Voice: Old Lister generator better buy than Hyundai

This winter, however, has been an altogether different proposition with exceptionally hard frosts which has made milling really hard going on account of frozen air valves and frozen logs making the saws dull. My plan, therefore, has been to build up a good stock of wood in anticipation (hopefully) of the traditional spring rush whenever the weather allows. Then, if the weather is particularly harsh and hampers production, I will hopefully divide my time between a bit of tree work and some long-overdue maintenance issues.

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The latter in particular needs my attention as there are several areas I need to address.

For years, the eastern entrance to the mill has been open to the elements which, when subjected to a cold wind from Siberia, makes working conditions somewhat uncomfortable. I have finally splashed out on a nice new, shiny roller shutter door, offering better protection for those working inside (as well as improved security). Ever mindful of the poor-quality electrical components swimming around out there from the likes of China and Korea, I stipulated specifically to the suppliers that I wanted a heavy-duty three phase and paid a £1,000 excess for the privilege of a more robust electrical drive. Only two days after installation, the door stopped working! The company from which I purchased the door had at least three attempts to get it operational, as did a local electrician, but all to no avail. Soon the company from which I’d bought the door had blocked my number and, more seriously to some degree, I was on the verge of falling out with my local electrician.

The electrical operational mechanism has a fancy control panel which, in my humble opinion, contains a good deal of unnecessary components. The consensus of opinion from the company and the electrician was that the fault lay with the motor, whereas I seemed to be the only one who felt the problem lay with the electrics, particularly the control panel. Against the view of the electrician (you begin to see now how we nearly fell out), who wanted to retain the control panel, I chopped off all the wires and made him rewire the thing in the ‘old-fashioned’ way with a couple of basic contactors. We now have a working door! Better still, it rises and falls at twice the speed it did originally.

After months of frustrating phone calls and wasted time, a little old-fashioned spannering solved the problem. Job done!

Next on my hit list was a small generator I’d been unfortunate enough to purchase. I have two big industrial generators to run the mill, but I wanted a smaller generator to run the lights and the office when the mill isn’t working. I thought (wrongly as it seems) that by buying Hyundai I was buying Japanese, when in actual fact it’s Korean. I think we got six uses out of it before it was relegated to the skip. Buying a decent replacement seems a really difficult task. There are plenty of larger generators from companies like Caterpillar and Cummins, but smaller ones for more domestic purposes are mostly high-revving piles of junk and for whatever reason at this point I got it into my head that the tool for the job was an old, proven British Lister from a time when Britain was the workshop of the world. Even if I was able to purchase something that needed a major overhaul, then at least I would end up with a robust, quality piece of kit that should last me 20 years and not 20 days like current market products.

After putting out the word, it wasn’t long before I was offered an old twin-cylinder Lister which ran at 1,500 rpm. This wasn’t really what I was after. What I really wanted was an old 1930s single running at 600 rpm instead of the Hyundai which rattled and banged at 3,000 rpm. After a careful inspection of the twin-cylinder Lister (which incidentally started after one turn of the handle having been sat there for 30 years) I bought it and I’m pleased to say it’s working perfectly. On paper it’s the same power as the Hyundai and uses roughly the same amount of fuel, but when needed it can deliver twice as much power. It can also be used for off-site welding, which is a great benefit, but I can only conclude that as far as horsepower is concerned the horses in Korea must be very small!

So, thanks to the free ads in a magazine and a very kind and cooperative seller in Wales, I am now the proud owner of an old Lister generator. In fact, it’s the first one from that period which I’ve come across which isn’t frost damaged. They are usually welded up as a result and are never quite the same. Hopefully, in the near future, I will have an old put-put-put reliable generator running at 600 rpm instead of a tinny, rattly, smoky piece of junk screaming at 3,000 rpm! However, this will have to wait as my spannering is needed elsewhere.

The handbrake cylinder on the wagon has developed a small leak. Any pneumatic cylinder has only a limited lifespan, because unlike a hydraulic cylinder which oils itself, a pneumatic cylinder gets rusty with condensation causing the seals to wear down. A small leak on a handbrake is no big issue, because the cylinder actually keeps the brake released and a spring keeps the handbrake engaged. This is why you often see big wagon tyre marks on roundabouts when an air line has come off. Leaky cylinders are a favourite fault-finder for VOSA officials on roadside checks as it’s a common fault on wagons and an easy stick to beat you with. Get caught with a leak and they’ll usually order you to do a full test. They once did this to me the day after I’d had the wagon tested. This is particularly frustrating as a test can take anything up to six weeks due to the shortage of qualified mechanics. Maybe instead of employing an army of officials to try to catch people out they should train an army of mechanics to keep things moving. I think in this area some kind of balance is required.

Keen to address the problem and not wishing to fall prey to officials, I tried to get the wagon fixed ASAP. My usual go-to mechanics were all too busy and so I instructed the main dealer to install a new cylinder. A short time later, they phoned back to say the problem was in fact elsewhere and that it would cost £800 to fix and so, keen to get back on the road with a legitimate vehicle, I agreed to the cost. They then contacted me again and quoted a further £2,500 for what to me seemed like a series of small jobs; anti roll bar rubbers, door latches, bulbs and a repair to the windscreen washers. I was astounded at the extortionate cost and declined their offer. It took me just under two hours at a cost of £18.80 to do the jobs myself. By my estimation that’s a labour charge of roughly £1,240.60 per hour. Worse still, the wagon still has the air leak, which it now looks as though I will also have to fix. The £970 I did end up parting with may as well have been thrown into the fire! Is this the way British companies are to survive, by basically overcharging for shoddy work? I hope not. 

On the subject of servicing, I recently instructed a dealer not to return, having just charged me £1,300 for a service on a new machine and in a similar fashion a neighbour was telling me he’d just been stung for £2,500 for the same thing. At the end of the day, it’s a few litres of oil and some paper filters. Not only do I find these kinds of charges obscene but it also brings into question the build quality and reliability of these imported products. Maybe people can begin to understand why I hanker after older, reliable machines, even if it means getting out the spanners and giving them an overhaul.

However, on a happier note, I have purchased and am installing a big old Wadkin four-head planer. When I was looking for tooling, the company was incredibly helpful and supportive, irrespective of the age of the machine. It’s nice to report there are still some good, old-fashioned companies out there!