Problem with standby generator

[GGraziano]

We have a 2 year-old 22KW Generac Guardian standby generator with a 200A Transfer switch. We had a power outage 3 nights ago at 4AM. The unit kicked in, ran for an hour, and quit. Power had been restored (thankfully!) by about 7:30 AM. The unit was showing "charger missing A/C" error. Some research suggested that the T1 fuse on the transfer switch panel had been blown. I replaced that fuse yesterday, and the generator's display is now showing an overload error. It says to push Off and Enter to clear the error. When I do so I get: "remove load/error 2100." It seems to me, a total novice at this stuff, that there is no load as power has been restored to the house and therefore there isn't any demand on the unit. It's the weekend, and the nearest approved Generac repair person is more than an hour away. What am I not understanding here, and is there something else I should try to restart the system?

 

[Tree Junkie]

Try and manually rack your transfer switch. There should be a tool in switch.

 

[GGraziano]

Try and manually rack your transfer switch. There should be a tool in switch.

Yes there's a switch. I think I "racked" it, but it didn't seem to have an effect on the error code that's displayed on the generator panel. I'm trying to get at the battery to disconnect and reconnect in hope of clearing/resetting. It's being difficult!

 

[thenne1713]

If unit this size this new, is it covered by SERVICE CONTRACT AND WARRANTY? Best get qualified Tech, as there is potential to do MUCH bad and void any warranty? Place the call?

 

[grizz55chev]

If unit this size this new, is it covered by SERVICE CONTRACT AND WARRANTY? Best get qualified Tech, as there is potential to do MUCH bad and void any warranty? Place the call?

Yep, in the meantime, get a smaller portable unit to keep the freezer and lights going. You mess with that unit too much and cause further damage, they would love to void your warranty.

 

[Ridgehiker]

an eldery couple down the road from me had one of the standby generac units installed, it would run until the battery died, somehow during installation something was not installed to charhe the 12 volt start battery, we had a 5 day power outage and I ran an extension cord from there house to a battery charger and the unit finally ran as it should, make sure the battery is charging

 

[grizz55chev]

an eldery couple down the road from me had one of the standby generac units installed, it would run until the battery died, somehow during installation something was not installed to charhe the 12 volt start battery, we had a 5 day power outage and I ran an extension cord from there house to a battery charger and the unit finally ran as it should, make sure the battery is charging

The standby genny that our Phone Co. has near our home starts once a week for a half hr to keep it charged, running on propane. Funny thing is, there is grid power to the unit, so they could hook up a battery maintainer quite easily.

 

[uniballer]

The standby genny that our Phone Co. has near our home starts once a week for a half hr to keep it charged, running on propane. Funny thing is, there is grid power to the unit, so they could hook up a battery maintainer quite easily.

Running the generator frequently is an important part of having it ready to run, not just to keep the battery charged.

 

[GGraziano]

I realized that I might void the warranty if I got too involved with it, or utilized a service person not certified by Generac. I've done what I could think of that was low risk. (Electricity an I have a long history together, usually with me narrowly avoiding electrocution.) The only other thing I'd try, once this cold breaks a bit, is to down the power to the house & generator and try clearing the error again. Although the battery is 2 years old it still shows as fully charged on our "Mobile Link" app. The Generator is set to start up and do a test run the first of every month. At no time has it ever indicated a problem.

The nearest service person (about 45 min. away) is sick and can't make it here for at least a couple of days. I did open a claim w/Generac on-line. They gave us the name of a business that's 30 minutes farther away (about 60 miles). I may try them, but I worry they won't come this far. We love it here, but it really is the boonies!

We've had portable generators at other residences, and have not been very happy with their performance. The whole point of spending more than $10K was to not have to fart around outside in the cold and dark! Back in the northeast, power outages in winter could be quite lengthy, and run times for portable gasoline units are sometimes too short. This Generac is hooked up to a 300 gal. propane tank and should run for days. I'll be back when I know more.

 

[puzlrock]

I have a trickle charger on my battery and start the unit a minimum of every two months, put a load on it and run it for an hour. Need to do that to take care of the exciters, and it is a good idea to warm it all up.

 

[thenne1713]

The standby genny that our Phone Co. has near our home starts once a week for a half hr to keep it charged, running on propane. Funny thing is, there is grid power to the unit, so they could hook up a battery maintainer quite easily.

You may have just deciphered problem? If (installation wiring error?) charger on city line side of switch, vs Load/ house side, it will not charge DURING GEN RUNS and will die after long GEN run.... silly things like this wiring error do happen, AND WORTH checking... or maybe just a LOOSE wire on 120vac side of charger?

 

[grizz55chev]

I realized that I might void the warranty if I got too involved with it, or utilized a service person not certified by Generac. I've done what I could think of that was low risk. (Electricity an I have a long history together, usually with me narrowly avoiding electrocution.) The only other thing I'd try, once this cold breaks a bit, is to down the power to the house & generator and try clearing the error again. Although the battery is 2 years old it still shows as fully charged on our "Mobile Link" app. The Generator is set to start up and do a test run the first of every month. At no time has it ever indicated a problem.

The nearest service person (about 45 min. away) is sick and can't make it here for at least a couple of days. I did open a claim w/Generac on-line. They gave us the name of a business that's 30 minutes farther away (about 60 miles). I may try them, but I worry they won't come this far. We love it here, but it really is the boonies!

We've had portable generators at other residences, and have not been very happy with their performance. The whole point of spending more than $10K was to not have to fart around outside in the cold and dark! Back in the northeast, power outages in winter could be quite lengthy, and run times for portable gasoline units are sometimes too short. This Generac is hooked up to a 300 gal. propane tank and should run for days. I'll be back when I know more.

I have 3 different portable generators, 2 of em diesel, one is gas. All 3 are run at least once a month to make sure they're ready when needed. The 2 diesels are twins that were part of a package deal made by an acquaintance purchased to run a Lucas Mill off grid. They ended up as backups for 2 other friends and were used for over 10 yrs as emergency backups. Both came to me at different times in the last 7 yrs in various conditions, but have been serviced and tested by me so I know what I got. I use the one with the lower hrs on the meter and save the high hr one for reserve. They are kinda loud so try not to use them in the months when the doors and windows are open, that's when I use the gas unit. They're all older units, like at least 20 yrs, but they all work as designed, and are dead reliable. For the first 15 yrs or so we lived here, we used an old 4k Coleman gen that was loud, small gas tank, Briggs and scrapem unit that came with the house, I hated that thing! Living out in the boonies comes with some challenges! Good luck solving yer genny problem, keep us posted.

 

[thenne1713]

The standby genny that our Phone Co. has near our home starts once a week for a half hr to keep it charged, running on propane. Funny thing is, there is grid power to the unit, so they could hook up a battery maintainer quite easily.

BTW that 30-min weekly run is not just to charge, it is required by NFPA/NEC CODES for commercail/ industrial emergency GENS.

 

[grizz55chev]

BTW that 30-min weekly run is not just to charge, it is required by NFPA/NEC CODES for commercail/ industrial emergency GENS.

It powers our small town phone co equipment, including our internet, so it is indeed commercial emergency equipment! Gotta have internet, and our old fashioned landline! We do also have cell service, sometimes, .

 

[GGraziano]

I got in touch with a certified repair guy, but he's tied up for a week or more. I contacted Generac and was pleasantly surprised by their quick response and helpful advice. Their technical rep recommended what they call a hard reset, and sent me detailed instructions. Unfortunately we're enjoying (ahem!) 2 straight days of rain. No way I'm trying this until things dry out a bit. We have this unit set up with Generac's mobile link app, and it is programmed to run once a month. Mobil Link shows us the results, and they have been fine for 2 years up until this recent failure. Let's hope this fix works, and nothing more serious has fried.

 

[blades]

My Generac runs every week for apx 1/2hr. Unit came with house, do not know age. been doing what it is supposed to do for the last 7 years. house built in 1990 but i do not think the unit is that old - maybe it is , hot water heater is , everything on propane. Most of heating in home is done with a Englander NC30. From the looks of things the propane furnace is newer likely replaced before home went on market, but the ac is original.

 

[GGraziano]

The rain finally let up yesterday, and I performed the "Hard Reset." This consisted of removing the 7.5A fuse from the display panel, completely disconnecting the battery, and removing the T1 fuse from the transfer switch. It obviously had an effect, but I'm puzzled by the results. The display went dark after downing all avenues of power (as you'd expect). Reconnecting everything showed the previous errors gone, and "entering Install Wizard." My hopes rose, only to be dashed when I was offered English as the language, hit Enter, and nothing happened. Indeed, nothing happens when any of the buttons are pressed. We had gotten a Mobile Link message that Schedule A maintenance was due (change oil & filter/check battery). I changed the oil & filter, and Mobil Link now says Low Battery. I ordered a replacement, which is due Wednesday. Communication from Generac has gone dark, presumably due to the weekend, and here we sit with $10+K of inert junk praying we don't have another power outage. The only thing that comes to mind is maybe the controller is failing, which sounds like warranty territory to me. I'll keep you posted.

 

[thenne1713]

IMHO, your first test should have been charger output with battery disconnected, then 2) allow 30-minutes after disconnect and test battery voltage, then 3) charger voltage with charger connected.

 

[GGraziano]

It has been a week, and very little progress has been made. I did change the oil and filter, and get a new battery. Working with Generac is losing its appeal, however. The technical rep and I had come to the conclusion that the control module must be bad. Communication with him went dark after that. He didn’t respond to a couple of emails, so I called Generac Customer Service.

They will not just send me a new module and let me install it. When warranty is involved the request for a part has to come from a dealer/service person. The CSR I talked to said that their warranty won’t even speak to him without a dealer number. Generac provided me with the names of 2 companies “near” me who service their products, one of whom I had already spoken to. He’s 28 miles away, was sick last week, and planned to be on vacation for a week after that. The other company is 47 miles away and making noises like they don’t want to serve us. There’s another locality about 45 minutes east of us that might have some service people, so I’ll check on that in the coming week.

As we’re finding out, warranty is only an advantage in that eventually someone will do the work and the parts will be covered. Don’t expect quick response unless you’re in an area with significant population density. If your generator is out of warranty you can just diagnose, order and pay for the part (in this instance $600-700), and install it.

 

[grizz55chev]

It has been a week, and very little progress has been made. I did change the oil and filter, and get a new battery. Working with Generac is losing its appeal, however. The technical rep and I had come to the conclusion that the control module must be bad. Communication with him went dark after that. He didn’t respond to a couple of emails, so I called Generac Customer Service.

They will not just send me a new module and let me install it. When warranty is involved the request for a part has to come from a dealer/service person. The CSR I talked to said that their warranty won’t even speak to him without a dealer number. Generac provided me with the names of 2 companies “near” me who service their products, one of whom I had already spoken to. He’s 28 miles away, was sick last week, and planned to be on vacation for a week after that. The other company is 47 miles away and making noises like they don’t want to serve us. There’s another locality about 45 minutes east of us that might have some service people, so I’ll check on that in the coming week.

As we’re finding out, warranty is only an advantage in that eventually someone will do the work and the parts will be covered. Don’t expect quick response unless you’re in an area with significant population density. If your generator is out of warranty you can just diagnose, order and pay for the part (in this instance $600-700), and install it.

Should be a way to check the CM, check on y tube!