Jeff The Drunk wrote:
On Thu, 29 Jul 2010 16:36:13 -0500, dpb wrote:

Pete C. wrote:
...

As for the service performed, a couple quarts of oil, a filter and a
spark plug are perhaps $20, so it makes sense to just change them
proactively vs. try to keep track of engine hours and schedule a return
visit when you think the unit may have accumulated enough operating
hours to be at the next service interval.
But what's he paying in labor for the privilege of what probably isn't
needed would be a reasonable question to ask?

Again, if this is medical backup as gather it might possibly be, cost
may not be much of an issue but we don't have any way to know that...I'm
just raising the question for OP to consider since he raised the issue.

I'd say that 20-25 bucks a year is a reasonable expense to insure the
thing will perform when needed regardless if it backs up medical gear or
not. I do the same on my Deere LT155 15 horse Kohler even though it runs
little more than 50 hours a year. Well with the exception of the spark
plug.

Gives me the peace of mind that when I turn the key it's going to run
like new as it does and did the day it went into service in 2000. That's
not unreasonable is it?

Not necessarily, no...but, that's not counting what purchased labor
might be and I'll repeat again we don't have enough info to know what
the deal is w/ OP's situation. If one is doing service oneself (which
OP said he can't), then it's a much less expensive proposition if cost
is a consideration (which we don't even know it is for certain).

An oil change and filter at greatly less than the recommended interval
is likely doing very little, if anything, to actually aid in the
reliability or longevity in reality, however, unless there is some
really unusual circumstance or conditions present. A plug after 50
hours is essentially new and the likelihood of an infant mortality
failure goes up in the replacement one that isn't _necessarily_ lowering
the overall failure rate at the next outage. It's a conundrum of
reliability that there's always a possibility of an induced fault as
well as the benefit...overall, preventative maintenance is a good idea,
granted, but at some point "enough is enough".

OP asked a question, I gave him a couple of thoughts to consider if
really looking at a change in his status quo. Unless the service he has
now is really exorbitant, as noted in original response he's probably
about as well of as to just keep it if the service appears adequate even
if does require a reminder call...

But, if he cares, I think the level of service is over that needed for
reasonable maintenance schedule but it's his call as to what he wants/is
comfortable with.

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