I now have five or six generators. But this new Firman Generator is "SUPER SWEET". I figured that being an oldman that electric start will be handy at some point. The State of Alaska gave us all $1,606.00 just for living here in paradise. So the generator was $699.99 so I still have $900.00 for more guns or ammo. Did I ever mention that Alaska is WONDERFUL. https://www.firmanpowerequipment.com/shop/h07552-7500-watt-dual-fuel-electric/#
Actually I don't really have it yet, but friends picked it up at COSTCO in Los'Anchorage, Alaska today for me, so I should have it next weekend.
SourDough, So do you all have to pay house property tax or any personal property taxes or is that all covered by the revenue from the natural resources?
I pay no real estate property tax. And get free hunting-fishing-trapping license, Free vehicle registration tags forever, this is because I am age 65 or older. No income tax here, No sales tax if I buy in Los'Anchorage. 3% sales tax if I order from AMAZON.COM House property tax depends on where you live.......When I lived on Lake Clark there was no property tax, that borough taxes the commercial fishing industry in Bristol Bay for government revenue, and that gets passed onto people in America who buy Salmon. I even get one "Beaver" and day on my subsistence hunting-fishing-trapping permit. The one "Beaver" a day really cracks my up. I think that is hysterically funny.
It's Chinese. https://www.firmanpowerequipment.com/about-2/ http://www.sinomach.com.cn/en/Products/ I would have bought a Honda inverter model myself. That one is going to be sucking down a lot of fuel. I had a Coleman that was a little smaller that would go through 5 gallons every eight hours even with light loads. My Honda runs all the same items but uses about 1 gallon in 12 hours. It would also be a good idea to get a solar trickle charger to keep the starting battery fully charged and protected from freezing.
What are the others, and any of them standby/whole house/non-portable ones you can recommend (assuming they're still being sold)? I'll be in the market for a new one soon I fear, and not at all impressed with the reviews of the Generac brand which seems to have taken over this market.
There is sooooo much to know in making decisions about generators. I have likely gone through about 20 generators in the last 55 years. There is "NO" clean-cut and simple answer. I have diesel generators that are massive and very heavy, they require heavy equipment to move. Diesels run at 1,800 RPM and are generally always liquid cooled, They are great for very remote hunting lodges and fishing lodges, etc.. But diesels require daily maintained. Gas or propane generators run at 3,600 RPM. And that causes massive vibration, which "fairly" quickly rattles then apart. Plus they are "Air cooled" which is not as good as liquid cooled. These generators are disposable, they are cheap to purchase and intended for short term period use and only very occasional use. They don't like to run for long periods. No generator wants to run out of fuel while carrying a heavy load. Clearly identify your need, accept that anything short of $8,000.00 to $15,999.00 is going to be at best a temporary and short term fix. In deep "BUSH" Alaska you want two large diesel generators and about four gas generators. All in fairly good running order. Don't think that for $400.00 you are going to purchase anything but a short term Band-Aid to temporally endure a weather related power outage.
Calculate your power usage to determine how large a unit you really need. Getting one too large wastes money and getting one too small creates excess wear. That will give you a starting point in deciding what works best for your situation. Inverter generators automatically vary their speed depending on the load, so they will use a lot less fuel.
Battery bank with a charger/inverter and a gen set to charger it with so you can get maximum use of the generator while it is running.
I agree 100%.................My problem is getting "QUALITY" advise on that. There is no shortage of "EXPERTS" with very limited knowledge as to what they did. I want more then "Limited Knowledge" on this subject.
I have lead/acid batteries. Were I buying them today I'd take a good look at the newer technology batteries with a 20 year life expectancy and the ability to draw down much lower than the 50% max of lead/acid. Less space, less weight, longer life. I'll replace my batteries with the newer technology when these go out. I'll make that decision when the time comes and I expect there will be more changes as time goes on.
That's what we do, Xantrex 4024 inverter/charger that is user programmable to start the generator and charge the batteries as needed. We don't run anything directly off the generator, it's wired to the Xantrex and whether pulling AC off the gen to run appliances, charge the batteries, or converting DC to AC from the batteries it's all though the inverter. Quality on gensets is a major concern, I've read many of the less expensive ones are really only rated for a few hundreds of hours of use. I've got over 7,000 hours on a 13 yr old Coleman Powermate (9.5kW, propane, Honda GX engine, brushless alternator) and it's still running fine with only oil, filter, and spark plug maintenance. Thinking about ordering one of these, with a similar design, before mine dies so it's ready to be installed and I don't risk it being discontinued. https://www.electricgeneratorsdirect.com/Winco-ULPSS12H2W-Standby-Generator/p51063.html Non-portable/standby generators with Honda engines and brushless alternators are hard to find in the ~10kW range. I rarely pull more than about 5 kW / 40 amps from our gen, so the long life may be partly due to only running it at about 50% load. Whatever the case, looking for one just like the Powermate since it's been so good to us (but is no longer sold). We're using lead/acid batteries as well. Rolls brand, same age as the generator and they still work but don't hold a charge as well as they did. Haven't decided what I'll replace them with, but considering newer tech as you mentioned.
That's the same model I have. I just finished rigging it to run off a 6 gallon boat tank or from standard 5 gallon cans so it can go for days at a time without refueling. My wife loves it because she can start it with one hand.
I like the 5 gallon tank idea -- why didn't I think of that!? We got our eu2000 a couple years back for our little travel trailer and it always starts on the first or second pull. With LED bulbs, we can provide all the lights we need, and can also charge our radios, flashlights and even the laptop. However, in a really long term scenario, we need to cone up with a better approach, which I think will be a PV array with a couple deep cycle batteries and an inverter. That's probably going to cost as much as the generator, unfortunately...
All it takes is a few fittings and some hose. There are lots of Youtube videos on "extended run generators". I already had the boat tanks and only needed one extra fitting, some hose and some vent caps to make it work with the 5 gallon cans too. https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B001O0DENK/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1 It's much easier to switch the cap on a can than it is to try and pour a gallon into the small tank on the generator. I also added an inline fuel filter to keep out any trash. Amazon sells replacement caps that fit most fuel cans, and I simply drilled a hole in one and screwed in the quick-connect fitting and a piece of hose to reach the bottom of the can. It also has to be vented when in use. https://www.amazon.com/EZ-Pour-Gas-...SBPBXXZ2D7E&psc=1&refRID=C278EQDF2SBPBXXZ2D7E The set up will work on any generator that uses a fuel pump instead of a gravity fed fuel system.
Watch some videos first since there are lots of variations on ways to do it. I used the fittings I have been using on boats for decades, but you could also do it crudely with a few hose barbs and a length of hose. I wanted something both easy and safe since it's no fun going out in a hurricane to refill the generator in the dark, and it's possible my wife would need to do it alone. You will also need to modify the cap on the generator's fuel tank, or buy one already threaded to accept a fitting. I chose to do the latter so I will still be able to run it normally or from a remote tank just by changing the cap. It has to be airtight to make it work. https://www.amazon.com/s?k=eu2000i+...V&sprefix=eu2000i+,aps,215&ref=nb_sb_ss_i_6_8 I got the 3 piece set but the tank cap is all that is required: https://www.amazon.com/Yoursme-Alum...d=1573798212&sprefix=eu2000i+,aps,215&sr=8-10
About how many years do those home backup generators last? We have maybe one to two power outages a year.
My last one went 8 years before I ever had any problems. I believe all it needed was a new carburetor, but it was noisy and used 5 gallons of gas every 8 hours. It sat on a small trailer and I had built a plywood enclosure for it so I could run it even if it was raining. It required going outside to refill and my wife had a very hard time starting it. It would take several two-handed pulls most of the time. My enclosure was getting in bad shape and then it wouldn't run at all unless I sprayed starting fluid in the carb. Rather than spend the money to fix it, I decided to get the Honda. It only weighs about 50 lbs and can be carried around like a suitcase, although I keep it sitting in a wagon very similar to this. It starts with one or two easy, one handed pulls and is so quiet the sound of the TV at normal volume will drown it out. Instead of building a big enclosure I can just roll the wagon up on the covered porch so it's well protected and I stay dry when refilling. We've had it about 3 years now and it's paid for itself in the amount of food it's saved during hurricanes. The longest outage was nearly 5 days and I only used a little over 10 gallons of gas. I've heard of people who have had no problems with them even after 10 years. That will depend largely on how well you take care of it though, but there's nothing hard about maintaining them. What model and size you need will be determined by the loads required, but you can't go wrong with any of the Honda's. https://www.chainsawjournal.com/best-generator-for-the-money/
For at least 13 years and 7,000 hours, and hopefully a lot more, if it's a Honda running off propane. For long life and reliability only buy Honda generators, and always use full synthetic oil (imo). Buy once, cry once warning however. An old gasoline 1kW Honda I bought back in the mid-90's, has 600+ hours on it and still runs great. It doesn't get used much anymore but I fire it up a couple times a year just make sure it's still running good. I pull the plug and squirt a little oil in the cylinder then pull it a couple times before putting it away again. It's normal home is in the basement, in a box lined with heavy duty aluminum wrap because, well, you know...
10 gallons is pretty impressive. I do like Honda myself. They make a great car, too. Though, they are sought after for a GTA since I guess the car parts are interchangeable or something.
