Speaking of generators.....anyone have a good way of breaking a new on in? I keep reading all kinds of different ways to do it. I have a new one for the house as a "just in case" backup for power failures and want to make sure it will last and not shorten its life span. There's nothing specific in the manual about break in, but some of my dads friends have said they do need to be broken in under a load. I read some place online to run the genny for an hour unloaded then change oil and then run it at 75% load for another hour, then run it as you want. Others say load it up at 50% right from the get-go after a 5min warmup then vary the load every half hour or so until you run through an entire tank of gas....dont think i need to waste 6-8 hours and a full tank of gas im thinking.... Thoughts?
I dont want to hijack the thread Dan....so people can PM me replies if need be...

I didn't break in my Generac 8000/10000 with any particular sequence. That was more than 10 years ago and still runs like a champ when I need it. Only complaint is changing out the battery is a RPITFA.

Best to load put a load on it (~50%) as soon as it's up to temp. Other wise the piston rings may glaze and never seal properly. Same as a car/boat eng.
I've heard of using a crock-pot (full of water), clothes iron or something else that cycles on/off it's own. I went with portable elec heaters at various heat settings while I was in the shop doing something else. Kinda depends on the size of genset, but you do want 50-75% load to get good cyl press to help seat the rings. There's also talk of the generator windings benefiting from thermal cycling. Something abt the long-term epoxy curing process. Think of the time as an investment.

Biggest issue with gasoline generators is fuel going bad. The carb idle circuit is really small on these things.Doesn't take much to plug them up and if they do get plugged, they are tough to clean properly. Good to get into the habit of turning off fuel and letting it run until it starves, maybe even turn on the choke as it dying to help suck out any remaining fuel. E0 fuel and stabilizer are your friend. This is where propane really shines. Never goes bad and no carb or fuel storage worries. My Champion inverters are dual-fuel and neither has ever had gasoline in them.

Another tip to help longevity on a portable genset, or any single cyl eng, is after shutdown, pull rope until you feel compression, then stop. This leaves the valves fully closed and prevents cyl rust.

Yeah i made it a habit years ago to put sta-bil and marvel mystery oil in the gas cans for all gas tools. I have a craftsman lawn mower that's 20+yrs old. I cant remember that last time i changed the spark plug or the oil....i turn the gas line off and let the motor run itself dry. Never let me down yet and oil is still as clean as the day it was put in I do change the air filter yearly though LOL
I have a bunch of old school 1000W shop lights...may just hook a few together at random times to vary the load.

Wonder if Nortech knows it`s not CG certified and if the owner uses it everyone will die.

Just an FYI, I talked to Nor-Tech (via email) and they have not, do not, and will not mount any Honda generators in the bilge. They only use Panda Fischer, Mase, or Westerbeke. They are marine generators designed to the standards to allow them to be installed in the confined bilge area.

I wave the white flag and give up attempting to convincing anybody, I just wanted to share the facts.

It woudl be interesting if anybody could find a boat manufacturer that does install them at the factory.......................................

What if you made a "flame arrestor box" around the whole generator?

It's an air cooled eng. Don't think it would like that very much. Maybe if you had cool fresh (not bilge) air forced into the fire-proof box via separate/dedicated bilge blower/s?? Then have an automated close-able damper in case genset does burst into flame, it would be snuffed-out. Maybe even mount a stand-alone CO2 system inside the box??

https://www.westmarine.com/west-advi...inguisher.html

I actually have two of these Blue Elide Fire Balls in my racecar to protect me incase I am knocked out in a crash, that also catches on fire. Such happened to a racer in NJ a few years go; which is why I invested. He was knocked out, and the fire was so intense, safety workers could not reach into pull the fire suppression system trigger. It took another race, fully clothed with balaclava, helmet, suit, and gloves to reach in, pull fire suppression, and get him out of the car.

I did an Ozark trip one year with a Honda 2000 on my Formula 27pc. Ran it on the swim platform and I was paranoid about fumes the whole time....and honestly it was fine. It was all it could do to run my little AC and you'd get about 6 hours out of the tank of gas. Carrying the generator and any gas is the worst part. Just wasn't for me.

After that trip I put in a new Kohler 7.5 and it worked well for the summer. At 67 hours developed a code that would shut it down 15 seconds after it started and I chased fixing it with Kohler for all of the next year, dumping thousands into service techs, replacing electronics, replacing everything. In the end they said the generator was bad and needed replaced...but my warranty was no good because the business I purchased it from had since gone under. It was a cluster F.

I just stay in hotels now F it.