Ok, I have been gone for a while. But in an attempt to make things right I am passing along two very good tips.
If you want to make your diesel last, warm it before you place it under load. The reason? Pistons in a cold engine are slightly out of round or, to put it another way, the sides of a given piston vary slightly from a perfectly circular circumference. Moreover, cold pistons tend to be slightly contracted in terms of size. When you crank your engine, however, all this changes. Each piston—made of aluminum in most cases—assumes an increasingly circular shape and expands with considerable rapidity, at least by comparison with the cast-iron or steel cylinder walls encompassing it. Then, if throttle is poured on, design tolerances are quickly exceeded and aluminum is literally shaved off to fall into the lubricating oil below. The result is not good—the engine loses compression over time, fuel consumption goes up, and you begin to, as the mechanics say, “burn oil.”
Operate your genset once a week If you don’t operate your generator and put it under load every week or so, bad things can happen. Injectors, for example, can shellac or get gunked up and the fins on the impeller in your raw-water cooling system can take a set, or become permanently deformed. If you don’t have time for a weekly crank-up, hire a mechanic to do the cranking. It’ll save you money in the long run. I personally have known several people who had problems with their gensets and almost the first thing that they say is " I don't understand, I hardly ever use the thing"
And as stated above, it is not only necessary to run it but run it under load. :-)
If you want to make your diesel last, warm it before you place it under load. The reason? Pistons in a cold engine are slightly out of round or, to put it another way, the sides of a given piston vary slightly from a perfectly circular circumference. Moreover, cold pistons tend to be slightly contracted in terms of size. When you crank your engine, however, all this changes. Each piston—made of aluminum in most cases—assumes an increasingly circular shape and expands with considerable rapidity, at least by comparison with the cast-iron or steel cylinder walls encompassing it. Then, if throttle is poured on, design tolerances are quickly exceeded and aluminum is literally shaved off to fall into the lubricating oil below. The result is not good—the engine loses compression over time, fuel consumption goes up, and you begin to, as the mechanics say, “burn oil.”
Operate your genset once a week If you don’t operate your generator and put it under load every week or so, bad things can happen. Injectors, for example, can shellac or get gunked up and the fins on the impeller in your raw-water cooling system can take a set, or become permanently deformed. If you don’t have time for a weekly crank-up, hire a mechanic to do the cranking. It’ll save you money in the long run. I personally have known several people who had problems with their gensets and almost the first thing that they say is " I don't understand, I hardly ever use the thing"
And as stated above, it is not only necessary to run it but run it under load. :-)