Who owns a generator?

Ive got a generator on my truck that runs off belts and pulleys

 

I had a generator sub panel wired into my house when I built it

 

Cypherian created a great post, a lot of good info. I didn't know Generac was a high rated brand.

I have a Coleman 5k (6250 surge) with a Subaru/Robin engine. I've had it for around 3-5 years, run it once a quarter and turn off the fuel feed and let it run itself dry before I store it. I haven't heard anything bad about the Subaru engines. My neighbor just bought a genny at HD, or Lowes and it is basically the same thing as my Coleman but branded for the store. (Coleman stopped making Powermate generators, from what I was told)
As everyone has stated, the Hondas rock. But they cost a lot more than the others...a LOT! We had a mid sized Honda, EU2000i, we used during predeployment training. It was easy to start and super quiet. So quiet that we could sneak up on the students and start the genny to run our gear and they never heard us. It worked great, until the FNG put diesel in it. Most of the engines will last for a long time as long as you keep up with the maintenance and take care of it.

 

OP yeah I pretty sure most JD generators have Honda Motors some are subaru

 

i wonder how much that costs

Ill look into that as well

 

http://www.generac.com/Residential/Transfer_Switches/Essential_Circuit/EZ_Switch/

something like this ^^^ would be the best bang for your buck.

a competent electrician could do the install in about 6 hours, maybe less.

 

what makes that better over running a few extension cords to the desired electronics? Is the added cost of that worth not having to run 2 extension cords?

 

if you're only going to run some electronics (tv, computer, a lamp etc) a transfer switch isn't worth it, just run some cords. if you're going to run your furnace, fridge, some household lights, tv, computer and whatever else then a transfer switch is the way to go. a transfer switch is much more convenient than runnning cords and infinitely safer than backfeeding through a 2 pole breaker in the main panel.

 

If you are gonna run your home theatre gear off a generator consider a power conditioner , you can get them for around $200

 

something like this?
http://www.amazon.com/Panamax-M8-AV-Theater-Power-Management/dp/B0030TWBP0

 

Both of those gens are good but the only down fall is that they are VERY NOISY if you dont have neighbors close by then fuck um. The watts that they both have is more then sufficient to power your home . We have a Honda EU6500, the biggest and quietest gen that they make and have it set up as our house back up power with a transfer switch(on-off-on) on is your regular electric company, off is off and on is your gen. Our Honda works like a dream when the power goes out it can handle ANYTHING without even bogging down.

 

I have one of these

http://www.monstercable.com/productdisplay.asp?pin=4885

I got it for around $250 CDN


All my home theatre components plug into it , the area I live in has poor power quality and we suffer a lot of brown outs in winter .

 

I actually just bought a Yamaha EF2000iS yesterday. I was looking for something quiet to power my home office when the power goes out. I have two computers, two big 24" LCD monitors, lots of networking gear (firewall, routers, cable modem, etc), ups backups and a couple of laser printers and a scanner. I plan on testing it this weekend to see how it handles the load and can report back if anyone is interested.

Hey RBCS, pertaining to your comments on cleaning the bowls/draining the gas, does that apply to this Yamaha model?

 

Trib I have yet to work on one yet, but there should be an access panel that let's you get at the carburetor/air filter. If it's anything like the Honda inverters, there will be a drain hose attached to the bowl of the carb and a small petcock where the hose attaches. Turn the screw counter clockwise to drain. If you are going to store for a very long period, disconnect the inlet line from the fuel pump after draining the tank and yank the pull starter to drain the pump and lines. It will take several pulls to get it all out. There should be some info on this topic in the manual. If no drain, just drop the bowl on the carb carefully and dump out. May want to try to start and let the motor pull any residual fuel into the cylinder. Just had to tear down a carb on an eu1000 Honda the other day...bunch of black Goo in it from sitting.

BTW, nice unit...you will be pleased. The little inverters are handy as hell and very quiet.

 

Cool thanks. I will try this out when UPS drops it off on my doorstep in a couple of days.