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Every once in a while, you catch a break - Generator Problem Login/Join 
Three Generations
of Service
Picture of PHPaul
posted
I have a Kohler whole house generator. I have it programmed to run a load test every Saturday. The last couple of times it's fired up, the power has bounced around enough to kick in the various battery backups and make the lights flicker.

Got a recommendation for an electrician from my buddy Dale the Builder. The electrician just stopped by. Pulled the cover off the transfer switch and opened the main to kick the generator in. Problem was immediately apparent: Loose primaries on the transfer switch connections.

Shut everything down, tightened everything up (one leg was two full turns loose) and buttoned it back up. Gave the nice man $25 (which was more than he asked for) and SWMBO won't be yelling at me about the satellite TV dropping out every time the generator fires up.

I was envisioning a few hundred bucks worth of parts and labor...




Be careful when following the masses. Sometimes the M is silent.
 
Posts: 15181 | Location: Downeast Maine | Registered: March 10, 2010Reply With QuoteReport This Post
Thank you
Very little
Picture of HRK
posted Hide Post
Shocking!



 
Posts: 23244 | Location: Florida | Registered: November 07, 2008Reply With QuoteReport This Post
Bookers Bourbon
and a good cigar
Picture of Johnny 3eagles
posted Hide Post
There are still some good service people around. Glad you found one.



BIDEN SUCKS.

If you're goin' through hell, keep on going.
Don't slow down. If you're scared don't show it.
You might get out before the devil even knows you're there.


NRA ENDOWMENT LIFE MEMBER
 
Posts: 7120 | Location: Arkansas  | Registered: November 06, 2010Reply With QuoteReport This Post
Member
Picture of sigcrazy7
posted Hide Post
Needs to pull apart a bulldozer...
PHPaul: "I got this. No problem."

Needs to tighten some electrical leads...
PHPaul: "I'm calling someone. This is dangerous!"

Big Grin



Demand not that events should happen as you wish; but wish them to happen as they do happen, and you will go on well. -Epictetus
 
Posts: 8202 | Location: Utah | Registered: December 18, 2008Reply With QuoteReport This Post
Age Quod Agis
Picture of ArtieS
posted Hide Post
Inside those mysterious solid copper tubes live three little gnomes named Amp, Ohm and Erg. One of them looks like smoke, one looks like sparks, and one you can't see but he shocks the hell out of you.

Those little fuckers are dangerous and if you let even one of them out and bad things happen. You let all them out and you may need a new house.

This is a job for a perfessional!



"I vowed to myself to fight against evil more completely and more wholeheartedly than I ever did before. . . . That’s the only way to pay back part of that vast debt, to live up to and try to fulfill that tremendous obligation."

Alfred Hornik, Sunday, December 2, 1945 to his family, on his continuing duty to others for surviving WW II.
 
Posts: 12748 | Location: Central Florida | Registered: November 02, 2008Reply With QuoteReport This Post
On the wrong side of
the Mobius strip
Picture of Patrick-SP2022
posted Hide Post
I think you need to add a generator to your diorama including mimicking the loose leads on the transfer switch.

A little smoke, a little dimming of the lights in the house.

Glad you got that fixed on the cheap.




 
Posts: 4123 | Location: Texas | Registered: April 16, 2012Reply With QuoteReport This Post
Raptorman
Picture of Mars_Attacks
posted Hide Post
I've seen the communicator lose contact with the armature because they are just pressed in.

It's a terrible design and taking it apart to solder the windings to the communicator is the only fix.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tIYUjP4aeRQ


____________________________

Eeewwww, don't touch it!
Here, poke at it with this stick.
 
Posts: 34084 | Location: North, GA | Registered: October 09, 2002Reply With QuoteReport This Post
Three Generations
of Service
Picture of PHPaul
posted Hide Post
quote:
Originally posted by sigcrazy7:
Needs to pull apart a bulldozer...
PHPaul: "I got this. No problem."

Needs to tighten some electrical leads...
PHPaul: "I'm calling someone. This is dangerous!"

Big Grin


Razz Big Grin

I spent 4 years working on 460v 3ph power at the cannery. Tripped an 800 amp breaker twice in one day!

I've just gotten to the point where I'd rather write the check (or fork over the cash in this case) than dick around with it myself.

Had I known it was just loose connections, I probably would've tackled it.




Be careful when following the masses. Sometimes the M is silent.
 
Posts: 15181 | Location: Downeast Maine | Registered: March 10, 2010Reply With QuoteReport This Post
Three Generations
of Service
Picture of PHPaul
posted Hide Post
quote:
Originally posted by Patrick-SP2022:
I think you need to add a generator to your diorama including mimicking the loose leads on the transfer switch.

A little smoke, a little dimming of the lights in the house.

Glad you got that fixed on the cheap.


Hmmmmmm. Actually, a generator out behind the house is not a bad idea. Better yet, a PTO-driven unit hooked to a tractor. I like it!




Be careful when following the masses. Sometimes the M is silent.
 
Posts: 15181 | Location: Downeast Maine | Registered: March 10, 2010Reply With QuoteReport This Post
drop and give me
20 pushups
posted Hide Post
Sounds like you found a good honest service man that if it had been me I would have probably made him accept a bigger amount and told him that I would be passing his name around to people that will listen. ..... and the tractor pto driven generator might be worth investigating as a back-up.
................................. drill sgt.
 
Posts: 1952 | Location: denham springs , la | Registered: October 19, 2019Reply With QuoteReport This Post
Non-Miscreant
posted Hide Post
quote:
Originally posted by drill sgt:
. ..... and the tractor pto driven generator might be worth investigating as a back-up.
................................. drill sgt.


I agree except that once you have friends who learn of it, they won't need a generator of their own.


Unhappy ammo seeker
 
Posts: 18385 | Location: Kentucky, USA | Registered: February 25, 2001Reply With QuoteReport This Post
Three Generations
of Service
Picture of PHPaul
posted Hide Post
quote:
Originally posted by rburg:
quote:
Originally posted by drill sgt:
. ..... and the tractor pto driven generator might be worth investigating as a back-up.
................................. drill sgt.


I agree except that once you have friends who learn of it, they won't need a generator of their own.


Ummmmmmmmmm...In case it wasn't clear, I was talking about the diorama. Big Grin

A PTO driven generator isn't very efficient and a HELL of a lot less convenient in The Real World.




Be careful when following the masses. Sometimes the M is silent.
 
Posts: 15181 | Location: Downeast Maine | Registered: March 10, 2010Reply With QuoteReport This Post
Three Generations
of Service
Picture of PHPaul
posted Hide Post
quote:
Originally posted by drill sgt:
Sounds like you found a good honest service man that if it had been me I would have probably made him accept a bigger amount and told him that I would be passing his name around to people that will listen. ..... and the tractor pto driven generator might be worth investigating as a back-up.
................................. drill sgt.


We did talk about "word-of-mouth" advertising and I told him I was adding him to my list of "preferred vendors". He's been in business 10+ years, has three guys working for him, has a backlog of work and has never advertised.

In retrospect, I do wish I had given him more, but didn't have the cash on had unless I gave him a wad of ones.




Be careful when following the masses. Sometimes the M is silent.
 
Posts: 15181 | Location: Downeast Maine | Registered: March 10, 2010Reply With QuoteReport This Post
Member
posted Hide Post
Well Paul, at least yours is hooked up.
Have been in the process of building a new house.
Have a close friend who is doing a major renovation on his house. He helped install my Electric service to my new house and told me he would help run the LP line to the generator, as well as give me some wire to hook the generator we have to the transfer switch. Well, that has been put on the back burner. I will not run the LP line myself. I would run the electric over though.
So, my new generator is sitting in my pole barn for now. Thank goodness I bought forks for my Kubota that I got in August, so I can move that generator.


NRA Life Endowment member
Tri-State Gun collectors Life Member
 
Posts: 2794 | Location: Ohio | Registered: December 18, 2014Reply With QuoteReport This Post
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