OT: if that oth crap gets posted---What do i need to know to pick out a generator?

[ryan roopnarine]

as it seems that anyone can post OT OT to the main board...

im leaning (pricewise) towards one of the inexpensive ones (around chinese priced ones), under $500. please DON'T tell me to go get a honda. my other wedding present idea didn't work out. the only thing this generator will be used for is for hurricane power (maybe 2-10 days running if the power gets knocked out every 3 years or so) and if the owner maybe wants to take it camping or fishing once every two years or so. nothing that will be used the second a lightning storm knocks the power out for an hour or two. i'm looking at one from harbor freight with a kubota engine in it for about $400 after coupon. i'd love to go buy a pepboys special (>$280), but i don't want to buy anyone a piece of garbage for a wedding present. am looking at what motor each has (as i know i can't buy a Honda brand generator, i'll try to buy a chinese generator with a honda motor in it, and so forth). my criterion are: brand of motor, loudness, and runtime, as these are telltales of good design and construction. anything over 2kw would do. any suggestions? anyone have great luck with a chinese unit? if so, i'd consider picking up one of the same make/model if i can get some anecdotal evidence. thanks.

[mattyb]

i am all in agreeance with all us sharing OT advice! apart from the honda product i would say that my experience with the kabota product has not been to bad. they are innovative and reliable. parts became the main concern in my situation but this was with 4wd tractors of 80hp+. like most things these days they are made under licence buit for the use u describe it would seem that most things would suit. I have found that issues arise with extended use on cheaper models and if ur looking for something for emergency use and camping on an irregular basis then kabota or like would be fine. how much can u afford to spend on something u hardly ever use? Best of luck!

[DanDombrowski]

Man, don't go bringing that hurricane crap around here. I've been putting off that research for awhile. Its not gonna happen this year....its not gonna happen this year....its not...

Anyway, I really don't know anything about the engines, but MY biggest concern when buying one is going to be being able to do 240V, so I can plug it into the dryer outlet and power the whole house. That's just me though, I can deal with noise (or, I suppose you could say my neighbors can deal with noise, they put up with my air compressor :) ) If they just want to get 120V at an extension cord, I would say cheaper is better.

The only generator I've used personally was a 5kW at my parents house, and that thing was a jackhammer. I'm actually thinking of using the old, warped plywood we used for our windows last year to build a "damper box" to go around the unit to make it a little quieter. But alas, that won't help you much if its a wedding present...

Sorry I can't help you more with the motor research, but hopefully things will work out.

BTW, as long as we're OT, I replaced the O2 sensor in the eclipse this weekend, changed out all the fluids, reset the ECU, cleaned the TB, took it for a spin down to the beach, and gave it back. Done with that thing for awhile. Replaced the O2 sensor in the Honda (which was throwing the CAT efficiency below threshold, and as of 200+ miles later, it has yet to come back on). So i did it, I got rid of all of the crappy cars people hand me to work on!

Catch you later, PM me when you find a generator you like.

[mattyb]

fortunatley we dont have the hurricane thing here too much but i would say that in my experience it would not hurt to start it at least once a month. on the farm we run them for a few minutes each month just to keep em moving when not in use. stops cruddy fuel etc cause just when u need it u dont want to be stuffing about with crap water logged gas. As for the noise thing if theres a hurricane or the aftermath who cares! ur neighbors will be around ur house anyways if u've got elecricity. We had a model in 0z built by Davey and powered by honda and these are generally the standard we use in most cases. yeh i know ur not big on the Honda thing but its just a recollection thats all. good for u thinking ahead!

[SRR2]

Get a Honda, one with the 360GX engine (14hp, water cooled, I-twin, OHC) if you can find it. Maybe you could find a good used one, though I dunno whether a used anything makes a good present, unless it's a Maserati or something.

Ok, now that's off my chest.

The biggest contributors to noise are air cooling, muffler, and speed. Any air cooled engine is going to be noisy, it pretty much comes with the territory and all generators in the 10KW class or less run at 3600 RPM. Honda air-cooled engines, for reasons that I don't claim to understand, seem to be less noisy than their competitors, although I did once hear a surprisingly quiet Subaru (Robin?) single-cylinder engine.

Look at the muffler. Nominally, bigger is better. I've seen plenty of these cheap generators with 10hp motors and mufflers like you'd find on a 3hp Tecumseh.

Frequency regulation is a potential problem too. The cheapies use some pretty poor excuses for governors. I've seen them with air-vane governors. You couldn't hold better than 5% (if that) with one of those. If you visit the harborfreightusa.com web site (not harborfreight.com) you can download many generator user manuals. I looked at a handful of them and found some scary stuff, like that you are cautioned against using the generator to power electronic equipment. Translation: this generator is so cheap that it doesn't have voltage regulation. This is a very bad thing.

After this bit of research, I've more or less concluded that anything selling for under $500 isn't suitable for anything other than lights and powertools. Maybe a fridge. If I were you, I'd probably re-think this present.

[632 Regal]

I got a harbor freight generator years ago, 5500 watt to run the whole house (minus water heater) It's loud as hell and its 120 feet away from the house (hp tecumseh). I get about 8 hours with not a high load on it. I didnt run it right when I got it and when I needed it I couldnt get it to run, the low oil sensor was broke and shorted the ignition so I have no low oil control now. Anything less than 4kw is only enough to run say a fridge and tv anything more and voltage will drop under 110 volts which isnt good for anything. Whatever you get make sure it is enough unless all you want to do is run 1 thing at a time. You might want one with 220 so you have 2 positive poles and can run different circuits.

[Johntee540]

You realize that as soon as you buy a generator - this will be the season where none come! Its sort of like when you buy the snowblower..... and it doesnt snow that year! - JT

[Eric 95 540]

if you pick one with idle control, the engine will drop down to idle speed when the extra juice isn't called for and back up when it is called for. low oil shut off switch isn't a bad thing to look for either. honda, kawasaki, generac, usually have these items but = $$$$$
good luck

[clhorton]

We bought a 5000 w generator after Katrina hit. We paid I believe around 700 from some guy on the side of the road. Ha but FEMA reimbursed us for it so we will have it in the future if another storm hits. We were without power for 14 days we bought the generator on day 13. FIGURES!! Not a bad deal since it was free in the end.

[DaCan23]

Whatever you do, dont get an LP one. My dad just got a new super duty LP one for the cabin and it costs a fortune to run.