Unnamed Administration sources reported that Leo Bicknell said:

I think "limited" here is a bit misleading. Most of these engines are continuous duity rated, which means within the bounds of maintenance items (oil changes, gasket changes, and other routine maintenance) they can run non-stop. Most gensets are essentially the same components that power diesel-electric locomotives that routinely run for weeks at a time without shutdown.

They may be continuous duty rated, but in this application? I.e. - the ones I have worked on (to limited extents; change filters, oil, repair FUBARs in the control systems design [1] had two rating: N kw continuous duty; {say} 1.4N intermittent. Intermittent may well be 24H or less; I bet the 1.4 is a f(run time/week) or such.

Here in ice storm country every few years power is out for 3-4 days in some areas after bad storms. Generators routinely run for 3-4 days and cause no concern over their condition, other than to move up routine maintenance due to the additional run time.

I suspect dust is going to be the largest problem for all generators in the area. It will reduce radiator effectiveness, wear on external parts (fans and the like), clog air and oil cleaners. Again, these devices are made for some fairly harsh environments so 48 hours is no concern, I would think expecting 2 weeks of reliable power if they are attended to even in these conditions is reasonable.

This is just as much a case of matching equipment to application as is buying a new backbone router. Do you buy based on a "100 year flood" peak; the "Mothers Day calling" peak or the "105% of >1hr" model. Justify your decision the the beancounter. 25 points. I do not know what all the Ma specs [Sean: is this p/o the FCC regs, NEBS, or ??] call for, but I'd guess 2-3 days tops. [1] Engines are big noisy devices. When you use high impedance input logic (from slow crude mechanical sensors such as oil pressure and water temp switches) that responds in a few microseconds, and have no filtering debounce on them; duh, you get lots of false alarms. Slow things down to a 500ms time constant, and they work far better. Filter the power supply {Hello! The generator just started -- yep, the line WILL spike...} well as well, and hey, it does work after all. I hope other folks did better design work than those guys. -- A host is a host from coast to coast.................wb8foz@nrk.com & no one will talk to a host that's close........[v].(301) 56-LINUX Unless the host (that isn't close).........................pob 1433 is busy, hung or dead....................................20915-1433