onan 5500
With normal maintenance, how many hours should you except from a onan 5500 generator?
Forum Discussion
lol. They will die of use not lack of use. The carb will suffer if not ever used as it can clog, but that can be undone or replaced cheaply, but wear on the cylinder walls is harder to un-do.
Bearings will wear out and maybe can be replaced or not.
Seals will wear out and can dry out which can be from non-use due to oil not getting the seal wet often enough.
Do run the generator several times per year.
Keeping fresh oil in is critical. If it has an oil filter that is a big bonus.
A clean air filter will also keep debris out of the cylinder.
Air blast the generator head to blow off dirt and dust and minimize wear from grit there. Just blow compressed air in where you can the best you can.
The old generators that ran 1800 rpm and had big pistons will last longer than the smaller 3600 rpm of similar output mostly due to the speed, but also due to smaller parts having to undergo the same workload that wear faster than the big-ole parts. Nothing you can do about this difference, just know it so you do not compare them.
Bearings will wear out and maybe can be replaced or not.
Seals will wear out and can dry out which can be from non-use due to oil not getting the seal wet often enough.
Do run the generator several times per year.
Keeping fresh oil in is critical. If it has an oil filter that is a big bonus.
A clean air filter will also keep debris out of the cylinder.
Air blast the generator head to blow off dirt and dust and minimize wear from grit there. Just blow compressed air in where you can the best you can.
The old generators that ran 1800 rpm and had big pistons will last longer than the smaller 3600 rpm of similar output mostly due to the speed, but also due to smaller parts having to undergo the same workload that wear faster than the big-ole parts. Nothing you can do about this difference, just know it so you do not compare them.
