which portable generators do people have

[HCJtractor]

i also have a Miller Bobcat 250 mounted on a small trailer. I have run my whole house on it for a few days after a storm, plus use it to power other tools occasionally. Even use it to run my Mig when I want to use wire feed. I also have a Honda 2000. I love it when portability is important and its super quiet.

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[JB13502]

I have a Champion dual fuel, 7000 watt continuous on gasoline. For the camper, we use 2 Honda EU2000 inverters running in parallel. Love the Hondas, can barely hear them, and for simple tasks I usually grab just one of the Hondas. Weighs less than 50 pounds and provides 2000 watts peak.

I've run the entire house with the Champion quite easily (just have to be smart with the load). Since you already have propane, I think a dual fuel unit is the smart choice. Just bear in mind that your output will be less running propane - the Champion loses around 700 watts on propane. 6300 watts is still plenty for running the basics.

Just my 2 cents....

 

[DK35vince]

5500 watt ( 8500 starting watts) Briggs and Stratton.
Nice unit.

 

[Rustyiron]

Kubota of course. :laughing:

I've used these for years (like 20+) on the const. sites.

 

[TnAndy]

I have a 10kw from Miller, a Bobcat 250. I use it for arc welding mostly, but also power my Mig in the field. In a pinch, it can run my whole house. A bit thirsty on gas, but I can handle that easier than another machine.

Same here.....mine is an older unit, 8,000watt on the electrical output side. I figured a 'two-fer'.....a welding unit along with a generator was a better way to go.

Plus I figured I'd use it enough being both that when I DID need a generator, it wouldn't have sat around for couple years and the carb be all varnished up to the point it wouldn't run.

 

[Larry Caldwell]

I have a Sportsman 7000LP that I bought from Home Depot for $599. I picked up a 100 lb. cylinder from Lowes for $79, had it flushed and filled, and plug in a couple space heaters for the quarterly maint. run. Docs say it will run 8 hours on a 20 lb. tank at half load. I keep the battery on a good quality tender. Key start is a snap, and there are no fuel storage problems. I have about 80 lbs. of other propane tanks around. It's very quiet and convenient, and big enough to run the well pump and water heater at the same time. The longest power outage we have had here was 5 days about 15 years ago, so I'm good for fuel. The propane will still be good 15 years from now. It is very quiet running. That's the up side.

The down side is that it uses brushes, so the power has a lot of high frequency noise, and the brushes will wear out. I ordered a spare set of brushes, in case I have to change them. At current usage rates I might be 90 years old and unable to remember where I stored them when they need replacing. Oh well. I wired a .02 MFD cap across each of the transfer switch lugs to ground, which should soak up a lot of the RF noise.

Regional data: Summer outages are unheard of. No tropical storms here, and if I need a fire pump I have a 5 hp Honda plumbed to a 2500 gallon cistern, which also provides low head domestic water in a power outage. We have wood heat, and the comfort level of the house doesn't change during winter outages. We just cook on the wood stove. If I was on the Gulf, a genset that would run the AC would be a must.

 

[LS Tractor Owner]

Shopping for a portable generator. Don't want to power whole house, just some basic necessities. I see where they make a dual fuel ( gas or propane ) generator. Since we have propane for heat there will always be a supply at the house. I was thinking the size range at between 5000 to 8000 would be sufficient. We have 24 acres so i will be using it also to go out on the property for projects.

Thanks

Chuck H

I bought a Champion 3750/4100 Lp generator at tractor supply for $279. It sat for about 2 yrs until we just had a power failure for 38 hrs. I dug it out of the shop, hooked up the 20# bottle from the grill and it fired on the second pull. I never got around to setting up a connection into the house, so I pulled about 250 ft of extension cords to the freezer, refer, some lights, and a fish tank. I could not believe how long it ran on one tank-- 17 hours running the aforementioned. Still had plenty of juice to supply, it was barely running above it's high idle. I have had 4-5k generators before and this champion was probably half the noise level. I would probably go with a dual fuel model.

 

[Passattdi]

I have a winch 10k pto. Tractor always is running, have 1100 gal of fuel in basement and don't have propane. Gas, well that is so problematic with the ethanol crap, I would never go that direction.

 

[mopardude318]

I have this Honda eu3000is, and it has been an excellent generator.

Honda EU3iS Model Info | Super Quiet 3 Watt Inverter Generator | Honda Generators

 

[Travelover]

My "portable" genset is a Honda inverter, we LOVE the thing!

SR

These are nice generators, but for a home, it is really nice to have 220 volts, especially with a well pump.