Used portable generator question

I’m looking for used 5000 watt portable generator. Some people have units that are a few years old, but still in the box and never used. Are these a good bet to buy? Is it possible the piston ring may have rusted to the cylinder wall over that time due to the lack of oil circulation? Anything else that could go bad from non use?

Since these have never been used, the sellers may be reluctant to start it up for me to avoid ruining the “newness”.

Thanks,

John

 

If I have ~5500 running watts, and ~6500 peak watts I should be fine.

 

Bring gas and oil and a electrical load, space heaters ect. Buy it with the understanding that you try it out right there and if it doesn't work he hands back the money. Worry more about corrosion of the electrical end and less about damage to a never fueled engine. Look at the bottom of the box that it's in. If any suggestions of moisture show up be careful.

 

Find something you can readily purchase AVRs and brushes (parts) for. If a quality gen-set (Sawafuji is my favorite...Honda, Subaru use them), those are the only two items that will ever need replaced. The engine is a whole nother can of worms. If you plan to rely upon this for emergencies, reliability is key. It has to work when you need it to, otherwise it's moot to even purchase one.

 

Take a corded item with you, just because the engine runs doesn't mean it works.

 

Thanks for the advice everyone! I was thinking about bringing a multimeter to test electrical output. Online I saw how to test 110 volt outlets, but how do I test a 220 twist lock?

John

 

Most of the generators I’ve seen are clear who makes the engine (Briggs, etc) but not so on the electrical generating piece. Besides Sawafuji are there others that you recommend?

I see lots of Coleman units for sale, but don’t know who makes the generator piece.

John

 

Unfortunately, I don't have much for advice on different manufacturers as I really only dealt with Honda & Subaru whilst I was working in repairs. I endorse the Sawafuji because rarely if ever did we see problems on the generator side of their machines. A Honda with a ton of hours would occasionally require new brushes. And I can remember having to order 1 or 2 AVRs in the 4 years of working on them. Cannot remember a single problem with a Subaru gen-set (they are far less ubiquitous than the Hondas are).

The reason I stress reliability is from past experience. In 2011, we had a Derecho windstorm come through and most people in the area were without power for 9-10 days (13 for me). We had a bunch of people coming in to the shop I was working in looking for voltage regulators from various branded units. They can be found online usually fairly easily, but that doesn't do anything for the meat rotting in the freezer for two days waiting for the part. I also witnessed a few folks who don't understand that you need to change the oil in a unit about every 3 days if running continuous (yep, they all burn at least a little oil during combustion process) and saw some Coleman units with connecting rods pulled off of seized pistons. Oil alert is a good thing! Another thing about generators...power is great to have available, but can get expensive quickly. Gasoline was $3.50 or better a gallon, and a typical 5k will burn at least a half gallon of fuel per hour with a modest load on it. Some people told me when it was all said and done that it would have been cheaper for them to just throw out their food and get a hotel until the power came back. I borrowed a beat to hell Honda 3800W (that I had worked on previously) and was able to keep my fridge up and run a small air conditioner so I could sleep (inside house temps were high 90s at 8pm, it was July).

I'd wager that Sawafuji is present in other generators, but I wouldn't know which ones specifically. Many units out there that are priced below a comparable Honda likely have parts from who knows where inside. Onan and Generac have always been known to me as good quality...but Onan was purchased by Cummins a few years back and I don't know what they have changed (if anything) since then. Generac purchased Baldor's Generator division around the same time. (Baldor stuff is/used to be top tier) I am unsure of origin of either's rotors and stators...hopefully USA?

Not trying to state that any generator other than listed above is junk. Many people have had good experiences with different units. At the same time, you'll be hard pressed to find a Honda or Subaru generator that fails due to anything other than operator error/neglect. It seems that a lot of power equipment "manufacturers" are just tossing together lots of cheap parts and slapping their name on it to meet a certain price point, rather than building a quality product that will sell itself based upon a long earned reputation of quality & reliability, a la Honda.

Just be sure that the unit you purchase is able to be readily repaired, regardless of brand. (dealers/distributors in your area) We could not help many of the folks who came in during the outage with off brands and were in dire straights due to lack of access to replacement parts. As always...buyer beware.

 

My suggestion would be to just go to Harbor Freight and buy one of their cheaper generators. Harbor Freight is hardly "buy it for life" tools, but I bought a 4,000 watt unit for $279. I wanted to buy the 8700 watt unit for $200 more, but Katie did not want to spend the money. Still, in a power outage...and for a homeowner...$279 is pretty cheap insurance for a NEW generator.

While longevity is always great, in my experience, and from what I have seen from others, crapping out is not the biggest issue, but rather not starting due to varnishing of the fuel in between start-ups. That is easy to fix, and to prevent, but at $279...just buy another if something bigger occurs to it.

I hate to have that mindset, but my time is worth something too.

 

For the 110V, I'd try and bring something that will put a heavy load on it. Electric heater, or something like that. For testing the 220v twist lock, use your multimeter. Turn it to AC and stick your probes in two of the holes and you should can read the line voltage, you may need to move the leads around a bit to get a good connection. Just make sure not to put the probe into the ground, or the reading will be lower than you're expecting. The ground will have a little tab off the corner of it that' different than the rest.