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[Roger2561]

Any of you folks have one of those DUH moments?  I had to move my emergency generator from it's old location to it's now new location.  I took pictures of the wiring so I would put it back together when I'm ready.  Well, the move went well and reconnecting the electrical went just as well.  I made sure to compare my work against the pictures I took and everything matched.  Fast forward to Saturday; We decided to fire her up.  She started right up but that's all, it wouldn't provide power to the house.  It was running on no-load only.  So, I start digging into this thing thinking the controller may have fried, burned wires somewhere, etc...  But, lets back up a bit.  I work at an institution of higher learning, an Ivy League Graduate School.  One of the first things we teach people is how to troubleshoot a problem.  We always tell them to work from the outside in.  90% of the time the darned unit isn't plugged in.  If after that it still doesn't work, check the circuit breaker.  After that we mention fuses.  Back to the gen set.  On Sunday after church I mentioned to one of my younger brothers the problem I ran into with it.  He asked if I checked for fuses.  I just stared at him and that's when the DUH moment struck.  I went home and opened the transfer panel first.  I found 2 fuses between the generator and heavy duty relays that transfer power from the utility to generator.  I shutdown power to the transfer panel and removed the fuses.  Both fuses were OPEN.  I made a quick trip to the orange box store and they had exactly what I needed.  Got home, changed them and WALLA, it works!  I guess I should practice what I preach to the new students.  Talk of feeling stupid.  It's always check the little things first and then work your way in.  Oh well, live and learn.  Roger     

[coolidge]

seems to happen everyday around here.

[E Yoder]

Chuckle, glad I'm not the only one.

[mlappin]

I usually try not to keep track of em, but have definitely done things similar.

Worst one was with the grain leg, I have a poly rope tied to the top and tied off at the bottom. I have loaded a grease gun and wrenches in the bucket for routine maintenance. Climb to the top, pull the bucket up, then work. First few times kept forgetting that even though the turnbuckle used to tighten the drive belt is 5/8” rod, it uses a over sized nut to lock the turnbuckle, instead of 15/16” wrench it's a 1”. I’ve also climbed all the way to the top only to find out the grease gun is empty. Once I got down, emptied the bucket only to realize the grease gun was still up there but on the backside of the main drive. It’s a 65 foot climb, gets old fast. Now I try to make sure somebody is around to fetch stuff instead of doing all that climbing. The wife won’t do it, she’s extremely bothered by heights to the point of even seeing me up there makes her dizzy.

[DeerMeadowFarm]

Reminds me of Karl in "Slingblade"

Bill Cox: [lawnmower won't start] Karl, see if you can figure out what's wrong with this. It won't crank up and everything seems to be put together right.

Karl: It ain't got no gas in it.

[Roger2561]

Reminds me of Karl in "Slingblade"

Bill Cox: [lawnmower won't start] Karl, see if you can figure out what's wrong with this. It won't crank up and everything seems to be put together right.

Karl: It ain't got no gas in it.

Funny you mention no gas in it.  In 1977 my dad was trying out an International scout.  The sales rep said take it for a spin and tell us what you think.  Dad took the scout for a spin and about 20 minutes later the dealership received a phone call from dad saying the vehicle just quit.  They sent a tow truck out to get dad and scout.  The garage spent 2 days going through the thing and could not find the problem.  They changed nearly everything in the fuel delivery system before someone had the idea to check the gas tank.  Yup, it was empty.  They put it back together put gas in it and she started right up.  Dad never did buy the scout from them, he went to a different dealer to buy one.  I guess the moral of these stories is, don't overlook the small stuff.  Roger