Please post your generator choice and experiences

[newbury]

I would be OK with a Subaru engine based on what I have read about them.

This subject goes circular for me.

The big portables run 400-600 pounds per spec sheets. How portable is a portable that requires the use of a fork lift to get it off the freight truck?

When I start looking at price difference an auto start/run home generators can be had for little more money and do not require inside storage.

The circle seems to never end.

My portable is 7KW and about 300 lbs w/ fuel. It has these devices called "WHEELS". Wheels enable me to drag it up a ramp to the back of my truck or van. Then drive it where needed, to a relative or friend. It's stored in a small "lean to" the size of a large dog house which is on my shed and took about a sheet and a half of plywood to build.

Also it avoids many local regs required for a fixed generator.

I did look at a Winco Tri-fuel, it was more than what I wanted to spend.

In reference to Subaru.....One generator I'm considering was a Powermate w/ a subaru engine and I found a little dealer near me that sells Subaru brand generators, but they are quite a few hundred more ($700) then the powermate. Same wattage too.

I think I (and others) have posted elswhere here the link to places that sell trifuel DIY carb kits for about $250.

<snip>A generator is a thing like a $500 Smith & Wesson in your night stand, that you may never use in your life and you think of all the things you could have bought with the money, or a fire extinguisher that you might have for years that never gets used, but when you need it, how much is it worth. <snip>

And actually for MOST of us we never want to HAVE to use the S&W when it's on our nightstand, or the fire extinguisher in the kitchen, or the generator in the shed.

I bought my first > 6KW generator to prevent my wife burning the house down with candles. My wife had the habit of getting very nervous when the power went out, which it did probably once or twice a summer for a few hours. She would light candles for every room she wanted to go into. And then staying up late till the power came on or dawn came.
Given my druthers I'd just hunker down and go to sleep.

After I bought the generator (about late 2003) and showed her how we would use it she calmed down. We still got the power outages but she didn't get nervous. And thankfully we haven't had an extended outage where I've actually had to run the generator.

 

[John White]

John what is the HP on that Kubota three cylinder?

The fellow I bought off of said it was a 25 hp, which would allow me to install a larger gen head. But after checking, I find it is 15 to 18 hp. So I am stuck with what come on it.

 

[Gale Hawkins]

The fellow I bought off of said it was a 25 hp, which would allow me to install a larger gen head. But after checking, I find it is 15 to 18 hp. So I am stuck with what come on it.

That makes sense since builders never over power a generator but it sounds like a long life set up. It takes 2 true HP per 1000 watts of output.

 

[Fi-Q]

But on Craigs list I found one of these little enclosed trailer generators they use to run the lights when working on the highways at night. The guy wanted $1500 for it. He said he bought it for emergency power outage and it had been sitting in his back yard for 3 years and never used it. (started it every month) His wife said she wanted it out of the yard. I drove clear to Chicago yesterday and got him down to $1200. It has a little Kubota 3 cyl diesel, with a Leroy Somar 6000 watt (continous duty) I wish it had a larger gen. (he said I could buy a 10000 watt get head off e-bay for $400.) I dont know if it will run it or not. Needs a few things done to it, but that little engine sure sounds sweet.

If it s in good shape, it sounds like a pretty good deal for a trailer mount liquid cool diesel genny.

So far, i have 2 genny, an old 2000w B&S, and i bought a 4000 watt champion 1 year ago ( i should have wait a little more as they now have A 240 receptacle) . I am plannin on eventually built a 3000 watt genny wih a listeroid 6/1. Seeing this more of a hobby. And as the building of the house and the shop progress and want a interlock kit ( cheaper than a transfer switch) . And i would like a small scale solar system wih a decent battery bank and at least a 3000watt pure sine wave inverter to run the.bAsics ( fridge, freezer, few lights, tv, laptop) and i could top off the battery bank with the lister genny. Eventually a tractor with a pto genny for welding on the property.

I have a surface water well, I am planning on putting a 12v pump for basic water need. I have a wood stove and no need here for ac.

Taking all this 1 step at the time. Fisrt I need to finish the house before the wife wants to divorce. But at leats i have 2 genny that can do the job if an outtage happen ( power outtage a very very rare here)

 

[Gale Hawkins]

The fact is most any generator is better than NOTHING. :thumbsup:

I moved the f700 the other day when the contractors were running fiber optic cable (taking into each house) that was parked over some buried cable where they were boring and guess I left the key in a position that drained the battery because yesterday it was dead and far from 120 volts.

Since we had never used our new HF 800 watt generator except for the 5 hour break-in run at 50% load I told my son we would just use it instead of jumper cables for practice and to give it some run time. By the time we got a hole in the bed repaired with a new board it started.

The little HF generator would keep a frig or freezer from loosing the food stored in them. One should not expect much from a $100 generator. Our 7500 watt (100% duty cycle) will start our 240v pump in our 4" water well so we are OK.

Yes I would like to have a whole house automated diesel generator system but we cope OK in time to need.

 

[SPYDERLK]

The fact is most any generator is better than NOTHING. :thumbsup:

I moved the f700 the other day when the contractors were running fiber optic cable (taking into each house) that was parked over some buried cable where they were boring and guess I left the key in a position that drained the battery because yesterday it was dead and far from 120 volts.

Since we had never used our new HF 800 watt generator except for the 5 hour break-in run at 50% load I told my son we would just use it instead of jumper cables for practice and to give it some run time. By the time we got a hole in the bed repaired with a new board it started.

The little HF generator would keep a frig or freezer from loosing the food stored in them. One should not expect much from a $100 generator. Our 7500 watt (100% duty cycle) will start our 240v pump in our 4" water well so we are OK.

Yes I would like to have a whole house automated diesel generator system but we cope OK in time to need.

I just got one of those HF gens. Does yours run smooth at 0 to 400Watt load? Mine is a bit ruf until 500W- and voltage goes below 110 when you get to 500W. No carburetion adjustments are provided.
larry

 

[Gale Hawkins]

I just got one of those HF gens. Does yours run smooth at 0 to 400Watt load? Mine is a bit ruf until 500W- and voltage goes below 110 when you get to 500W. No carburetion adjustments are provided.
larry

Larry we tested ours with a Kill-A-Watt meter but did not log the specific results but I do not remember low voltage being an issue in our case at full load.

Have you ran it the full 5 hours with a max load of 50% per the manual?

While ours will lope at no loads and but with the 6 amp battery charger it is smoother. As it broke in the engine speed and voltage output became more stable. At first I was not happy at all with performance.

Our 25 year old 7500/8500 Coleman Powermate with 18 HP B&S engine had the same 5 hour break-in requirements. Most brushes come flat on the end so I guess until they wear down to make full contact they do not function at 100%.

The $30 fuel cost to break-in the $100 800 watt HF gen set upset me at first but after hearing it run for a couple hours yesterday and start so easy and work so well I am glad I did the correct break-in procedure. It is not a 2000 Honda but it is handy for equipment parked remotely.

We ran out of time yesterday but I want to test it with some power tools to see if any we have would be functional. Having work lights available anywhere could come in handy too.

 

[Gale Hawkins]

I just got one of those HF gens. Does yours run smooth at 0 to 400Watt load? Mine is a bit ruf until 500W- and voltage goes below 110 when you get to 500W. No carburetion adjustments are provided.
larry

Larry we tested ours with a Kill-A-Watt meter but did not log the specific results but I do not remember low voltage being an issue in our case at full load.

Have you ran it the full 5 hours with a max load of 50% per the manual?

While ours will lope at no loads and but with the 6 amp battery charger it is smoother. As it broke in the engine speed and voltage output became more stable. At first I was not happy at all with performance.

Our 25 year old 7500/8500 Coleman Powermate with 18 HP B&S engine had the same 5 hour break-in requirements. Most brushes come flat on the end so I guess until they wear down to make full contact they do not function at 100%.

The $30 fuel cost to break-in the $100 800 watt HF gen set upset me at first but after hearing it run for a couple hours yesterday and start so easy and work so well I am glad I did the correct break-in procedure. It is not a 2000 Honda but it is handy for equipment parked remotely.

We ran out of time yesterday but I want to test it with some power tools to see if any we have would be functional. Having work lights available anywhere could come in handy too.

 

[SPYDERLK]

Larry we tested ours with a Kill-A-Watt meter but did not log the specific results but I do not remember low voltage being an issue in our case at full load.

Have you ran it the full 5 hours with a max load of 50% per the manual?

While ours will lope at no loads and but with the 6 amp battery charger it is smoother. As it broke in the engine speed and voltage output became more stable. At first I was not happy at all with performance.

Our 25 year old 7500/8500 Coleman Powermate with 18 HP B&S engine had the same 5 hour break-in requirements. Most brushes come flat on the end so I guess until they wear down to make full contact they do not function at 100%.

The $30 fuel cost to break-in the $100 800 watt HF gen set upset me at first but after hearing it run for a couple hours yesterday and start so easy and work so well I am glad I did the correct break-in procedure. It is not a 2000 Honda but it is handy for equipment parked remotely.

We ran out of time yesterday but I want to test it with some power tools to see if any we have would be functional. Having work lights available anywhere could come in handy too.

My manual says 25Hrs at less than 75% load for breakin. I ran it for about 2Hrs powering 2 refrigerators [started sequentially] for a 500W total. It did not improve over time - it ran ruf and at about 108V. Adding 75W smoothed it, A quick load at 800W showed 98V output. Frequency held at 60Hz quite well tho. I dont like the ruf running because it induces a light knock from somewhere in the system. The wide range [100 to 500W] means itll be knocking nearly all the time. Ill check the plug gap and try a new batch of premix using the recommended 89+ octane before I decide to take it back.
larry

 

[Gale Hawkins]

Sorry. We did run it 25 hours/five tanks. I expected it to blow up but just got better. Did spend $20 to get two year instore swap out coverage.