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A gray outdoor generator is positioned on a lawn beside a brick wall, with a yellow and red indicator light on its top.

What to Expect from Whole Home Generator Maintenance

You bring your car in for regular maintenance to keep it running right for a long time, and you call a technician out to maintain your heating and cooling system for the same reason. Did you know you should also have annual maintenance done on your whole home generator? It’s the best thing you can do to give it a long life and guarantee your family has power when you need it most! But what all is involved in standby generator maintenance?

Online Monitoring

Did you know we can monitor most home generators online? If anything abnormal is ever detected in your generator during its weekly self-test, it can send us a message so we can get it fixed fast! This service is offered specifically for Generac generators (which are our most common whole-home generator) and only costs $32/year (but it’s included in your annual maintenance!).

Changing the Air Filter

Just like your air conditioner and furnace use an air filter as protection from dust and debris, your generator does too! Maybe you’ve waited a bit too long to change your air filters in your home before and you’ve seen just how gross and dirty they can get (and fast!). You don’t want your generator’s air filter getting that nasty—it can end up causing parts to go bad faster.

Changing the Spark Plugs

Your generator, like your car, uses spark plugs to ignite fuel. After around a year, these spark plugs should be changed to keep things running smooth. If you compare a year-old spark plug to a brand new one, you’ll see the difference! They can really get gnarly looking after a year of working hard.

Inspecting Your Generator

One of the most important things our experts will do with your generator during your annual maintenance is inspect the inside of it! They’re trained on all the little details so they can spot signs of trouble before your family has to experience any problems. It’s better to spot these things before they get worse. If left untreated, some problems can get more expensive to fix, can damage other parts, or can leave your generator broken when you need it during an outage! That’s why the trained eye of a professional is so valuable.

Cleaning Your Generator

Dirt, dust, and other debris will build up on your generator over time. If you don’t have this cleaned routinely, it can eventually make its way into parts, keeping them from working right and eventually damaging them.

Change the Generator’s Oil and Oil Filter

Just like you wouldn’t skip oil changes for your car, you shouldn’t skip them for your whole home generator! Thankfully, you don’t have to do them often. Once a year during your annual maintenance is enough. Your generator expert from Morris-Jenkins will turn your generator on for a few minutes to see how things are running. While it’s on, the oil will heat up, making it easier to drain the old oil out so new oil can be added.

Just changing the oil wouldn’t do much good if we didn’t also change the oil filter! Swapping out the oil filter for a new one allows the oil to flow more freely, keeping things running smooth.

Check the Battery

We’ll test your generator’s battery to make sure it’s charged and ready for anything. A weak or dead battery could leave you without power to your home during an outage because your generator won’t be able to start up. There’s also always the possibility of a leaking or corroded battery. Your generator expert will keep an eye out for all of these things!

Make Sure the Area Is Clear

While we’re out there, we’ll also make sure no plant life has started to grow around your generator. Branches can mess with the intake and exhaust of your generator, so we’ll clear stuff that’s creeping too close to it so it doesn’t become an issue.

Check the Valve Clearance

Your generator’s engine’s valve clearance should be checked after the first 25-hour break-in period. After that, it should be checked every 400 hours or after 4 years (depending on your generator). If this clearance isn’t correct, the engine won’t run right, leading to poor idling and even losing power. If it’s bad enough, the intake air and exhaust for the engine won’t be timed right (in plain terms—the engine won’t breathe properly), which can lead to bigger problems.

Conduct a Load Test

If you’d like, we can shut off the power to your home so we can see your generator power your home. If you haven’t had an outage since your generator was installed, this is also a great way for you to see it in action! This test lets us look together at the things powered up in your home to make sure everything is working as it should.

Generator Maintenance to Keep Your Home Powered Up

When you keep up with annual whole home generator maintenance, you’ll be able to count on your generator when times get tough. Even in the worst storms and power outages, your lights will stay on (among other things!). When it comes time to schedule your standby generator maintenance, give us a call or text us. We’ll make sure things are healthy, clean, and ready for another year of powering your home!

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