Hi, I'm a new member and this is my first post. I am entering day three with no power from Hurricane Michael. I have an older Devilbiss GT5250 generator that was purchased primarily to run my well pump when the power is out. It has rarely been used, and really never ran right from the time it was new. I was finally able to get the engine to run pretty well earlier this year and figured I was all set. Now that I need it, it won't run the well pump. If I measure the output voltage on the 120v plugs I get about 120 on one and 112 on the other. I am able to run my refrigerator, freezer and a couple of lights and the voltage drops to about 110, However, on the 220v outlet I get the same readings on each leg - 120 and 112 with no load. If I plug the pump in and turn it on the voltage drops to zero and then slowly recovers to the original readings over 15 to 20 seconds. The engine also sounds like it is under load. When I try the pump it is the only thing plugged into the generator. Any help would be greatly appreciated. It looks like we have at least two more days without power, so getting some water into the house is becoming urgent. Thanks!

I have a Simplicity Landlord tractor with a Briggs Vanguard V-twin, 16 HP. The engine is a model 303777, type 1111-A1, code 96112011. After I've been using the tractor for a while (30 - 45 minutes) the engine will start to lose power and slow down over a period of 20 or 30 seconds. It will continue to run in this partial power mode for maybe a fraction of a minute or a few minutes and then suddenly spring back to full power. The number of times this sequence happens while I'm cutting the lawn continues to increase as time goes on. A few years ago I had a fuel delivery problem so I replaced the fuel pump and the rubber hose that runs from the fuel tank to the fuel pump. I've loosened the fuel cap on the gas tank and that makes no difference. There's plenty of gas in the tank. The fact that the engine abruptly goes back to full power/full speed makes me wonder if something may be wrong with the spark to one cylinder. Last time I checked the plugs they looked fine. So what should I be checking here? I do have a digital multimeter.