Nice job.

 

Update 8/14/21
We lost power twice, once for 6 hours, then six hours later it went out for 7.5 hours. This was the first real test of the XP12000EH. It only took a few minutes to wheel it out of the garage and connect my main cord plus an extension I made to extend the generator about 80 feet from the house to keep the noise down a bit. Although I fully charged the generator battery a few months ago, it was dead when I went to try and start it. The key was not left in the ON position. Not sure why there would be a residual drain on the battery. I'll have to diagnose this. I choked the engine and pull the pull cord and it only took 2 pulls to start. Not bad. Release the choke and it smoothed right out.

With the 7.5 hour run, I still had 1/4 tank of gasoline left, not bad in my opinion. I was running one HVAC unit and all the other items listed above that are connected. Of course not all circuits were used during the power outage. I would say I had a 35% load on the generator intermittently.

I have about 15 hours on this generator so far and it appears to be running great. I'm selling the XP12000EH to upgrade the XP13000EH. I want a little extra capacity to run a 2nd HVAC.

 

I have the same setup but a different generator. My generator also has a bonded neutral. Do I need to unbond it? I'm a little fuzzy on this and can't find a clear answer online. Thanks!

Update - 8/14/21
We lost power twice, once for 6 hours, then six hours later it went out for 7.5 hours. This was the first real test of the XP12000EH. It only took a few minutes to wheel it out of the garage and connect my main cord plus an extension I made to extend the generator about 80 feet from the house to keep the noise down a bit. Although I fully charged the generator battery a few months ago, it was dead when I went to try and start it. The key was not left in the ON position. Not sure why there would be a residual drain on the battery. I'll have to diagnose this. I choked the engine and pull the pull cord and it only took 2 pulls to start. Not bad. Release the choke and it smoothed right out.

With the 7.5 hour run, I still had 1/4 tank of gasoline left, not bad in my opinion. I was running one HVAC unit and all the other items listed above that are connected. Of course not all circuits were used during the power outage. I would say I had a 35% load on the generator intermittently.

I have about 15 hours on this generator so far and it appears to be running great. I'm selling the XP12000EH to upgrade the XP13000EH. I want a little extra capacity to run a 2nd HVAC.

 

 

Update 1/3/22
I now have the XP13000EH generator and it is performing good so far. Power went out this morning and looks like it will be out for most of the day. The 13000 can easily run two 2.0 ton HVAC's (with gas furnace, not electric heat) and other misc loads if you conserve power. Very nice.

 

Everytime someone posts about a current outage I can’t help but get jealous. lol.

 

stay safe down there!
yea old mom nature is a real pain right now...
and 2022 is shaping up to be more of the same we have seen in the last 2 years on storms.

we have the cold here in Iowa right now...
at least we missed the ice and went right to snow and cold.

 

Had that front come thru last night and had snow this morning. Probably a tree or huge branch fell on a power line close by. It's only our road being effected and you can see the line coming in from across the cow pasture.

 

be careful with lines down in the area.
that power can travel a long way in wet or wet snow!

stay safe out there!

 

lol!
i am just glad i do not have to put the hours on the gens!
that 10k hours generator life on a honda eu7000is happens too fast on super long outages over time...
lol!

 

we just pull the rope till the valves are closed. (compression stroke)
and run them every 6 months.
but that is on NG.
and they are in a climate controlled shack.
low moisture.

 

Hmm.. I kinda like that idea. I can probably push it further apart to once every two months or even every quarter.

I am running it now solely on LP. The petrol tank, lines, and carb are dry.

We'll see how it goes.

 

if the valves are closed no need to run the gen if it is high and dry!
yup most auto backup gens are exorcised to death in the life time!
but if it is a single cyl gen with a pull rope you can hit the compression stroke for the valves shut
and be just fine as the valve springs are relaxed and the valves to the cyl are closed for no moisture.

one step further is to run a block heater to warm up the block.
they make those stick on magnetics for the steel mounting plates
or the stick on adhesive heaters.
both can be under 200 watts...
some of the stick on units are at 40-100 watt.
nice for if you are inside a gen shed with great insulation to help keep the gen a bit warmer that outdoors.
it take a gx390 an hour at cold temps to cool down..
so if it is warm to start with, then the power goes out you have a bit of time to get the gen started before you loose the preheat.
same on the LP tank heater, it takes a long time to cool down a preheated LP tank.
so a tank blanket works well too.

 

Will definitely follow your advice and do the compression thing.

But no heaters necessary... we get mid-70s to low-90s pretty much all year round.

 

Storing any piece of power equipment at TDC is always a solid practice. I kinda like my monthly generator tests.

 

Power was out for approximately 32 hours. Generator was running continuously except for refueling. I am getting an average of 11 hours on 8.3 gallons of gasoline. Engine did not burn a drop of oil. Oil still looks "new" with a small trace of color in the oil. At 10 hours I changed the break-in oil.

I am going to change the oil every 50 hours or once a year. I know the manufacturer says every 25, but I believe that is excessive.

 

if you run the oil magnets and synthetic oil they can run a bit longer on the time on non filtered systems.
100 hours in non dusty areas works well...

and on the filtered systems 200 hours to 250 if you run the oil magnets and larger filter material or remote filters even longer
the tip is to use the gauge on the by pass for the pressure to indicate that the filter is full of junk material.
Donaldson makes a real good cool setup! gauge, dual filters, and sensor for remote light or wifi alarm.
we use the remote filter plates and use the super large filters...
then they can go a long time before oil filter change is needed.
just test for acid etc.

 

I think most every vendors' oil change routine is based on non-synthetic oil use. Why they don't mention/require syn oil is baffling ... perhaps due to warranty & such?

With syn (depending on brand), you should easily be able to go to 50 hour changes, possibly even 100. I'm experimenting with upwards of 100 hour oil changes, and varying the brand of syn oil.

 

I'm experimenting with upwards of 100 hour oil changes, and varying the brand of syn oil.

Keep us posted on that as it will be interesting for many. I am using Castrol Edge 5W-30 (it will have 03084C on the back just above barcode) after my conversion to NG. I was using 10W-30 when running on gasoline. I switched to 5W because my gen is pull start and I'm not a spring chicken anymore.

 

Gees a 25 hour oil change interval. 50 is completely reasonable. 100 or more is feasible with proper level checks and good oil. I just bought a case of Amsoil 10w-30 small engine oil. I do 50 hour oil changes on most things, some earlier some later. I tend to spoil my machines though.

 

My wife and I also own & operate a campground adjacent to our home and the lawn equipment (zero-turn mowers, John Deere tractor, etc) all use various brands of 15W-40. The 15W-40 has worked out well for this equipment.

I just switched the generator to 15W-40 as well and will use that for normal service. I used 10W-30 for break-in and the second oil change. This was the 3rd oil change.

 

My wife and I also own & operate a campground adjacent to our home and the lawn equipment (zero-turn mowers, John Deere tractor, etc) all use various brands of 15W-40. The 15W-40 has worked out well for this equipment.

I just switched the generator to 15W-40 as well and will use that for normal service. I used 10W-30 for break-in and the second oil change. This was the 3rd oil change.

Diesel oil?

 

I have this same generator running into a 50amp inlet/breaker and an interlock. What exactly are the benefits of unbonding the neutral?

 

What exactly are the benefits of unbonding the neutral?

Neutral-ground bond should only be at one location. Since gen is connected to a panel, then bonding is done there. It is bonded there even without a gen.

 

All neutral currents should return back to the source on the neutral wires and not on the ground wires (NEC 250.6 Objectionable Currents). It's a safety issue.