i am in the market for a new portable generator, 5500 to 6500 watts just to run a couple of circuits in case of power loss, what are you guys using and what have you been pleased with??
I bought a 8750 amp generator from harbor freight for 499.00 on sale. Used it at least 6 times to supply back up for house n garage... The generator has great reviews n i wouldnt hesitate at all in buyin any of the Predator generators from HF....it ran well pump,2 refrigs, fuel oil forced air furnace,tv,other lower amp electronics n lights...no problem...
I have two Champion generators and they've always started and ran great. Not terribly loud either for the wattage they put out. And they're priced right.
My neighbor and I both bought Champion 2000w gens 5-6 years ago. They don't get used a lot but they always start. I can't tell a noise difference between mine and my dad's 2000w honda. We bought the champions after reading and watching a lot of positive reviews then finding a good sale.
We have a champion 7500W generator, fortunately haven't needed it. Had an electrician put in a service box and run outlets vs tying into the house electric due to costs. Hoping to correct that next year. Hope to have a cement pad poured that's large enough for our woodstacks, genny, quads, and other things. Also would like a transfer switch system installed. We'll have to wait and see how things pan out, but we can power what we need.
We have the predecessor to this Westinghouse 7500 from Amazon. The older model did not have the remote start. It is powered my a 420cc Honda clone. I did install a disconnect and transfer switch for whole house use. It will actually run everything, if you play it smart. I.e. dryer, oven, etc. are heavy loads. I've also carried it to the hunting lease to run power tools, air compressors, and have used it to run my mig welder in the field (away from my shop). We're up to 23 hours on it so far. So, not a ton of run time over 3+ years. I believe we have only lost power once since we purchased it.
I have a Champion 9375/7500 dual fuel generator. I've had it a few years. I start it once or twice a year and hook up a trickle charger for the battery a couple times a year too. I also installed a Reliance 10 circuit 30 amp transfer switch, with a flush mount trim kit for a finished basement install. It runs the well pump, water heater, fridge, and a few rooms of lights and outlets. It's much nicer than running extension cords through the door and up the stairs for the fridge, lights and microwave. I store the generator in the garage, so I made large storm "cart" on wheels with a steel roofing panel that rolls right over the generator keeping it dry during inclement weather. I got the generator at Tractor Supply and the Transfer switch at Home Depot. I've used Honda, Generac and Coleman Generators for the jobsite. I'm very pleased with the Champion generator and Reliance Transfer switch. Whatever you get, maintain it and run it a couple times a year.
After Sandy blew through here I ended up with a Honda 6500 SX. I was helping a neighbor cut trees off her roof, spreading tarps to control water damage, etcetera, when her son called from Baltimore. He was heading up to help, do we need anything? Her 30 year old pull start generator was acting up & was too difficult for her to get going when it stalled. Everything was sold out up here & she asked if he found something with electric start could he bring her one. Estimated restoration of power in our area was at least a week. I asked if he could bring two if had room in his truck. He came up with four. Selling the other two to the McMansions up the road offset the cost of his mother's (when he came up the main drag with Honda boxes in his pickup bed people stopped him to ask where he got them. Out of state plates, Duh...) Our lights were out for 11 days. Two days after they went back on we had a heavy, wet snow. The system was stressed and patched together so the lights went out again for a couple of days. The 6500 watt Honda was bigger than I needed but I wasn't complaining. It ran for two weeks, most of the time at way less than 50% capacity, with decent fuel economy. When everything stabilized I drained it, changed the oil, misted the cylinder, and put it away. Promised myself that I would start it once a year but never did. Most times the lights go out the estimated repair time is less than a day so I don't bother setting it up. Three days ago we had a major wind storm and the lights went out. Estimate for repair with over 56 thousand without power was two to three days. After 7 years I pulled the Honda out, connected it, and hit the start button. Nothing. Even with a decent trickle charger the battery was dead. Pulled the cord and on the third pull she fired up cleanly. Quality does matter. A couple of off brand generators on the block that sat, (Harbor Freight, stuff trucked in and sold on the corner from the back of that truck for more than the list price of the Honda, etc) would not start without a lot of babying if at all. Some of that is probably not prepping them for storage correctly but I'm sure build quality is also a factor. KaptJaq
I too have a trickle charger on ours, and have run it once or twice a year. Ran it in spring, but this thread has put a bit of runtime on my winter prep list. HammerheadC4 our champion is same as yours, but not dual fuel.
Whatever generator you get I'd advise getting electric start too. One reason is to think about what if you were not home? Can the wife start it? Can she hook it up? I got to thinking about this pretty strong a couple years ago when I suddenly found myself in the hospital and too darned close to death. I got to thinking about what would life be for my wife if I didn't make it home again. Generator was one of the first things I thought about. The answers to the above questions all came up no. So the first thing I put on the list was to get a stand-by generator for the whole house that was all automatic. I've not been sorry.
I've had one of these for 5 years and run it once a year as a routine if the electric hasn't dropped out. Usually we have an outage more often, so I have only run it as a routine once or twice. It has a spot for a battery but I have never put one in it cuz it starts on the second or third pull everytime so far. I have a back feed into the main box (my outdoor welder hookup with an adapter) and shut off the main breaker and backfeed the whole house. We don't run everything at once, but we can keep the water hot, keep the AC going in the summer, cook on the stove, and live pretty normally on the generator. It sets outside the basement walk out door and is easy to hook up and gas up when needed. The neighbors call us when their electric comes back on and I can then go down and switch back over to the grid. It has worked flawlessly for us so far. Now if they just made a model that would gas itself up... LOL Wait... My step dad had a natural gas automatic one installed at his place around the corner a few years ago. If you can afford it and don't like messing around setting it up, that's the way to...
NorthStar Portable Generator 10,000 Surge Watts, 8500 Rated Watts, Electric Start, CARB Compliant | Northern Tool + Equipment Worth every penny. Is it loud? Yes. It has 11 hour run time. I would buy it again and again and then again. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Have had a water cooled Honda 6500 watt gen for 21 years. Never has failed us. Along with back-up power here at the house, it was a huge help building our cabin back in 2011. Ran pretty steady for 15 weekends that year.
Back when I worked at the Honda dealership (and they still sold power equipment) we had a customer that had a 6500 in his enclosed trailer to operate the equipment he used for his business...he ran it about 30 hrs a week on average...after years and years it finally popped the gear that ran the governor mechanism...it took a bit to order this part in so he ran on a Generac genny in the meantime...after a week went by, he stopped by pretty regular to see if his was done...so he could quit using "that rattle trap Generac"! I guess it was a little louder than the Honda I think it was a cheapy model that he picked up at a big box store...
I have a HF Predator, I think 6000 or so watts. It never fails me, I have had to use it a few times through multiple-day outages. As Dennis says, consider who it starting it, my wife can just barely pull it through for a start. I leave some starting fluid avaiable for her to help it go for her the first time. (It starts the first time for me without the starting fluid.)