1.2 MW Generator

Hi Lyn,

The generator is a Cummins Onan KTA-50-G3 480/60 1250KW Maranthon. I have tried to reach out to the manufacturer but have had no response as yet. I was hoping that there was a general check list that I could follow and one that the service guys could follow. Like when a car is inspected. I cannot even get a service or operators manual on this, I have searched everywhere.

Any help here is appreciated. Thanks.

-Rob.

Thanks Lyn and PWSlack, I will try this again. I hope you are all well.

-Rob.

There is a good company out of the BVI, PM me if you'd like. I suggest you team up with other users with similar issues and hire a tech. You may have to send him to a factory school for training. In general, diesel gensets should be tested at least monthly. Critical systems, servers, computers, electronics, should be on battery or UPS. Fuel contamination both deliberate and "natural" is a big issue.

Did you keep a log of what failed and how it was fixed? Have you tried starting this generator periodically regardless of need or do you test if it works only when power has been lost. You have to put in some effort to maintain this backup machine.

I would start by running this generator once a month with at least a 10kW load on the generator with your coolant at operating temperature for 15 minutes. Only once you've done this six months in a row without a start up failure would I consider extending this testing cycle to six weeks, two months, six months and finally yearly. If this generator fails only when needed but operates fine when tested, you have to consider what is different between your monthly tests and your "in need" operation.

Hi Redfred,

I have only been in my new position here for two months now. This generator was down for 5 months before it was finally fixed a month ago (Limping along in my books). They are running two governors on the unit as the one has failed, the #5 fuel injector is leaking, the silencer needs welding, the ATS batteries need replacing, and I am sure there are more issues. I have just recently had a master mechanic flown down which costed about $10k for the whole trip, he got it running to where it is now and I will get the parts needed to fix the rest, however once it is fixed I would like it to stay that way, hence the urgent need for a detailed check sheet. Does anyone reading CR4 have such a list that they check monthly?

Thank you everyone for your time here, it is much appreciated.

-Rob.

Where I used to work, the generator was a necessity for ventilation primarily. One lab got full lighting. The card access system got put on the generator and a few items of convenience until we ran out of capacity.

20 minute no load tests were run daily. The only no start conditions were because a mouse got hungry and ate a PC board and no fuel.

Full load testing does add a power glitch so it wasn't done.

Nice find and a GA.

Who would've thought that a search engine could find such a document. I wonder how likely it is that it would also be found among the manufacturer's technical pages.

Thank you everyone for your input here, it has helped tremendously! I hope you are all well.

-Rob.