The generator still ain’t right. It shuts down at random intervals, which is annoying because it’s a long walk to get to it and it’s been raining a lot lately (six inches in this last storm) which makes the walk less pleasant.
I’m almost certain that the problem is the carbon monoxide (CO) detector in the generator. I made the generator house pretty tight, though it has ventilation at ground level. In spite of a lot of work on the exhaust system, I suspect there’s just too much CO that leaks into the cabinet and that’s why it shuts down. The more work I’ve done on the exhaust, the less frequent the shutdowns, but they still happen. I’m also worried that the generator and/or the autotransformer will overheat if I ever have to run the generator in the summer when the sun is shining (though I can’t imagine why I’d need the generator if I had sunshine). From the beginning, I’ve suspected that the generator house will need active ventilation.
Today, it occurred to me that I can get that ventilation simply by placing a fan inside the generator house. We even have an electric floor fan that should do the job. I don’t think I’ll even need any more vent holes in the cabinet. I can just plug the fan into one of the unused 5-15R receptacles on the generator, and it will then run automatically whenever the generator is running. Simplicity itself, and worth a try before I start trying to custom-mount a fan with vent holes and rain louvers.
—2p
