Generator question

[Katch66]

I'm no expert by any means. What I wrote is exactly what is printed in the user manual and stamped on the side of the generator. Westinghouse makes similar Tri-fuel units and downgrades the wattage specs in a similar fashion. I don't see why the manufacturer would state this if it wasn't true. With that said, these are portable units, not whole home generators.

The same is true with whole home generators as well. You lose some wattage with propane rather than gas and a little more with natural gas rather than propane.

[elhefe]

I have a champion 11500. Broke it in around d the first of the year by running it on a light load, changing the oils etc..

This week was my first to really use it. Put about 50 hours on it. It ran great. Mine is dual fuel. It ran on the propane but running watts are a little lower and it is not efficient on at all. On regular gas it sips fuel with a light load. In a full tank it would run my ac and plugs all night on a tank of gas. Pleased with it

[hogslayer78]

Can’t speak on newer Champion generators with sensors but, ive got two older ones and they have been great. Just my two cents.

This! I have 2 champions. One is 8 yrs old and never a problem. I use it religiously at the lease for days at a time.

[Quackerbox]

I wasn't considering champion but maybe I will. The sportsman I bought several years ago did well this past week but I'm gonna upgrade

[hogslayer78]

I am curious to hear those that have been running their gen for multiple days straight, other than fueling and their experiences. Especially in Texas summer time heat.

I just ran mine from Monday morning till Thursday night at 830 without ever shutting it off. I run it at the lease this way several days at a time during the year. It's 8 yrs old and still going strong. I bought a brand new champion a few weeks back for a back up because this one is 8 yrs old and I know eventually it's gonna give up but for now it's still going. It's 4000/3500 and I had 2 freezers and fridge and 3 fans and it used 5 gal per day total. One 5 gal can every 24hrs.

[retrieverman]

I bought a Northstar/Honda 8000 watt from Northern Tool in about 2002 when my boys were showing cattle, and it got us through 10 days without power in May and 48 hours this week with Beryl.

[60 Deluxe]

If you are talking about the little ones, say 5500 to 8000 watt, try to buy the best that you can afford. Many of the small ones don't have regulation of the voltage and hertz. I have a 7.5HP Yardman, or Toro, or some lawnmower brand generator that does fine for running lights, refrigerator, and freezer, but the well pump control doesn't like the dirty power and will not even attempt to start the pump. The engine is reliable, but the power is less than ideal. They do make smaller generators with power regulators, so if that is the market you will be shopping, at least get one that makes clean power. I only paid $400 for mine probably twenty five years ago. I wouldn't buy it again for house use. It's great for use around the place when I want to use corded power tools when I'm a half mile away from the house.

Knowing what I know now, I wouldn't consider anything smaller than 10,000 watts for my house. In fact, my back-up generator is a Miller Bobcat Welder/Generator that puts out 11,000 watts. I could make it work pretty well by selecting which circuits to leave on, but it will not pull the entire load that our house requires. If we ever get into a long term outage, my plan is to roll out the welder, disconnect the big generator and feed the power from the welder to the transfer switch. Some day I'll get the chance to do that and run some fuel consumption tests. Our big generator is a diesel Kohler that puts out 33,000 watts. My only fuel test on it was a three hour run starting with a full tank. We were cooking, had several lights on, using hot water, watching tv, had the heat pumps on and cycling on and off. The weather was mild. When I went to fill the fuel tank the next day, I overfilled the tank. It wouldn't even hold five gallons of fuel. I would like to test it under extreme weather conditions. I'm too cheap to turn off the electricity and run the generator though.

[44magnum]

We ran 2 honda eu2000i 's with the hutch mountain tri-fuel setup. Worked great for the windstorm in May and Beryl. I haven't tried running them on nat gas yet. That's my project tomorrow. Roughly 48 hours after the windstorm. 72hours on Beryl. The load was a 6000btu window unit, upright freezer, smaller chest freezer, and a sub zero fridge.

[Sackett]

Running a Honda EU3000is at my parents, and it has been nothing but a struggle during the hottest parts of the day. Constantly vapor locking and surging/stalling. Barely 100 hours on it, has had the oil changed 3 times now, and have a plan to do so for every 48hrs of run time. Did a Google search and there are loads of complaints on this very issue with this model.

Following this threads for recc’s as it will soon be replaced with something more reliable. Really like the idea of using natural gas.

I just brought my in-laws Honda eu3000is home to fix for them. Changed the oil, took the carb apart and cleaned it, changed spark plug and air filter. Opened the gas cap to put some fuel in and noticed a crap ton of rust flakes on the bottom of the tank. The fuel filter is inside the tank, which is a poor design on this model. Was going to replace the tank but my brother needed the gen, so I vacuumed the rust out with a shop vac, added clean fuel and she stated right up. Still need to replace the fuel tank. Having said that, the 3000is is considerably quieter than my 2000is, but drinks fuel much faster than the 2000is. Ran both generators on consecutive nights for the same load: Portable AC unit, refrigerator, box fan and a light. 2000is used .94 gallons of gas and went empty after 5.5 hours. 3000is used 3.4 gallons of gas and went empty after only 7 hours.

[tps7742]

I just brought my in-laws Honda eu3000is home to fix for them. Changed the oil, took the carb apart and cleaned it, changed spark plug and air filter. Opened the gas cap to put some fuel in and noticed a crap ton of rust flakes on the bottom of the tank. The fuel filter is inside the tank, which is a poor design on this model. Was going to replace the tank but my brother needed the gen, so I vacuumed the rust out with a shop vac, added clean fuel and she stated right up. Still need to replace the fuel tank. Having said that, the 3000is is considerably quieter than my 2000is, but drinks fuel much faster than the 2000is. Ran both generators on consecutive nights for the same load: Portable AC unit, refrigerator, box fan and a light. 2000is used .94 gallons of gas and went empty after 5.5 hours. 3000is used 3.4 gallons of gas and went empty after only 7 hours.

I have had two Honda 2000s since 2008 and zero trouble with them. I have a generac whole house now but keep these two as a back up if needed. My daughter has been using them this week in kingwood area until last night. I bought these two due to the gas mileage they get as you mentioned, doesn’t take much room to store, lightweight and can run the necessities to get by on. My BIL has a larger Honda for his house and has had zero issues.

[dbaio1]

I have a Briggs and Stattom 8500W I bought just befor Ike in 2008. Used it 14 straight days 24 hrs a day other than oil and plug changes after so many hours per manual. Have run Mobil1 in it since day 1. Its mostly sat in storage since other than a few times for some remote projects at the farm. ( maybe 10 hours across 3 uses). Just pulled her out after Beryl passed and she cranked right up after I slippped up and hadn't run her for about 5 years. So I am a fan

I will add she was always run with Stabil Marine in the gas and run bone dry before put in storage.

For Ike's use I kept two refrigerators, small chest freezer, small window ac, few light and fans going those 14 days.

[Easttxbowman]

I have a champion 3500inverter for my RV that is awesome and a predator 2k inverter that is a workhorse. Would buy either one again.

[mikebyrge]

We’ve had a small Firman dual/fuel for a few years and it has been good.

I’ve run it for five days straight this week and it is running right now.

Only complaint is the 1.8 gallon tank - I get about 5 hours with a fridge/freezer, 6000 btu AC and a few fans.

i get about 12 hours with a full propane tank with the same load.

I also have. 15+ year old Harbor Freight gas generator that still works. I start and run it monthly but rarely use it. It is heavy and loud but it works if I need it.

[TeamAmerica]

I have a 10 kw trifuel Powerland I bought on ebay several years ago for about $1k. It's done well as a near whole house setup. Will run my 3 ton AC. It has a pull start backup but kinda hard to pull start so I usually use a battery booster to start it. Only complaint - It is much louder than a small honda inverter though so would work better in an insulated shed. I've never run gasoline thru it and have a QD f9r the natural gas line.

[Big pig]

I am a huge portable Honda generator fan.
if I told you how old ours is, you wouldn’t believe it.

Long term investment ! Worth it.

but I will never be without a tiny inverter for, camping and lights

BP