It has been a while since I posted here. I am looking for advice for a cold weather oil for a generator.
For years I ran a 2 stroke blue colored no name generator for my fish house, which saw most of its use November through February. I never once had a problem with that engine, it started in 2 pulls every time, even in the coldest of cold. It was always a little small for what I needed, it was rated 900 watts/ 700 running, and I was always up there (I think my small crock pot alone was 600 watts, and that got used weekly, running all day). The final straw was last spring I smoked the generator portion while using a circular saw, something I had done before. No worries, I got a good 3-4 years of hard use of of something I paid $50 for. I tried the Harbor Freight 2 stroke versions, and they blow. They must have some planned failure for the coils, because they only work sometimes. Even on a good day, gas or starting fluid right down the carb, they still take 20-30 pulls to start. I exchanged 2, the third I said just give me a refund.
I looked around, and lucked into a sale on the Sportsmans brand 2000 4 stroke generator for $120. This one has been decent. In warm weather, it starts in 1 or 2 pulls, runs great, way more power than I've needed, big tank lasts forever. It is very loud compared to the 2 stroke, but I don't care about the noise. The big problem is once it gets down to about 10 degrees, where I use it 90% of the time, you can't pull it over. The oil is so thick, there is no chance of ever starting it. I'm running the recommended 10w30, I tried my usual Delo semi synthetic 10w30, and later tried Valvoline 10w30 with no change. My solution last year was that I had to warm it up by the furnace for a half hour before starting it, not an ideal situation. I started researching lighter oils, and this is where I'm starting to get confused. I always figured a 0w30 was lighter than a 5w30 or 10w30, but from reading, that may not be the case. I don't need special oil pump flow characteristics, I simply need a thinner oil that I can pull start in the winter.
Now I did pick up a Honda 2000 recently for other uses, but don't plan to use that for my hunting/fishing rig, but it could be a backup incase the Sportsman fails. I have wondered about going to something like a 5w20, but I can't find anybody recommending such a thing online. I would rather not wreck this engine, but I wont loose any sleep over it either. So what would be a good oil to try this year for cold weather?
Unrelated, does anybody know of a good, larger capacity 1500-2500 watt 2 stroke generator?
For years I ran a 2 stroke blue colored no name generator for my fish house, which saw most of its use November through February. I never once had a problem with that engine, it started in 2 pulls every time, even in the coldest of cold. It was always a little small for what I needed, it was rated 900 watts/ 700 running, and I was always up there (I think my small crock pot alone was 600 watts, and that got used weekly, running all day). The final straw was last spring I smoked the generator portion while using a circular saw, something I had done before. No worries, I got a good 3-4 years of hard use of of something I paid $50 for. I tried the Harbor Freight 2 stroke versions, and they blow. They must have some planned failure for the coils, because they only work sometimes. Even on a good day, gas or starting fluid right down the carb, they still take 20-30 pulls to start. I exchanged 2, the third I said just give me a refund.
I looked around, and lucked into a sale on the Sportsmans brand 2000 4 stroke generator for $120. This one has been decent. In warm weather, it starts in 1 or 2 pulls, runs great, way more power than I've needed, big tank lasts forever. It is very loud compared to the 2 stroke, but I don't care about the noise. The big problem is once it gets down to about 10 degrees, where I use it 90% of the time, you can't pull it over. The oil is so thick, there is no chance of ever starting it. I'm running the recommended 10w30, I tried my usual Delo semi synthetic 10w30, and later tried Valvoline 10w30 with no change. My solution last year was that I had to warm it up by the furnace for a half hour before starting it, not an ideal situation. I started researching lighter oils, and this is where I'm starting to get confused. I always figured a 0w30 was lighter than a 5w30 or 10w30, but from reading, that may not be the case. I don't need special oil pump flow characteristics, I simply need a thinner oil that I can pull start in the winter.
Now I did pick up a Honda 2000 recently for other uses, but don't plan to use that for my hunting/fishing rig, but it could be a backup incase the Sportsman fails. I have wondered about going to something like a 5w20, but I can't find anybody recommending such a thing online. I would rather not wreck this engine, but I wont loose any sleep over it either. So what would be a good oil to try this year for cold weather?
Unrelated, does anybody know of a good, larger capacity 1500-2500 watt 2 stroke generator?
Last edited: