The Gun Counter

One of these days I'll learn the lesson to CHECK. MY. GEAR.

I thought I was so incredibly prepared for yet another contingency, because I bought a new older-style telephone that needs no electrical outlet to run. I bought it because after the last earthquake that knocked out our power, we had no telephones, but those with the older no-electricity models were able to make all the calls they wanted.

Well, we moved and God knows where we put our phones, so I pulled that out of the box, still wrapped. It was a national-brand model which had been in heat-controlled, humidity-controlled environments since purchase. I plugged it in, and it was completely non-functional. I just got red in the face. How many times will this happen? As another warning to myself, and to others - buying it doesn't mean anything unless you try it, use it, and test it. Please learn from my mistake.

Good advice, I discovered about a year after I bought them my "new" NATO nozzles for my Jerry cans had a split along the bottom of each spout. Bah! Rubber.

Hmmm, Probably a good idea. I bought a 6kW generator 3 years ago. You know "just in case".

I haven't even taken it out of the box it arrived in. My thoughts on the subject though, include a hesitancy about starting it, then having to pickle it again for some indeterminate period of time, perhaps many years.

I figure it's better off in its factory fresh state than it will be after I pickle it.

Besides, if I ever need it and it doesn't work, I'm sure I can get the engine running no matter what. If the generator head has issues, I could be in trouble.

Thoughts?

~20 years in IT taught me that NIB does not mean "known-good." "Known-Good" means "I tested it and it works."

drice wrote:I figure it's better off in its factory fresh state than it will be after I pickle it.

Besides, if I ever need it and it doesn't work, I'm sure I can get the engine running no matter what. If the generator head has issues, I could be in trouble.

Thoughts?

Personally, I load mine up with fresh fuel and preservative, and mark on my calendar 6-months later. If it hasn't been used in that time, I fire it up and run it dry before loading it up again. Turn off the fuel valve to run the carb dry - just like you would a MC - before storing.

If your luck is like mine, you'd let it sit and when the day FINALLY comes and you need it, you'll find mice have used all the wires for nesting material. Since I've owned it we've only needed it once, at the time I bought it. I figure the work I put into it 2x/year is preventing a major power-outage. The middle of winter, with your pipes about to freeze is NOT the time to find out your gen. doesn't work...

DD

One of the reasons I participate in so many Amateur Radio public service events is to force me to get my gear out and run it under real world conditions (not just radio gear either, manys the time when my chant of the day has been "Gortex is GOOD!").

One year for Field Day my club borrowed a couple of generators from the Red Cross.

Good thing we did. Whoever used them last stored them with fuel in the tanks. It took us 3-4 hours to get one running after cleaning the varnish out, and we didn't get the second one running until the next day.

Glad this was just an "exercise" and not an actual emergency!