Cheap Generator saved my bacon

[HoosierBuddy]

So,

I've owned my house for 20+ years of it's 90+ year life. Over that period it's got some water in the basement about once a year. No big deal as it's not finished and has a sump pump. Recently, a storm accompanied by a power outage struck a nearby town though, and after a buddy's basement flooded I got concerned enough to buy a generator.

But not a nice generator. I bought a pretty cheap knock off on Amazon:

I set it up and used it a couple of times to run power tools (easier to carry that out to the yard than it is to string extension cords for a couple of quick jobs)...during the first 3 months I had it, and then guess what? The wife woke me up Sunday morning because the power was out and our basement had water coming in.

Quick as a flash I had the little Wen running and the sump pump pumping. That worked so well I went ahead and plugged my coffee pot in too and had my morning coffee. About noon the rain had stopped, but the power still wasn't on so I plugged my 27 cubic foot GE fridge into the cheapie generator and it happily cooled back down to save my bacon...and my milk and eggs, etc.

So, I paid for the generator and then some...easy to do as cheap as it is.

Got lucky there! I had my eye on the Honda EU2000 for a few years, but the price was just too much to pull the trigger. I'm not sure why....but in any case the Wen got the job done this time.

Phil

 

[EOC_Jason]

Living in Houston most of my life we always had a little generator stashed away in the garage ready for hurricane season...

Now that I live farther north I have a little generator in case of winter storms... It should be plenty to power my gas furnace + run the fridge...

 

[Kaizen]

Good for you. I bought a 900 dollar generac six years ago and it never starts so I will freeze for six hours before I even start messing with it. In freezing weather that beast is impossible to turn over


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[jchetty]

Yup. Hurricane Sandy taught us that lesson. Sump pump is no good without electricity. We have a battery back-up sump pump. We also have a big Craftsman generator.

May pick up a smaller Honda generator for portability. I also have been lusting over the E2000i.

 

[58Yeoman]

I've had a HF 7500 for at least 5 years, as our power goes out when a flock of geese fly overhead. I think at the time, it was around $450 or so with a coupon. A buddy that I worked with told me that he had bought one, and I should too. Great deal for us.

 

[HoosierBuddy]

Yup. Hurricane Sandy taught us that lesson. Sump pump is no good without electricity. We have a battery back-up sump pump. We also have a big Craftsman generator.

May pick up a smaller Honda generator for portability. I also have been lusting over the E2000i.

Well...you can buy 2 of those WENs and their parallel connection kit for a little less than 1 Honda EU2000i. That being said...I've only had the WEN for 3 months and have about 8 hours run time on it...so maybe I'll feel different later.

If money was no object I'd get an outdoor NG genset with an automatic transfer switch. OR..if I had more issues with power...but our power has been pretty reliable over the years. We might average 3 hours of power outages per year. Hard to justify too much $ based on that.

Phil

 

[LXCam]

So it was the middle of summer and a huge portion of Socal lost power when a major transmission line burned thru up in the middle of the desert. Here I was so proud that all I needed to do was go grab my trusty 5k, plug it in and fire her off. The one thing I didn't take into consideration it happened to be stored in a detached garage with no other access except the roll up doors that just happened by be hooked too garage door openers.

Duh....

At some point a year or two later we had another major outage. This time I thought I had it covered. I now go back to my storage shed, hook in the generator to my service and fire up all the important loads. Low and behold I'm golden and I've gotta leave for work. So I check the gas and maybe have a gallon or two in it and all my other cans are empty and of course all the gas stations are shut down....

Double duh...


The third and last time years later happened at 3 in the morning.

Hooked, got gas, fired off and I noticed the rpm's were screaming. At first I didn't give it much thought until my metal halide light over the driveway came back up to full brightness which just happened to be double what it normally was so I grab my voltage meter to find out that the gen was pumping out 140/280~. Well, that cost me my gate opener board-3bilks, smoke tested my controls on the AC unit, took out all my CO2 monitors and one tv that happen to be on.

Are you ******* kidding me duh....


I now own a much better unit, there's always plenty of gas and since getting my **** together a few years back have yet to have another outage.

 

[TractorJeff]

LXCam, you didn't warn us by stating the manufacture or the 5k?

 

[LXCam]

LXCam, you didn't warn us by stating the manufacture or the 5k?

Generac

 

[ragdoll]

Report back after you've used it a few times, there's a reason some things cost more money...

 

[BleedingBlue]

How do people run the extension cord? It obviously needs to be outside, but you would need a cracked window/door to get a power cord in?


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[HoosierBuddy]

How do people run the extension cord? It obviously needs to be outside, but you would need a cracked window/door to get a power cord in?


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I put it on the deck and ran a heavy duty 50 foot extension cord in through the door, which had to be open a crack.

Phil

 

[CrashmanS]

I live in rural Appalachia and lose power for sometimes a week or more in the winter. I keep two 55 gallon barrels of stabilized gas that I rotate every year. One for the generator and one for the mower, tractor etc. Has saved my bacon more than once. Last big outage we had, one station had a generator and was the only one that could sell gas. People were fist fighting as I drove on by because I knew I had a supply waiting.

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[The Tool Tyrant]

I bought a Honda EU 3000is when we had our last blackout earlier this year and after having several older Honda generators 'back in the day', I was blown away by these new inverter style models. SUPER quiet and SUPER low running rpm. I plugged in my refer, TV and several lights and it never came up off it's low RPM mode. They're not cheap, but they're ARE Honda's, so I know I can depend on running for many years without issues.
It also has electric start, so I keep a 'Battery Minder' attached and Stabil in the gas, so it'll be ready when called upon.

 

[Showkey]

No new news.........but fuel gone bad is the problem with any stored generator.

I also opted for the Honda ........with no ethanol fuel, carb drained.

 

[Derek8819]

Yamaha 2000 inverter unit here, but with a NG/Propane conversion, never have to worry about gasoline again.

http://www.genconnexdirect.net/

 

[finn]

A pair of 2000 watt Champion inverters and a synch kit here.

Less than the cost of a single 2000 watt Honda.

They're reasonably quiet and start on the first pull.

The Champions are becoming very popular in campgrounds, almost popular enough to say they're eating Honda's lunch in some areas.

 

[yeldogt]

Yamaha 2000 inverter unit here, but with a NG/Propane conversion, never have to worry about gasoline again.

http://www.genconnexdirect.net/

They only list the Honda? ..... looks like these are modified .. not sold as propane originally.

It's a great for someone who needs long term storage .. and wants to make sure it's available in an emergency situation.

 

[kckndrgn]

I have 3 generators.
1) 1500W inverter - used at our hunting cabin bought it at a discount tool store and it has worked great. The only issue was the manual called for 2 cycle oil but it was/is a 4 cycle.
2) 7500W B&S generator from HD. Got this one first, runs pretty much everything I need. Went to http://www.uscarburetion.com/ and got the kit to convert my generator to tri-fuel (gas, LP and NG). While I never used NG I have run LP several times.
3) 4000W Northern Tool brand (I think). So about a month ago the wife and I were in NT and she see's all these generators "marked down" (something like $50.00 off) and decides, the little 1500W just isn't enough for our cabin, wants this one. Yes dear. Next day the remnants of the TS hit our area. While we didn't lose power, I had 2 generators in the garage ready to go.

out of the 3 no-name generators we've not had one problem from them, other than when I forget to drain the carb and the ethanol jacks things up. So I keep a carb rebuild kit on hand for each engine, along with new plugs, oil, pull ropes, gas, etc.

 

[Showkey]

The Champions are becoming very popular in campgrounds, almost popular enough to say they're eating Honda's lunch in some areas.

Cheap **** always has a following ( the HF syndrome) until it come to parts, service and reliability..........and then there's the need for it to really work in the storm to save the beacon.

Generac has tried to make inroads in the small inverter market over the years some were real junk........with poor starting and surging as the big issues that match the other clones problem for problem.

Briggs now has two sizes in the portable gen sets at a mid price point.........between the super cheap and premium price point. $1200 for a 3000 watt.

 

[nh_yota]

Other than the longevity and reliability of the engine, the big difference between cheap generators and expensive generators (e.g. Honda) is the quality of the power they generate. Incandescent bulbs, power tools and older non-computerized equipment will run fine on dirty power, but modern appliances and HVAC equipment may have a fit if you try to run it on dirty power. The computerized control boards may not work correctly, may go into self-protection mode or may burn out altogether. Sometimes people find this out the hard way when they get a new generator and can't figure out why their HVAC doesn't work when it's running on generator power.

Inverter generators put out cleaner power than conventional generators, but you still need to be careful with sensitive equipment.

 

[firebirdparts]

I don't know if anybody else wants to try this, but I cut the electric furnace control wire on my heat pumps and put a 50 cent light switch in that wire. I can turn the heat strips off and thus a reasonable size generator will run my heat pumps now. They have jacked up the SEER numbers by law and newer ones really don't take a lot of amps to run the compressor.

As a side benefit, when I realized my wife was jacking the thermostat 5 degrees every single day, I just left the switches off forever. This has saved me ten thousand dollars. If it gets real cold of course I have to turn them on. maybe 10 days a year.

 

[Blk88GT]

I've used my Yamaha 3000iseb to power my fridge, freezers, sump pump and electronics. I worked remotely from home during a power outage due to downed lines. A quality generator is a worthwhile investment.

 

[EOC_Jason]

Usually in a HP setup the electric strips are only used if you flip the thermostat switch to "Emergency Heat" ??? Or the temp drops too low for the HP to operate...

 

[Norcal]

I still call Generac, "Generjunk".

 

[thool]

I bought a Troy-Bilt 7k model from Lowes about 12 years ago, and it is an amazing machine that can easily power our house (less microwave and A/C) during an outage. I have the 30A feed into a 6x15A circuit manual bypass panel. We power: sump pump, forced air gas furnace, power vent natural gas water heater, 2 fridges, basement lighting, some exterior lighting, garage, a few more outlets. I had to run an extension for our gas oven to get the hot surface igniter to work.

They do take some care and feeding. I run only fresh ethanol free gas that has stabil in it. It gets drained and fogged after each event. After a few hours, check oil level, air cleaner, voltage, etc. Change the oil after heavy use or when oil looks dirty. Run it once a year under heavy load to ensure it works. I keep it in my garage covered, and about 10 gallons of fresh ethanol free gas available.

I think the generator ran me $800, the 30A pigtail another $60. I figure it is insurance that I can use proactively to protect my family and house, instead of sweating an outage and possibly having to recover and repair at the mercy and schedule of an insurance company.

Think of it this way: if you saw water rising in your basement, and had several hundreds worth of food spoiling, and were enduring cold or no water...how much would you part with right then and there to make that all go away?

 

[rob_460]

I too have the 2000W Champion inverter generator and I run it almost every weekend at my off-grid cabin. Has been excellent so far other than having to replace a defective plug once.

Local service center and parts both available without any trouble. Plus I bought it from Costco, so in the event that something craps out and can't be fixed, back it will go.

I bought mine for significantly under half price of the Honda equivalent (almost exactly the same specs for weight, decibels and power output), including shipping. They have a nice 3100W inverter model as well, but it was excessive for my needs.

 

[dscheidt]

Usually in a HP setup the electric strips are only used if you flip the thermostat switch to "Emergency Heat" ??? Or the temp drops too low for the HP to operate...

Most heat pumps will turn on the emergency heat if the output is too low to maintain the set point, or to reach set point 'fast enough'. Since output and efficiency drop with temperature, there are situations where the heat pump could keep the house at say 60F, but the thermostat is calling for 70. The resistance heat makes up the rest. If the power has been out for a while, even if the heat pump can bring the temp up, it might take 10 hours, and the thermostat will call for emergency heat. (for thermostat, on some systems, read 'heat pump controller'.)

 

[D45]

I bought a Troy-Bilt 7k model from Lowes about 12 years ago, and it is an amazing machine that can easily power our house (less microwave and A/C) during an outage. I have the 30A feed into a 6x15A circuit manual bypass panel. We power: sump pump, forced air gas furnace, power vent natural gas water heater, 2 fridges, basement lighting, some exterior lighting, garage, a few more outlets.

Good info thanks

I think a 6500W-8000W unit will suit me

 

[cpttuna]

bottom line. having "SOMETHING" beats not having anything if the power goes out. Start small if necessary and work your way up(looking for good deals)

 

[HOTFR8]

This is what I did for Sheddwellers. Caravan inlet on the outside and a double power point on the inside. Plug in the Gen Set if we have a failure and let it run outside and plug in what I require on the inside. I still have to run leads but I do not have to have any open doors.
The power point above the inlet is for use outdoors and if the power is off it does not work.

 

[Moto]

For those of you who've used a generator during a lengthy outage, did you have any "trouble" from your neighbors who were not as prepared?

 

[Corndoggeh]

Here in SW AZ during monsoon i keep a mini gen just incase power goes out overnight so that i can atleast run the swamp cooler to keep the house from getting above 80. Only used once but as a $20 yard sale find it did its job. The power company is usually pretty on top of outages and 99% of the time power only goes out by neighborhoods so during the day if power goes out everyone just goes to the stores/mall and hangs out there for a few hours.

 

[75gmck25]

Anyone have any experience with one of the Champion generators that are similar to this one:
http://www.homedepot.com/p/Champion...ric-Start-Portable-Generator-100297/301793638

It has enough output to cover just about anything I would ever need, and with the dual fuel option it may be more convenient to keep 3-4 propane tanks on-hand instead of rotating gas supplies and/or adding stabilizer.

Bruce