Break in with BRAD PENN® Penn Grade 1® Break in Oil. You can get it on e-bay. Get a couple of quarts and make the first change very early like after only 1 hour to get out any metal left over from building. Then put 8 hours on some.
Then go to GC. The great thing about GC is it is the best oil you can run regardless of the ambient temperature. When you store a generator you never know what the ambient will be when you will be using it. GC is great in any temp. from extreme cold to extreme hot.
Get a K&N air filter for it. Store it with the original paper and use that when you first start using it during an outage. Then oil up the K&N with the clean and oil kit, and let it drain on paper towels for 20 minutes and replace the paper filter with it. This way you avoid the problem of having the oil dry out when you do not use it. For any long outage clean the K&N every 100 hours.
Initially I ran my generator connected to the house to test the wiring set up. Now every 4 months I run it with electric heaters connected to it to load it to about 1/2 load. This way I do not have to reset electronic items in the house because I do not mess with the house for 4 month maintenance runs. First I run it for several minutes unloaded, then I put the load on it for about 5 minutes, then remove the load and run it a few minutes before shutting off the gas and running the carb dry.
I give a half hour to an hour to cool depending on ambient, and pull the plug and spray in Sta-Bil Fogging oil. Then put a clean rag or paper towel over plug hole and pull the rope a couple of times. Then put the plug back and lightly pull the rope to stop it on a compression stroke so all valves are closed. This prevents moisture from getting into the cylinder, and puts the valve springs in the uncompressed position for storage.
I have metal barbed inline connections on the fuel line just after the tank valve (found them in a blister pack on the wall at a local NAPA) , and an extra inline fuel filter. The extra inline filter insures that if any small piece of fuel line come off due to the barb connection that it will get stopped before it gets to the carb. The inline barbed connection allows me to put a piece of hose on and drain the tank. I store the tank in a garage for a month after each use, and after it airs out it goes back on the generator.
Get some good heavy chains and locks if you have anything solid to chain it to. In a real outage they are high theft items.
Get many small plastic gas cans and use Sta-Bil gas storage treatment with the gas. If you double dose with Sta-Bil the gas is good for 2 years. Rotate out your gas stock. I stock 55 gallons in 2+1/2 gallon plastic gas cans. In a real ice storm or a snow storm like we just went through in Pittsburgh PA for the last couple of days, the roads are unusable. You have to have a least a few days of fuel to get you by until the roads are again usable. Now days most vehicles are very hard to drain gas from.
Then go to GC. The great thing about GC is it is the best oil you can run regardless of the ambient temperature. When you store a generator you never know what the ambient will be when you will be using it. GC is great in any temp. from extreme cold to extreme hot.
Get a K&N air filter for it. Store it with the original paper and use that when you first start using it during an outage. Then oil up the K&N with the clean and oil kit, and let it drain on paper towels for 20 minutes and replace the paper filter with it. This way you avoid the problem of having the oil dry out when you do not use it. For any long outage clean the K&N every 100 hours.
Initially I ran my generator connected to the house to test the wiring set up. Now every 4 months I run it with electric heaters connected to it to load it to about 1/2 load. This way I do not have to reset electronic items in the house because I do not mess with the house for 4 month maintenance runs. First I run it for several minutes unloaded, then I put the load on it for about 5 minutes, then remove the load and run it a few minutes before shutting off the gas and running the carb dry.
I give a half hour to an hour to cool depending on ambient, and pull the plug and spray in Sta-Bil Fogging oil. Then put a clean rag or paper towel over plug hole and pull the rope a couple of times. Then put the plug back and lightly pull the rope to stop it on a compression stroke so all valves are closed. This prevents moisture from getting into the cylinder, and puts the valve springs in the uncompressed position for storage.
I have metal barbed inline connections on the fuel line just after the tank valve (found them in a blister pack on the wall at a local NAPA) , and an extra inline fuel filter. The extra inline filter insures that if any small piece of fuel line come off due to the barb connection that it will get stopped before it gets to the carb. The inline barbed connection allows me to put a piece of hose on and drain the tank. I store the tank in a garage for a month after each use, and after it airs out it goes back on the generator.
Get some good heavy chains and locks if you have anything solid to chain it to. In a real outage they are high theft items.
Get many small plastic gas cans and use Sta-Bil gas storage treatment with the gas. If you double dose with Sta-Bil the gas is good for 2 years. Rotate out your gas stock. I stock 55 gallons in 2+1/2 gallon plastic gas cans. In a real ice storm or a snow storm like we just went through in Pittsburgh PA for the last couple of days, the roads are unusable. You have to have a least a few days of fuel to get you by until the roads are again usable. Now days most vehicles are very hard to drain gas from.
