re: Recommend me a generator

Buy a Honda

Dont know if they still make them but I have one of those Briggs storm responders and a Snapper. Both have the same everything except the muffler. The Snappers muffler is amazing at quieting down the unit.

I have a 5 yr old Briggs mower that cranks first pull and has been run hard. I went down a rabbit hole a few months ago looking at generators. Was set on a 3500 watt Predator but decided against it. Haven’t bought one yet. One thing most of the reviews said about all theses generators is to run about 30 min then change oil first time. Keep fresh oil handy and any filters you may need if you are stuck for several days.

Honda EU series sized for your needs, nothing else is even remotely as good.

You need any of the run of the mill 6000 watt gas generators.

They all basically have two household GFCI receptacles and a twist lock 240v/30a. You can run extension cords into your house or use the 240 to power your house wiring.

This size generator allows you to have plenty of surge rating in case the fridge and freezer want to kick on at the same time along with the window unit running, and sufficient continuous power to keep it all going. Figure a couple lamps, a fan, a tv, a laptop and a couple phones charging and you've exceeded the output of a 2000 to 3000 watt smaller unit. Unless you want to unplug the fridge to run the freezer, and unplug the AC to run whatever else.

Here is a handy chart from the manual of my generator:



Add up the fridge, freezer, AC, and a few other things and you see youll want at least a 5000 watt.

I have a homelite 6000, bought in '05. It is a chinese honda knockoff. I leave it full of treated fuel to prevent the tank from rusting out, and cut it off by letting it run out of fuel, then drain the bowl on the carb. It cranks on the second pull every time I need it and hasnt missed a beat.

Its louder than a honda but while hondas are thousands, this unit was hundreds. If i was spending thousands id have at least dual fuel and it would be on a transfer switch and powerful enough to run everything in the house. Thousands on a portable plug in unit makes no sense to me.

My buddy has an old school harbor freight 7500 (pre predator line) that is 10 years old. Only thing its ever needed was a replacement carb and fuel tank cleaning because he wasnt taking care of it. He let the carb gunk up with ethanol fuel and the tank rusted out from moisture. Parts were not easy to find (ebay/amazon only sources) but i got it going again for him.

Its going to come down to what you trust. Harbor freight or briggs or honda. How much do you want to spend?

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Figure a couple lamps, a fan, a tv, a laptop and a couple phones charging and you've exceeded the output of a 2000 to 3000 watt smaller unit.

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Thats why I stayed away from those inverter hondas... that’s way too much money to not run everything I want.

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I leave it full of treated fuel to prevent the tank from rusting out, and cut it off by letting it run out of fuel, then drain the bowl on the carb.

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That was my next question... My new generator is full of fuel and looks like it won’t be used for Barry. It’s best to put seafoam and leave gas in it?

So you leave tank full, cut off fuel valve, let it run out, and store it away?

I would use blue stabil or lucas, instead of seafoam.

Let it run out of fuel then empty the bowl on the carb. This is vital, or the carb can clog up once the fuel evaporates and leaves that gunky varnish residue behind. Either unscrew the bowl or use the drain if it has one.



You should follow OEM's guidelines for oil changes. Most generators want straight non detergent 30 weight or SAE 30 oil. I keep a couple quarts on hand at all times. I'd sure hate to kill my engine and backup power from poor maintenance, because then you're SOL, and lose the fridge and freezer, and well, are screwed.

Correct

I wish I had an hour meter on my old UST chinese honda 5.5hp knock off gen set. It's only 2300w, I bought it with intentions only for tail gating use in 2008. Since then, it's logged hundreds of hours. I've ran it for weeks at a time. It's powered a small building. I rigged a cord and pig tailed into a transfer switch. I've ran ceiling fan, window unit, TV, and desktop computer at the same time for a week during Gustav. Powered 2 refrigerators during the day with it while TV was on. Only thing I've ever had to fix on it was the capacitor.

Long story short, these Chinese generators are pretty impressive for what they are.