Will it run?

Another item on the long list of projects here is a backup generator for the school. This particular project is still in its early planning stages, and part of that is looking into a possible candidate for a generator. Do we use something we have onsite? Do we try and solicit a donation of a generator? Currently we are just evaluating what we have on site, which is what this post will be about.

Behold, exhibit A.

This little guy is a 10kva Generac unit built in 1999 and only has a little over 300 hours of run time on. Should be good to go, but we don't really know much about its history, so before considering it, I wanted to do a load test. A load test is an exercise for generators where you artificially load them to 100% of their nameplate rating and run it for a predetermined amount of time. In the US the rules around load testing are covered in NFPA 110 (Standard for Emergency and Standby Power Systems), and is a riveting read if you are into that kind of thing. In my case I was just going to run the generator up to 100% load and run it for one hour to see how it does. I had to get a temporary fuel source setup for the test. So I found a left over suction canister from the hospital laying around, a fuel pump, and some jumper cables and hey presto we had a fuel delivery system!

At this point it was time to get things up and running for the test. Questionable signs started to show right out of the gate when it seemed to not really want to start even in our warm weather. Finally though, it roared to a smoky life, where it then, continued to smoke.

I also noticed the governor system controlling the speed of the engine seemed to be pretty slow to respond, but adjustments can be made for that. After it had some time to warm up I applied a load until it was 50% loaded. It seemed to be handling the load just fine. After about 10 minutes operating at 50% load I ran it up to 100% load. By now the engine had warmed up completely and it was smoking a little less, but after a few minutes some problems started to show up. The radiator was not only internally plugged up, but it was also leaking coolant. Pretty soon the temperature gauge started to climb. A few minutes later a warning light for low oil pressure came on which signaled an end to the test after only about 30min of run time. The oil pressure gauge was indicating I had oil pressure but I didn't want to take the risk. Even if the light had not come on, I still would have had to terminate the test early because of the radiator issue.

So was the test a success? That depends on how you measure it. The generator wasn't able to run for even an hour, so that would indicate a failure. However I now know the running status of the generator which I didn't previously know. So from that standpoint the test was a success. I don't yet know if we'll try and make repairs to make this usable or if we'll try to find another generator for the school. Either way, you can bet I'll make a post about it.

Keep after it!

P.S. If anyone has a generator load bank laying around that you want to get rid of. Let me know!