Generators

[tambo]

Tell us what kind of generator you have. What size is it and what have you powered with it? If you like or dislike it.

Tammy

[BRYAN]

I have a coleman (5hp B&S) verticle shaft 2500 w surge that cost about $299 8 or 9 yrs ago. It will run my deep freeze and refridgerator along with a few lights. We use it for emergency backup only. The benifit of using as small a unit is logistics. During the week after Gustov hit we ran it morning and evening for about 2.5 hrs each time. We get about 4-5 hrs running per gallon of gas and during that 7 days we used about 8-9 gallons. That is important to us, when emergencies hit gas is hard to find. I used to have a 6500w surge with a B&S that burned about a 2-3qts per hr operation, a Honda would have done better, but not a lot. A person I know has a large LP gas generator unit to power his whole home, during Gustov aftermath he burned $1100 of gas in 10 days to live the same lifestyle when to power was out. People need to define their need and plan accordingly.

[Hoop]

I owned a Coleman Powermate 5500 watt 10 horsepower Tecumseh engine generator. It was before I had my electricity hooked up......and I used it to build my garage/house.

It cost $550. You get what you pay for. A comparable Honda generator would cost 3 - 4 times this amount.

When it was only about a month old, the rotor went out. The good people at Coleman did their best to deny me repairs under warranty, but did come around. It was fixed under warranty. The repairs took 5 weeks.
The Tecumseh engine refused to start when temps got lower than 32 degrees. I had to use a very small propane heater to heat up the engine block to have any chance at all of the thing starting in cool temps.

Shortly after my electrical service was installed, the engine refused to start. I gave the generator away, knowing that it had frustrated me enough to last a lifetime.

Would I ever own another Coleman generator? Never. If someone gave me one, I'd sell it on Craigslist immediately.

I am thinking about purchasing another generator so that when the power goes out around here (always caused by wind storms knocking down power lines) I'll have something to "get by" with. The generator will be a Honda.

[BTO]

I have a Makita 5.5KW. It cost me $1800 but it is an excellent machine.

[-TWO-]

A Lincoln Weldnpower, 7500w. I mostly use it as a welder but we can run the whole place with it if we have to. Bought it new in 1990. Its been a real good machine, but its a little thirsty (a gallon an hour under a load).

[Callieslamb]

We have a Debilvus 5500 watts. We have actually never used it. We bought it during a power outage when Debilvus (local) was selling them at cost - $500 to help the community out. Once we brought it home, our elec came back on within the hour so we loaned it to others so they could have elec. We just bought a conversion kit for it to make it run on propane rather than gasoline. Since we are in the middle of a move, we are waiting to see what happens. We hope to actually just leave the portable one as gasoline powered and buy a propane powered one that is a bit larger. We can run our well, freezers, fridge, lights and a few other things with this one, but the idea is to get battery back-up power so the generator charges the batteries. We can store propane more easily that we can store gasoline.

[Oldcountryboy]

I have a Briggs & Stratton 5500 watt/8550 starting watt generator. I bought it almost 2 years ago when we got hit by a icestorm that put us out of electricity for 2 weeks. On day 7 we went out and bought it for $800. Regulerly $600 with no icestorm. It has two 110 volt outlets and one 220v outlet. It also came with a extension cord that plugs into the 110 outlets and divides into 4 different outlets so you can run several extension cords off of it.

It was very handy during our icestorm but since then they have come along and cleared out all the power lines. It maybe another 30 years or more before we ever have another icestorm such as we did 2 years ago. So when I'll use the generator next, I have no ideal. I sometimes wonder if I shouldn't sell it and use the money to buy something a little smaller. I've been wanting to rig me up a gigging boat with lights and will need a small generator. The big generator I got now would be too big and heavy for a small boat.

But then I might ought to keep it cause it might come in handy again for emergencies or for special occasions.

[mtman]

we have a 5000 coleman we can run the whole house and the 220 water pump on it but not the electric heat we used it for 14 stright days the last tornado it is about 6 years old never a bitt of trouble the next one we get will run off the back of the tractor,the propane ones use to much fuel

[Iddee]

I have 4. Three run off the PTO of my tractor. 2 are fifteen KW, 110 and 220. The third is 30 KW 110, 220 single phase, 220 three phase.

The fourth is 1850 watts for carry around. Running a saw, drill or similar.

Two of the PTO powered are for sale.

15 KW will run the average household.