http://www.y2k-news.co.uk/klimaxnews/224.htm

Y2K fears boost generator sales

Generators are in short supply at a Northern Ireland engineering company.

FG Wilson makes standby electricity generators which are shipped to 170 countries round the world.

The company, which employs more than 2,500 people at Larne in County Antrim, says its generator orders have doubled as homeowners and major multinational companies prepare for the worst.

One generator has just been dispatched to Udu Point on Fiji, an uninhabited area on the international dateline, which will be the first strip of land to greet the sun in the new millennium.

Company president, Dick Nitto said the generator would provide power for a major New Year celebration at which 3,000 guests were expected.

"The Fijian organisers are fortunate that they laid claim to a generator so early.

"Fear of the millennium bug, anticipation of loss of power on 31 December, and other concerns around the turn of the century have vastly accelerated sales to customers as diverse as domestic home owners and multinational industrial organisations.

"In fact every generator currently in production has already been sold".

FG Wilson, which was recently bought by the US company Caterpillar, makes generators costing from #2000 to more than #1m.

The company says that sales have been particularly good in Israel, Scandanavia and the United States and there has also been a big growth in the generator rental market.

-- Uncle Bob (UNCLB0B@Tminus54&counting.down), November 07, 1999

Answers

I different report along those same lines is in todays Cedar Rapids Gazette. Its sights Northern Tool & Equipment(1800-214-8921) and Sears(1800-377-7414 both report about a 7 week backlogs of orders for most generators.

-- y2k dave (xsdaa111@hotmail.com), November 07, 1999.

"In fact every generator currently in production has already been sold".

-- barometer (high@red.flag), November 07, 1999.

They must have shipped them to California, I was at my local OSH (hardware store) and they had five models to choose from on the floor. They normally do not carry generators so I was sort of supprised. The guy in the section said that they had lots in stock! Go figure>)

-- Helium (Heliumavid@yahoo.com), November 07, 1999.

Our genny has been installed since March. We exercise it every weekend. Keep in mind that if you do NOT run your genny under load every few weeks, it will lose the residual magnetic field in the alternator end, and will NOT give you any power when you need it.

And I'll lay odds that NO instruction manual tells you that.

Owning a genny is a committment to run/maintain it regularly. After all, you just MAY have to trust your life to it. Wanna gamble on its working THEN...?

-- Dennis (djolson@pressenter.com), November 07, 1999.

Just like the old car picture at the bottom of this page, generators will be a dime a dozen by summer of 2000. Hope you did not spend $1500 for a 5kw. if you did, you will never see this money back when you have your garage sale. LOL

-- Pl (powerlineman@home.com), November 07, 1999.

ther seem to be plenty of generators at the central tractor and farm and country stores in western pa.

-- kilowattt (alt.power@juice.com), November 07, 1999.

Dennis, What type of generators suffer from, "it will lose the residual magnetic field in the alternator end,"? I've never heard of this.

-- Ken Seger (kenseger@earthlink.net), November 07, 1999.

From what I understand, ALL of them. Check w/your mgr's tech support dept.

BTW, that quote "hope that you didn't spend....."

Does this mean that the $14,000 I spent on my genny (if you include installation/wiring) is money wasted? Gee, I guess I'll have to go suicide out now..... (I'm so GLAD you set me straight.)

-- Dennis (djolson@pressenter.com), November 07, 1999.

Dennis, Powerlineman also probably notes that life jackets are cheap in the desert, but have good upside retail potential on sinking ships.....

Back to residual magnetism. I still don't get it. Maybe I'm thinking too high end. Why would either the rotor or the stator need residual magnetism, what about the exciter circuit? I just bought a dead diesel for my dad that hadn't been run in years. After a trip to a diesel shop and 60 minutes of tinkering got the engine to run and it puts out just fine. Also my "little" Lincoln/Kohler has been ignored for months at a time with no ill effect.

Perhaps this only applies to really cheap units?!?!?

-- Ken Seger (kenseger@earthlink.net), November 08, 1999.

i have a large pto generator made by generac, there is a special contact on the outside of the generator for remagnetizing the excitor. if the generator puts out low voltage the manual says to attach 6-12 volts to this contact and watch the output meter until it is in the normal range then disconnect.

i have seen discussions about this on other sites, it seems that the way to remagnatize the excitor is different for different generators, better call the manufacturer of your generator and ask.

zapped

-- zapped (alt.power@zap.com), November 09, 1999.