What do you use as a 'load' when breaking in generator?

[Qwkynuf]

Got my new Firman generator today, planning on doing the break-in procedure this weekend.

The guidance in the owner's manual says:

We consider the first 5 hours of run time to be the break in period for the unit. During the break in period stay at our below 50% of the running watt rating and vary the load occasionally to allow stator windings to heat and cool. Adjusting the load will also cause the engine speed to vary and help seat piston rings.

Mine is a 2900/3200 watt unit, so the load needs to be under 1500 watts - what do folks use - a hair dryer? Something else? My trailer is at the storage lot, so I can't really hook it up and run the A/C, so I need to find a way to do it at the house if I can.

Thoughts?

[MtBiker]

Go camping and charge your battery. No need to drive your neighbors crazy listening to your genny drone for half a day. I'd even kick on the air conditioner for a couple of minutes at a time.
Start it and let it run for 5 minutes then shut it off and let it cool. Do this three times. This will allow it to get to temp with out getting to hot while things are tight.
After that just burn your hours at a light load.
When I'm just running my genny at home to burn some gas I plug in a halogen work light.

[babock]

Heat gun with two settings. I alternate between the two settings.

[rracer5]

I used a little box space heater with 2 settings, 750 & 1500 watts.

[KyDan]

Originally Posted by rracer5

I used a little box space heater with 2 settings, 750 & 1500 watts.

What he said! ^^^^^

[mbbutler]

Big drum fan or a mini frig.

[IsleDog]

when we load test our 600KW and 800KW generators at work, we use a giant heater. most people will just use a space heater as you can ramp up the wattage and it will pull a pretty consistent load. your RV ac may cycle on and off if you are using it as the load, but it will work.

[BriaBeck]

When I bought our Champion, I just hooked it up to the camper and let it run the A/C and everything else in the camper for an afternoon. Start with a light load like just running the fan only, then turn the actual AC on after it's been going an hour or so.



Another option would be to use some halogen worklights if you have them or could borrow one... the twin 500 watt units would give you an easy 1000 watt load. Hair dryers are also good, but I don't know if the motors in them are really designed to run continuously for hours on end... but if you've got a cheap one and don't care, let 'er rip.

[PoppySteve]

Originally Posted by rracer5

I used a little box space heater with 2 settings, 750 & 1500 watts.

Ditto.
"Ditto"? "Ditto," you provincial putz?

[ACJCF2]

I concur.

[Qwkynuf]

Thanks for the replies. I will probably go with the halogen work lamps. I have a set of those in the garage. The space heater is packed up in the camper, and the camper is at the storage lot, so it's not really practical to go over there and wait while the generator runs for hours.

I'm not really inclined to "just go camping" to break it in, without at least testing the thing to be sure that it will start, and output voltage.

I suppose I could just plug in a bunch power strips and attach 60 25 watt soldering irons...

[IsleDog]

Originally Posted by Qwkynuf

I suppose I could just plug in a bunch power strips and attach 60 25 watt soldering irons...

THIS! we all want to see this in action please

[cariboo camper]

When I travel I often run generator with air conditioner, heater, hair dryer, anything that can be safely run while motoring down the road. Doesn't bother anyone and I get to exercise generator.

Can not see a problem doing this. Any comments on this practise?

[TitanMike]

Originally Posted by BriaBeck

When I bought our Champion, I just hooked it up to the camper and let it run the A/C ------------

Same here. In my opinion the A/C is the perfect load for breaking in the generator. It's not a steady load as it alternated from cool to fan. It exercises the generator's throttle mechanism and does just what every engine manufacturer wants. A varying load during the first hours of operation.

And yes, charging batteries is good too.

[Qwkynuf]

Started out with my halogen work lamp, but both bulbs failed after cycling them off and on a couple of times. Couldn't find enough soldering irons to do any good, so I had to finish up with a space heater.

Initial thoughts are that it is quite a bit quieter than I expected. At idle, and standing ~10 feet away, it sounds similar to my Honda lawnmower idling at the same distance. Maybe slightly quieter. At half load, it at 10 feet it sounds similar to my neighbor's lawnmower when he is in his back yard. I am aware of it, but don't find it especially noticeable. I am sure that it will seem a lot louder out in the wilderness, but that's something to deal with later.

Thanks for the tips!

[Splashes3]

When I broke in my Champion 3500 I started out just letting it run - switching between the ECO mode and full throttle.....over the 2 weeks that I ran it, I used a shop light, my hand drill and finally ran my shop vac - for that last hour....decided I wanted to get some real work done with it. Only after the 5 hour break in period, and the oil change, did I plug in the RV and run the 15K AC unit.

I have since removed the battery and put it on a trickle charger.....I haven't used it since.

[DouglasReid]

Since our owners manual (Northern Tool Powerhorse 3500) did not describe a break in procedure I followed the procedure on this generator site:

https://generatorgrid.com/blog/break-in/

For a load I used a hair dryer and a heat gun.

PS. the generator is identical to the Harbor Freight Predator 3500 except it is blue instead of red...........and it was on sale $100 less.

[whirledpeaz]

Also don't forget to unplug any loads before shutting your generator down.

[jeff64]

Back in the days when I used to repair small engines , I used a bathroom heater. Resistive loads are what you need, light bulbs or things that produce heat. At rated load you should still be able to get 110-120 volts if all is well

[SniperDroid]

For this season I bought a new WEN 3500 watt Inverter generator to run the Camper. I broke it in using a Heat Gun with two settings, and adding in a Light duty Milk house Heater. Ran an Hour at a time for the first four hours, changed the oil between hours. Full Synthetic, but it doesn't hold much. The last hour I ran the trailer full power with air, water heater and everything I could turn on. My neighbor came over and we could still carry on a conversation standing about six feet from the full power running generator. Smooth and Quiet. Good Luck with your's and I hope you Never Need It!