Is this true? (Onan generator start up procedure)

[Xatlatc]

The technician that services my Chinook told me the proper way ( the way he was trained ) to start up the Onan is open the hatch, remove the front cover, push the start button then move the circuit breaker switch from off to on. He says it prevents a possible power surge to the coach. Huh? Now he also said the vast majority of us leaves the circuit breaker in the on position and uses the inside coach buttons to start and stop the generator. We got into this conversation because he replaced the starter solenoid and didn't move the switch to the on position and when I returned home, the generator started right up but no coach power. Boy was I ticked! So back to the shop I went and that's when he showed me his 'start up procedure'. If the circuit breaker switch is in the off position and the unit is running, is it supplying power to something? Why would the Onan have an on and off switch for the circuit breaker in the first place? What say you?

[Blue~Go]

Usually the reason a circuit breaker has an "on" and an "off" is so that you can see it is off and reset it if it trips. Or sometimes they are used as switches.

I'm no Onan expert but I don't think the generator would cause a power surge in the coach. Reason I say that is because typically there is a "pause" after you start the generator before you can actually "use" anything that you have plugged in. I think that's because the generator has a built in feature that makes sure it is "up to speed" before it will supply power. So on the contrary, if you start the generator and then instantly power up, say, your heat gun that you have plugged in to a coach outlet.... it won't work for a few seconds. Not even if you wanted it to.

If you run the generator but don't have the coach electricals connected to it, then it's just a gasoline engine running. No more no less.

With shorepower on boats you do always connect in a certain way. Shorepower breaker on pedestal and shorepower breaker on main AC panel off. Then connect. Then power up shorepower breaker on pedestal, then power up shorepower breaker on boat. But shorepower is there putting out full voltage instantly, plus it's not "your" source, plus you don't want a powered up plug arcing, plus you might be standing over water. These don't really apply to your onboard generator, to my mind.

If you DID want to be conservative, then you could shut off the generator breaker on your main AC panel in the coach (in brown box). Start generator then power on that breaker. But I don't really see any reason to do that due to the way the Onan works. Since Onan provided an interior switch, it seems they don't either.