Briggs & Stratton 20kw Mod: 040276B ser#-1019456260

Ehenry · Sun Mar 12, 2023 9:28 pm

We had a power blink yesterday that caused my neighbors unit listed above to start and run. They were not at home. I'm home on covid leave and since we're out in the country I text him to tell him the generator was running and had been for about an hour and I would ride their power line from the road to their house. There were no lines down, no line fuses were tripped. We are on the same line and I had power so I text him and asked if it was a normal exercise day and he replied no and asked that I switch the unit off then back to auto which I did. When I switched the unit back to auto it did not restart. Is there a fuse in the ats that could be blown that senses the restoration of utility power that the unit did not shut down while in auto mode?

Mon Mar 13, 2023 9:04 pm

I've heard that some of the 'newer' Briggs units have a burn off period now programmed in. I think it was something like 30-45 minutes of run time twice a year to allow condensation to burn off of the oil. Maybe that's what was happening?

Ehenry · Tue Mar 14, 2023 7:58 pm

Chris, I'm not sure what you're calling a newer unit but this generator is 12-13 years old. Would that be considered newer? I asked if it was exercise day and he said it wasnt.

Fri Mar 17, 2023 10:44 am

I think these units that do the burn off were in the last year or 2. As far as I know, the Briggs generators use the N1 and N2 for utility sensing just like a Generac would. It may be that there's a loose fuse, loose wire, or fuse that's going bad causing trouble. I was just at a customer's house where the fuse holders were loose because the previous company he had working on it was using the fuses to test the transfer switch. They never installed a main disconnect before the switch, so there was no way to kill power, and their answer was to yank the fuses out every time...

Birken Vogt · Fri Mar 17, 2023 11:34 am

In a B&S, fuses will operate the generator but not the switch. Switch has a mind of its own.

Fri Mar 17, 2023 4:31 pm

Birken Vogt wrote: ↑
Fri Mar 17, 2023 11:34 am
In a B&S, fuses will operate the generator but not the switch. Switch has a mind of its own.

That would seem to make sense if the generator were just out there running, but the switch never transferred back when the gen shut down. It may have been in utility mode the whole time and the gen was just running along.

Ehenry · Fri Mar 17, 2023 7:05 pm

If nothing else he got a good burn off run!!