Author: Josie

School is Back in Session!

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Mark your calendars!

The WINCO Team is excited to announce an in-person Service School June 16th & 17th!

This course will focus on our air-cooled product lines, providing a mix of classroom and hands on instruction. This will provide value for both new and seasoned technicians. On the 16th, enjoy a dinner out on us!

AGENDA

As always, Service School is available at no cost, you just pay for airfare and stay.

Email [email protected] to register!

We anticipate that as vaccination rates increase that restrictions will be loosened going forward. Appropriate masking and distancing protocols will be in place at the time of the class.  

See you soon!

– BIG DOG

Pricing a Part Just Got Easier!

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We know we already made a post about this, but this is such a great feature, we wanted to talk about it again!

Log In

It is easy for our dealers and service centers to look up part prices and see if we have them in inventory. Simply log into your account and select the icon for part stock and price check.

As you can see, the plug is $33.60 MSRP and we have 2 in stock at the moment I am writing this. Some of our parts will show lead times, a great feature if the part is out of stock or inventory is low!

FUN FACT! Brush part numbers from the 1960’s still work today!

If you don’t have a log in for our portal yet, check out this blog for more information.

There are such great tools on our website, we hope you have been able to take advantage of them!

See you soon!

– BIG DOG

Get to Know WINCO – Scott

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WINCO is a family-owned business with almost 80 employees. We thought it would be great to meet them!

Name: Scott Schanus
Department: Punch Press
Hobbies: Fishing, hunting, restoring Allis-Chalmers tractors

Q: How long have you worked at WINCO?
A: Coming up on 6 years.

Q: Tell me about your family.
A: I have 2 brothers, 2 nieces, 1 nephew, and 1 great-niece

Q: Ice out is at the end of March here in Minnesota, will you still be ice fishing?
A: I have to get my ice house off the lake this weekend, but we can still use a pop-up shelter.

Q: Tell us about your tractors.
A: I restore Allis-Chalmers tractors. I have a 1939B, a 1947C and a 1953CA.
I also collect toy Allis-Chalmers tractors.


Q: Do you still use them?
A: Yes, I put a modern plow on them and plow at tractor shows. I also drive them in local parades.

Fun Fact! Scott brought his 1953CA to WINCO for a photo shoot with a 27PTO!

Thank you Scott for taking time to talk to me!

If you are able to come to visit, make sure to say ‘Hi’ to Scott!

Stay tuned, next month we will meet up with another great employee!

See you soon!

– BIG DOG

A Manual Transfer Switch for GFCI and Bonded Neutral Generators

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WINCO portable generators are designed with a bonded neutral, the neutral and ground tied together inside the panel. This allows the generator to be safely used in portable configurations.

Whenever you connect a portable generator to a building’s electrical system the NEC code requires you to brake the neutral to ground bond on the generator. This creates a new risk if the portable generator is used as both a home back-up and mobile power source since changing the neutral to ground bond should be left to an experienced electrician.

To solve this problem Winco only offers manual transfer switches for our portable generators that are compatible with bonded neutral generators. An additional benefit of these switches is that they also work with our models that provide full panel GFCI protections.

WINCO offers the Reliance XR series manual transfer switches.

The Reliance XR series are three pole manual transfer switches. By switching the neutral these manual transfer switches meet the NEC code allowing direct connection of bonded neutral generators and are compatible with GFCI protected switches.

XRK0603DXRK0606D
Amps3060
Circuit Breaker SlotsSingle: 10
Tandem: 18		Single: 10
Tandem: 18
PanelIndoorIndoor

Check out our help topic on which type of transfer switch is right for you.

You can find all of the manual transfer switches we offer here.

I hope you found this helpful!

– BIG DOG

What does a carbon canister do?

Older models of generators would come with a vented fuel cap to allow the fuel tank vent to adjust to changes in temperature. The vented fuel cap would let air and evaporated fuel (hydrocabons) escape into the air. In an effort to reduce emissions the EPA required fuel tanks to no longer allow evaporated fuel to escape into the air. This article gives an explanation of the different parts of the fuel system that make this possible.

What happens in the tank?

To trap the hydrocarbons inside the tank we converted from plastic to steel fuel tanks. The plastic was permeable allowing hydrocarbons to escape though the tank wall. In addition, the vented cap was replaced with a non-vented sealed cap.

Plastic fuel tanks with vented fuel caps allow pressure and hydrocarbon to escape

Steel fuel tanks with non-vented fuel caps do not release pressure or hydrocarbon

What did we do to release the pressure?

If the tank is not vented, in hot weather it will bulge out and in cold weather collapse in. Eventually this would rupture the tank defeating the purpose of trying to prevent fuel from evaporating. The solution was to install a separate vent in the tank that leads to a carbon canister. This allows the tank to vent and the carbon canister catches the hydrocarbons and lets the air escape. If liquids get inside the carbon canister it will be ruined. To protect fuel from splashing out of the vent a slosh valve is provided that automatically closes if liquid splashes against it.

Where do the hydrocarbons go?

The carbon canister will store the hydrocarbon and only the filtered air will be released. Once the engine is started, it creates a vacuum and will pull the hydrocarbon through the engine, burning them through the normal combustion process.