Things You Should Avoid When Starting Up Your Generator Set

       As the most important backup power supply and mobile power supply, diesel generator sets play an important role in many situations. However, people are often not aware of what they did wrong when trying to start their units. This will not only affect the normal operation of the unit, but will also shorten its lifespan. Let’s have a look at some common misunderstandings regarding the starting-up process.

1.     No Inspection Before Starting the Generator Set.

Have you always remembered to conduct a thorough inspection before starting up your unit? This is a crucial step that is too often forgotten. 

• Make sure that the amount of oil is within the appropriate range. Insufficient amount of oil can aggravate the wear and tear of the components in the unit.
• Check the coolant level. Engine overheating can be a dangerous outcome of not having enough coolant in the radiator. 
• Check to see if there is enough diesel in the fuel tank and make sure there is no fuel leaking.
• Inspect the battery voltage to see if it’s within the normal range. 

       These inspections can help avoid troubleshooting afterwards when you need the unit to be in operation. 

2.      Cold Start the Unit.

       Do not start the generator set instantly when temperature is rather low. The viscosity of the oil will increase when temperature drops. Hence, oil won’t be able to do a good job of lubrication when its fluidity gets worse. Starting the unit like this will increase the starting resistance of the engine and the workload on the starter motor, and can cause damage to the starter motor. This, too, will aggravate the wear and tear of the components. The correct step is to preheat the unit by either water heating or electric heating before starting it up. After the engine block gets heated up to a certain extent, we can then start up the unit. 

3.      Ignite Multiple Times in a Row When Trying to Start the Unit.

       Some users tend to do the ignition multiple times when the starting up is not successful. Igniting multiple times in a row will have the starter motor continuously operating for an excessively long time and generating a large amount of heat. This overheating of the starter motor can eventually cause it to burn to damage. Moreover, multiple times of ignition will have an excessive amount of fuel accumulating in the cylinder and can cause hydrolock. This will make it even harder to start up the unit. In general, the time interval between each starting should be at least 15 seconds, and there should be no more than three continuous starting in a row. If the unit still fails to start after three tries, users should find out and fix the cause before giving it another try.

4.      Load the Generator Set Immediately After Startup.

       After starting the generator set, users should wait for the warm-up of the unit to complete before applying load onto it. This warm-up procedure allows all the components to get preheated and lubricated properly before doing their work. Without it, the fuel combustion would be incomplete, more carbon deposits will be generated, and there will be an increase of fuel consumption during operating and eventually a shortened lifespan of the unit. The time needed for the unit to complete the warm-up procedure usually depends on the type of the generator set and the ambient temperature. It is roughly about 3~5 minutes in general.

       Follow HUAQUAN Power for more information on how to operate and maintain your generator set properly.