by "cbell04" (cbell04)
Published 09/09/2017 at 22:37
by "cbell04" (cbell04)
Published 09/09/2017 at 22:37
No Tags
STARS: 0
This is my generator. Do you have one? Mine is about 9 years old and has only run for 19 hours total. I guess that makes me lucky. That would be a 2.1 hour per year average but realistically it’s more like one 12 hour use during a storm and the rest is just accumulated from running it for maintenance. I generally like to start it about 3 times a year and run it for about 15-20 minutes with about 1/3 load on the electrical circuit. I recently let it sit for over a year and the carb got screwed. Had to tear it off and clean it but luckily that was all it took. Got it purring like a (super loud screaming for attention) kitten just in case a hurricane smacked us here in NC. At our old home I had it ghetto back fed to the panel. Being older and wiser I will no longer do that but am struggling to justifying to pay the insane price that all the kit and labor to hook it to the house legally will cost considering my limited actual use. Truthfully I have a long list for an electrician so the bill would be really high but it would get lots of stuff done that I really want. Hopefully one of the houses for sale near me will be sold to an electrician and we become best friends and I get a serious discount. Here’s to wishful thinking!
"nFamousCJ - Keeper of Stringbean, Gengars and a Deezul" (nfamouscj)
09/09/2017 at 22:46, STARS: 0
What is it with generators and them screaming like banshees? My parents have a fairly new one that is damn near deafening loud. Like, 2 lawn mowers and a few coffee cans of angry bees loud. Would they not benefit from a muffler system or is something else causing the noise beyond that of a standard engine ?
"The Crazy Kanuck; RIP Oppositelock" (jukesjukesjukes)
09/09/2017 at 22:47, STARS: 0
Just got this one last year.
Electric start, very quiet, & works great.
"cbell04" (cbell04)
09/09/2017 at 22:54, STARS: 0
Most of the noise comes from the actual engine itself. Never done anything about it but ive watched a million YouTube videos of people trying to get them to be more tolerable. Long story short if you want quiet shell out the big bucks because the quieter they are from the factory the more they cost. There are some Honda generators that you can barely tell are running you’ll notice them hanging off the food trucks and campers these days but they are serious cash
"cbell04" (cbell04)
09/09/2017 at 22:57, STARS: 0
Quiet is not something I would call mine in fact it’s the opposite.
"bhtooefr" (bhtooefr)
09/09/2017 at 23:18, STARS: 1
A cheap aircooled engine screaming at 3600 RPM, in the open, is going to be loud, even with a muffler - no water jacket means there’s considerably more sound.
"OpposResidentLexusGuy - USE20, XF20, XU30 and Press Cars" (jakeauern)
09/10/2017 at 01:48, STARS: 0
My dad has a Honda EU3000i. It was very expensive but it is very, very nice.
"cbell04" (cbell04)
09/10/2017 at 08:55, STARS: 1
Yeah those are kinda the bomb. I can’t complain i bought mine for maybe 1/4 the price and it’s 8000 watts with a 135000 peak so a decent trade off.
"OpposResidentLexusGuy - USE20, XF20, XU30 and Press Cars" (jakeauern)
09/10/2017 at 10:39, STARS: 1
Yeah that los capability would be nice. It’s perfect for its job of keeping the camping trailer AC on when dry camping.
"cbell04" (cbell04)
09/10/2017 at 10:52, STARS: 1
Oh yes a must for camping. That honda is rated at a max 50 db. Mine is something like 78 at idle. Full load is like a plane is taking off! :)
"Stephenson Valve Gear" (stephensonvalvegear)
09/10/2017 at 14:16, STARS: 1
Back in the ice storm of 2007, all I had was my 3500 watt generator that I use to power hand tools when working away from the shop. It puttered along on our porch for 9 days, providing just enough power to run the fan for the central heat (propane), a tv, some lights and the fridge. My wife asked if we could get a bigger generator sometime; one that would run the pump for the well (running water is nice to have). So, we bought an 5500 watt continuous (8500 surge) generator the following summer. It has seen quite a bit of use, as we live on the end of a feeder line out in the sticks. It has got us through a couple of long, multi-day outages, as well as several smaller outages that lasted anywhere from a couple of hours to a day. It’s been worth every penny. Like you, I try to start it up every so often, let it run for 15 minutes or so, and put a load on it to keep it from losing the residual magnetism in the core so I don’t have to go through the “polarizing” (ie magnetizing) procedure when we need it. It is also big enough to pull my stick welder, so every once in a while it gets a good workout when I need to weld something that I can’t bring to the shop. We keep at least two day’s worth of gasoline on hand during the winter, just in case...
"TheRealBicycleBuck" (therealbicyclebuck)
09/10/2017 at 18:17, STARS: 1
We have one, but it’s a lot smaller than yours. It gets pulled out of the garage and serviced when a hurricane is on the way. It’s big enough for the fridge, the tv, a light, and a fan. No a/c for us. Suck it up, junior. We don’t have a/c when we go camping!
"cbell04" (cbell04)
09/10/2017 at 18:58, STARS: 1
Nice! The 9 day comment is kinda what is blowing my mind on mine. Basically 19 hours on 9 years. It runs great but is not truly proven. What would it do if I said hey old fellow time to earn your keep you got a 9 day shift coming up get ready! I’m sure it will be fine when the time comes but crazy to think about living off it that long. Glad to know you guys out in the sticks are really using them and keeping the manufacturers honest. If they built them for me they could get away with murder!
"cbell04" (cbell04)
09/10/2017 at 19:00, STARS: 1
Ha yeah dont think mine could run the central air. Sure window units would be fine. Hey as long as my beer stays cold in the fridge I’m happy:)
"Stephenson Valve Gear" (stephensonvalvegear)
09/10/2017 at 21:49, STARS: 0
I suspect your unit would do just fine if it needed to run for a few days. I’m a big fan of Briggs & Stratton... keep doing the test runs & loading, plus give it an oil change once in a while (even with the low hours) and it will always be ready to go!
Funny story on the 9 day outage (widespread outages due to an ice storm) - I come home one night to find a pool of oil underneath the little generator, which still running like nothing is wrong (my wife was in the house). I panicked and shut it down. There I was in the dark, wondering what happened, so I pulled the truck around to shine the headlights on the gen. Started looking for the source of the oil... and discovered it was coming out around the governor shaft on TOP of the engine! Strange... very strange... that would only happen if there was pressure in the crankcase... AH HA! I checked the Positive Crankcase Ventilation hose, and it was frozen shut with ice. The condensation from the crankcase - combined with extended running in below freezing temps - had caused an ice blockage right where it went in the carb. I cleared out the ice, topped off the oil, cleaned up the mess, and fired the generator back up. I took a desk lamp with an incandescent bulb in it and put it next to the breather hose, then put some scrap plywood around the generator to try to keep it warm enough so it wouldn’t freeze up again. It ran the rest of the time without any further problems. The little generator only has a small tank - probably about a gallon or so - so I hooked up a bigger gas tank (sitting on our picnic table) to the carb with a long piece of 1/4" gas line. That way it would run all day without refueling while I was at work and my wife didn’t have to mess with the generator. The new generator has a 7 gallon tank - it will run all day or overnight without refilling the tank.
Whew! Good times... I’m thankful to have the generators!
"Stephenson Valve Gear" (stephensonvalvegear)
09/10/2017 at 22:07, STARS: 0
OK... just to fulfill the SR20 rule... here is a pic of the small generator during the 2007 ice storm. Yeah, I know it’s pretty sketchy, but desperate times call for desperate measures! :-D
"cbell04" (cbell04)
09/10/2017 at 22:37, STARS: 0
Wow! Used to live right up against lake Ontario so know the ice/snow storms well. Yes this one has a 7 gallon as well and folks who write about it say it’s about 6 hours when pegged and 10-12 when on a lite load. Wish I had some land to test all that out (pretty sure I’d get marched naked while the neighbors shouted shame and threw rotten fruit and vegetables at me if I tried where I live) would be worth the cost of the gas to know what your going to get. I only keep about 5-10 gallons in cans so I’d be screwed regardless but my ultimate goal is to hook it up with the trifuel carb so i can run natural gas and propane. Natural gas would be the best but even a nice heavy duty tank of propane would be better longevity wise over my constant fight to keep the gas good.