It lives... My generator that is.

[mikehibb]

Not realy boaty, but many have them.

Over here in Tbilisi from mid 1990s until early 2000s power was terrible, first couple of years we only had 5 hrs per day, 2 in early morning, 3 in early evening. So we bought an open frame Honda 2.5kw, any way that eventually moved to the summer house and as power impoved we could manage with a smaller (quieter) genny.

So we bought a Honda SH1000DX suitcase genny (original honda, not the chinese copy), used it at home (2 bedroom apartment) a couple of hours a day a couple of times a week. Then we moved to Baku in 2005, and it just got pushed to the back of the balcony, and there it sat. We moved back to Tbilisi a couple of years ago, and we have generally 24 hrs power 365 days a year.

However during the last two weeks we have had two nights without power due to breakdowns in the HV infrastructure ( oh here we go again) and winter is coming.

So yesterday managed to dig the old genny out, not run in over 5 years.
Changed the oil (old stuff did not look to be in too bad condition but not worth the risk) and gave it a slow pull on the starter (switched off), and it turned over smoothly, looking good.
Today bought some new fuel, filled the tank, turned it over a few times whilst switched off again to help move new oil around and prime the fuel system.

Then the big moment, 5th pull and she came to life again. Ran for a couple of minutes on no load, switched off and restarted first pull. Ran again on no load for a few minutes, checked output was ok just on my multimeter. Did not want to load it up at this stage, tomorrow will run again for a couple of minutes and then change oil again (0.5L sump so simples to do) Just wanted to get the oil around and remove any nasties.

Made up a new power lead tonight too ( old one was looking a bit dodgy), so can hook up to the house tomorrow and give a full load test (was not going to disturb the neigbours this evening either) so fingers crossed for tomorrow afternoon.

So hopefully all will go well, these little Honda machines are brilliant.
The SH1000DX is the predessessor to the EU Inverter type range, heavier, but still with full regulated speed control, not the type with a tortoise and hare load settings.

With the old 2.5 unit we could run the fridge/freezer and all the lights and TV (we had Kerosine heaters then, no Gas in the city 10 years ago either).
We would then disconect the fridge/freezer and run the electric immersion heater for a tank of hot water etc. (Bottled gas for cooker)

We now have city gas supply and cer/pump running. Fridge/freezer is OK as long as we get mains power back withntral heating, so the 1000 is enough to keep a couple of lights,TV and Boiler/pump running. Fridge/freezer is OK as long as we get mains power back within 24 hrs.

Must admit after reading some of the other generator threads on here, I am amazed at the size of gennies that some use on a boat (mobos especially, but we do not have air conditioners to run, well we do, but just do not use them, on a big boat in the med you would need a bit extra if away from shore power obviously)

So feeling pretty chuffed with myself today. Just hope that we do not need to use it too often this winter, at least we are prepared. That is part of the trick, hopefully now we are all set up again we will not need it.

Enough of my ramblings. Mike.

 

[nimbusgb]

Does kind of put living in a place with 99.99% reliable power, mains gas, street lighting and all the rest in perspective doesn't it!

 

[mikehibb]

Yes it does slightly.

You reminded me about street lights, we have had most of them working now for the last eight years. Now we can see the missing manhole covers.

Traffc lights 15 years ago did not work, Police would still try and fine you for going through on red though...

Any way those days are mostly gone now. Generally power is 24/365, unless there is a cable fault, which was the problem over the last two weeks, we do tend to get more cable faults than in UK obviously.

Got back tonight in time to test the genny. Fired up on second pull and hooked it up to the house. It powers the boiler/pump, big TV and a few lights around the place, so all set up again.

Exhaust smoked a bit at first, but cleared after a couple of minutes, these little hondas are great machines.

 

[VicMallows]

So feeling pretty chuffed with myself today.

And so you should be. I genuinely envy you living in a situation where you survive by your own abilities. My dream has always been to be totally self sufficient in the outback of somewhere like North America or Aus .... but well, I did say a dream.

Vic

 

[mikehibb]

Thanks Vic,

What amazes me is that was happening in Tbilisi, the Capital city. 15 years ago the normal utilities (Gas, Electric) had completely broken down, water had always been more reliable but not always 24hrs a day. Hospitals and water pump stations obviously had priority to what ever power was available then.

This is just my experience, my wife (Georgian) had experienced this and worse in the very early 1990s. They went for 3 months without electricity at one time.

These experiences were long before we bought our boat, so boating for us is no problem. Checking gas bottles, watching battery consumption etc is nothing new.

We used to have a lead acid battery in the house, connected to a "Soviet, home made" inverter to run a small portable TV and one light bulb, so that we could turn the genny off later at night.

As I sad in my first post, I am still amazed at the power requirements and size of gennies that some boats have, and the associated costs.

I bet most of them run on much less than half the continuous load rating. On our boat, an hour of power will get the top loader fridge down to below freezing point and and will keep things cold for a day or two.(we have one of those big stainless steelfreezer plates)

Even the big mobos with air con could most likely get away with a smaller genny if they are prepared to do some load management, it requires personal input and timing. For example, switch off the fridge/freezer supply and then run the air conditioner etc. However it is all down to personal choice, some wish to have everything on board working 24hrs a day at the flick of a switch.

I am an electrical engineer, not an environmentalist, but still believe in effective load management to reduce my costs.

Back to your other comment about living in the out back and being self sufficient etc, many have done it (I would like to try it, SWMBO says NO though). When I was searching for the manual for my little genny I came across an Australian Website, guys that go off in the outback for months at a time, some go totally self sufficient, most take a small genny, and many of them take the same old unit that I have, others take the newer Honda EU10i ( or whatever it is called). The new one as mentioned on this very forum has great recommendations too.

Mike

 

[mikehibb]

So tonight it hapenned. Power cut for a couple of hours.
We waited 20 mins or so first on candle power, then decided to fire the genny up.

TV, a couple of lights and the combi boiler and pump running.
The little gem of a genny was perfect for our needs.
Local BB internet was down too, but my Samsung G Tab on 3G can also act as Access Point, two minutes later SWMBO had her laptop running off it.

Power just returned a couple of minutes ago. But first real load test for 90 mins, not bad for the 1000dx (750 W ish continuous really)

 

[monkfish24]

Congratulations on keeping yourself going.

I have a similar genny (honda e1500) that I use in the garage because it has no plug point (rented)

Mine is probably 20 years old but runs like a dream and has never failed, starting on the first oull everytime. The previous owner had left it in a shed, I left it in the cockpit of the boat with just a cover over it during the freeze this winter and it still quite happily jumped into life.

keep hold of it, they're amazingly reliable and good evidence of why things should still be built to last.

I'd hate to try and get spares though

In the mean time, perfect time to go to the boat and not worry about the electricity cuts!

 

[mikehibb]

And again:

Last night power was off for two hours, hope it is not a sign of impending doom ( ie break down of the local cables again)

 

[Heckler]

And so you should be. I genuinely envy you living in a situation where you survive by your own abilities. My dream has always been to be totally self sufficient in the outback of somewhere like North America or Aus .... but well, I did say a dream.

Vic

I set up the base camp in Angola in the late 70s, mouth of the river congo, landrover access. We had a beat up trailer trash trailer, a detroit diesel genny that i had to flash the windings to get it performing. Freighter came from the states, sent a workboat to meet it to unload a complete porta cabin camp. Unloaded it on the jetty we built, poured concrete pads using a beat up mixer left over from the war. Set up the gennies, drilled a water well, dug land sewer drains. Basically a boys own adventure. got it all habitable, driill rig (sedco 135g) came in and we were the infrastructure to support it. DC3 as transport (started the engine once with a rope and a load of locals pulling!)
If it broke, I fixed it, simple, if Stu couldnt fix it, it didnt get fixed.
Magic time of my life, as you say, it was all about being self supporting, I could go on for hours, you would have loved it! I have been a very lucky man in my life!
Stu

 

[mikehibb]

Well, decided to resurrect this thread as this weekend I tried to resurrect the old Honda powered Elemax SH 2600dx ( was mistaken in my original post when I referred to it as a 2.5 kW)
Now this is 17 years old and ran many many hours in its first few years. It has been left untouched for at least ten years.
Changed the oil, but then realised that it still had a half full tank of petrol. I had some fresh fuel ready but not enough containers to drain the old out. So gave it a go and after a couple of minutes it fired up, puff of smoke and then down to a nice smooth run.

This weekend I will change the fuel anyway, plus a second oil change, but was amazed at the fact that it fired up relatively easily after so long and on old fuel. I have said in many generator threads, always go for a Honda powered genny. So now have both up and running, one as back up at the Dacha which we intend to visit more this year and the other as back up at home.

 

[RichardS]

Well, decided to resurrect this thread as this weekend I tried to resurrect the old Honda powered Elemax SH 2600dx ( was mistaken in my original post when I referred to it as a 2.5 kW)
Now this is 17 years old and ran many many hours in its first few years. It has been left untouched for at least ten years.
Changed the oil, but then realised that it still had a half full tank of petrol. I had some fresh fuel ready but not enough containers to drain the old out. So gave it a go and after a couple of minutes it fired up, puff of smoke and then down to a nice smooth run.

This weekend I will change the fuel anyway, plus a second oil change, but was amazed at the fact that it fired up relatively easily after so long and on old fuel. I have said in many generator threads, always go for a Honda powered genny. So now have both up and running, one as back up at the Dacha which we intend to visit more this year and the other as back up at home.

It's interesting that the gennie ran fine on 10 year old petrol which has been kept in a sealed (probably) tank. As one of those forumites who do not believe that fuel "goes off", this is welcome news.

Richard

 

[VicS]

It's interesting that the gennie ran fine on 10 year old petrol which has been kept in an unsealed tank. As one of those forumites who do not believe that fuel "goes off", this is welcome news.

Richard

It very ceratinly does deteriorate if not stored correctly. Modern petrol probably deteriorates more quickly than it did a few decades ago and the situation will probably worsen as the ethanol content is increased.

mike hibb's tale may well be interesting. My experiences with my Flymo are equally interesting. I know it will be difficult to start on fuel left in the tank over winter therefore this year I ditched that and refuelled with some stored in a part full plastic fuel can since last year. No way was it even going to start on that either! Some freshly bought petrol however soon had it running without missing a beat for the whole lawn

The Flymo may well be particularly sensitive but even the Seagull outboards run noticeably better given fresh fuel.

Believe that petrol does not go off if you like but you are wrong! Lighter fractions are almost certainly lost and other constituents are probably oxidised if exposed to air.

 

[JumbleDuck]

Believe that petrol does not go off if you like but you are wrong! Lighter fractions are almost certainly lost and other constituents are probably oxidised if exposed to air.

Wouldn't storage in a sealed contained avoid both of these problems?

 

[Heckler]

Wouldn't storage in a sealed contained avoid both of these problems?

Some of the light ends will still flash off, that psshhh you here when you remove the cap are them disappearing in to the atmos. People dont realise today that the choke on a car, remember them? was a cude method of ensuring enough volume of light ends got in to the engine to enable it to start!
Stu

 

[rotrax]

Great story.

A few years ago I sold my 1977 Kawasaki 800 genny to a fellow club member-he was on a mooring with no power and a 25 footer to refurbish. After digging it from under the bench, cleaning it, ensuring the plug sparked and the carb and fuel tap seals had not leaked fresh fuel and three pulls and it was away. Still going strong today.

The genny was mostly used by me for power tools when away motorbike racing and sometimes on our narrowboat for power tools. It was an old air cooled side valve and as noisy as hell. Strong and reliable though. I chose Kawasaki because I worked for them and got fantastic staff discounts!

The last time I used it before selling it was to power fairy lights in our garden during our 25th wedding aniversary party.

We will have been married 50 years next August........................................

 

[RichardS]

Wouldn't storage in a sealed contained avoid both of these problems?

That is true ...... and the petrol under discussion was, on reflection, probably stored in a relatively sealed container if the tank vent was closed for the 10 years. That might well help to explain why it was still ran the engine without any problems.

I did put a smiley face after post #11 which suggests that my comments should not be taken to extreme, although it seems to have gone un-noticed.

Richard