Of Ice Storms and Generators

The Kipor KGE3500TC
Giant among yard sale generators.

The storm of the century was upon us.  Weather.com was showing heavy rain (the window was too), changing to a "wintery mix", and then solid ice.  Temps were hanging around 33 degrees with predictions all the way down to the lower 20's.  Hmmm, maybe I should try to get that generator working before the apocalypse unfolds later this evening.

Last summer, we bought a Kipor Camping-Mate KGE 3500TC at a yard sale for $125. The guy wanted more, but it wouldn't even run unless you pulled the choke out and fiddled with it for a while.  The generator sat idle in my shed for about a year, because last winter was on the mild side.  Priorities were on other things, and fixing the poor little Kipor just never made it high on the list.  This winter is starting to look much different, so priorities changed last weekend.  I spent a couple hours figuring out why you should never buy a generator at a yard sale that doesn't run right.

In my testing, the unit would idle just fine with the choke pulled out about halfway.  However, the smallest of loads would cause the motor to start coughing, and the tiny green "OK light" changed into a flashing red "sorry about your luck if you want power to the outlets" light.  It wouldn't even hold power to a puny little electric drill.  After cracking open the case, several problems were obvious.

1. The previous owner had fabricated an air filter from a used law mower filter that didn't cover the carburetor intake. That's bad if you want to keep dirt out.  
2. The valve cover was sealed with Mr. Gasket.  
3. The oil was very dirty, but full. 

See the gap between the filter
and the filter housing?  Dirt
goes right through.

Not my first choice of ways
to keep the dirt out.

Mr. Gasket used to seal valve
cover.  Not optimal.

Google was about as useful as a bottle of Old Grandad to a bourbon conesseur.  Spare parts for a Kipor are not readily available, and expensive if you can find them.  Mine needed an air filter ($30 ouch), valve cover gasket (can't buy one), and maybe a carb ($50).  Another search told me that an online repair manual only exists for the 3000ti model, so hopefully the 3500TC is "similar".  This project was quickly headed towards a cheapo Craigslist sale.  Fast forward to lunch on Friday and a rather long trip to Lowe's. 

The lawn mower section at Lowes had a wide selection of air filters, and the standard Briggs and Straton replacement looked about the right size ($10 instead of $30).  After scrutinizing the filters another 10 minutes, I got the B&S and picked up a few more items.  Dang, should have picked up a tube of Mr. Gasket...  Advance Auto Parts was the next stop, and they had an interesting fuel siphon ($15) that comes up a little later.  The last stop of the day was the gas station, and our old Toyota T100 got a full tank of gas treated with Stabil. I also treated another 3 gallons to fill up the gen. 

The T100 sits on the curb most of the year. It's the neighborhood truck for everyone to run errands. The same tank of gas will sit in the truck all winter.  Gas these days contains ethanol that will gum up fuel injectors, gas tank filters, and carburetors if left untreated.  Stabil keeps the ethanol at bay, so the gas doesn't go bad.  At 24 gallons, the T100 has quite a fuel supply, and a good sized siphon can be used to transfer the gas to a portable tank.  The little Kipor will run several hours on 3 gallons of fuel.  With the additional supply, I'm guessing the gen will run at least 3 days at 24 hours a day, or a couple of weeks if used sparingly.  Note: some vehicles have devices to thwart siphoning fuel. Check yours out before depending on this little trick.
 

Siphon from Advance

With the kids in bed on Friday night, I carried a small space heater and a cold beverage into the garage.  The space heater warmed up the garage to a whopping 55 degrees (it was 21 outside), and well, the cold beverage helped out a little more.  The Kipor was on the garage operating table again with new fuel, a new air filter, and an entire can of Pyroil carb spray.  Believe it or not, the B&S air filter was a perfect match for the unit.  After scratching my head and wondering why the last guy didn't do the same thing, another test was performed.  Basically, if the choke is needed to get it to run, the motor is operating in a lean condition.  Maybe the lack of an air filter was giving the motor too much air.  No such luck.  Next step, carb teardown and a quick apology.

B&S Filter Model 491588S

Much of my childhood was spent working on motorcycles that cost less than $250.  Only on a handful of rides did we ever spend more time riding than wrenching.  This resulted in gaining a bit more expertise than the average bear on how carburetors work.  Since carbs come easy to me (and gas is messy), I didn't take any pictures of the next task.  Sorry about that, but here are the main points of a carb teardown.

Carb

1. Best case is that you purchase a rebuild kit before tearing down a carb.  They're full of tiny seals, screws, and jets that get messed up easy.  Kipor dealers had no such kit.
2. Without a rebuild kit, be very careful about taking things apart.
3. Turn off the gas supply or drain the fuel tank.  Remove the fuel line from the carb.
4. Unbolt the carb from the motor.  The Kipor had 2 nuts holding the whole thing together.
5. Remove the crank case breather tube.  This often times goes into the carb.
6. Take pictures as you go, so if questions arise about putting it back together, refer back to the picture.
7. Remove choke cable and overflow line.
8. Yank off the carb.  This one had an automatic throttle cable that I just left attached through the cleaning process.
9. The bowl of the carb will have at least one bolt holding it on.  Be ready for the bowl to be full of gas when you take it off.
10. Yuck, this was the dirtiest carb in all of of Big B's experience.  Things started looking up at this point.
11. The float is the part that controls gas flow into the bowl.  It's usually held on with a pin and has a tiny stopper that you don't want to lose.  Take the float out of the carb before using any carb spray.
12. The main jet feeds fuel to the motor between around 2/3 to full throttle.  It will either be removed with a very small socket (like 5mm) or a flathead screwdriver.  You usually see the main jet on the bottom after the bowl is removed.  This one needed a flathead, so I removed it.
13. Bonus: this carb also had a midrange circuit (1/3 to 2/3 throttle) that fell out when the main jet came out.  It looks like a little tube with holes in the side.
14. Spray out the main jet and needle tube with carb spray or compressed air.  Don't be tempted to use wire or a tiny nail, because those will both mess up the jets.   Spray out every hole in the carb, too.  Be careful (and wear glasses), because one of those holes might come out another hole that squirts right into your eyes.  Don't spray the float or any plastic/rubber gaskets.  If you hit the gaskets, wipe them off quickly.  Spray out the bowl.  Repeat until all the parts are shiny and you don't see any more dirt coming out.  Don't be stingy.  Carb cleaner is cheap.
15. Reassemble.  Refer to digital camera if any questions arise.
16. Verify no gas leaks.
17. Pray. This step is very important. Zen and good fortune are both necessary when working on cranky carbs. 

After putting the whole thing back together, the generator started up and ran solidly with no choke.  Yipppeeeeeee!!!!  A quick test showed that it still wouldn't hold a load.  Grrrrrrrrrrrr!!!!  As a last ditch effort, I turned off the "Smart Throttle" button.  No idea what that button does, but the next test worked.  The gen was able to run a 1200 watt hairdryer and 1500 watt space heater at the same time.  Yipppeeeeeee!!!!

Main panel
2x110 volt plugs

A few parting thoughts.

• My setup works fine for running extension cords into the house to power appliances and space heaters. 
• I'm thinking about wiring a regular power plug to our main gas furnace and installing an outlet in the room.  Pretty sure this is OK, but electrical codes need to be followed.  A gas furnace should only draw 6 amps max, so the generator will pull that kind of power easy.  The main furnace in our house will be more than enough to keep the place warm.
• There's a cheap way to run power to your house called a suicide cord.  Don't use one.  It's dangerous .  Get a qualified electrician to install a transfer switch and special outlet into your main power panel if you want to get a giant generator and power your entire house.
• Get a chain to lock your generator to something, so a powerless thief won't steal yours in an emergency.
• Don't run your gen in the garage.  People die every year doing this.  Mine will go in the back yard under a kid size table to keep the elements at bay. 
• Most generators are rated in watts and appliances are rated in amps.  To convert watts to amps, simply divide by the voltage (in the US it's typically 110).  3500 watt generator / 110 volts = 31.8 amps.
• Test your unit at least once a year and run power to the devices you plan on using. Don't wait until a disaster happens to find out that your plan doesn't work. 

My setup should keep the house warm and the refrigerators/freezer cold for a very long power outage.   Did I fire up the Kipor on the night of the impending apocalypse?  Nope. My efforts must have turned the four horsemen around.