Generator Source

452 hours, and the build year says 1999.

An engine wears by running, not by sitting through calendar years, so the gap between those two numbers is the whole story on this one. We loaded it to the full 250kW and it passed. Unit 093919, a Cummins diesel, enclosed, at our Brighton yard.

Call 877-866-6895 if you want a low-hour set backed up by a load bank test.

When a new building engineer takes over, the generator's history doesn't always come with the keys.

If we handle PM service on that unit, we keep every record. When a new property manager or building engineer steps in, we can send them the whole file.

We can also send out the technician who's been working on that unit for what we call an owner's training. They know its history and maintenance firsthand, and they walk the new team through it in person.

Call 877-866-6895 if you just took over a site we service and want the history on its generator.

A subcontractor trenching a wastewater line hit the main power line at a bulk food retailer that stayed open through its remodel.

The obvious risk is the product: thousands, if not hundreds of thousands, of dollars in refrigerated and frozen food. The less obvious risk is people. If power drops with customers in the building, the main lighting goes out, emergency lighting falls back to batteries, and the fire alarm system can have problems.

The GC running the job put it plainly: "Unless it's planned, it affects me greatly."

So Big Yellow, our 2MW Cummins, sits on standby for the store, not the job site. The cable run to the main switchgear is already worked out, so if utility drops again, nobody is figuring it out on the spot. Big Yellow stays on standby until the new line is live.

Call 877-866-6895 if construction at your facility is putting your power at risk.

Propane burns without the soot and black smoke a diesel can throw under heavy load.

Unit 093828 is a 54kW Kohler/Rehlko on liquid propane, GM 5.0L engine, 2006 build, 714 hours. We put it on a load bank at its full 54kW rating. It passed.

Far less particulate in the exhaust means less soot on the stack, the enclosure, and whatever sits downwind of it.

Call 877-866-6895 if you want a propane standby set that's been proven under load.

Part three of emergency prep month. You know what you have and what it has to carry. Now find out whether it can.

A transfer test tells you the switch works and the generator starts. It doesn't tell you the unit can carry its rated load, because your building probably never asks it for that much.

Failures show up at operating temperature, once it's actually producing power. Seals get taxed. Radiators that looked fine start leaking. A generator can idle for years without showing any of it.

Most of this series was something you could do yourself. This is the step that needs a load.

Call 877-866-6895 if yours has never run under real load.

Propane doesn't go bad sitting in a tank.

That matters on a standby generator, which can go months between runs. Diesel left that long can break down and needs treating. Propane just waits for the outage. This 54kW Kohler/Rehlko runs on it, with a GM 5.0L engine underneath.

Unit 093828, 2006 build, 714 hours, weatherproof enclosure, single phase 120/240V.

It doesn't need a gas utility either. The fuel lives on site in a tank, so it works where there's no natural gas line to tap into.

Call 877-866-6895 if you need standby power somewhere the gas line doesn't reach.

Nothing on this unit fit the trailer it's sitting on. Not the frame, not the enclosure, not the deck it's bolted to.

Two engines in one box, 800kW together, built to sit on the ground next to a building and never move. It took about five months to make it road legal.

Full build video is up now on youtube ⚡

Call 877-866-6895 if you need something built that doesn't come off a shelf.

This 400kW MTU pulls 1387 amps at full output, sitting behind a 1600 amp breaker. That's 213 amps of headroom before the breaker becomes the limit. But the rating on the plate is a claim until somebody loads the set, so we ran a load bank test. It held its rated load.

Unit 093870, a 400kW MTU, used, 107 hours, 2013 build, enclosed, 120/208 volt three phase, 12-lead reconnectable, 8V1600G80S diesel.

At our Brighton yard.

Call 877-866-6895 if you want a 400kW set that's been proven under load.

Part two of emergency prep month. You know what you have. Now decide what it has to carry.

A generator that runs perfectly but doesn't transfer is the same as no generator. That's why a transfer test comes before anything else.

Once you know it'll transfer, look at what it's transferring to. That priority list was set by an engineer and an owner years ago. The building has probably changed since. The list usually hasn't. Anything non-essential on it is eating your fuel runway and moving up your next top-off.

The number one call we get in an outage is fuel. If you're not already an account, the first thing between you and a delivery is a tax form.