Good Evening To Both Of You 👍👍😇😇👌👌 Having a Trustable and dependable Generator is Truly A Stress Releif 👌😇👍Yes Planning Is Everything 👍👍😇 Yes having a shelter is a very good idea 😇👍👌Keep Warm Cheers 👌👍😇🍻

@CreatingASimplerLifeOffGrid

6 ай бұрын

Thank you so much! Definitely important to always be prepared. Stay warm!

At least the off grid power supply is pretty well guaranteed during the winter. 🙂👍👍🇨🇦

@CreatingASimplerLifeOffGrid

6 ай бұрын

Yes, thank goodness!

Save that old oil. You can coat wood with it to preserve the wood for outdoor use in the ground post.

@CreatingASimplerLifeOffGrid

6 ай бұрын

Yes! We definitely save some of it and have used it on our wood trailer.

We have yet to use our generator for our home power. But the well is another story. It starts with a 40 amp surge and runs at about 14 amps so running that off our batteries for 6 hours strait to fill our 3500 gallon tank. At this point it is either power the house or run the well. We were a little concerned this past week due to the storms that came through for nearly week We even got close to 5" of snow and rained for 4 days. Our system held up fine but house loads are kinda low as we are still in glamping mode. We currently have 7700 watts of solar and our battery bank is a 3800 amp hour Rolls Surrette (They are similar to the WW2 submarine battery technology) basically a large lead acid battery bank. Each of the 12 4v batteries weighs 345#. We put in our solar system back in 2008 so we would have power for our build. So lithium ion was not an option. We now have 25 each 345watt panels to install that we got at a manufacturers auction. Seems they are going all bifacial panels and cleared out their old stock to make room. We will need to split them up to facilitate the charge controller needs though. We got an offer on the house in town and made a counter offer that they accepted. We are amazed at the expenses associated with the sale as the sellers but it is what it is I guess. Now for the appraisal and inspection. We were told that at times it can be brutal. We definitely do not envy your winter weather for sure.

@CreatingASimplerLifeOffGrid

6 ай бұрын

That's a lot of amps to run the well but you have to do what you have to do. We chose basic energy star appliances and live our life like normal. In other words we use an electric freezer, fridge, dishwasher, etc. so we use the geny a lot this time of year. I think you get a lot more sun in AZ so your geny needs should be less but still nice to have it as backup! Good news on the sale, but yes, everyone will be putting their hands in your pockets along the way. We went through the same but it will be a relief when it is over! We wish you well

With our temps and run times similar to yours (same general location), I put in 5W-30 synthetic for the winter (recommended for better lubrication when starting). We use a Champion 10,000 watt unit running on propane. We're in the same situation with 9 out of 10 days cloudy, snowy or rainy all winter long. I'm hoping to triple my solar panels to around 15kw before next winter so we can try and get away from running our generator quite as much.

@CreatingASimplerLifeOffGrid

6 ай бұрын

I agree but had a case of 10w. Extra panels is nice, but I think I’d like to increase my battery storage. On sunny days we have so much excess power.

@AlAndValOffGrid

6 ай бұрын

@@CreatingASimplerLifeOffGrid Yes, I've gone from 10Kw to 20kw in storage capacity and am looking to up that to 30Kw as soon as I can afford it. Spring and summer provides far more sun than I am able to utilize or store at the moment. I'm thinking about getting a solar mini-split just to use as a dehumidifier on warm days.

@CreatingASimplerLifeOffGrid

6 ай бұрын

@@AlAndValOffGrid Great idea on the mini split! I know what you mean, need to have the money to add on!

Always something to do.

@CreatingASimplerLifeOffGrid

6 ай бұрын

Never ending lol

I had the Kohler 20Kwh generator like yours. The exercise cycle can be changed, but only by a Kohler licensed technician that has the software interface on their laptop. Yes, the oil drain is too low to the ground - I mounted mine on an 8x8 ground pressure treated base. I switched to a GENERAC......you can change all the variables on the GENERAC yourself, the enclosure is metal vs. Kohler's plastic (my Kohler housing cracked in several places from cold, vinration and weight stress), and the maintenance on the GENERAC including spark plug replacement is VASTLY easier than the Kohler. You will have a miserable day changing the spark plug on the back of the engine likely needing to remove the back panel which "should" be unnecessary. The internet app is also free on teh GENERAC and much better.

@CreatingASimplerLifeOffGrid

6 ай бұрын

I hear ya but it’s being controlled by our inverter, not the generator. If it was the geny I would be able to change it.

@psterdactyl7253

6 ай бұрын

That doesn't sound right. Not sure why your inverter would be contollinig the exercise cycle for the generator.....seems to me the exercize cycle has nothing to do with the inverter. A "every 2 week/20 minute" exercise cycle is what the Kohler generator ships with. I got a Kohler technician to change it ($$). IMHO, the 2 week/20 minute cycle is too much. My new GENERAC runs 5 minutes every other week. That's enough to get it's temp up, heat the oil, etc. Suggest you query KOHLER about this. I do know that some KOHLER Automatic Transfer Switches can also adjust the exrecise cycle, so you may be mistaken...it could be the ATS that is controlling it, not the inverter. The ATS may override what the cycle is set to at the generator. @@CreatingASimplerLifeOffGrid

@CreatingASimplerLifeOffGrid

6 ай бұрын

@@psterdactyl7253 Yes, the Kohler has its own, but the solark inverter takes control and set the parameter to once a week for 20 minutes. We will be reaching out to both Kohler and Solark because we agree that 20 minutes every week is ridiculous. We have the RESA and the solark inverter is our only transfer switch. We actually want our electrician to install a secondary transfer switch because if the solark ever breaks down, our generator simply will not work. the generators dependency on the solark inverter is the only part of our solar system that we are not happy about, but that is another video for another day.

@chaosplan

6 ай бұрын

I know you have a combi boiler but would an electric water heater or spa heater work as a summertime dump load?

@CreatingASimplerLifeOffGrid

6 ай бұрын

@@chaosplan Yes! We actually have a small electric water heater that was given to us and plan to use in the future!

How many hours do you expect that to last?

@CreatingASimplerLifeOffGrid

6 ай бұрын

It’s got a 5 year 2000 hour warranty, and at 200 hours a year that would be 10 years, but with good maintenance I’d say longer.

@ChubbsyUbbsey

Ай бұрын

@@CreatingASimplerLifeOffGrid If you're running the unit in an off grid or "prime" setting the warranty is actually 1 year or 1000 hours. The units sold after July 1st 2023 all come with a standard 5-year, 2000 hour comprehensive warranty but that's for a home standby situation.

Doesn’t run off natural gas ?

@CreatingASimplerLifeOffGrid

3 ай бұрын

It could if natural gas is available. We Can only use propane.

Fyi Weekly Gen Exercise: If a generator has two-wire start compatibility, it will experience weekly generator tests. This test occurs at 8:00AM (local time) every Monday by default. The test takes 20 minutes to complete. The generator will start and stop automatically . The test can be disabled by specifying : 00 | 00 min in the "Generator Exercise Cycle Day & Time" option. 😁 page 16 sol ark Manual July 13 2023 revision

@CreatingASimplerLifeOffGrid

6 ай бұрын

Thank you! Ours was purchased in 2022 and we have had one upgrade (there were two but they had to roll the second one back because it kept tripping on us which it had never done before.) Up to now that was not an option, but we are checking as I am typing this!

@CreatingASimplerLifeOffGrid

6 ай бұрын

UPDATE! It is now available and we were able to change it! Thank you so much!

@Alaskan32

6 ай бұрын

Glad to help 😁

make sure to change the oil every 100 hours or once a year. whatever comes first.

@CreatingASimplerLifeOffGrid

4 ай бұрын

Absolutely! For us that’s 2-3 times a year

I have the same gen. Was great the first 500 hours then turned into a big turd. Tons of issues. Kohler was no hell either. Pitiful.

@CreatingASimplerLifeOffGrid

4 ай бұрын

Sorry to hear that. We’re getting close - 421 hours as of today - hope we don’t have the same problems