Love this thread
Love this thread
#RESIST
Is everyone with the Harbor Freight Predator 3500 still happy with it? Looking for something I can plug my fridge and freezer into in case of power outages and to use occasionally with a 22' travel trailer.
Yup. My best friend just used the heck out of his when Hurricane Sally smashed northwest Florida not long ago. It powered his window mount AC, freezer, some appliances, lights, and fridge easily and without drama.Originally Posted by Up1911Fan
#RESIST
We have been slammed with the worst ice storm in my memory and I thought I'd post up something I discovered.
I'm running two generators. A 5500 watt Coleman Powermate with a 10hp Yamaha engine only as needed and almost all the time a tiny Honda EU1000i inverter generator which is powering the iMac, cable modem and router which I'm using at the moment. The other thing it's powering is my central heat which is natural gas.
I splurged a few years back and had a whole new central heat and air system installed. We moved the ducts to the attic, poured concrete in all the old floor ducts, and also put the heating unit and air handler/condensing coil in the attic. It has a wireless remote thermostat in addition to the wall mounted thermostat along with a few circuit boards in the system. I really didn't want to risk blowing any of those in the middle of an ice storm running on my bigger generator with a noisy sine wave. So I got out the install specs and low and behold the little 1000 watt inverter generator was right on the max current draw for my unit. It's the ultra high 97% efficiency super duper unit (when it was new) with the soft start motors and all that wonderful hippy approved stuff. So I unplugged it from the wall socket and ran a cord to it and gave it a shot. To my amazement the little Honda barely even notices when the load hits upon startup. It just hums along with the eco throttle switch turned on which is a really high idle, it throttles up automatically if needed. It holds a whopping 2.1 liters of gas and will run over 8 hours. To say that I'm pleased is a drastic understatement. This has saved me at least 20 gallons of gas and I'm only on day 3.
I just run my bigger Coleman during the day for the fridge, deep freeze, microwave and coffee maker. I'll run the dishwasher and washer and dryer (also gas) switching out a few cords as needed. I love Honda generators and natural gas!
My next house will definitely have a whole house Generac backup system installed. I'll use these for the shop with an exterior connection plug and proper service panel and wiring.
A neighbor has one and I asked about it this summer. He said he's never had an issue with it and they have a big fifth wheel with a large A/C unit.
-Seconds Count. Misses Don't-
Not bad, but when the time comes, REALLY do your homework on who makes the whole house generator unit. I've seen a lot of them put in around here right after Hurricane Sandy. I also know when we've had major outages in town (i'm on the fringe, and technically on a different segment of the grid, so my town can be dark and i'll be lit up.) I see a LOT of the generator repair vans around after there's been call for their use. Generac makes fantastic portable units; they seem to make only so-so whole house ones though. I'm sure there's an aspect of stupid people not keeping up on maintenance or something, but I'd still caution doing extensive research.
Don't forget to change your oil. Recommended intervals is 100 hours of runtime.We have been slammed with the worst ice storm in my memory and I thought I'd post up something I discovered.
I'm running two generators. A 5500 watt Coleman Powermate with a 10hp Yamaha engine only as needed and almost all the time a tiny Honda EU1000i inverter generator which is powering the iMac, cable modem and router which I'm using at the moment. The other thing it's powering is my central heat which is natural gas.
I splurged a few years back and had a whole new central heat and air system installed. We moved the ducts to the attic, poured concrete in all the old floor ducts, and also put the heating unit and air handler/condensing coil in the attic. It has a wireless remote thermostat in addition to the wall mounted thermostat along with a few circuit boards in the system. I really didn't want to risk blowing any of those in the middle of an ice storm running on my bigger generator with a noisy sine wave. So I got out the install specs and low and behold the little 1000 watt inverter generator was right on the max current draw for my unit. It's the ultra high 97% efficiency super duper unit (when it was new) with the soft start motors and all that wonderful hippy approved stuff. So I unplugged it from the wall socket and ran a cord to it and gave it a shot. To my amazement the little Honda barely even notices when the load hits upon startup. It just hums along with the eco throttle switch turned on which is a really high idle, it throttles up automatically if needed. It holds a whopping 2.1 liters of gas and will run over 8 hours. To say that I'm pleased is a drastic understatement. This has saved me at least 20 gallons of gas and I'm only on day 3.
I just run my bigger Coleman during the day for the fridge, deep freeze, microwave and coffee maker. I'll run the dishwasher and washer and dryer (also gas) switching out a few cords as needed. I love Honda generators and natural gas!
My next house will definitely have a whole house Generac backup system installed. I'll use these for the shop with an exterior connection plug and proper service panel and wiring.
-Seconds Count. Misses Don't-
Mom's getting her 9000W unit back soon. It needed some TLC, but then what doesn't.
Picked one up this morning. $700 out the door with a coupon.
"It holds a whopping 2.1 liters of gas and will run over 8 hours. "
That's the magic. We have an EU2000, and we use maybe a quart of gas a day. Our outages are in the winter, so we run it for an hour every few hours to let the furnace heat the house and the fridge to cool down, and charge the neighborhood's cell phones as a fringe benefit. And that consumption means a five gallon gas can will run us for pushing 3 weeks.
That's niiiiiceee.
There are use cases for bigger generators - Florida in the summer when life without AC is miserable. Or if you just want life to be normal - a relative has a 5KW diesel with a 1000 gallon tank. But not having to store large quantities of gas and still be able to outlast any reasonable outage w/o the pipes freezing - that's the sweet spot for us.
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