Generator on Sale..thoughts?

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I have a Champion 3500 watt generator that still runs but I am looking for a smaller one.

My Champion has a broken pull cord, the battery is totally dead (i have jumper cables that i jump start it with). The carb leaked on me so i put a cheap chinese ebay carb on it, the choke lever is broken so i have to carefully start it with a screwdriver.. other than that it runs great and does what its supposed to.


I have power outages where i live often, so it gets used many times per year. However i would like a small one to put in the bed of my sidebyside to go camping and also serve as a backup the next time this champion has an issue.


The Harbor Freight Predator 2000 is on sale now for $449.

NAPA has what looks to be its clone in blue for $600 on sale. https://www.napaonline.com/en/p/BHQBE2000

Amazon has a WEN that also looks to be a clone of the Predator https://www.amazon.com/WEN-56200i-2000-Watt-Generator-Compliant/dp/B00SMNLF4M

The Predator 2000 gets pretty good reviews..if the NAPA and WEN are both clones this must be a decent platform.

Thoughts?
 
My Troybilt 5500 drinks 5 gallons in about 8 hours so I too was thinking about getting the much smaller Honda or Harbor Freight. There are a million YouTube videos of both. Most videos seem to give the much cheaper HF a thumbs up. I am pretty sure I am going to pick one up before hurricane season.
I would use the HF during the day for the fridge and TV and run the bigger one at night for a small AC unit in the bedroom+fridge+ a few lights and computer.
For Wilma I did not have power for 6 days. That is a lot of gas, especailly when all the gas stations are closed.
 
It depends if weight is important to you. Those Yamaha’s and Honda’s are very light. The Chamahas and Chondas are 1/2 the price but heavier. I’ll let the others chime in on quality. Honda 2000 is 45 lbs. WEN 2000 is about 10 lbs heavier. If you have a good back it obviously doesn’t matter.
 
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I've had that same WEN inverter generator for a few years now. It goes on sale a few times per year on Woot - I got it in 2015 for $430.71, including tax and shipping.

It still has only around 100 hrs on it, but has put out the rated power without issue every time I've needed it to.

With just the fridge, lights and batteries charging, this thing seemingly runs forever.
 
Originally Posted By: Blueskies123
My Troybilt 5500 drinks 5 gallons in about 8 hours so I too was thinking about getting the much smaller Honda or Harbor Freight. There are a million YouTube videos of both. Most videos seem to give the much cheaper HF a thumbs up. I am pretty sure I am going to pick one up before hurricane season.
I would use the HF during the day for the fridge and TV and run the bigger one at night for a small AC unit in the bedroom+fridge+ a few lights and computer.
For Wilma I did not have power for 6 days. That is a lot of gas, especailly when all the gas stations are closed.


My buddy has this one https://www.amazon.com/DuroMax-XP2000iS-Running-Watts-Starting/dp/B0108N8R8U it too looks like a clone of the others..

He has a camper that we stay in when we go on long riding trips. It does the heat or ac, tv and fridge just fine. But all are smaller units than household.
 
Looking at the same gen as you. A few weeks ago I saw a Ryobi on HD for 399 a clone I'm sure. Keep looking.
 
Originally Posted By: Donald
You must have city water. With a well I need at least 5000 maybe 7500.


220v pump?
I have the 3200 predator and run two window AC units, well, a few lights and the refrigerator.
 
Saw an inverter gen on BF for $300 a few years back. Might have been a 1k but Moore's Law says this stuff will get cheaper.
 
The quality control at the Champion factory is OUTSTANDING!

Almost as good as a Honda....... not quite, but close.

WEN.... meh.
They are just OK. Not as good as Champion.

Harbor freight - I had one generator one time, 12 years ago
Carb was waaaaay too lean (Emissions?) for E10 fuel.

I took a torch cleaning tool to the main jet and then it ran perfect....
But the breaker switch would trip at no where NEAR max load.

I could've replaced the breaker switch, but I just took it back
 
Well guys, I still say that if it's a Honda you can know it will be a quality item. Automobiles, generators, lawn mowers, outboard engine and so on.

I would be concerned about are the cheap junk generators, lower output at altitude, lower output in relation to rated capacity and short lifespan are the most common.. Some generators are different at Home Depot vs Tractor Supply even when they have the same model number. Champion, Generac, etc all do this. Surprised me when found that out. Same with lawn tractors/mowers and other items.

Honda and Yamaha generators are the same no matter where you buy them.
 
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Check the valve lash inspection intervals on these generators - thats a good indication of material quality.


UD
 
Originally Posted By: Vern_in_IL
Well guys, I still say that if it's a Honda you can know it will be a quality item. Automobiles, generators, lawn mowers, outboard engine and so on.

I would be concerned about are the cheap junk generators, lower output at altitude, lower output in relation to rated capacity and short lifespan are the most common.. Some generators are different at Home Depot vs Tractor Supply even when they have the same model number. Champion, Generac, etc all do this. Surprised me when found that out. Same with lawn tractors/mowers and other items.

Honda and Yamaha generators are the same no matter where you buy them.


Honda generators are twice the price of my WEN and Yamahas are, well, more? I remember seeing one on sale a while back, but I want to say it was still a couple of hundred dollars more, still.

For the price, you could buy two WEN generators, run them in parallel for more power capacity, and throw one of them away if it fails. I don't know the stats, but I doubt the Honda is 100% more reliable than a WEN...right? Please tell me I'm right - I own a WEN!
 
My grandfather said buy the low to mid priced tool and if breaks but the better one. Following that mantra you are replacing the same low priced with low priced for something you use often. I would not consider any of those and budget a bit more for quality replacement.
 
If you want quality, longevity , and quiet operation, then only consider the Honda, Yamaha or Generac portables. I think the Generac is pretty good for the money, almost as good as the Honda or Yamaha. The Generac can be had off of eBay for about $575 or so. Sometimes units that were returned and refurbished come up on eBay: since they are only like $50 less, I think I would go with a brand new unit.

If you need to hit 4000-5000 watts, then buying two with the adapter that combines them together might be attractive. I also have a Coleman 6250 watt with a 10 hp Tecumseh engine. It puts out a lot of watts, but its crude and noisy.
 
Originally Posted By: rsylvstr
Originally Posted By: Donald
You must have city water. With a well I need at least 5000 maybe 7500.


220v pump?
I have the 3200 predator and run two window AC units, well, a few lights and the refrigerator.


All the well pumps I have had were 220v and 1/3 HP. One I upgraded to 1/2 HP and that put a real load on my 5000 watt generator.

My current generator is 8000 watts.

My DE home where I will retire has a 6 and a 4 ton heat pump and if I want to run the heat pumps will require a huge generator.
 
Originally Posted By: Donald
You must have city water. With a well I need at least 5000 maybe 7500.


I have a well, 260 feet deep. My well pump is a variable speed Grundfos SQE. There's a sensor that measures the water pressure and controls the pump speed. I can adjust the water pressure between 40 PSI and 70 PSI in 10-psi increments from the control panel.

The well pump is 240V.

I bought a used Square D 2kva transformer for $75 (list is $500 and transformers don't wear out, so I thought it was a decent price). This transformer can be wired several different ways. It can be wired to step 120V up to 240V.

I wired it up to run the well pump from 120V and measured the power consumption using a kill-a-watt with 2 faucets open.

It only pulls 800 watts with 2 faucets open.

It has enough horsepower (and my well has enough yield) to supply full water pressure with almost every faucet in the house turned on, and probably consumes over 3kW when drawing that much water.

In a power outage, however, I don't see needing to ever use more than 2 faucets at a time.

I could run this well pump off an inverter. I have a 1500 watt inverter that should work. I haven't tried it yet, that's on my to-do list. Should be fine with a modified sine wave inverter because the pump motor is controlled by a VFD, which means it converts the 60Hz AC to DC and then to 3-phase AC.

That also means it "soft starts" so there is no big startup surge, unlike a regular well pump.

I like this Grundfoss pump. It's just like having city water--no pressure surges as the well pump cycles on and off.
 
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