Why won’t the generator start sometimes?
A generator that sits idle is a generator that will not start. The weekly exercise cycle, and the two other things it needs from you.
You have the generator, but when an outage takes place it doesn’t start the way it should, or you were expected to work…
The answer to this situation includes three important things that a generator needs: activity, monitoring and visual inspection
- ACTIVITY – Your generator will normally be programmed via the automatic transfer switch (if purchased with your generator) to start and run the generator weekly. This weekly event is called an exercise cycle. Weekly operation of the generator is an operational requirement needed to help ensure reliability.
- MONITORING – Your generator is equipped with protective and monitoring features. These features are intended to protect the generator from potential damage and advise the user of the occurrence of potentially abnormal conditions. These abnormal conditions may occur during the weekly exercise and prevent further automatic starting of generator until this condition is investigated and corrected.
- VISUAL INSPECTION – A weekly visual inspection of your generator is an imperative step that must be taken to detect any alarms or faults that may have occurred on the most recent exercise cycle. Because exercise cycles occur more frequently than power outages, it is more likely that a fault or alarm will occur during an exercise cycle. Once detected please note the alarm and contact your generator service provider. Your generator may not start during an outage if an alarm condition has not been corrected.
Article thanks to: Antilles Power
Puerto Rico / St. Thomas / St. Croix / Dominican Republic
Chris Kennan has written for ALL AT SEA since 2005.
Worth your time?
Thanks — noted.
