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Generators

The Generators module tracks runtime, fuel consumption, scheduled maintenance, and downtime for every backup generator in your facility. Critical when ECG outages run 4+ hours a day in some areas.

What residents see

Residents have a small Power Status widget on their dashboard:

  • Currently — Mains / Generator / Off
  • Today's runtime — how long the generator has run today
  • This month — total generator hours

Useful for residents who want to know "is the generator running right now?" before reporting a power-out, and for landlords whose tenancies include "generator hours included" caps.

What facility admins / staff do

Register a generator

Generators → New Generator (or via the Equipment module under category=Generator):

  • Name (e.g. "Main 100kVA - Generator Room")
  • Make + model
  • kVA rating
  • Fuel type (diesel, petrol, dual)
  • Tank capacity
  • Installation date
  • Service interval (typically every 250 operating hours for diesel)

Log runtime

Two ways to log runtime:

  1. Manual log — staff enter "started at 14:32, stopped at 19:47" when the generator runs. Simple, works without sensors.
  2. Sensor sync — if your facility has a generator-monitoring sensor (Simens, Komatsu, custom IoT), it pushes runtime data automatically. Talk to your CautaReside operator about supported integrations.

Log fuel

When you refuel: - Generators → Log Fuel - Pick the generator - Enter litres added + cost - Optional photo of the receipt

The system tracks consumption (litres per operating hour) and warns when a generator's efficiency drops — usually a sign the engine needs service or the fuel quality is poor.

Service schedule

Same pattern as Equipment: - Interval (hours-based for generators, e.g. every 250 hours) - Service type (oil change, full service, top overhaul) - Auto-warning when next service is due

Outage records

Each runtime entry is implicitly an outage record (the reason the generator was needed). The Outage Log view aggregates this: - Outages per month / quarter - Average outage duration - ECG-pattern analysis (which days of week, time of day)

Useful for: - Negotiating with ECG over poor service in your area - Budgeting fuel costs - Justifying capital expenditure on a bigger generator

Reports + dashboard

Generators → Reports has: - Fuel cost per month (line item on your facility's expense report) - Cost per generator-hour (fuel + amortized service) - Uptime (% of time the generator was available when needed) - Service compliance (services performed on time vs late)

A Dashboard tab sits alongside Reports with KPI tiles + charts — fuel-spend trend, uptime, kWh delivered, service-compliance percent. Same period selector + periodic-email pattern as other module dashboards.

Tips

  • Log fuel every refuel — your monthly fuel costs are the largest variable expense in most Ghanaian estates. Granular tracking helps spot theft and inefficiency.
  • Service on schedule — generators that run past service intervals fail catastrophically and replacements cost 100x the missed service.
  • Photograph receipts — fuel suppliers occasionally short-deliver. A receipt photo + the metered tank reading proves the discrepancy.
  • Connect to Broadcast — when scheduling a generator service that requires a power-down period, send a broadcast 48 hours ahead so residents can plan around it.

Process flows

End-to-end procedures the facilities team runs day-to-day. Steps are anchored to the actual UI labels.

Log a runtime session

When the generator starts (ECG outage or scheduled load-test).

  1. Generators → pick the unit → Start session.
  2. Pre-filled with current timestamp + the last-known fuel-tank reading. Adjust if the staff started the generator earlier than the log entry.
  3. (Optional) Tag the cause: ECG outage / Scheduled test / Maintenance run / Unknown.
  4. When the generator stops, open the same session → End session → record stop timestamp + fuel tank reading.
  5. The system computes runtime hours + fuel consumed + L/h burn rate
  6. cost (using the latest fuel-price entry). Variances against the unit's baseline are flagged.

Record a fuel delivery

  1. Generators → pick the unit → + Fuel delivery.
  2. Capture date + supplier + litres + price/L + total paid. Total paid is the source-of-truth (rounding aside) so a short-delivery is detectable.
  3. Photograph the delivery receipt + the post-delivery tank reading. Both required when total paid exceeds the configured threshold.
  4. Save — tank-level rolls forward + the price is used for cost calculations on subsequent runtime sessions until the next delivery.

Schedule + complete a service

Generator services are equipment events; flows mirror the Equipment module's service flow with one twist: requires-power-down marking.

  1. Generators → pick the unit → Schedule service (or pre-existing schedule fires when due).
  2. If the service requires a power-down (oil change, major inspection), tick Requires power-down at schedule time. The system suggests a 48-hour-ahead Broadcast announcement and offers to draft it for you.
  3. Day-of: artisan / staff member completes the work + uploads parts
  4. receipts.
  5. Mark complete — runtime-hours-since-last-service resets; the next service auto-schedules per the configured cadence.

Track an unplanned outage / failure event

When the generator fails to start during a needed run.

  1. Generators → pick the unit → + Failure event.
  2. Capture timestamp, observed symptom (no-start / shut-down-during- run / abnormal noise / fuel-supply-issue / unknown), and on-site notes.
  3. Decide: Schedule emergency service (links to a Maintenance ticket auto-tagged urgent) OR Defer + diagnose (logs the event but doesn't open a ticket).
  4. Save — failure events surface on the unit's reliability profile + feed the MTBF report under Generators → Reports.