Powerhorse Generator - Northern Tool

[DMCakhunter]

Should have done this a while ago. Have had a powerhorse 3500 inverter generator for 4 years. The unit works great on our toy hauler camper and runs the 15000 btu AC unit where the Honda 3000 would not. Only a 110 pounds so easily portable, only drawback is the 2.5 gallon tank, which is still good for 7 to 8 hours of run time.  Has 2 120 volt 20 amp plugs and one 120 volt 30 amp plug. Includes a small battery for electric start and a recoil rope start.
Also have a powerhorse 7500 inverter unit at our Wisconsin lake cabin. Seems power goes out on a regular basis and this unit runs the entire place, selectively. Not to code but we back feed thru a 50 amp camper connection on the garage.
One thing, remove the spark arrestors. They are just in the way unless you must have them.
Just got another 7500 for our house. Not near big enough to run electric heat and cooling but will run all fridges / freezers and a lot of lights. Will also run 2 space heaters if needed in winter. Again, back feed thru camper outlet

[gadget99]

We have been thinking of getting a few generators. We have a very small 800w 2 stroke we have had for years. Only got it due to it being so cheap.

Going to get off the pot though. I have a feeling events are going to conspire this winter to cause blackouts. The energy infrastructure here in the UK is barely up to the task in normal times.

I just wish the diesel generators here were not double the price of petrol ones.

A Soldier for life

[JoJo]

 I have a 7,500 watt Champion generator which should run just about everything I have. Heat and cooking is by propane so all I need is to run the heater fan. I have a transfer plate that allows me to change from dedicated electric to my generator. I can run everything as if I was connected to the electric company.
 
https://www.interlockkit.com/

[pkveazey]

So far, so good here at my house. I bought a DeVilbis 10KW surge/8KW continuous Generator about 20 years ago and it has served me well on many occasions when the power went out. It has a 14 HP Briggs and Stratton Vee Twin gas engine. It has a 120/240 switch on it and I use it to backfeed 240 to the house. Even though it still runs like new, I got concerned about it crapping out one day so I bought everything I need to go Solar. Hmmmmm..... All those years ago, I paid about $1300 for the Generator and in todays world I had to pay about $2700 for the Solar system. I have a 1 KW, 120 volt inverter and a 5KW 240 volt inverter. The solar system is almost as powerful as the Generator. I will continue to use the Generator as long as it works and only switch to Solar as a last resort. Now that I've made that stupid ass statement, it is possible that I may want a totally quiet system to not alert bad guys. At the moment, I have the entire Solar System stored inside the house because I can haul it all outside and put it together in about 1 hour if I have to. What? Why don't I set it up now? Hmmmm..... Well, I'm a bit concerned about thieves stealing the panels in the middle of the night. Once I have to install all that stuff, we'll be in a DEFCON 1 mode and one of us will be guarding that stuff 24/7.

[pkveazey]

Generator Update: Today, I went out and fired up the generator and ran it with the Bench grinder turned on so it would be running under a load. About 10 minutes was plenty of running time to make sure the Generator didn't lose its magnetism. If they set unused for too long, they can lose their ability to send out electricity and you have to fire up the generator and spike the 120 volt outlet to get it to work. Well, that's easy enough, but anytime you spike it, you run the risk of damaging the internal electronic components. Its better to just use the generator at least once every two months. I got lucky. Mine worked fine after sitting for about 4 or 5 months.

[Searchboss]

I have a 1 year old small, light 800w Sportsman Inverter Generator (they call it a 1000w generator, but that is surge, not constant use) that I use intermittently to recharge a dedicated Optima Yellowtop battery which I use to power 12v lights, fans, radios, etc., as well as a USB charging station when we go tent camping 3 or 4 times a year and to power amateur radio equipment during field days. So far it has worked great.

We live in a subdivision. We seldom loose power, but it does happen, usually during/after a hurricane-remnant storm front passes through or if there is a tornado or strong wind event nearby. Most of the time the power is back on in under an hour or two, but twice in the past five years the power was off for 4+ days. That was expensive due to losing all the frozen and refrigerated food in the house.

This prompted me to look for a generator that would allow me to power all the refrigerators/freezers in the house along with some lights, fans, and the microwave. A fellow prepper found a good deal on Ebay for a DuroMax 10000-Watt Electric Start Dual Fuel Portable Generator https://www.duromaxpower.com/products/duromax-xp10000eh-10000-watt-electric-start-dual-fuel-hybrid-portable-generator and told me about it, so I ordered one. It runs on gasoline or LP Gas. This thing comes with wheels and can be moved similar to a wheelbarrow, but weighs about 250 lbs. While I can move it, I would not exactly call it “portable”. It was a bit larger than what I was originally looking for, but the price was fantastic, not to mention the extra power available.

I have had this generator for about 2 years now and have not yet had to use it in an emergency. I run it for 30 minutes about every six weeks on LP gas and it has always started up and run without a problem so far. I have already used it once to power the equipment I want to run during a power outage just to ensure that I have everything needed to do so, and it worked better than I expected, although it was a bit of work to run extension cables, etc., but it was good practice. I am now thinking of adding a transfer panel to the house to make it easier to use in the future.

[JohnyMac]

Thx Searchboss. I am looking for a new one and this sounds interesting. Thx for the recommendation.