It ran for about an hour and producing electricity and then the engine sounded like it was carrying a large load and then the generator quit producing electricity, but the engine was still running.
Sounds like you did overload the capacity of the generator. What has happened is that the generator was happily running away producing the electricity required for approximately an hour and then an appliance such as an air conditioner, furnace, refrigerator, water heater, or similar large amperage draw fixture decided it was time to kick on for its cycle, or perhaps two or three of them kicked on at the same time, thereby raising the amperage requirement beyond the capability of the generator. All heavy duty appliances run at a given amperage but when they kick on for a cycle they draw almost 50 percent or more amps. Generators rated at 6000 amps or less will not power an entire home or business. When using this size of generator, disable some of your electrical items in the home by unplugging or switching off, and only connect the most important items needed for emergency use. A 3500 watt generator will only run a few lights and a television, plus only one appliance. This means that you could plug in the refrigerator and run it until it has gotten cold enough, then unplug it & connect the furnace or air conditioner or water heater so that they can do there job. Eventually you will be able to rotate through each appliance in turn, and hope the power will return soon. Your generator will likely have blown a capacitor, resistor or some similar repairable item. Some good quality generators will have an overload breaker installed, that trips before doing any damage and all that is needed is to find it and reset it, in order to continue using the generator.
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