Generator

I started running corn free gas in all my small engines when I got my first Stihl. I wish I could buy it locally. I'd be interested in trying it in my truck, just to compare it to corn gas, and see if there's a difference. My hunch is mpg would slightly increase, but not enough to offset the added cost. It's more expensive anyway, and I have to buy in PA, so it gets more tax.
 
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  • #128
treesmith said:
I use non-ethanol in the generator, my zero-turn, my Polaris Ranger and my boat motors. Saws, weedeater and Wraptor get ethanol. Still feel better about draining the Benny as it may sit 5 years between uses.
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I might too Scott, if my needs for the genny were that infrequent. But in the year and a little that I've had it, it's been in operation about 60 hours now, at a guess about 10 individual times. This past year+ might be a little above average for outages, but not all that much.

At this level of use, I don't think properly stabilized fuel is going to hurt my generator. And to be sure, I am keeping a log, and when the dedicated, stabilized 5 gallon jug has any fuel left after 18 months, it goes in the mower/tractor/truck and is replaced with fresh.
 
What kind of fuel do you buy Burnham? I haven't been bothering to use stabilizer in the corn free gas. Maybe I should. I overbought the last time, and it's now about a year old, maybe a little more.
 
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  • #130
Plain jane 87 octane 10 percent ethanol, John. You may well be fine with the non-ethanol gasoline. The generator I am treating with care. I do not want to need it and not have it answer my call. A chainsaw, a weed whipper, a mower...does not start and run on demand...well, that's a frustration, but it's not the loss of hundreds of dollars of food in my freezer and refrigerator.

I'm just not convinced, based on my own experience, that 10 percent ethanol fuel is a problem...I know I am in the minority in this. But since all but my one Honda powered small engine machines swallow long amounts of down time and start and run sweetly without special expensive gasoline...I remain a sceptic :).
 
That's a good site, and it looks like there's more than last time I looked, but most are on the eastern shore. Probably for marine use. Unless there's an unpublished station around here, the one I'm going to is the closest. It's 20mi from my house, and 10mi from work. pretty much a straight line.

I try to get it when I'm at work, and even better, working on a job out that way. Hard to tie all those variables together though. That's how I overbought fuel. I was working near the sawshop, and picked up a 5G NO-SPILL gascan. Figured I'd fill it on my way back to the office. That coincided with reduced saw use, and a pushmower instead of my riding mower, so the gas stuck around longer than usual, cause I already had 10G-15G at home.
 
Check out the Taryl Fixes Long Term Fuel Test (google will get you to one or more episodes). He tests most of the stabilizers out there. Please consider his shtick as humour. I believe the conclusion was eventually gunk usually forms in the float bowl and clogs the jet(s).

ps my buddy gave me a Chonda 1500W that has a dedicated 12Vdc output for battery charging. How thoughtful on the 12V.
 
Same as in OP actually.
Straight from Wen for over $100 less though.

The Kohler is bigger and uses much fuel while we don't use anywhere near what it produces electrically.
 
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  • #137
We lost power day before yesterday, restored last night after bedtime. The WEN genny ran uninterrupted for about 30 hours, refueled twice. Only powering the refrigerator full time, and a couple of lights in the living room and kitchen in the evenings.

That meant I could run it in eco mode the whole time, which is really quiet and just sips fuel. I was getting 10+ hours run time from 1/2 gallon of fuel. Better than when new, not surprisingly. Less oil consumption as well. It has about 100 hours on it now.

I'm still very happy with the choice.
 
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  • #138
Oh, and it was mid-teens when I brought it up to the house from its storage place in one of our (unheated) sheds. Started on the 4th pull.
 
Burnham said:
We lost power day before yesterday, restored last night after bedtime. The WEN genny ran uninterrupted for about 30 hours, refueled twice. Only powering the refrigerator full time, and a couple of lights in the living room and kitchen in the evenings.

That meant I could run it in eco mode the whole time, which is really quiet and just sips fuel. I was getting 10+ hours run time from 1/2 gallon of fuel. Better than when new, not surprisingly. Less oil consumption as well. It has about 100 hours on it now.

I'm still very happy with the choice.
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Do you have it wired into your house or just run a bunch of extension cords?
 
I bought a few inverter generators last year from Harbor Freight. The little guy is good for running 3kW @ 120v and weighs ~100lb, light enough to load solo by hand. The bigger units are each good for 7.6kW @ 240v and weigh around 250lb. Being inverter based, they can be paralleled to combine output, the pair can supply 63 amps @ 240v and surge to 79 amps, I could parallel the smaller unit if I had a pair.

I got the little guy for ~$550 from the as-is table, the bigger units I combined a Black Friday sale with the "open a credit card and get 10% off" deal, making them $1709 each.
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The smaller unit also gets used to make the lift into a light tower. I'm a dealer for the lights (and the lift 😂), the studio where Carly dances was having a fall festival kinda thing in the parking lot, and commercial property manager wanted lighting in the field for people parking. I like the solution a good bit more than tranditional light towers, the light is high enought to not offend the eyes.


View attachment cm-chat-media-video-PRAGMANIC~D4E36952-7ECB-4351-99F0-26945C73327A.MP4
 

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  • #146
flushcut said:
Do you have it wired into your house or just run a bunch of extension cords?
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It's not hard wired. After all, it's just a small portable generator, 2250 max watts. KISS.

And not a bunch of extension cords. Just one very heavy duty 75 footer to run power from the shed where the genny sits while running, into the house via a kitchen window. The refrigerator plugs direct into that. That extension cord has a three plug head, so from there I run a single heavy duty 25 foot extension into the living room for the floor lamp we use for lighting as needed.
 
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  • #147
The 2250 max watts is deceiving. It will only provide that for a surge requirement lasting 10 seconds or so. For full time continuous output, more like 1800, and 2200 at surge. And that's at full throttle. I really like running it on eco mode, which drops you to about 1350 watts. It is sooo fuel efficient and quiet at that rpm level. The refrigerator needs 800 watts running, but surges something like 400 more on compressor startup. So in eco mode I have about 150 watts extra for lights, or whatever else. Not a lot, but plenty for our needs/lifestyle :). Using led lightbulbs helps a lot with that.
 
We have a 20x80 barn thats 1/4+ mile from power....its wired for lights both ground level and in the loft. 2500 watt generator is kept there.
I really need to get off my arse and change every bulb to led. I can kill the poor genny with all the lights on.
Thank god for modern cordless tools!

Ed
 
Burnham said:
It's not hard wired. After all, it's just a small portable generator, 2250 max watts. KISS.

And not a bunch of extension cords. Just one very heavy duty 75 footer to run power from the shed where the genny sits while running, into the house via a kitchen window. The refrigerator plugs direct into that. That extension cord has a three plug head, so from there I run a single heavy duty 25 foot extension into the living room for the floor lamp we use for lighting as needed.
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There's the option where you disconnect the house from the grid (main breaker) which opens the interlock to flip the breaker that allows you to backfeed the house via an exterior plug that connects to the generator in a compliant way.
 
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  • #150
Sure, but since I have such limited total wattage to use (by design), there is little benefit in feeding into the main distribution panel. I'd need to close all but 1 or possibly 2 of the 20 circuits on the panel. The way I do it is mighty simple. Inexpensive, too. Suits my needs fine.
 
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