Generator Fan Blower

[merle&louise]

Well I found the problem of why my generator was running hot!

Bad water pump! Installed the new water pump and the water in the radiator is running like a spotted a$$ ape!

It ran for 4 hours today in 95 degree heat with a full load and the operating temp was 180 degrees.

Problem solved; thanks to all who contributed.

Life is good when your generator runs cool!

[phorner]

Well that's great news, Tuga!

Glad to hear you got to the bottom of it and you're back to keeping your cool...

[Jon Wehrenberg]

Tuga,

Do you know what was wrong with the pump? Impellor slipping? Broken vanes on impellor? Cause of the failure? A lot of us have the same generator and if we can learn from this it would be helpful.

[merle&louise]

Jon,

From what I can tell the pump impeller did not have any broken blades and the blades would turn as the shaft was turned. It was of course dirty inside; looks like rust and antifreeze "gook" may have blocked inside the pump itself.

We removed the radiator in order to get to the water pump, so while it was out I hosed it out until the water going thru it was clear. I also turned the radiator upside down and removed some more water that had accumulated in the bottom.

We installed the new pump and ran it with pure water to see if the water would move (we removed the thermostat to do the test). We had good strong water flow in the neck of the radiator so we drained the water and re-filled with 50/50 pre mixed Prestone antifreeze.

I would say that removing the radiator and washing it out is good preventive maintenance. I plan to do it every 2 years when I change my antifreeze. Turning the radiator upside down and draining excess water thru the neck is key IMO. This should be done a few times to get all the gook out.

Sure is a good feeling to have the generator running at normal operating temp.

[Jon Wehrenberg]

Is it possible the pump was not defective, but perhaps had blockage combined with blockage in the radiator?

A pump going bad is kind of rare unless it is somehow physically damaged.

[phorner]

Is it possible the pump was not defective, but perhaps had blockage combined with blockage in the radiator?

A pump going bad is kind of rare unless it is somehow physically damaged.

Usually, when a water pump fails, it leaks and/or you can feel the play in the impeller shaft due to the bearings failing.

[Jon Wehrenberg]

But even if it is leaking it still moves a lot of water. I consider leaking age related, but if it is not leaking but fails to pump there is a defect that needs to be identified and corrected. I'm guessing the coolant on our generators can have the same issues as our engines and dropout has to be considered.