Harbor Freight Tools that don't suck

[PhysAssist]

Probably deleting one of your doubled posts would help in decreasing the thread bloat too

OK, so I'm torn between not junking up the thread with little details about ONE HF item (this little generator), and providing "closure" as admonished in other threads. Guess it's a little hard to junk up a thread that already has almost 4k posts! SO....

Did a little more investigation as part of emptying out all fuel in preparation for attempted return/exchange. It starts much easier if it is left with fuel in the carb. Still takes about 10-12 pulls with full choke. It runs great for minute or two, then dies and is almost impossible to start. Thinking maybe I wasn't getting fuel through the valve, I tried tipping the whole gen up with the valve at the lowest point for a few secs. Starts right up! When it starts to falter again after 1-2 min, tipping it up immediately makes it recover. So I pulled the tank off to drain, and it flows just fine out of the valve/hose. To me this is more evidence that something is wrong in the carb, maybe just too low of a float level.

The OEM plug is so crappy that the wire connector on the end of it was cross-threaded! Are we sure that the NGK BP5 ES3 is the right plug to replace the "Bonon F5TC"?

- Jay

 

[Travelover]

.............One good Cree bulb would melt this thing down, but probably costs three times the whole unit's cost.........

Did I mention this light is free? :laughing:

All kidding aside, I think that it truly does not suck - I have some that I actually paid money for and have been happy with them.

 

[paulharvey]

Did I mention this light is free? :laughing:

All kidding aside, I think that it truly does not suck - I have some that I actually paid money for and have been happy with them.

I much prefer having four or five cheesy working flashlights then one expensive flashlight I can't find when I need it

 

[JRobyn]

Probably deleting one of your doubled posts would help in decreasing the thread bloat too

Sorry about that!! It looks like an earlier post I made (3893, 3894) double-posted too. Maybe something to do with using Firefox? I can't find any function to edit or delete them now.

But there is final closure, at least on THIS gen, as HF yesterday cheerfully exchanged for another, provided that I paid for the one-year extended warranty, which I had originally intended to do anyway. So we'll see how this one does. I DID pick up an NGK BP5ES plug too.

- Jay

 

[PhysAssist]

Just bustin on ya!



Go to advanced editing and the delete option is the first thing that you see.

Sorry about that!! It looks like an earlier post I made (3893, 3894) double-posted too. Maybe something to do with using Firefox? I can't find any function to edit or delete them now.

But there is final closure, at least on THIS gen, as HF yesterday cheerfully exchanged for another, provided that I paid for the one-year extended warranty, which I had originally intended to do anyway. So we'll see how this one does. I DID pick up an NGK BP5ES plug too.

- Jay

 

[ETpilot]

I am building my shed and using the HF 8750W generator. I have to give a thumbs up on this generator. While it has electric start I am using the pull start. When cold 2 pulls and it is running. After that first start one pull gets it started. So far so good. Lots of use ahead.

 

[daugen]

ET, if you are only running one tool at a time, you might want to hook up a 1500 watt portable heater to it, to give it some exercise.
Once the shed is built, lights and whatever help, but carboning up under light load is what should be avoided. I lent my portable Honeywell with a Chonda engine on it and it wound up in the repair shop because they ran it all night long without any load on it except a few lights and a low amp pump. My elderly MIL needed a gen so that Honeywell was loaned to her, permanently. I replaced it with another Honeywell, an updated model with electric start, primarily because they had a servicing dealer fifteen miles awy. A nice small father son business.
That electric start is nice...what I really want to figure out is how to keep it from going immediately to 3600 rpm. It likely hurts me more than the gen but I hate revving a cold engine. Need to find the right place to hold the throttle back.

I always plug a multimeter into my gen when it's under full load, just to double check the output.
ET, can that gen run a 3 or 5hp air compressor?

 

[lostcreekranch]

ET, if you are only running one tool at a time, you might want to hook up a 1500 watt portable heater to it, to give it some exercise. Once the shed is built, lights and whatever help, but carboning up under light load is what should be avoided. I lent my portable Honeywell with a Chonda engine on it and it wound up in the repair shop because they ran it all night long without any load on it except a few lights and a low amp pump. My elderly MIL needed a gen so that Honeywell was loaned to her, permanently. I replaced it with another Honeywell, an updated model with electric start, primarily because they had a servicing dealer fifteen miles awy. A nice small father son business. That electric start is nice...what I really want to figure out is how to keep it from going immediately to 3600 rpm. It likely hurts me more than the gen but I hate revving a cold engine. Need to find the right place to hold the throttle back. I always plug a multimeter into my gen when it's under full load, just to double check the output. ET, can that gen run a 3 or 5hp air compressor?

1 HP = 746 watts.

 

[daugen]

1 HP = 746 watts.

Doesn't start up take a much bigger load?

Thanks for the info, somehow it's hard to believe that the energy for seven lightbulbs equates to the pull of one horse.

I'm interested in this because I have the same size generator and I was wondering if a good-quality 5 hp electric air compressor would operate properly with it.

 

[lostcreekranch]

Doesn't start up take a much bigger load? Thanks for the info, somehow it's hard to believe that the energy for seven lightbulbs equates to the pull of one horse. I'm interested in this because I have the same size generator and I was wondering if a good-quality 5 hp electric air compressor would operate properly with it.

Your 5 HP will be 230 volts.