My Mep-803a standby generator project

[windyhill]

Thought I'd pop back in on here with a report since it's been a while. After the recent storm We lost power, I ran the 803 for 52 hours straight, not a hiccup! Ran the whole house, well, two freezers, fridge, even had mama run the dryer when she needed it. I reworked my setup so I can now run the shop as well. I used about 5 gal. every 24 hours. Ran at about 35% most of the time. Today after I got the shop on line, I fired it up and pushed it to 100%, got a slight bit of smoke for about 5 min. then it cleared. Man I'm impressed with this Generator. I then backed it down to about 70% and tuned on my 5hp table saw...% needle spiked for a sec, then it settled in just under 100%. Hertz steady at 60, putting out a steady clean 119.5 volts. I'm a happy camper! shut her down and let her cool. coolant perfect, oil still looks new and on mark. Only slight issue I have is Fuel gauge jumps when filling and gets stuck on the side of the case, then I got a bang it till it breaks free and settles where it should. Also it Got me thinking again, I have extra filters etc. but what else should I have on hand as backup parts etc. and where's the best place to get them. When I got mu Generator they seamed to be everywhere, now I don't see them as much.

 

[nextalcupfan]

Nice read on that story.
My mentality on "Spare Parts" is what would be fairly simple to replace but stop the generator cold?
So far I have a Serpentine belt, 1 Control Relay, Extra Fuses and Varistors (For the Fuse Mod), and an extra Fuel Pump.
I plan on adding one of kloppk 's Voltage Regulators, and a Starter.
I'm also getting the parts together to do the "Ultimate Fuel Well-Nut" Mod and replacing the double float switch as shown in this video

.

Honestly this is a tricky question because it's easy to get in the mindset of "I need everything that can go wrong just in case" and go way overboard.
Then you have parts uselessly taking up space and by the time you need them they could be ruined (from moisture for example).

 

[Light in the Dark]

Nice read on that story.
My mentality on "Spare Parts" is what would be fairly simple to replace but stop the generator cold?
So far I have a Serpentine belt, 1 Control Relay, Extra Fuses and Varistors (For the Fuse Mod), and an extra Fuel Pump.
I plan on adding one of kloppk 's Voltage Regulators, and a Starter.
I'm also getting the parts together to do the "Ultimate Fuel Well-Nut" Mod and replacing the double float switch as shown in this video

.

Honestly this is a tricky question because it's easy to get in the mindset of "I need everything that can go wrong just in case" and go way overboard.
Then you have parts uselessly taking up space and by the time you need them they could be ruined (from moisture for example).

Easier to just inventory a second machine... the parts storage is included N/C

 

[millerm13]

Nice score, looks very clean.

 

[Chainbreaker]

Easier to just inventory a second machine... the parts storage is included N/C

Yeah its comforting to know you can just roll in a hot-to-go spare during bad weather circumstances if the dreaded genset malfunction rears its ugly head during an outage.

I did an analysis and found that the way I was going the stocking of what-if-spares soon approached the cost of a good deal repairable spare generator.

 

[cbisson]

Easier to just inventory a second machine... the parts storage is included N/C

I went through the same process. In the end it proved cheaper to purchase another complete running set. If the primary set dies it takes 5 mins to fire up the second. I maintain them both to a high standard and still have spare parts. Down the road if some parts are no longer available or can't be found/ordered/delivered, likely due to the same scenario that makes me need the generator in the first place, I should be able to make 1 from 2.

 

[rhurey]

I went through the same process. In the end it proved cheaper to purchase another complete running set. If the primary set dies it takes 5 mins to fire up the second. I maintain them both to a high standard and still have spare parts. Down the road if some parts are no longer available or can't be found/ordered/delivered, likely due to the same scenario that makes me need the generator in the first place, I should be able to make 1 from 2.

This. Had a 803, now have a smaller sibling 802 that can parts doner a lot, or just take over depending on circumstance.

 

[windyhill]

MEP-803A still working great. I wanted to get a cover made for it for a while, but just had a piece of plywood on it. After a bunch of searching I ran across this cover for outdoor furniture on Amazon. It works pretty darn well, and for $30 I can't complain!

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www.amazon.com