Running gen for 10 minutes

thanks for all the comments. My take away is moderation. Occasional short times will probably not hurt anything, just keep to a minumum.

Run our generator with a load on for 45min every 4 weeks or so....not precise. However when dry camping will run the generator for shorter periods to use microwave, hair dryer, etc. So far no problems. Our humidity levels are no where near what they are in Florida.

Most of the responses had to do with the engine, which are correct, but the question was about running a genset for short periods of time. In addition to the concerns with th e engine you also have similar concerns for the brushes, windings and other electronics in the generator. The "luck" of running gensets with out aparent problems could be due to a climate with realative low humidity, or just plain luck. They may be glorified lawn mowers but are much more expensive to repair or replace!

We'll run our Onan 4000 for a few minutes quite often, but we also run it now and then for an hour as well. No trouble here at all. I think it's fine as long as your final run of the trip is a long run.

The benefit to a long run is that the engine warms up and smooths out opperation for a more steady voltage. Also for general engine health.

I agree short runs are OK if they get ran loaded from time to time. When air temps are 80 and humidity is 60% there is little concern in my mind. When it is 30F and 100% humidity I would be quite concerned. Having a gas rig we may go 6 months without starting the generator but before shut down with the 60 gallon fuel tank down to 1/4 we add about 64 oz of Sea Foam and drive 20 miles to the gas station with the gen loaded for a while before we take off giving us about an hour of run time. Then we shut off the generator with the VERY rich Sea Foam mix to the point it will be smoking a bit. We top off the tank and drive home and unless needed the generator will not be started until the weather is hot again. I know farmers who have PTO generators that may be parked for a year or two between uses without issues.

IF you park 20 foot from the high tide line on the beach with the gen facing the ocean all bets are off. :B

boogie_4wheel wrote:
I would let the wife do it. Run it for the amount of time she needs then shut it off when done. Every once in awhile actually get it up to operating temp to evaporate that condensation buildup.

Lets say you are out on a week long trip. I would actually get that gen up to temp at the end of the trip, or approximately every week.

That pretty much sums it up for us. Although we are equipted with inverters we routinely run for short periods at supper for high current appliances. Having said that we tend to let it run for no less than 15 minutes. If we are in a place where no one would be bothered we also do the same at breakfast. I think if you let it run for an extended period of time once in a while, the short duration wouldn't hurt anything. We are in year 11 of doing this with ours and we are fulltimers.

The genny on my '92 Winnie has 230 hours on it...not a lot of hours..corrosion on the slip rings caused a high resistance in the brushes and burned out the regulator.. $800 later. I turn everything on including the hair dryer and run the genny for 30 minutes every month.

thanks for all your feedback. i think i now have some good ideas.

Ideally you should run an engine long enough with enough load to dry water condensate out of the exhaust system and crankcase. I try to do that on all my engines. If you can try to combine generator jobs toward that end.

It is not always possible. Hopefully the Onan isn't such a delicate flower that it is injured by occasional lapses. The one thing I will do is run it under load for half hour plus prior to putting the unit away for a length of time. I don't want the condensate sitting in the crankcase or exhaust for extended length of time.

Yes and the car blows up if you shut it off before driving 20 miles.

Are tools for man or man for tools?