What's your favorite generator for around $1,000? I'd like to pick one up very soon to have for a little back up power on the house. What brands are best right now? Is there an obscure brand that is less than the big names that is proving to be a good unit? ect...
Champion Generators?
- Thread starter Greg
- Start date
Predator (HF), Champion, Firman (Costco) all seem to be really popular right now.
The Predator 3500W inverters are super nice and I was amazed by how quiet they are for the size. I think they're right around $1k and that's where I'd spend my money if I was getting one.
The Predator 3500W inverters are super nice and I was amazed by how quiet they are for the size. I think they're right around $1k and that's where I'd spend my money if I was getting one.
ID Bronco
Registered User
- Location
- Idaho Falls, ID
You'll need a big one for back up power vs. camping. I have an 8K watt for the house, it will run both refridgerator/freezers and boiler. Must haves.
I'm looking at the 6250w Champion on Amazon for just shy of $1,000. I need to add up the draw from certain appliances around the house, but our home generally has a pretty low power consumption.
lhracing
Well-Known Member
- Location
- Layton, UT
I have one of these Westinghouse IG4500, is seems to be pretty nice. It is also marketed as the Cummins Onan P4500i.
https://www.amazon.com/Westinghouse...locphy=9029703&hvtargid=pla-465828932325&th=1
https://www.amazon.com/Westinghouse...locphy=9029703&hvtargid=pla-465828932325&th=1
I went a little different direction for my emergency genny needs. I test-ran my old Coleman 1850 running my furnace and a freezer, and it did fine. I never needed to use it in anger, but I have since replaced it with a Predator 2000, so it will not be obnoxiously loud whenever I do need to use it. I'm not trying to run everything in the house, just enough to get by until the power can be restored. I figure either the gen will run my fridge, freezer, and furnace, or if it doesn't I can alternate the fridge and freezer. I should be able to survive more-or-less indefinitely that way.
I’ve got this guy for sale.
Champion 9,000 Watt Electric Start Generator
https://classifieds.ksl.com/listing/66188745
Champion 9,000 Watt Electric Start Generator
https://classifieds.ksl.com/listing/66188745
SLC97SR5
IDIesel
- Location
- Davis County
RMP had the power off for 5 hours for "upgrades" today. I fired up our little a-ipower SC2300I genset from Costco.
It ran the Wi-Fi, fridge, garage lights and furnace. It is a sweet little unit.
We have a larger 9000W dual-fuel Champion that has been great but the noise and fuel consumption is pretty bad. It is the same model Jeeper has for sale. I wanted it for powering the entire house and have it set up with a quick disconnect hose for the houses NG line. A gen of this size is annoying to setup for a quick outage.
For the larger gens I've found it best to wire a plug and manual transfer switch right up to your main panel but that comes with its own potential risks.
We have a small generator transfer panel that is wired into our sub-panel to feed strategic circuits. Our transfer panel is old but there are many updated units available.
I've got 5 hours on the little Yamaha and added a magnetic dipstick and 5w-30 full synthetic oil.
I don't think you can go wrong with the a-ipower and maybe pick up a second so you can parallel them. They advertise 8 hours of runtime on 1 gallon of gas...that seems to be accurate.
Attachments
- Location
- West Haven, UT
I think so. much quieter
ID Bronco
Registered User
- Location
- Idaho Falls, ID
Absolutely if anyone will be within 100 feet of it.
Have any of you installed a muffler on your generators? I got one because apparently ogden city has unofficial rolling blackouts disguised as scheduled maintenance. 6 times this month alone. I bought an inverter machine, but it's still louder than I thought. I'm sure my neighbors aren't too happy about hearing it for an hour straight while I keep the fridge/freezer cold. Any suggestions for a generator newbie?
- Location
- The Land Northward (Bountiful), Utah
Do it. Let us know how it goes
- Location
- West Haven, UT
I've seen some people build little weather-proof enclosures that also act as sound abatement. If I were going through the trouble, weather proofing and adding security (so it doesn't walk off at night) would be main engineering goals.
The generator was advertised as having a 57dba noise level, but with my super fine tuned cell phone app it reads between 65-75dba. That's with me standing about 30ft away. Is that normal? You can't hear it that much inside, but I don't want to annoy my neighbors if they're doing things outside or if I need to run it at night.