Portable generator just caught fire

[anythingyoucanimagine]

It was free on Craigslist. Guy was getting rid of something totally unrelated and said "hey are you interested in a generator?"

Of course I said yes. Today I spent about 2 hours cleaning up the motor & carb (briggs 8hp gas). It fired right up (as expected).

There was a dead mouse in the power head. It's my own fault. I should have known, the guy had it outside under tarps and it looked like it had been there for years. I should have torn the whole thing down before I started the gas motor.

What am I up against? The power head was legit spewing flames out the back end (by the receptacles) when the dead mouse and nest caught fire. Is this something that can be cleaned and fixed? I don't know much about winding motors. Once there is fire in there have I ruined the windings? I don't mind breaking it down and cleaning it up. I basically just rebuilt the gas motor.

It's a Homelite/Textron EH4400 power head with 8hp Briggs gas motor. I know it's a cheap (inexpensive and quality) genset but I just went through the whole gas motor side. If I can fix the electric side I'll put in the effort/time but I'm also open to shoving another power head on the gas motor.

Thanks.

 

[Stuart in MN]

Depends on how long it burned. Take it apart and see how the windings look.

 

[SGKent]

How long did it burn?

 

[rockettgpw]

possibly it's ok. The amount of flame may be just from the dry nest fuel made dramatic by the genny cooling fan. With luck it was a "cold" quick fire and didn't get into the windings.
Open it up, check for blistering and flaking varnish.
Surprising how much heat motors/gennys can take. When a maintenance sparkie I watched a boilermaker cutting a thick chunk of steel with a 7" grinder until smoke and some flame was shooting out of the vents. He only stopped when it was too hot to hold. After it cooled down later it was still running but from memory it didn't last many weeks.

Or just return it to Costco, I read they are pretty good like that

 

[Hybridss]

Its toast. I am betting when you pull the back end off there will be tons of loose copper wires. The cost to have it rewound would likely exceed the cost of a decent replacement. Northern tool and various other places sell replacements. The other option is to find another gen with the motor blown for cheap and swap heads.

I have mixed and matched and repaired several gens lately including a few diesels. Every time I had flames shooting out of the gen head it was a disaster inside. Swapping gens heads is pretty easy. And since the motors for gens have tapered shafts there isnt much else you can do with them short of getting adapters machined.

 

[anythingyoucanimagine]

How long did it burn?

Way less than 30 seconds. I'm not exactly sure. You know how these things go... It started smoking like a *******, I saw flames, killed the motor, blew out the flames with my mouth/breath. But I did go grab the fire extinguisher. I didn't need it but the fan on the genset power head definitely fanned the flames enough that it was fire extinguisher worthy (would have been my first ever fire extinguisher story).

Could have been only 5-8 seconds, maybe 10-12 sec. It was quick. I have to take it apart more and see what's going on inside. The mouse and nest stunk like holy hell as they smoked/burned so I walked away once the fire was out.

Current pics attached.

A P-car guy at last week's car show gave me a card for what he said was a really good winding shop that's really close. I need a car alternator rewound but have never really dealt with motor rewind shops. It looks like this genset power head is pretty specific to this 8hp Briggs motor. I don't think I can swap it out with something generic without an adapter plate.

I know it's a small, older (junky) generator. Was hoping to get it running and give it to a friend. Don't really want to spend a ton of money on it.

Thanks.

 

[Lucid Moments]

I bet it will work. I would take it apart to clean it out then put it back together and fire it up and see what happens.

 

[The Cobbler]

doesn't look like ot got too hot. I bet if it worked before, it still works

 

[4 Ever-Fish N]

I'd toss it in the trash. If not, keep that fire extinguisher close by and ready to go.

 

[ixlr8]

The plastic ty-raps are hardly melted. Pull it apart, clean it up, I bet it works. Hopefully the fan is still okay.

 

[Cobra5150]

Check the impedance of the windings. If they're shorted it's fried.

 

[SGKent]

looking at the photo I think you are seeing mostly the carbon, although it can track. They make a spray wash for windings. I'd clean them, let it dry a day and try it. That said, there are some bone yards in the midwest you might find a good core.

 

[Farmall450]

I bet it's fine. My dad has a 4400 watt Homelite, good dependable unit.