# generator break in?



## maverick06 (Oct 17, 2011)

I just got a new Generac ix2000 (4 stroke, 2000 watt generator). Its a great looking generator, looks and feels very well built!  Deflinitely feels better than the honeywell 2000i that I have, which wasnt bad, hard to start, but ran great. Anyways,  I havent fired it up yet, but am thinking about breaking in the engine. The only guidance the manual gives is to change the oil  (SAE 30) after the first 5 hours, then every 100 hours. I know there are a lot of opinions out there, if it is better to run at no load to slowy mate the pieces, or run it flat out to seat the piston rings. based on the change out at 5 hours, i guess they are anticipating some moderate wear byproducts in the oil fast, then nothing. I found someone on the internet said that after 4 hours the oil was "pretty nasty"

I have to think that it is a generator, made in china, not a fancy race car engine. Maybe the logic to run it hard is true for a fancy engine.... but not for a basic motor. I think that breaking it in more slowly is a better idea. There was some resigual fluid (oil?cutting fluid? it felt oily? in the crank case), there is no soot in the exhause pipe at all, so I am pretty confident it never has been run. 







I am thinking:
half hour at no load
half hour at 100 watts
half hour at 500 watts
half hour at half load

I would probably run all of this in the "eco" setting so the rpm is a little lower than full power, likely about 3200-3500rpm), but based on load. Then operate as usual and change after the 5 hour mark ( I have an engine hour meter installed). 

Does that sound reasonable?


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## pen (Oct 17, 2011)

I can't see anyway that what you are doing is going to hurt, if you like the sounds of it try it.  Also not convinced it will help anything but since it can't hurt, go for it.

pen


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## joecool85 (Oct 17, 2011)

I would just run it, no load for 10-15 minutes, then do whatever you want with it.  It's a generator, not a Maserati.  DO make sure to change the oil at 5 hours though, and more importantly, check the oil after every hour or so in that first 5 hours - it may burn a bit of it off.


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## Bad Wolf (Oct 18, 2011)

At the very least you will go through the "infant mortality" stage before you really need it.  If there are any problems you can address them when you are not sitting in the middle of an ice storm.


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## joecool85 (Oct 18, 2011)

Greg H said:
			
		

> If there are any problems you can address them when you are not sitting in the middle of an ice storm.



Bingo.


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## MasterMech (Oct 18, 2011)

Absolute best thing you can do for a generator - Run it.  Exercise it once a month for 10 min.  And keep stabilized (treated) fuel in it.  There's no real break in for small engines.  They are not usually manufactured to the same tight tolerances in larger engines.


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## lukem (Oct 18, 2011)

Run it like you would normally run it.  Change the oil after the first 4-5 hours.  That's about it.


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## semipro (Oct 18, 2011)

MasterMech said:
			
		

> Absolute best thing you can do for a generator - Run it.  Exercise it once a month for 10 min.  And keep stabilized (treated) fuel in it.  There's no real break in for small engines.  They are not usually manufactured to the same tight tolerances in larger engines.



+1 from another (ASE) Master Mechanic.  In general, break in engines like you plan to use them...without stressing them too badly.  

I have about 20 IC engines to maintain and bad fuel or not running the engine often enough accounts for 90% of problems.


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## Bad Wolf (Oct 18, 2011)

I have a friend that owns a Electrical company that does a lot of solar and generators. After Irene came through he said he had many many people try to start their generators for the first time or the first time in years and they wouldn't work.  That or when they started loading them up they couldn't handle what they wanted to run. 
The best thing you can do is run your set up as if the power has already gone out, make sure of your conections and loads.


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## karl (Oct 19, 2011)

I guess if you want to be really particular, you should run it with a varying load.  Give it 10 minutes or so to warm up and then ramp up the load to full power and ramp it back down.


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## fire_N_ice (Oct 19, 2011)

Greg H said:
			
		

> I have a friend that owns a Electrical company that does a lot of solar and generators. After Irene came through he said he had many many people try to start their generators for the first time or the first time in years and they wouldn't work.  That or when they started loading them up they couldn't handle what they wanted to run.
> The best thing you can do is run your set up as if the power has already gone out, make sure of your conections and loads.




 (Irene)
Yes working in a rental place, the people were desperate. 1 guy who came in looking for a spark plug.  we sent him to an automotive store. he returned and said it would not start. I asked how old is it? he said 15 years old.  I then asked when was the last time he ran it? he said 15 years ago. I told him to pray.  the tec followed him out with a gas
can   put some gas in the tank and watched it pour out the carb. he then demanded we fix the carb then and there. (because of his own stupidity and he knew it, we could not.) we did not have the parts to fix that 15 year old generator anyway. 

 agree power it up and put a load on it. and every couple of months run it. And Allways use gas stabilizer and high test gas


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## heat seeker (Oct 19, 2011)

I like to run my carb dry, using the shutoff valve that we all should use on gravity feed systems. No problems in many years (so far).


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## BrotherBart (Oct 19, 2011)

Load it up and put it to work. Find out now, not in a storm or a week out of warranty, if it has problems. And yeah, run it dry when you are through. Forgot to do that last year with my 5,000 watt because the new 3,250 worked so well for the week long snow storm outage and used so much less fuel. Went to start the big one when Irene was coming. No luck. Pulled the carb and it was full of crud. The carb wouldn't clean up so I put a new one on it.

It is gonna be a very mild winter anyway. I have three years worth of wood, the snow blade is mounted and two generators. The grass will probably still be growing on Ground Hog day.


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## maverick06 (Oct 19, 2011)

Thanks for the opinions. guys. 

I have done the first 15 min run with no load, then will do a 15 min run at half load and ramp up from there. 

Its interesting, not sure if it is the new regulations or whatnot, but the carb has a very easy drain screw on it with drain tube that dumps it on the ground (90 deg on/off). 

Which is good because this engine has a fuel on/off valve, that is also the engine on/off. To turn the engine off, you must turn the fuel off. Of course this means you cant run the carb dry.... but I think thats a good safety measure

The thing is really quite surprisingly quiet! Way quieter than my honeywell 2000i, which was still great compared to non-inverter stuff.


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## Highbeam (Oct 19, 2011)

Thanks for the reminder folks. 

I went to rejet the carb in my motorcycle that had been sitting for only about a month with a carb full of fuel. I added an aftermarket muffler which required a bump up on the main jet. Anyway, when I dumped that month old gas from the carb it was the color of beer, getting very dark and on its way to honey. I dumped the bowl and refilled with fresher fuel from the less vented tank which was the familiar clear to very light yellow color. 

I have gone back to being a very big fan of running the carb dry between uses. I believe that a carb full of fuel will turn to oatmeal much much faster than a stabilized fuel tank full of fuel. The oatmeal will also be surrounding the jets and float valve for immediate failure.


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## Bammer (Oct 19, 2011)

Run it monthly UNDER LOAD !


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## maverick06 (Oct 19, 2011)

From what I have learned by my carbureted engines is that their design is very critical to their performance (understatement of the year). Up until about a year ago I never used stabilized gas and all of my engines were effectively mistreated (not drained, no stabilizer, let sit idle for many months) and you know what, they all worked perfect! Since I have had 2 or 3 engines that are much more delicate.  I now run my engines dry/drain the carb and use stabilizer in everything! That being said i still dont run my snowblower in summer and dont run my lawn mower in the winter.... 

FWIW I also treat my fuel oil for the oil burner with biocide and stabilizer. Since I have burnt 30 gallons of fuel each year for the past 4 years.... I have about 120 gallons left, dont want it to go bad. 

thanks for the advice guys!


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## Joey (Oct 19, 2011)

Just my 2 cents.  I run amsoil in all my engines, except the two big diesels in my boat.  Never had any problems running the amsoil, just find it a superior product.  They also make numerous fuel treatments for many different applications.  Costs a bit more,,,but worth its weight in gold to me.  Good luck with the new genny.


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## charly (Oct 19, 2011)

Joey said:
			
		

> Just my 2 cents. I run amsoil in all my engines, except the two big diesels in my boat. Never had any problems running the amsoil, just find it a superior product. They also make numerous fuel treatments for many different applications. Costs a bit more,,,but worth its weight in gold to me. Good luck with the new genny.


 I agree with Joey. Amsoil makes a great fuel additive is right. I use to run 0w-30 amsoil in my 12000 watt Guardian generator, as it use to start up and go right to full speed. Monthly exercise run, run it for 30 minutes. My Guardian generator had a weekly exerciser that ran the unit for 10 minutes. I never used it because of the short run time, it wound up causing condensation in the oil from the short run time. So I did it manually for 30 minutes and eliminated the condensation problem. Amsoil now makes a break in engine oil. Believe it has a high zinc additive. Your generator should state the break in procedure. One Shot is a great fuel additive from amsoil. I also like Star Tron. I use to use sea foam but read a post that it contains alcohol, just what your trying to get away. Increasing the load is what was required on the Guardian generator I had. My friend who installed, had a load bank he would use to simulate a live load against the generators he installed. That way he could check to see if they would indeed run the full load and could check the hertz as well while under a full load.


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## MasterMech (Oct 20, 2011)

Highbeam said:
			
		

> Thanks for the reminder folks.
> 
> I went to rejet the carb in my motorcycle that had been sitting for only about a month with a carb full of fuel. I added an aftermarket muffler which required a bump up on the main jet. Anyway, when I dumped that month old gas from the carb it was the color of beer, getting very dark and on its way to honey. I dumped the bowl and refilled with fresher fuel from the less vented tank which was the familiar clear to very light yellow color.
> 
> I have gone back to being a very big fan of running the carb dry between uses. I believe that a carb full of fuel will turn to oatmeal much much faster than a stabilized fuel tank full of fuel. The oatmeal will also be surrounding the jets and float valve for immediate failure.



+1 Keep your tanks full to prevent condensation and your carbs empty.  Even stabilized fuel is just delaying the inevitable.


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## Iembalm4aLiving (Oct 22, 2011)

Bammer said:
			
		

> Run it monthly UNDER LOAD !




That's what I do on the 1st of every month.  Pull it out, fire it up.  I have 2 1500 watt electric heaters that I plug in and let it run for 30 minutes or so.  (5000w Honda.)

Exercise the generator, move some fuel through the carb, heat up the oil to burn out any condensation.

This gives me peace of mind that it will work when I need it, and it gives me something to do........ ;-)


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## charly (Oct 22, 2011)

gd9704 said:
			
		

> Bammer said:
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 Perfect!  If you have a recoil start motor, after it's shut down, I always pull the motor over until I feel compression.  That way both valves are closed and the valve springs are sitting in a relaxed position while the motor is not being used. Saves your valve springs. I do that with any four stroke that has pull start. I once found a mouse nest on top of a piston, on a stored snow blower. Started it up and it sounded like a rod knock. Pulled the head to find a flattened mouse nest. The exhaust valve had sat open all winter, and the squeezed in past the muffler and then past the open exhaust valve. Wouldn't have believed it if I didn't see it.


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## semipro (Oct 22, 2011)

xclimber said:
			
		

> gd9704 said:
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That's a great tip!  It might also prevent cylinder rust during storage since humid air would be allowed to circulate through the open valves.


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## Iembalm4aLiving (Oct 22, 2011)

xclimber said:
			
		

> gd9704 said:
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Wow, that's a great idea.....never too late to learn something new!


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## charly (Oct 22, 2011)

Semipro said:
			
		

> xclimber said:
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 It's nice if you fog your motor too for storage, with the valves closed nothing will get into the cylinder and stick to the oily residue.


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## charly (Oct 22, 2011)

maverick06 said:
			
		

> From what I have learned by my carb engines is that their design is very critical to their performance (understatement of the year). Up until about a year ago I never used stabilized gas and all of my engines were effectively mistreated (not drained, no stabilizer, let sit idle for many months) and you know what, they all worked perfect! Since I have had 2 or 3 engines that are much more delicate. I now run my engines dry/drain the carb and use stabilizer in everything! That being said i still dont run my snowblower in summer and dont run my lawn mower in the winter....
> 
> FWIW I also treat my fuel oil for the oil burner with biocide and stabilizer. Since I have burnt 30 gallons of fuel each year for the past 4 years.... I have about 120 gallons left, dont want it to go bad.
> 
> thanks for the advice guys!


 I too have left over oil , only burning 125 gallons of the 250 gallon oil tank for my oil burner. I just add Amsoil diesel fuel additive before a fill up from the oil delivery guy.


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