I change the oil in Pine Knot's Northern Lights Generator every 200 hours. I've read that some people change their generator oil every 100 hours. That seems too soon, to me. I figure the only way to be sure my oil change interval is OK is to have the oil lab-tested. The lab test will report the condition of the generator oil.
[Pine Knot's Oil Testing]
Testing not only reports the condition of the oil, but can indicate the condition of the generator itself. By checking for wear metals and contamination in the oil, testing might help identify potential mechanical problems so we will able to do repairs before we suffer a catastrophic failure.
November 13, 2007--Generator Oil Test Report #1
For a look at this oil test, click the link below:
As stated in the report, the only real area of concern is the amount of fuel in the oil sample. We'll be paying close attention to that in future tests.
June 3, 2008--Generator Oil Test Report #2
For a look at this oil test, click the link below:
There was no fuel in the oil in this sample, something I needed to watch for from the previous test. Also, no water or coolant was present. The viscosity and filtration looked good.
There was evidence in this report of silicone which could be dirt getting into the engine. The report showed wear was low, so the silicone must be from something else such as a silicone lube or additive. Some oils have silicone added as an anti-foaming agent, but that didn't show up in the previous test and I'm using the same brand of oil.
I used a new drill-pump to change the oil this time since I was having trouble with Pine Knot's Reverso Oil Changing Pump. I wrote Blackstone asking if they thought the drill-pump might have had silicone lube coating its impeller, causing the high silicone level in my oil sample.
[Jabsco Drill-Pump]
Here is Blackstone's reply:
"Yes. Before I even got to your question, when I read your description of the pump, I thought: Oh, I bet there's a silicone coating somewhere on that pump or the tubing. It makes sense, because from what I can tell, it's the harmless kind of silicon. When silicon is dirt, it causes high wear, but your wear is fine. If it was from the pump or the tubing, it should drop in the next sample. If wear should start to go up and silicon stays high, we'll let you know...but I doubt that will happen. I wouldn't worry about the silicon at all."
August 21, 2008--Generator Oil Test Report #3
For a look at this oil test, click the link below:
Received another set of good test results on the latest sample of generator oil.
December 1, 2011--Generator Oil Test Report #5
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