Replacing the generator - suggestions?

[fatjay]

you can get this on sale for $499 shipped
DuroMax 1 Watt Hybrid Dual Fuel Portable Gas Propane Generator - RV Standby | eBay

I've had this bastard for nearly 5 years. It has nearly 2000 hours on it, powers my whole house. 50a plug backfeeds into a special breaker in my house. It's permenantly installed in a generator shed. Electric start has never failed. Last run was hurricane IDA which took out my power for 3 days and I ran it around the clock for 3 days.

Air conditioner, well pump, washing machine, dryer, furnace, refrigerator, deep freeze, computers, tv's, every light in the house, the only thing that makes it groan is the stove, but that is big power. It does it, but it's not happy about it. I paid $450 for it at the time and it's saved me through 3 hurricanes and a dozen snow storms. We lose power easy and often, and it lets my family live life as normal.

It has an 8 gallon tank, and that will get me about 8 hours. I top it off every 4 hours, with live refueling. I would never recommend live refueling.

My father liked it so much he got one for himself about 6 months back coming out of winter. Hurricane IDA was his first chance to use it, having lost power for 2 days. I hadn't finished installing the wiring yet. So i spent the hurricane finishing up the wiring.

 

[grsthegreat]

This post is over 2 years old

 

[dnw64]

This post is over 2 years old

In two years yours will be too.

 

[coobie]

In two years yours will be too.

 

[geteh]

Had a Generac 3300 for several years and it did great but ultimately developed an oil leak. Lucky for me, still had two weeks left on the Lowes extended warranty - they opted to just refund my money.

Needs:
240v connector - will back feed the panel via a welder plug.
Dual fuel - gasoline / propane
Minimum 3000 watts
Quality built

Wants:
7000+ watts
Electric start (so the wife can start it)

Concerns:
Mostly clean/steady power so as not to damage newer/modern appliances
Spending too much for rare power outages

Here in the Piedmont area of NC, our outages in the winter come from ice bringing down trees and in the summer, rare outages from hurricanes.

With our new house (mega insulated on slab), I can keep the house at 60F on a space heater.

The Champion Power 3000watt line has all but the 240v outlet. Cost is acceptable, and for support, you can reach out to Delta Faucet customer service. Their 7000/8000 watt series has the 240v output but is harder to justify the $1000 price tag.

One of my main concerns is quality. Since this would be for power backup, I don't want a surprising failure if I need to use it.

Thoughts / Suggestions?

Thanks,
JFoy

I recommend the Westinghouse WGen7500DF. It provides 7500 watts, dual fuel, a 240v outlet, and electric start. It’s a solid choice for quality and reliability, and the price is reasonable at around $700–800.

 

[grsthegreat]

In two years yours will be too.

It took 4 years, not 2

 

[MAX-24-Dean]

The price on Yamaha generators has gotten more competitive.
Yamaha EF6300iSDE Inverter Generator | National Supply

Maybe I will repost this in a couple years!

 

[bdhsfz6]

Had a Generac 3300 for several years and it did great but ultimately developed an oil leak. Lucky for me, still had two weeks left on the Lowes extended warranty - they opted to just refund my money.

Needs:
240v connector - will back feed the panel via a welder plug.
Dual fuel - gasoline / propane
Minimum 3000 watts
Quality built

Wants:
7000+ watts
Electric start (so the wife can start it)

Concerns:
Mostly clean/steady power so as not to damage newer/modern appliances
Spending too much for rare power outages

Here in the Piedmont area of NC, our outages in the winter come from ice bringing down trees and in the summer, rare outages from hurricanes.

With our new house (mega insulated on slab), I can keep the house at 60F on a space heater.

The Champion Power 3000watt line has all but the 240v outlet. Cost is acceptable Their 7000/8000 watt series has the 240v output but harder to justify the $1000 price tag.

One of my main concerns is quality. Since this would be for power backup, I don't want a surprising failure if I need to use it.

Thoughts / Suggestions?

Thanks,
JFoy

Keep in mind, a generator is only as good as it's fuel source. Do you have a ready supply of propane and/or gasoline on hand that's adequate for an extended outage?

Hurricanes and ice storms can do widespread grid damage, leaving residents in the dark for a week or more. Generators can burn a lot of propane in that period of time and gasoline goes stale after just a few months. Getting propane deliveries or find a gas station that's pumping during an outage can also be an issue.

In my case, I don't use propane and I got tired of rotating gas cans to avoid it going stale. I heat with fuel oil and have a 1000 gal tank, so it made sense for me to get a diesel generator.

Just something to think about.