Community Forums

willieg14 · 01-25-2016, 12:00 PM

Still looking for our first MH and I see the number of hours listed for the generators but I'm not sure what is normal for say a 8 to 10 year MH
Help please,
Willieg14

Mr_D · 01-25-2016, 12:07 PM

Well, there are some that have 25,000 hours on them and others that have less than 100.
Our '02 DSDP had about 350 hours on it after 13 years as does the Magna after only 6 years.
I'd want to see 250 to 300 on an 8 to 10 year old rig.

navychaps · 01-25-2016, 12:10 PM

I have a 2003 with an Onan 3500 Marquis and it had its failure at 987 hours. That is a lot of time! As I bought the rig used I don't know how well it was serviced by the prior owner, I am OCD on the service myself which could be quite helpful for a long life. I do run it monthly just to exercise the system....

DDDonkey · 01-25-2016, 02:13 PM

My 1990 Hawkins had like 900ish hours on it and my current national has 430ish hours and climbing. I boon dock a lot and am not scared to use it. I mainly use mine to keep the family cool while driving to camp and the 1-3 hours a day to charge the batteries during breakfast and dinner. It is there to be used, both of mine are/ were onans. Maintenance is the key and I too am OCD on it.

Mr_D · 01-25-2016, 02:16 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by navychaps

I have a 2003 with an Onan 3500 Marquis and it had its failure at 987 hours. That is a lot of time! As I bought the rig used I don't know how well it was serviced by the prior owner, I am OCD on the service myself which could be quite helpful for a long life. I do run it monthly just to exercise the system....

987 hrs. is not a lot of time when talking generators, now 25,000 is a lot of time.

WReeder · 01-25-2016, 02:22 PM

My 2003 had 350 hours when I got it and 2-1/2 years later it now has 1150 with no issues! They are made to run not rest. Should get several thousand out of them if you service them and used them. Used them or loose them, the choice is yours...

UFO Pilot · 01-25-2016, 02:29 PM

My Onan 5500 has 600 plus hours after 8 1/2 years of use. I service it every 200 hours.

lllkrob · 01-25-2016, 02:40 PM

I have a 2013 Phaeton with over 380 hours on the generator. As stated previously, the worst thing for a Onan generator is not being used, that's when the problems develop. A friend of mine in the heavy construction business has Onan generators in use every day with over 30,000 hours on them, with no major failures. Some Onan military generators have over 100,000 hours and still going

BillJinOR · 01-25-2016, 02:45 PM

Bought my 2003 Beaver marquis over a year ago with 950 hours of service on the geny .. now has 1050 and has no problems so far. Ive been told they should have 1000s of hours use and love to be used not sitting.

Ray,IN · 01-25-2016, 03:29 PM

It hinges entirely on attention to preventative maintenance, and following the mfgrs. recommendations.

navychaps · 01-27-2016, 09:58 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mr_D

987 hrs. is not a lot of time when talking generators, now 25,000 is a lot of time.

Depends on to whom one is speaking. I personally have not seen many gas generators with that many hours. The Onan tech that put the new engine in mine said it was a poor design and thus the failure. Also he stated most folks do not service and run their generators as often as one would expect. My father refused to run the generator on his rig so eventually he was just hauling around dead weight because it quit working. Now his had like 40 hours on it and it was installed in 1997. Lack of use is just as damaging as poor maintenance IMHO.

deandec · 01-27-2016, 10:15 AM

If the PO only ran the Generator for 2 hrs per month, which is a recommended storage exercise, after 10 years it would have 240 hours on the clock.

So more than 240 would be more reassuring than less than 240 hours, but provide no guarantee.