which portable generators do people have

[ultrarunner]

I've come across some vintage Hoyt Gas Water Heaters... all copper tank... true craftsmanship and with the Hoyt factory in Oakland we had a lot of them...

I bought a lot of the $88 30 gallon generic Home Base Water Heaters after Hoyt was no more... guess their heaters were just too good?

18-20 years if the thermostat isn't set on max... like some tenants like to do.

Only have electric in Washington... everything else is propane or natural.

What steps are people taking to secure/protect their generators from theft?

 

[Sawyer Rob]

I'll go along with that.................

SO, you don't care how long the unit will last??

OR if you will be able to get parts for it years down the road??

Those are important considerations for me... Honda has proven to be excellent in those categories too, along with "quality" power out put.

SR

 

[300UGUY]

I've come across some vintage Hoyt Gas Water Heaters... all copper tank... true craftsmanship and with the Hoyt factory in Oakland we had a lot of them...

I bought a lot of the $88 30 gallon generic Home Base Water Heaters after Hoyt was no more... guess their heaters were just too good?

18-20 years if the thermostat isn't set on max... like some tenants like to do.

Only have electric in Washington... everything else is propane or natural.

What steps are people taking to secure/protect their generators from theft?

Not to create thread drift, but I installed a Marathon electric water heater a few years ago. A plastic tank, lifetime warranty.

 

[Larry Caldwell]

You have to replace the sacrificial anode every once in a while to keep the water heater tank from corroding. A typical interval is about every 5 years, though water quality and electrical ground make a big difference in how long an anode lasts. Replace it the first time after a couple years. If it still looks good, let it go 4 years next time. If it looks pretty ratty, stick with the 2 year interval. It's an easy service, just unscrew the old one with a large socket or end wrench and screw the new one in.

 

[Garandman]

Are you trying to say "Honda generators" aren't of known quality??

Seems being of known quality negates where it was made... but, like YOU posted, they are the "common benchmark" for all others...

I took your post to imply that Briggs & Stratton is not known quality when in fact they are major manufacturers of generators, both portable and standby. Honda doesnt seem to be in the standby market. B&S is over 100 years old and has great parts support. They even have a live hotline with Applications Engineers to provide product

You made one purchase decision years ago. We’ve purchased eight generators in the last three years. For this purchase, I decided to give B&S a shot. We have a Kohler whole house and three Hondas (as well as two mowers, a snow thrower and a car), so we have nothing against Honda but do not ascribe magical powers, either.

For the $4,000 instead of one fuel injected EU7000 I can have the Q6500 inverter and two EU2000’s. This gives me more options, like loaning out one to a relative that has nothing.

The show stopper for the EU7000 for us was the weight, not the cost. It weighs just under 300 lbs with fuel (261 dry). The Q6500 weighs 160 lbs with fuel (128 dry) so it is far more portable: I was able to load and unload it from my wagon by myself. We store it in the basement so the wheels and weight worked for us. Our second choice was going to be the Yamaha 6300, which comes with wheels and is 200lbs dry. Not sure if anyone else makes inverters with 240V output.

My brother just ran his Generac 7500e four days straight. First time it has run more than a few hours and he is very pleased with it.

Honda makes a good generator. So do lots of others. Yamaha is more popular with the RV set because their 2400 will run the AC. The Champion inverters seem to be holding up well and are bargain prices: $1,000 for a 3,400W inverter.

 

[goeduck]

The show stopper for the EU7000 for us was the weight, not the cost. It weighs just under 300 lbs with fuel (261 dry). The Q6500 weighs 160 lbs with fuel (128 dry) so it is far more portable:
.

In some things heavier is better and an indication of quality components, anyone know if this is true with inverter gensets?

 

[Oldpath05]

SO, you don't care how long the unit will last??

OR if you will be able to get parts for it years down the road??

Those are important considerations for me... Honda has proven to be excellent in those categories too, along with "quality" power out put.

SR

SO, you don't care how much a unit will cost??

OR you think Honda is the only generator that can supply parts like Gee, what parts, Oil Filter, spark plug, motor oil, boy those are hard parts to get...........

Cost is the important considerations for me, Briggs&Stratton has proven to be excellent in the categories of not needing constant repair parts, and they to have "Quality" output power in everything they power......think outside the Honda box for a change.

 

[Oldpath05]

In some things heavier is better and an indication of quality components, anyone know if this is true with inverter gensets?

Good ? In welding machines, Miller like others have cut the weight in half on the new inverter welding machine category over the last 10-15 years. Also I was told that kabota is one of the lightest tractors on the market in the same tractor category, maybe even lighter than the new high quality Chinese tractors, ouch.

 

[Sawyer Rob]

You made one purchase decision years ago.

How would you know that I made "one purchase decision" years ago?? lol

You have no idea how many Honda "purchases" I've made, or for that matter, how many B&S... purchases I've made...

There's NO shortages of "purchases" around here...

As for more Yamaha's than Honda's in the RV crowd: This summer we traveled to numerous out door "shows" where almost EVERYTHING was/is run with generators, also all of these shows have RV parks for folks to camp in for the show. (including us)

I saw literally hundreds of Honda generators, and I bet you there wasn't 5 Yamaha's total, used for all those shows/RV's... I see this year after year, hundreds of Hondas, mostly 2000's every place we go...

BTW, of all the small engines I've owned over the years, I've wore out more B&S motors than any other brand!

SR

 

[ultrarunner]

I've been lucky in that all my small gas engines continue to provide good service... still have that Tecumseh mini-bike going strong.

My cheap Sears mowers from the 70's and 80's had zero engine problems... the decks eventually rusted out.

The one issue I have is rather new... and that is carburetor from the Gas we have in California which got me to thinking the fuel injected Honda might be onto something fuel wise?

The other things are fuel economy, quality of power generated and quiet and cannot emphasize quiet enough...