5,000 Trouble-Free Generator Hours

[ATeam]

Reports of generator (APU) issues regularly surrace here. Clocking our 5,000th trouble-free hour on our generator got me to thinking that it might be nice to hear some generator success stories. They would be useful to people considering a generator purchase.

Our Onan Quiet Diesel 7500 generator came new with the truck and custom sleeper in 2006. There was an early fuel pump problem that was cheerfuly fixed right the first time under warranty by an Onan dealer, at no cost to us. Since then the unit has performed flawlessly. Repair costs have been zero because no repairs have been needed. I do the maintenance myself. Operating costs have been limited to the costs of fuel, fluids and filters.

Who else is running generators that work well? What kind are they and what results have you had?

 

[bubblehead]

We have 2100+ on our #1 gen and 536 on our #2 with no major problems. Oil change consist of turning a valve to drain into a container and twist off the filter start to finish is about 2minutes...fuel and air filter just as easy with no tools required. We chose two Power Pac APUs rated at 5kw because each one carries all the power we need and it was less expensive than the onan we were looking at. Transfer is automatic and operation is seamless...it's been great and our next unit will be set up the same. Congrats on yours and we hope to have the same success.

 

[Scuba]

I had over 5000 on my rigmaster on my last truck zero problems almost 3000 hrs on the one on my new truck also trouble free

 

[LDB]

What is the service interval on the Onan?

 

[moose]

I had the FFrigette APU for 16 months ,and had nothing but problems with it .
the Frigette is the worst unit out there , stay back !

on this truck i have the TriPack by Thermo King ,
have just over a thousand hours , and Tho'w no out of Pocket money was handed out ,do to the warranty ,it have visited the shop 4 times , and still need more work done.looks like some Thermo King dealers are lacking the trouble shooting skills .
i do service the unit my self.
i did not made up my mined yet as to the diesel heater ,
it come with a vary good in house financing.
and yes i will recommend this unit.
just disconnect the start up buzzes ...its not a reefer...




Moose.

 

[TeamCaffee]

We have 4000 hours on our Rig Master in that time we have had to replace the glow plug relay, speed sensor and a circuit board. We never idle to our generator gets hit pretty hard since I also do a lot of cooking in here and also Bob insists I use everything I can to drain the batteries! I have to admit I love 110 more than I ever thought I did.

Our Rig Master only starts when our batteries get low or with the thermostat settings. Molly also loves the generator as she can sit and watch in the comfort of a heated or air conditioned cab! We overall have been very happy with our Rig Master and it has done a great job for us. If it was not for the noise (the generator will put a reefer motor to shame) and that is does not cool as well as we think it should in the summer we would get another one. The Rig Master is very dependable!

We though will not get a Rig Master on our next truck. We have speced the Onan as I believe it will keep us cooler in the summer and it also is so quiet. One of the things we have seen in one truck that I did not like at all was that when she wanted to use her microwave at any time she had to start the generator even while going down the road. I do not know if that is an oddity or if that is true on all Onans.

 

[highway star]

I have a little over 3600 hours on my Rig Master. My experience is about the same as Molly's humans. Overall, it's a dependable workhorse, but the noise is just obnoxious. I will most likely consider an Onan/roof unit setup next time around.

Your friend's microwave isn't wired to run off the inverter, so it needs the direct 110. Maybe not such a bad thing if you use the micro a lot.

 

[LDB]

My Rigmaster has only about 1100 hours. Other than having to add half a cup of coolant every 150 hours or so it's only had routine pm's so far. I have a custom exhaust about 10' long exiting just ahead of the drive tires. It cuts the noise a bit and causes less fumes to come in when I have the windows open. I'm satisfied with it so far. I like the 1000 hour pm interval. If an Onan has a long pm interval I might consider it if I ever get another truck. I'm not sure but what this truck will last me as long as I want to do this though.

 

[pelicn]

What is the service interval on the Onan?

According to the manual, it says every 150 hours for oil and filter, every 500 for air and fuel filter

 

[highway star]

Most of the noise is just the unit in general, not the exhaust. I add some coolant on a regular basis as well. I had a thermostat go bad and it was repaired with an update kit. I don't seem to add as much now. That 1000 hrs sounds like a sweet deal, mine's 500. Is the fuel filter that long? When I take mine out after 300 it looks pretty gross. And that's with ULSD.

 

[LDB]

My last Rigmaster was 500 hours and held 2qt oil. This one holds 3qt and they say 1000 hours but I do it around 800 or so. Yes, most noise is the unit but the extended exhaust helps a little bit and far more importantly keeps the fumes down.

 

[highway star]

Mine takes 3qts. Do you have a Cat or Perkins? Mine's a Perkins.

 

[LDB]

Mine is a Perkins also. I'll have to look again but I know it said 1000 hr pm interval. I remember being very pleasantly surprised when I expected it to be 500.

 

[ATeam]

Onan's 150 hour service inteval is a curious thing. The oil and filter changes are quick and easy to do (after a couple practice rounds) so I do them. I'd rather spend a little more on 3 quarts of oil and a filter than risk the generator. But the 150 hours strike me as strange when competing generator service intervals are much longer.

These Onans are designed not for trucks but RVs. I wonder if the 150 hours has to do more with infrequent use than hours on the oil? Oil that sits is not such a good thing either. Maybe that is the assumption that is built into the 150 hour interval.

Or maybe the service intervals are based on running the generator at full load most of the time, as an RV might do with three roof units on it, massive space to heat or cool and a host of lights and appliances to run.

Just guessing here. Whatever the manufacturer's thinking is behind the 150 hours, we continue to comply. With 5,000 hours of trouble-free service, I'm not gong to begrudge our Onan of its scheduled oil changes.

 

[davekc]

I agree with Leo in that the rigmasters are noisy, but a reworked exhaust quiets them down quite a bit. If unsure on the oil, I would pull a sample and have it tested several times.
If it is under warranty I think I would follow the manufacturers intravals.

 

[ClassicOne]

I guess I'm the odd person out. I still ran an AUX until I sold that truck. Had over 6800 hrs on it. Talk about noise though, and the fumes too. The only repair was the water pump. It was a bugger to get to. Replacing the belt was terrible. And lastly I had a curious happening. Right before I sold the truck, the dipstick dislodged and was bent by the crank. I shut her down fast and the next day was able to extract the stick without breaking it! Cheap replacement and all was good again. Curious though!

 

[Coco]

We installed a super silencer muffler made by Rigmaster, quieter by a longshot. Check it our with a Rigmaster Dealer or Service Center.

 

[davelees1]

My Powertech APU with 600 hours is down about every 50 hours, yep, that's about right. Once the belt came off and all of the other times it's usually some programming problem. It has never been running when we've arrived at home. The only dealers who can work on it are Freightliner in Columbus or Youngstown. We have a whole list of repair places, but we've never been able to get it in for service because one guy works on them and he's never there. Now it's starting to use coolant, about 12 oz. every 20 hours and that means checking it continuously and that's a pain getting the cover off. It has been running the last 3 weeks, but I really don't have any faith in it anymore. Summertime was the worst with the AC running a lot. It would just shut down and display a fault. Since we've been down south this fall, we really haven't put a lot of hours on it.

 

[Hader1]

1000 Hrs??
we have a Guardian RV 7500 that we used 24/7 at a remote location, we changed oil and filters every week, our Lister-Peter's (the best there is) 12.5 KW& 16.5 KW same thing, manufacturers would normally recomend 240 to 250 Hrs Max. if i was you i'd double check .

 

[guido4475]

i know after reding this youre all going to laugh,but i had a powertech 7500 watt generator powered by a kubota d905e 3 cyl diesel, and it was the best thing i had. heat and a/c came from the rooftop unit on top of the sleeper. it would freeze me out in laredo when it was 115 outside.but now i have a different truck and a few freinds and i have tried something different and cheaper 3 years ago and it actually works real well. we bought 3,500 watt gas generators from pepboys for 349.00, mounted them in a sidebox,use a space heater, and window a/c unit mounted under the bunk, vented out throught the floor.we ran 2-8 outlet power strips (one on each side of the sleeper wall) and put a battery charger/maintainer under the bunk wired to the batteries.it uses one quart of gas per hour.it cost us 1,000 per truck for initial setup.the first generator lasted 14,000 hours on the hourmeter.oil change takes less than 5 minutes to do. and takes a pint of oil. i use lucas and delvac for oil.it starts on the 2 pull everytime, regardless how cold it is.i have been dot'd several times and they have said nothing negative about it or the 13.5 gal tank on the side.sounds kinda hokey,i know, but it works and it is so much cheaper, and does the same thing.