I have the 16 ton/ 3.5 inch, ram electric, H/V from Ramsplitter, and for my purposes, homeowner, it is fine.
I have the older model, pulling 20 amps at 120 volts that I had to rewire to 220 so as not to blow breakers on start up. Mine has a 50 foot 12 gauge extension cord, and it always starts even below zero, literally at the flick of a switch.
It does not have a motor roar, but has a pump whine. It is the same pitch, but much less intense than the noise on the utube video. You can talk, listen to radio very easily. The loudest noise is hear the wood get torn apart. Note that I have a 1750 rpm motor/pump, so the 3600 rpm motor on four inch ram will probably be louder. The oil does not heat up. The ram cycle time, unloaded is fourteen seconds if that is important.
I was at demo day for a farm supply shop and they had a gas splitters in their parking lot. I could not believe the noise they made and could see the need for ear protection.
The motor mounted switch was too light, and I replaced it with a heavier 20 amp switch. Get the splitting trays, handy, even though they are on the small side. Get the four way wedge because for kindling, you can produce a handful per cycle.
The splitter has an eighteen inch ram, twenty inch opening, so it is designed for that length or less wood. It's work height is 24 inches, which causes me to bend over some, but just the right height for lifting a larger round on the beam.
You can work it from either side as the valve is on top. I replaced the tractor hitch with a "T" pull made from threaded pipe so that I can pull it around my wood area by walking backyards. For distance, I just roll it into the back of my 1/4 ton pickup. For the woods, I take my generator along,but that gives me lights so that I can work at night after work.
It gets borrowed all the time, we just plug it into a drier outlet.
Hope this helps, Dave
