You should already be investing in regular maintenance for your generator regardless of its size or the fuel it uses. You should be extra serious about doing this if your generator is installed at a property, commercial or industrial, in some of the warmer parts of Australia. The hottest months are usually December and January. Temperatures can get as high as 50°C. Queensland is home to some of the warmest cities in the country and the summer is known to last all year-round. Generator equipment is built to work in all temperatures including hot climates. Even if this is the case, it’ll need a helping hand because high temperature, humidity and dust in the summertime can cause problems. More frequent generator servicing in Brisbane is required because the summers can be scorching, which is also why it’s a popular tourist destination for enthusiastic sun-bathers. One of our qualified professionals is on call to make sure that your generator is maintained during the warm months and even during winters as a pre-emptive measure. Until we can get our hands on your generator, the following are a few tips on how you can make sure that it can handle the summer…

Keep it cool

One of the main aspects a generator technician should focus on when prepping your unit for warmer weather is its cooling systems. Your generator will already have some sort of cooling mechanism built-in, but it’ll work harder in the heat. When you call a professional in, they’ll prepare, or do a maintenance check of the cooling systems for them to work at their highest performance. Based on the type of generator you have and how its functioning, coolant will be added, or filters will be replaced. Qualified technicians will only use coolant products according to manufacturer specifications. Maintaining the required coolant level is the best way to avoid your generator going through a complete shutdown during the summer heat. High temperatures are known to deteriorate the operational functioning of cooling systems in a generator.

Choose an area that’s well ventilated

Australian summers are notorious amongst service providers in the country because they might affect the quality of the work they do in one way or another, positive and negative. At installation, your technician would have been aware of this and put your generator in an area that isn’t exposed to constant direct sunlight and that is well-ventilated. Reactive Generators isn’t just good at generator servicing in Brisbane and the surrounding areas, you can also call us to do a quick relocation of your generator to a more summer-friendly location on your property. Having the unit under the sun, in an area with poor airflow will inevitably cause overheating and complete malfunction.

Filters are fundamental

If you haven’t recently, you may need to have the filters replaced in your generator. A properly trained technician will check the quality of the fuel filter and replace it if it isn’t up to standard. This is already something that’ll happen at a regular service, but it is especially important for summer servicing in the Gold Coast because the humidity in summer can accelerate the build-up of condensation in the fuel system.  The water that forms can affect the performance of your generator and potentially cause failures. Air filters may require the same checks and change because they are susceptible to dust in the dryer parts of the country. Dusty conditions will saturate and block the filter’s air-intake with environmental debris and shorten their lifespan.

Battery-busting heat

High temperatures in the summer can affect the electrolytes in your batteries. The science is complicated, but the simple explanation is that heat causes the active elements in the battery to evaporate faster. The battery will experience chemical depletion and reach the end of its function sooner. A generator technician will usually check the electrolyte levels in your battery for other yearly visits but will have to check more frequently during the summer season. They may clean or secure the battery terminals and in extreme cases, replace the battery before it gets to low chemical levels. If you avoid battery checks in or before the summer, your generator is more likely to have start failures at times of power outage. They should be done frequently in the heat, but there are other reasons that affect how often you should service your generator and the battery in it.

Best to test

In the warmer months, and we know how warm it can be in Brisbane, you should stick to more regular testing for functionality. Maybe call in a technician to do a load test once a month or so, to keep your generator in good shape. Load testing is a simulation situation where you test your generator to see how it operates at different levels of capacity and it’s important to do it during the hottest months. You want to test your entire system and make sure that it will work if you need it to and don’t leave it up to chance. A generator technician will also perform routine  visual inspections to look for oil or fuel leaks, broken belt issues or any other faulty parts.

What to do if my generator overheats?

Overheating is usually caused by an inefficient cooling system and this requires the help of a local licensed electrician to fix for you. You need to get it checked out immediately because leaving it alone for too long could cause a fire.

Our last bonus tip is the easiest because all you need to do is call us and we’ll take care of everything mentioned above and so much more. Reactive generators is a company that was born and has been bred in Australia and has a 50-year track record of good service and innovative power solutions experience. Our number is (07) 3710 8212 and we’re available anytime to service clients in and across Queensland. For more information on our services, you can explore our range of expertise on our website!