The circulators have efficient ECM motors and consume a max of 60 watts each. My theory is that it's probably a heavy duty ignitor.
What is the best portable generator
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Bioburner
Moderator
Fill it up with non booze fuel and a bit of stabil and hope you never need it except to make for more comfortable camping.
yrock87
Member
Bioburner
Moderator
My stove uses 300 watts when igniting, and around 100 watts when running. The blower is what uses the most electricity when it's running, the
Okay, I must be doing something wrong! I've only changed the synthetic oil and filter on my standby propane GE wholehouse generator, annually. Changed the plugs and air filter once too. Anyhow, I've had the unit several years now with no issues whatsoever. Maintenance has been totally minimal.
Wilbur Feral
Minister of Fire
Ethanol-free fuel is hard to find in our area, so I've stopped worrying about it. I just fill up in November-December before a big storm, put regular (red) Stabil in immediately, and have yet to have a problem from gas stored at least 8-9 months. I keep about 38 gallons in storage plus 9 in the gen, as we can lose power for a week here (usually the last folks restored due to location on a small branch of the grid). So if we regain power right after I have replenished that supply, I can have a lot of gas on hand for months.
We had our last outage in Feb as I recall, so the gas in the gen has been in there since then, and it still starts up on first crank with the monthly test. I also use leftover gas in various small engines from chainsaw to weed whacker to blower to riding mower, with zero problems all summer and into fall if we have few summer outages. I finally got rid of the last of this winter's gas this week, in our cars - with zero issues. Stabil is great stuff!
TonyVideo
Feeling the Heat
Love my Honda eu2009i. Harman approved battery backup that bursts the exhaust lasts plenty for me to crank up the Honda. I put an extended 6 gallon marine tank on it and I get 30-40 hours on the combined 7 gallons. Never a problem. Reliable Honda & Harman (I have 2). Also run lights, TV and fridge. I usually keep an additional 10 gallons on hand. Bring on the blizzard.
Often the local airport will have ethanol free gas thats about the only place you can find it around me usually higher octane. Its a big stink about nothing in my opinion. Ive never had a problem with ethanol gas and have left it in some yard tools and my boat for years and they still ran. I usually run the carb dry though which I think makes a big difference.
http://pure-gas.org/
I think i can add quite a bit to this conversation. I went through this when we had that October snowstorm and lost power for 7 days. I had no generator at the time, but did need power for my insert. i had a small inverter (200w) i could run off my car. it kept us warm, but couldnt run a fridge and we lost our food. I hated running the car at idle for a long time. In the cold moisture seemed to build up in the exhaust and idling the car for a long time is just overall not a good idea. In an emergency great, but not recommended.
I wanted a cheap solution to run the fridge and stove. After seeing my coworkers burn through $70 worth of gas a day on large generators, i just wanted something fuel efficient for those extended emergencies. Dont get me wrong, a large generator would be nice, but its just me my wife and the dog and we can get my without all of the luxuries a whole house gen would bring.
Anyhow to get to the OP's question. I bought a Honda EU2000, awesome generator. Dont skimp here, you can get them for a few hundred bucks more than the competition and its worth it. One thought about those cheap harbor freights, they are just that. That was my first solution after the power outage. I figured for $100 bucks why not. After about 7 hours of use, it wouldn't produce electricity anymore. Engine ran, but no juice. Called it a loss, moved on and bought a honda.
I wanted a cheap solution to run the fridge and stove. After seeing my coworkers burn through $70 worth of gas a day on large generators, i just wanted something fuel efficient for those extended emergencies. Dont get me wrong, a large generator would be nice, but its just me my wife and the dog and we can get my without all of the luxuries a whole house gen would bring.
Anyhow to get to the OP's question. I bought a Honda EU2000, awesome generator. Dont skimp here, you can get them for a few hundred bucks more than the competition and its worth it. One thought about those cheap harbor freights, they are just that. That was my first solution after the power outage. I figured for $100 bucks why not. After about 7 hours of use, it wouldn't produce electricity anymore. Engine ran, but no juice. Called it a loss, moved on and bought a honda.
Only issue with ethanol fuel is it can be harsh on fuel lines or any other non metal part it makes contact with for a long duration. It can cause lines and seals etc to become brittle and crack or otherwise accelerate deterioration . Not a huge concern unless its sitting there for months on end. Best practice is to use an ethanol fuel treatment product and to run your carb dry. You should have no issues if you do that.
This is the thought process that led me to buying my Yamaha! Very happy with it and it meets my needs just fine.
Cant say anything bad about yamaha, i researched them as well and seemed to have just as many happy customers. I teetered on both, but Honda was more readily available to me and found one at a great price.
Well it depends on a lot of questions whether you have the adequate spacing to place the generator or whether you will be comfortable in maintaining the generator. We had bought a Generlink portable generator( http://www.theshockdoctors.ca/electrician-services/standby-generators/portable-generators/ )for our house at Orillia last year because we had faced acute shortage electricity for a period of 5 days and it was not a pleasant experience. It allows almost anything to run on it without any connection issue and also came with a 7 year warranty. We haven’t face any issues as such till date so if you ask me, I would recommend it.
Got a New Holland 6500 watt. For the money, $930.00 it was the best deal in town. Powers everything I need to run in the house.
This is an older thread but I did notice an earlier question on Hyundai inverter generator. I bought 2, a 1000W and a 2000W. I sold both within a year and would not buy them again. One had to be returned to the store for a carb rebuild and the other should have gone with it. I used only hi test gas. The power output was fine but not reliable to start when you needed it.
I bought a Honda 2000i and very happy. I wish I could have bought the 1KW but it will not power a 120v skillsaw or equivalent under a heavy load.
I bought a Honda 2000i and very happy. I wish I could have bought the 1KW but it will not power a 120v skillsaw or equivalent under a heavy load.
Arti
Feeling the Heat
It's not a one size fits all world for sure.
I have a 6500 watt generator and have used it for years. Works great however it consumes fuel at rate that would put a Mack truck to shame.
Was at a garage sale one day and they had a 1500 watts Champion sitting there for 50 bucks guaranteed not to run so I bought it.
Took it home dumped the Water out of the Gas Tank put fresh gas in it and fired it up.
Hooked it to a Pellet stove and it works fine.
Wouldn't want to run the big generator over nite So Much noise any neighbor within 5 miles won't get any sleep and would need a gas tanker attached to the gas tank to make it thru the nite.
Little Generator will run a couple of lights and any heat source in the house on a couple gallons of fuel and is quiet enough that you don't notice it's running. Which is a good thing.
I put an outlet in the hallway that just goes to a cord outside sort of like a permanent extension cord so if the power goes out we plug in the generator outside and have one outlet with power inside we just run an extension cord to the pellet stove and plug in a lamp this takes care of heat and lights. Doesn't need any special wiring because it's not attached to the fuse box.
Here's the problem with the little generator We are in the country with a 220 volt well system without a decent sized 220 v generator we don't have water!
The big generator is hooked to the main panel we get up in the morning and dump in a half gallon of fuel and that will run the refrigerator and pump the pressure tank full of water, sort of an automatic thing when it runs out of gas it shuts itself off! at nite another half gallon of fuel and we are set for the nite. The longest we have been without power is 8 days, Most of the time it is a few hours once in a while it will be a day or a day and a half at the most.
Anyone living in town wouldn't have to deal with the water situation and we could easily get by for a long time without water, Snow in the bathroom ceramic keeps things fresh
Put perishable food in cardboard boxes and set them in snow or in garage etc. takes a bit of work but will save it. so the little gen would be all we need but running water and not having to move food out of the refig is nice.
Almost forgot the point of all this rambling , Evaluate what your needs are before U buy a generator If all u want is heat and lights buy small, if you have a need to run more then buy bigger. just be safe.
I have a 6500 watt generator and have used it for years. Works great however it consumes fuel at rate that would put a Mack truck to shame.
Was at a garage sale one day and they had a 1500 watts Champion sitting there for 50 bucks guaranteed not to run so I bought it.
Took it home dumped the Water out of the Gas Tank put fresh gas in it and fired it up.
Hooked it to a Pellet stove and it works fine.
Wouldn't want to run the big generator over nite So Much noise any neighbor within 5 miles won't get any sleep and would need a gas tanker attached to the gas tank to make it thru the nite.
Little Generator will run a couple of lights and any heat source in the house on a couple gallons of fuel and is quiet enough that you don't notice it's running. Which is a good thing.
I put an outlet in the hallway that just goes to a cord outside sort of like a permanent extension cord so if the power goes out we plug in the generator outside and have one outlet with power inside we just run an extension cord to the pellet stove and plug in a lamp this takes care of heat and lights. Doesn't need any special wiring because it's not attached to the fuse box.
Here's the problem with the little generator We are in the country with a 220 volt well system without a decent sized 220 v generator we don't have water!
The big generator is hooked to the main panel we get up in the morning and dump in a half gallon of fuel and that will run the refrigerator and pump the pressure tank full of water, sort of an automatic thing when it runs out of gas it shuts itself off! at nite another half gallon of fuel and we are set for the nite. The longest we have been without power is 8 days, Most of the time it is a few hours once in a while it will be a day or a day and a half at the most.
Anyone living in town wouldn't have to deal with the water situation and we could easily get by for a long time without water, Snow in the bathroom ceramic keeps things fresh
Put perishable food in cardboard boxes and set them in snow or in garage etc. takes a bit of work but will save it. so the little gen would be all we need but running water and not having to move food out of the refig is nice.
Almost forgot the point of all this rambling , Evaluate what your needs are before U buy a generator If all u want is heat and lights buy small, if you have a need to run more then buy bigger. just be safe.
maple1
Minister of Fire
Said this many times before - but in an extended outage here (next to the middle of nowhere), the priority is not enough juice to run everything, but rather how long can I go on a gallon of gas when I need the juice. I've seen some friends & neighbours go from all happy as heck to a wreck of nerves & frustration from start to end of a long power outage with their big gennies.
I sold a very nice working 5500/8500 Craftsman genny the fall before last, and replaced it with a 3000w Lifan inverter model. Haven't had to use it much since, but it works like a top, gives us enough juice to run everything we need, uses very little fuel - and was very reasonably priced. Home Depot sells them.
As far as 'best' goes though - I would have to say Honda or Yamaha. I would have likely gone with a Honda if we were a regular genny user. And if we were really dependant on one for many long outages, I would likely have gone diesel connected to a big fuel tank.
I sold a very nice working 5500/8500 Craftsman genny the fall before last, and replaced it with a 3000w Lifan inverter model. Haven't had to use it much since, but it works like a top, gives us enough juice to run everything we need, uses very little fuel - and was very reasonably priced. Home Depot sells them.
As far as 'best' goes though - I would have to say Honda or Yamaha. I would have likely gone with a Honda if we were a regular genny user. And if we were really dependant on one for many long outages, I would likely have gone diesel connected to a big fuel tank.
tiger
Feeling the Heat
...playing with fire; have had a "portable" (193LB is portable?) Generac for a year, still in box.
Doesn't everyone?
Doesn't everyone?
all I have is an older generac 5000w saw it for sale on cl about 5 years ago advertised at 75 bucks with seized up motor. got there took a look at it gave it a half hearted pull liked what I felt offered him 50 bucks. took it home untangled the rope in the recoil cleaned carb fired right up. haven't lost power for more than an hour or so since. go out about once a year start it let it run for a while. I just drained off the gas for the second time and replaced with new. this time I put stabil in it but if it goes 2 or 3 years without being used ill still drain it off and put fresh in.
michpelletburner
New Member
I have a 9k generac that i purchased a few years ago, i have it wired into my panel with a plug outside. Works great powers everything including the stove without a hitch( everything electronic is on monster power surge stripes just incase). I did add a battery tender to it to keep the battery charged, and i keep it full and use marine stabil that helps with the ethanol, but it usually gets used every couple months so the gas is fresh.
I have a Honda eu2000 that I have owned for 10 years. I use it for powering electric chain saws as well as power when we are camping. It has been used for charging batteries on my boat as well as running a corn stove. I use 10-30 Mobile one oil in it as well as adding Sea-Foam to the ethynol gas. I try to run it at least every other month if possible. I guess I am sold on Honda products as I have 4 small engines and have had no problem with any of them.
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