http://www.engineeringradio.us/blog/2010/03/owner-says-dont-plow-the-road/ When I was 10, I caught the radio bug, it appears to be terminal Thu, 09 Sep 2010 01:18:14 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.0.1 http://www.engineeringradio.us/blog/2010/03/owner-says-dont-plow-the-road/comment-page-1/#comment-256 J. Aegerter Wed, 03 Mar 2010 17:13:22 +0000 http://www.engineeringradio.us/blog/?p=626#comment-256 This is one reason I dislike diesel generators. They can be hard starters in cold weather when you may need them the most, exhibit fuel souring from sitting idle over a period of time, and the high cost of these fuels these days. All of our standby generators are Liquid Propane fueled except for one diesel, and that one is the most finicky. Propane is a perfect fuel, the price nearly always goes down in July of each year, and no need for bleeding lines since it "boils" around -30 degrees F thereby always exhibiting pressure into the fuel line. Our maintenance program is to check all of out propane tanks every June by reading pressure gauges on each tank, and ordering new gas when the price is lowest, usually in July or August. In this manner, a station should be able to coast through a blizzard. Plowing out remote sites is costly, and we only plow out our busy multi-user antenna sites. We have 4WD Dodge pick-ups and have never had a problem getting into a site, except when there was severe drifting over 3 feet high. I personally have always prepared for the worst, and with our constant attention to our generator sets, we haven't had any problems in over 20 years. I have noticed that many broadcasters buy a generator and that is the end of story. Checkouts and routine maintenance is seldom done. I pulled a dipstick on a station's Generac generator set with a GM V-8 and the oil looked like it had never been changed. It had a mustard type yellow substance signifying oil breakdown that was probably caused by short cycling (exercising). The quality of the oil is critical in these unattended applications, and a full synthetic would be my recommendation from day one of the generators life. This is one reason I dislike diesel generators. They can be hard starters in cold weather when you may need them the most, exhibit fuel souring from sitting idle over a period of time, and the high cost of these fuels these days. All of our standby generators are Liquid Propane fueled except for one diesel, and that one is the most finicky. Propane is a perfect fuel, the price nearly always goes down in July of each year, and no need for bleeding lines since it “boils” around -30 degrees F thereby always exhibiting pressure into the fuel line. Our maintenance program is to check all of out propane tanks every June by reading pressure gauges on each tank, and ordering new gas when the price is lowest, usually in July or August. In this manner, a station should be able to coast through a blizzard. Plowing out remote sites is costly, and we only plow out our busy multi-user antenna sites. We have 4WD Dodge pick-ups and have never had a problem getting into a site, except when there was severe drifting over 3 feet high. I personally have always prepared for the worst, and with our constant attention to our generator sets, we haven’t had any problems in over 20 years. I have noticed that many broadcasters buy a generator and that is the end of story. Checkouts and routine maintenance is seldom done. I pulled a dipstick on a station’s Generac generator set with a GM V-8 and the oil looked like it had never been changed. It had a mustard type yellow substance signifying oil breakdown that was probably caused by short cycling (exercising). The quality of the oil is critical in these unattended applications, and a full synthetic would be my recommendation from day one of the generators life.

]]> http://www.engineeringradio.us/blog/2010/03/owner-says-dont-plow-the-road/comment-page-1/#comment-253 admin Mon, 01 Mar 2010 21:08:43 +0000 http://www.engineeringradio.us/blog/?p=626#comment-253 My wife comments that it is both funny and sad My wife comments that it is both funny and sad

]]> http://www.engineeringradio.us/blog/2010/03/owner-says-dont-plow-the-road/comment-page-1/#comment-252 Daniel Mon, 01 Mar 2010 14:39:26 +0000 http://www.engineeringradio.us/blog/?p=626#comment-252 lol, I'm not sure if that's pretty funny or pretty sad... lol, I’m not sure if that’s pretty funny or pretty sad…

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