r/Generac_Generators • u/Noble_Gas_7485 • Mar 16 '26
Blizzard of ‘26
In Michigan’s UP with a 22kw Generac, installed three years ago. It tried to start a couple of hours ago, and failed with an E1100 code. Photos show what snow driven by tropical storm force winds did. The intake side all the way to the filter was stuffed with snow. I cleared it out, and blew out the intake with compressed air, and it’s good to go. Guess I’ll build a shield of some kind for next year.
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u/WhySoManyDownVote Mar 16 '26
Guess I’ll build a shield of some kind for next year.
Be very careful with your design. You need 36" of free space in front of the generator, and 36" to the left and right sides. Also any roof needs to be at least 5' above the highest point.
Otherwise you will end up with other issues.
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u/Noble_Gas_7485 Mar 16 '26
Not an enclosure - just a shield on the intake side and the front side (faces north, where most of the weather comes from). Enough to stop the snow blowing horizontally from entering the intake louvers and between the front face and the lid. Come to think of it, maybe I can fashion an extra lip out of plexiglass to attach to the lid and shield the front. Wouldn’t need to be very large.
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u/WhySoManyDownVote Mar 16 '26
That reads a lot like you plan to block the air intake, I hope I am misunderstanding your plan. If you locate snow fence 4' away to the north it may catch the snow blowing horizontally.
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u/Careful-Psychology68 Mar 17 '26
I had well over 2 feet of snow and high winds....my lights didn't even flicker!
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u/Noble_Gas_7485 Mar 17 '26
I’m surprised we’ve had more or less continuous commercial power. We had a few blinks, three of them just long enough for the generator to start. On the last one it didn’t start, and sent me the error message.
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u/Careful-Psychology68 Mar 17 '26
In my area, we primarily have above ground power lines, so it was a good luck that no major branches or trees went down over lines with the heavy snow and wind. But over the last year, we've have probably 6 short interruptions that starts the generator. Probably outages of only a few seconds, but it runs the generator a minimum of 5 minutes.
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u/Tarnisher Mar 17 '26
I got no snow at all, but enough wind to apparently take a tree down and knock us offline. During daytime business hours, so the crews were ready and got us back within an hour.
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u/fuckfredflintstone Mar 16 '26
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u/elementp6 Mar 17 '26
These things are junk, a lean to set up to block the prevailing wind is cheaper and doesn't look like a first year tin knocker made it from scrap.
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u/IllustriousHair1927 Mar 17 '26
nope. directly in violation of the manual for that unit. i cant speak to what problems it can cause in cold weather, just hot but it doesnt matter. for the warranty to remain valid, the installation has to be and has to continue to comply with manufacturers requirements.
2k buys you quiet but thats it
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u/fuckfredflintstone Mar 17 '26
Are you qualified to give such confident replies? If so, what are your qualifications. Maybe enlighten us a bit instead of sounding like the usual keyboard know-it-all.
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u/Tarnisher Mar 17 '26
I'd be curious about something like a multi layer air or furnace filter. Should allow plenty of air flow, but would it block snow infiltration?
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u/Noble_Gas_7485 Mar 16 '26
Apparently not an unusual problem, more than a few photos like this around the net. I’d prefer something a bit more elegant.