Originally Posted by daves87rs
Hi everyone !
I need to grab a generator for my home. For the last few years, I've borrowed one if we need it. I fear it is going to be a summer with a lot of storms and outages...
With a tight budget due to the current situation, I am looking more for a basic one. Pretty much to keep the appliances going, maybe a fan. (Mostly the Fridge)
I see the Harbor Freight ones, and also ones from retailers that look like it in different colors. Looking for suggestions , as there are quite a few out there......
While I've been happy with my Harbor Freight generator, do pay attention to the ratings. Example, my Predator 4000 has some fine print associated with it. First, it's 4000 watt surge, 3200 continuous. In addition to being 3200 watt continuous, it has two separate stators on the generator head, so a single load is limited to 1600 watts, or 13 amps on one 120 volt circuit. In other words, if I want to plug in a 15 amp appliance, I'm out of luck.
That said, I've had it running my refrigerator, sump pump, lighting, and furnace with no trouble when we had a tree take out the power lines for 24 hours one winter. Loaned it to some friends a little later when they had their power out and they were able to run a couple of space heaters when Ohio Edison said it would be a couple of days to get their power restored.
Don't forget to to keep stabilizer in fuel supply, and be sure to run it periodically with a load. Generator heads losing their residual magnetism and not being able to self-excite is a real thing if they sit unused for a long time. I run mine with a 500 watt halogen work light once a month for a 1/2 hour.