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How long can you run your generator for?

33067 Views 12 Replies 9 Participants Last post by  KMC, 
R
I lost power yesterday and have been running my generator pretty much all day. Someone told me that you will overheat/burn it out if you run it for to long. Is this the truth? I have one just like the pic. 10 hp Briggs and Stratton motor.

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Stodge
There should be something in the manual to say how long you can run non-stop. As long as you have oil in the crank case you should be fine.
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K
make sure you shut it off when you refuel, and check the oil every time, you should be good for a couple days. I've ran one at work for a week before.
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itstyme2change
duh till it runs out of gas!!
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R
I bought it used....pretty great deal from a member here to be honest. So no Manual to speak of. It does have an auto-shutdown on it if the oil gets to low....at least that is what it says on the side of it.
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Waldawg
I usually run mine about every four hours for about an hour or so. The keeps everything in the fridge/freezer cold. Really no need to run it all the time unless you just want to burn gas.
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R
QUOTE(Loose Connection @ Jun 26 2009, 02:42 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>make sure you shut it off when you refuel, and check the oil every time, you should be good for a couple days. I've ran one at work for a week before.

Yea I did not shut it down when I fueled it up this morning. Big mistake that I got away with this time but will be shutting it down from now on.

What type of oil does it need? I checked the oil level when I started it up last week and it was full.

Thanks for all the help.
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K
The air filter will clog up before the oil runs low.
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R
QUOTE(Waldawg @ Jun 26 2009, 02:44 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>I usually run mine about every four hours for about an hour or so. The keeps everything in the fridge/freezer cold. Really no need to run it all the time unless you just want to burn gas.

I agree but have a salt water reef tank that I could lose without power. Which would cost a lot more than a few gallons of gas.
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I
We have run ours for 70 plus hours, check oil and hopefully your not drawing Maximum Load and you should be fine!
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T
I have a Craftsman 2400 watt that I have run for 5 days non stop. It has auto shut of for oil but I still checked the oil every couple tanks.

Best investment I ever made. Whole house is our next major purchase.

Please make sure that generator is no where near an open window on your house or a neighbors house. Also a real good idea to have CO monitors in your house when running the generator.

Matt
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ThreeCrabs
QUOTE(itstyme2change @ Jun 26 2009, 02:42 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>duh till it runs out of gas!!



QUOTE(rerun @ Jun 26 2009, 02:46 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>QUOTE(Waldawg @ Jun 26 2009, 02:44 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>I usually run mine about every four hours for about an hour or so. The keeps everything in the fridge/freezer cold. Really no need to run it all the time unless you just want to burn gas.

I agree but have a salt water reef tank that I could lose without power. Which would cost a lot more than a few gallons of gas.

Oh, post a pic of it! I can't wait to one day set up another "friendly" cichlid tank with angel fish and discus.

Search online for the owners manual....and, keep it as far from your home and windows as possible, watch the wind direction. Hopefully you get power soon.
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K
My generator is similar to yours. The question is not how long you can run it, but how long could you run at full load. I have run mine to power all my house (but not everything all the time, and I can't use the stove or A/C when on generator). I have run it for days at a time without concern.

Generators are rated as "prime" and "standby". If it's rated at "prime", it can run full load continuously. If it's rated at "standby" (which our consumer devices would be), then it is only rated to put out full load at a fraction of the time (maybe as low as 50%). Most engines are rated to run over 1000 hours, and it really doens't matter if it's continuous or once every couple days as long as it's not abused with lack of oil, poor gas or overheating.

Run Synthetic oil. Less breakdown under that hot piston, but you will REALLY appreciate using it if you EVER have to start it in 'non-ideal' conditions (like it being cold outside).

Sit it where it can get a breeze, or you could even put a small fan pushing air on it to keep it cool if you are really concerned about heat.

Like others said, you should shut it off to refuel. You are just taking chances that something will ignite the gas fumes if you leave it running (and the muffler is hot enough alone to do that)
Also observe the concerns with carbon monoxide poisoning..... all too many fatalities happen with this.

I do check oil each time, but don't usually use much.
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