An essential factor to increasing the life of your generator set is proper maintenance of the prime mover. “Prime mover” is the industry term for the section of the generator set that rotates or “moves” the rotor of an AC alternator. This rotation is essential to producing or “generating” electricity. FG Wilson generally uses Perkins diesel engines as prime movers.
It can be considered proper maintenance for one to strictly adhere to or better that of the manufacturer’s recommended maintenance schedule. This information can be located in the Perkins section of your generator set user’s manual.
One of the most critical maintenance items to adhere to in the manufacturer’s recommended maintenance schedule is the interval, or frequency of the engine oil and filter change. This will have a direct impact on the service life of your generator set. It is imperative to know that the manufacturer’s recommended interval is based on fuel sulfur content of less than 0.5% and in some cases, as low as 0.2%. Diesel fuel with sulfur content that low can rarely be purchased in Latin America & the Caribbean. It is recommended to reduce the amount of hours to half of the manufacturer’s suggested; e.g., if the manufacturer has published to change the oil every 500 hours at < 0.5% fuel sulfur content, it is then recommended to increase the interval and reduce the time down to every 250 hours (>1.0%). We suggest this be done regardless, since fuel sulfur is rarely tested by the end user and will most probably be higher in Latin America & the Caribbean. There is a general footnote in most every Perkins manual that states the following:
Alex Cabrices
Service Advisor
FGW Latin America & Caribbean
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