front of the house where the meter is, to where I am standing, then on to the tankless water heater connection, which can be seen in the far right.

The exhaust for the tankless is up high on that wall and the intake is around the corner about halfway up the wall.
There are no doors or windows in the walls going around the corner to the right.
The nearest window is around the corner to the left, 8ft down from the corner.
Around the farthest corner to the right, past the tankless, is a patio door 10ft from that corner.
It is 14 feet from this wall to the wall where the tankless feed goes in.

This old slab is where the combo HVAC unit was when we bought the place.
The furnace is now in the basement area, and the coil is out of frame on the right, sitting on an elevated platform on another slab.
So I used the rather large square hole in the old slab to run all the utilities underneath.
I hate holes in the wall.
The grid power comes in underground, which you can see at ground level below the old phone box.
So this old slab is 7 feet from the siding to the outer edge.
If I use the last 2 feet to sit the gen, then I have the 5 feet recommended by the owners manual to be from combustibles.
The riser for the gen is covered with the red lockout.

I had an old kitchen trash can that I used the bottom part of to make a rain cover for the gen plug.
We'll see how that holds up in the wind.

This is on the South end of the house, so that offers some protection from the Winter wind.

Randall

 

[GenKnot]

All of it looks really good!

When the next big outage happens, you will reap the rewards of all this hard work!

 

[highwater]

I can confirm the WEN magnetic dipstick GNA200 is a direct replacement for the factory dipstick .
Same threads. Screws in just fine.

Champion PN is 15010-000007 Oil Dipstick Subassembly

Magnetic drain plug should be here Thursday this week.

Randall

 

[highwater]

Got the hard gas line finished up.
That hex on the end is just something I found that would keep bugs out until I put the hose on.

Randall

 

[highwater]

Got the magnetic drain plug today, that I ordered from the link that Champion provided to me.
SuperGen is the name. Got the 12mm.
I stood a 2x4 on edge to tilt the gen so as not to lose any oil.
That wasn't enough so I used the 2x4 flat and put a 2x6 on edge and that was enough tilt.
Honestly the little oil that came out, on first tilt, when I pulled the factory drain hose off, was probably what was in the hose.

The crush washer that came with magnetic plug is quite large, so make sure it is not dangling in the root of a thread when you tighten it down. I stuck a long screwdriver in there to hold it up while I tightened it down by hand.

The factory nipple takes a 17mm socket and the magnetic plug takes a 14mm.
EDIT ( 14 not 15mm)

I took the lower plastic cover off where you would remove the 12v battery. That requires an 8mm socket.

Randall

 

[highwater]

I started looking today, to see what I would need for Propane as my secondary fuel.
My knowledge of this is outdated.
I went into town and talked to the local propane supplier, and he informed me that my 100lb tanks were now required to have the OPD valves, and describing mine to him, he said yeah those would even need re-certified.
Not worth it he said.
And he said "honestly, you can buy those from the farm stores cheaper than I can get them here."

I probably am not going to want to hustle 100lb tanks around anyway.
New 40lb tanks don't seem to awful pricey. Looked them up on Menards website.

The local supplier said the problem with propane and generators is the vaporization rate, thus the need for more than one tank, in some cases. I took all the info for this genny with me.

I found this page while searching for "propane+gang" gang tanks
More for me to learn here also.

I wanted to run the initial break-in on NG, and then run another 4hr oil change on propane. Looks like that will be later.
But I do want to get the propane fuel as backup, on site, and know that it will work properly.

And I searched this forum for propane stuff, but didn't see much on multiple tanks.

Randall

 

[GenKnot]

I searched this forum for propane stuff, but didn't see much on multiple tanks.

Maybe some of this will give you an idea. When it comes to manifolds for tanks, you are only limited by your creativeness (and possibly the size of your wallet).

Nash Fuel Manifold: PROPANE NATURAL GAS MANIFOLD BALL VALVE LOCK OFF LOW PRESSURE 3/4" 1/2

Nash Fuel Manifold kits: Vapor Propane Tank Manifold Kit Link Cylinders Tanks Rubber Hose Ball

Five tank manifold kit:
PROPANE LP MANIFOLD KIT -- Hook FIVE Tanks Together!! | eBay

PropaneManifold.com GS-GANG – Propane Manifold

and from another vendor:

 

[highwater]

Started the break in run.
All of this is on NG.

Magnetic dipstick at 3hr.

 

[highwater]

At 5 hr oil change.

 

[highwater]

Again this is at the 5hr oil change.
With the drain plug.

 

[highwater]

Before I put the factory oil in that came with it, I marked the level so I could use that container to pre-measure my oil changes. I've got one ready to go for next time that way.

 

[highwater]

Factory oil after 5 hrs.

 

[highwater]

I had 2 qts. of Penzoil sitting here, so I used that for the first oil change, 10W30.
I use 5W30 full syn in my truck so I just got that ready to go for the next oil change, which I plan on doing at 10hrs.

I was going to run 5 hrs on NG and then the second 5 on propane, but the propane will have to wait.
I lack 2 hrs on the second 5hr run so I'll get that tomorrow.

This is the most I ever saw on the little meter on the xfer switch. Just happened to be in front of it when something kicked on.
I don't know what the 2 scales are on the meter. I'll open it up and see where the CT is.

 

[highwater]

Finished off the second 5 hrs. This is at 10 hrs on the machine.

So far so good with this one.
Been starting real easy.

Now I've got to get on with an enclosure, so I don't have to roll it from the garage to the other end of the house to hook it up, and get it out of the garage.

And I've still got to get the propane going. We've lived here 35 years and the only time the natural gas has been down in the area was, you guessed it, dead of Winter, howling North wind and some nasty precip coming down.

Randall

 

[highwater]

Had a nice day today so I did the silicone grease in the connector plugs.
Take the gasoline tank off and everything there is easy to get to.
Everything in the white and clear connectors.
The stuff going into the back of the fuel selector is potted.

That's the CO detector in the lower right hand corner of the pic.

There is another bunch below the starter.
Helps to take off that end panel where the battery is.

Also did the SAE DC battery connector.

Randall

 

[iowagold]

yea the open connections need a bit of protection for sure.
i use the dielectric grease even on the weather pack connections.
it helps the seals to slide in place better.

 

[highwater]

I've gotten started on my journey to propane.
Should that be put here or in the off topic?

 

[GenKnot]

I've gotten started on my journey to propane.
Should that be put here or in the off topic?

Here is fine.

 

[highwater]

I want to get propane on site as a second choice fuel. I do have a 20lb exchange bottle that is/was on the gas grill.
I have settled on 2 tank split running, with another 2 tanks on auto change regulator. I plan on doing the Mopeka gauge. Other threads on this forum have been very helpful in determining what I want to do.

I have my mind pretty well made up on 40lb'ers. There is just not enough boy left here to heft around the 100lb tanks.
Pricing them, I could get 100 lb'ers for about 20 bucks more than I'm going to spend for 40 lb'ers, but, I just don't see myself getting full 100lb bottles out of the back end of the truck. And yeah, there are ways to do it.
Plus they are about 48 inches tall and that is twice as deep as the bed of the truck.

So I have learned that the 20,30, and 40 are all the same diameter, which is roughly 12 and a quarter to 12 and a half inches, depending on who wrote the info. The 100's are about 15 inches, IIRC.

Reading the online info of the available places near where I live, that do refilling of the small RV size tanks, I learned a little about transporting the small tanks.
One of the things I read said, Don't drive up in a passenger vehicle and pull your tank out of the car and expect us to fill it. We cannot put a filled tank back in your enclosed vehicle. You must transport filled containers in open air.
And, they must be secured in the upright position when full.

Since I will most likely buy my tanks at one of the (farm and ranch) stores that also fill them, I need to have my transportation act together before I buy tanks.

I have ruled out used tanks.

My Ford truck has the BoxLink brackets in the bed, and all the e-track stuff will work with those brackets.
Did a lot of figuring on what I would need to secure the tanks in the bed, and had a lot of stuff in my shopping cart to be able to secure 4 individual tanks in place.

Continued in next post.