With the foundation work completed it is time to get the generator setting on its skids. I work with a great bunch of guys that volunteered to bring the generator out early on a Tuesday morning and help get it set on the foundation. Mark and Larry organized the delivery and asked Brad, one of our truck drivers, to join in. There was a lot of discussion on how to get this 500-pound package off the back of the truck with out hurting anyone or damaging the generator. Luckily our trucks have built in ramps so the guys came up with a plan that made the work much easier.

The first project of the morning was to position the truck and the ramp properly. With Brad at the wheel, Mark directing traffic, and Larry and I on the end of the ramp we moved the truck back so the ramp would rest on the retaining wall stones. This ramp angle seemed appropriate as we were dropping about 3-feet from the truck bed to the top of the stones, anything any steeper would have made it tough to control the generator as it rolled down the ramp.

Thanks to some advanced planning and Larry’s idea of using the pallet jack to move the generator we were able to roll the generator off the back of the truck onto the ramp. The shallow angle of the ramp was very important here as the pallet jack needs a bit of clearance at the connection of the ramp to the truck. Mark and Larry got the generator rolling while Brad and I controlled the rate of travel. We did need to make a couple of sideways adjustments, as Larry had no way of seeing where his wheels were on the downside of the pallet jack.

With the generator at the bottom of the ramp we removed the pallet jack and unbolted the generator from the pallet. There are two sets of holes in the generator base that were large enough for us to slip ¾” rigid conduit through to use as handle for the final movement off the pallet onto the foundation. With four of us on the generator the weight was not a big deal as we took just enough weight off the skids to slide it into place

With the generator set on its foundation I next needed to position it correctly, the most important factor being to get it positioned at least 12” away from the house. The picture above shows the temporary position and the picture below shows how the lid opens to allow access to the engine and generator.

With the lid open you can see the Kohler engine made for Generac on the right and the generator itself on the left. The two-cylinder engine runs on natural or LP gas. Ours will of course use LP gas, which is connected to the unit via a flexible hose. The picture below shows the wood skid foundation extension that allows the generator to extend to the front edge of the retaining wall. By holding it towards the front the oil drain line can extend over the side of the wall when the oil needs changing.

Once the extension was installed I trimmed it out with cedar material. The generator will be lag bolted to the skids to prevent it from walking off the foundation when running. Generac does not require it to be bolted down but we don’t want any problem with potential movement.