New Gen set

[skeets]

OK my Orange brothers, I submit this question to the collective. The old gal has given up the ghost (5.5kw) and while it served admirably for 25 years of use, and and 25 years of abuse have rendered it scrap. Again never loan out your toys! OK the question, is this. While 5.5 KW has done the job I want to for no other reason than to have more than I need, I was thinking 10KW. So,,,,, with out starting a pizzzing contest as to which is better, I want something I can load into the back of the truck and take with me to camp or the folks if need be.
I have head some horror stories about some gen sets that turned me off, and others that are seeming to good to be true. And since the disconnect it already in place with 60 amp breakers and plug I was hoping some real world info from you guys, how your unit worked, single fuel or duel fuel gas or diesel. I will even take input on a PTO unit, if someone has one.

 

[hagrid]

10-12 kilowatt is probably the upper limit for "man portable".

At least for me it will be.

 

[chim]

Shop and compare carefully. Plenty of creative ratings. For example, some "12KW" are only good for a sustained 8kw.

 

[RCW]

skeets- I can’t really recommend this one yet because it’s too new. It has run the house for a few hours without issues. Probably could also run the water heater if needed.

Dual fuel 12kw with 9.5kw running watts on gasoline.

This one is a floating neutral generator. That’s important if feeding a grounded panel.

It is kind of stout at almost 300 (?) pounds - not sure on weight.

 

[Oleracer]

Buy a good honda sized to what you need. You’ll never buy another,as they last a lifetime.
Don’t care what others say they are by far the quietest on the market. Can be pushed to the max no problem. Dual fuel is kinda of a waste on portable gens as propane you loss about 1/3 your working load and they just eat propane.
I have a few gens and the honda just keeps rolling along. Only use a eu2200i on my rv when running one ac unit with easy start. 48 lbs and you can put 2 together. But they aint cheap.
I do have a harbor freight predator that goes to the race track but people hate it as it louder than almost all others. It has dropped a valve… circuit breaker and 2 carburetors so far in 5 years. It was cheap… but never again.

 

[RCW]

Buy a good honda sized to what you need. You’ll never buy another,as they last a lifetime.
Don’t care what others say they are by far the quietest on the market. Can be pushed to the max no problem. Dual fuel is kinda of a waste on portable gens as propane you loss about 1/3 your working load and they just eat propane.
I have a few gens and the honda just keeps rolling along. Only use a eu2200i on my rv when running one ac unit with easy start. 48 lbs and you can put 2 together. But they aint cheap.
I do have a harbor freight predator that goes to the race track but people hate it as it louder than almost all others. It has dropped a valve… circuit breaker and 2 carburetors so far in 5 years. It was cheap… but never again.

I certainly won’t disagree there.

I’ve heard nothing but great things about Honda generators, especially the smaller ones.

I looked at the 10kw +/- portables and was hard to swallow on the $5k+/- price tag.

At $1,400 (25% off) I consider this one a trial. If it were to crap out I would certainly look at Honda again.

 

[DustyRusty]

I have to agree with Oleracer on his opinion of the Honda. I have the eu2200i that I take to the swap meets to keep the lights on. It is so quiet that no one ever objects to the noise. If it is going to sit for long periods, then I would use a gasoline stabilizer. Now I shut off the gas and run it till it stops. Had to clean the carburetor a couple of times because of it getting gummed up from sitting, even with gasoline stabilizer in it. That is the only thing that I don't care about it. I have gotten better about starting it and giving it 15 minutes of exercise when not needed. I have a large 4 cylinder diesel genset that runs the home, and it has worked flawlessly over 10 years. Best money that I have ever invested!

 

[Tughill Tom]

2X's on a Honda, I have a 7000Watt for the house and a 25year old 3000 Watt portable that starts on the 2nd pull.

 

[chris_the_wrench]

Ive got a Firman HO7533 on gas it does 9400 starting and 7500 continuous. I got it a few years ago when I needed 240v on a jobsite. I was able to get it in a few days from Lowes and the price was good. It runs a 240 welder pretty dang well, electric starts right up. NO WAY in heck Im picking it up and putting in my truck. It goes on a trailer for me.

 

[fried1765]

OK my Orange brothers, I submit this question to the collective. The old gal has given up the ghost (5.5kw) and while it served admirably for 25 years of use, and and 25 years of abuse have rendered it scrap. Again never loan out your toys! OK the question, is this. While 5.5 KW has done the job I want to for no other reason than to have more than I need, I was thinking 10KW. So,,,,, with out starting a pizzzing contest as to which is better, I want something I can load into the back of the truck and take with me to camp or the folks if need be.
I have head some horror stories about some gen sets that turned me off, and others that are seeming to good to be true. And since the disconnect it already in place with 60 amp breakers and plug I was hoping some real world info from you guys, how your unit worked, single fuel or duel fuel gas or diesel. I will even take input on a PTO unit, if someone has one.

6500W Honda, 8500W dual fuel DuroMax, 3750W ( Honda power ) Porter Cable, and 2800W Yamaha here..
DuroMax is a $732 low price experiment, since my 6500W Honda seems to have migrated to my youngest son's garage.
All good, ....but the DuroMax is just too recent to make a guess.

 

[lugbolt]

Most of the new ones have CO alarm and shut down. It's a pain in the neck, problematic, oversensitive piece of 'equipment' that is mandatory now. That's all I am saying.

 

[rc51stierhoff]

OK my Orange brothers, I submit this question to the collective. The old gal has given up the ghost (5.5kw) and while it served admirably for 25 years of use, and and 25 years of abuse have rendered it scrap. Again never loan out your toys! OK the question, is this. While 5.5 KW has done the job I want to for no other reason than to have more than I need, I was thinking 10KW. So,,,,, with out starting a pizzzing contest as to which is better, I want something I can load into the back of the truck and take with me to camp or the folks if need be.
I have head some horror stories about some gen sets that turned me off, and others that are seeming to good to be true. And since the disconnect it already in place with 60 amp breakers and plug I was hoping some real world info from you guys, how your unit worked, single fuel or duel fuel gas or diesel. I will even take input on a PTO unit, if someone has one.

Good day.

I am big believer in the good people in North Carolina that build great Honda Engines.

To your question, what do you consider portable?…I think the devil is in the details how you plan to lift and load / unload it.

In my mind they become a handful for one person even before you get up to the size of EM6500s (fold up bike handle types). I think you need 2 people to lift one of them into a truck (or some sort of lift assist - I put mine on a pallet to put in truck). I am pretty sure I don’t want to meet the individual that could carry a 6500, much less a 10000 on their shoulder like a boom box.

So basically IMO, since you have unlimited funds , it comes down to how large a unit you can load and unload for your uses.

 

[woodman55]

I have a 12 Kw baumalite that seems good. But I would not consider it portable, unless you have a trailer for it and the tractor.
I also have a 6500 honda that never missed a beat, but is 20+ years old.

The 12 Kw powers the entire house, where as the 6500 only powered the main parts; water pump; furnace etc.

There is a reason you hear about honda clones and not other brands clones.

 

[Motion]

If this is for your home use, I consider a correctly sized (full house) diesel generator (1800RPM) with either a Kubota or Perkins water cooled engine, with or without an enclosure. Select and size a day tank of your choosing. Permanently install it so it can't be lent. Decide whether to use an automatic or manual transfer switch. You already stock diesel for your tractors and I believe diesel will be more readily available than gas or propane. As far as the camp or other folks get a small gas unit.

 

[DustyRusty]

If this is for your home use, I consider a correctly sized (full house) diesel generator (1800RPM) with either a Kubota or Perkins water cooled engine, with or without an enclosure. Select and size a day tank of your choosing. Permanently install it so it can't be lent. Decide whether to use an automatic or manual transfer switch. You already stock diesel for your tractors and I believe diesel will be more readily available than gas or propane. As far as the camp or other folks get a small gas unit.

This is exactly what I did about 10 years ago before the government started mandating emission changes for stationary engines. I have a 4-cylinder Lister Petter engine mounted to the floor in my garage. I installed a hospital quiet muffler on the machine. It is extremely quiet and you can barely hear it running in the home. Power fails and it automatically starts after 1 minute. When the power is restored, the transfer switch verifies that the power is on for a couple of minutes and then sends a signal to the engine to shut down. It does have a cool-down cycle.
My transfer switch was made by Asco Power Technologies.

 

[22R]

I have a 19 year old Honda EU3000 it still looks new. I use it for Hurricane storm outages to back feed my house. It powers both Fridges a 5K window unit and a few lights at a time. It handles load fine unless two compressors kick on at once. It uses about 3 gals of gas running 13-14 hours. I also bought a back up EU2200i a few years ago and aquired two used Yamahas a EF1000 non inverter and a YG2600 industrial generator. The two Yammys are not as quiet as the Hondas but they was not designed to be but they are very quiet and nice compared to the others noise makers out there.
On a side not my MIL has that Firman pictured above and it is loud and heavy. Big pretty machine but I would not take one if given to me.

 

[chim]

...................Select and size a day tank of your choosing.............................................

We were called to troubleshoot a genset problem at a hospital back in the late 90's. . They had two large diesel generators that quit running during a power failure. Big deal for a hospital. Found the pumps that replenished the day tanks from the large underground tanks were connected to normal power.

 

[fried1765]

If this is for your home use, I consider a correctly sized (full house) diesel generator (1800RPM) with either a Kubota or Perkins water cooled engine, with or without an enclosure. Select and size a day tank of your choosing. Permanently install it so it can't be lent. Decide whether to use an automatic or manual transfer switch. You already stock diesel for your tractors and I believe diesel will be more readily available than gas or propane. As far as the camp or other folks get a small gas unit.

"correctly sized (full house) diesel generator" = MEGA BUCKS,.....for emergency use only?

 

[fried1765]

This is exactly what I did about 10 years ago before the government started mandating emission changes for stationary engines. I have a 4-cylinder Lister Petter engine mounted to the floor in my garage. I installed a hospital quiet muffler on the machine. It is extremely quiet and you can barely hear it running in the home. Power fails and it automatically starts after 1 minute. When the power is restored, the transfer switch verifies that the power is on for a couple of minutes and then sends a signal to the engine to shut down. It does have a cool-down cycle.
My transfer switch was made by Asco Power Technologies.

A "Lister Petter" generator is the very best that money can buy.
150 years of Lister Petter engines made.
Few are aware of the brand!

 

[DustyRusty]

"correctly sized (full house) diesel generator" = MEGA BUCKS,.....for emergency use only?

Around here an emergency can last 7 to 10 days before power is restored.