Portable generators

[computerspook]

Have used the harbor frieght units. And they do well. Now I use and abuse the heck out of them. And normally have only gotten like 3 or 4 years out of one. But we are talking situations where they run 24 hours a day for several days with only very minimum shutdown for refueling. And where they are in the weather for days on end. As a result I have gone through two. But if you use them normal I would think that they would last about forever.

Do run synthetic oil in them. But you really should change the oil every about 20 hours. Many times I have gone over 200 hours before a change in an incident. Did have one of them get me in trouble at a incident site.

Was sent to a site where they had an EOC with a generator they never tested or maintained. And yeah failed when needed. They were running on batteries and they were already going longer than they expected. The Incident Commander meets me as I drive and and says my absolute priority was to get them back up on generator power. Got everything hooked up and pointed the exhaust away from the site. And I placed it so there were some storage trucks between it and the site. Made sure everything was going good. Was running about about 90% of max power. I had not eaten for most of a day to get there, and so took a meal break. The IC started yelling at me for taking a break before I had the generator running. He was used to a noisy one and he could not hear mine.

Now one thing that gets hit here is the issue of leaving gas in it. I never do. I emty the tank then running the rest our till dry. And they I have small heavy cloth bags of rice I put in the top where the filter is at. Toss them when I head out.

I also have an A power crystal controled unit for other needs. It also works great. One hint on those. To get the fuel gage working fill it up and then drop it about 6 inches to get the float loose the first time.

[computerspook]

By the way if you are running a generator look up how to get it grounded right.

[Gompka]

Originally Posted by Dennis McMillan

Brightbluesky,

We have a 1000w Sportsman inverter generator. It's just right for us in our 13' Scamp. (No a/c, microwave or coffee maker.) We carry it on the outside & fill it when I fill the TV, so no need to carry xtra gas. Only need to run it as needed to keep the battery up. Since we can run off grid for 2-3 days on the battery alone, only need to run it every couple of days for an hour or so. I was never really enthusiastic about getting a genny but this one is light and really quiet. Also, I have replaced the stock 30 amp shore power cable with a 15 amp bulkhead plug, so no longer need to carry any adapters, Have never been to a place with hookups that did not provide 15 amp service.

Dennis.

p.s. it only weighs 22#.

Little bit of age on this post, but I thought I would add something to it. I also have a sportsman gen1000i for my scamp 13, we stayed recently at a no hook up site for 9 days in the Smoky Mountains and I knew I would need the generator. I do not like keeping gasoline in it, or the fact that it smells like a gasoline burning appliance when it is running. I looked into converting it to propane but the kits run about ~$180 (generator only cost me $160). I did some more research and decided to just run a propane regulator with a manual needle valve and I connected the propane line right into the pcv port on the generators airbox. It worked great for the trip, no need to worry about gasoline and the smell was barely there, it was like a propane grill running. The caveat is I did not use a "demand" regulator for the generator, but i found if i dialed in the propane right it ran no problem, even when the refrigerator would kick in and increase the load and rpms on the generator. One issue with this is if the generator turns off the gas will not stop flowing, i am going to remedy this with a 12v solenoid valve that will be powered by the generator, so if the generator ever stalls, that will stop the flow of propane. I only run the generator a couple of hours to top off the battery and I don't like to leave it running unattended so not really a problem for me.

[redbarron55]

They make a version that runs off of LP gas, either the 1 lb bottles or the larger ones.
There are outlets around here that sell them for around $2-300.00 range.

[Raspy]

David,

Well done.

What is the starting procedure?

[Gompka]

Originally Posted by redbarron55

They make a version that runs off of LP gas, either the 1 lb bottles or the larger ones.
There are outlets around here that sell them for around $2-300.00 range.

Yes they do Baja, but I already had this one and I like to experiment As a side note, the propane version is propane only its not a dual fuel unit. If i chose to add a $45 demand regulator to this setup it would be a true dual fuel unit for ~$200.

[Gompka]

Originally Posted by Raspy

David,

Well done.

What is the starting procedure?

It is a tad bit more finicky to start than on gasoline. However, basically i turn the needle valve one turn, wait a few seconds and give it a couple of pulls. Then after its started i adjust the needle valve to supply more propane until the revs stabilize, then i give it about 1/4 turn more gas and let it do its thing. This worked perfectly for us at mile high campground for a week. Not having to carry gasoline and fill gasoline cans, and not having that generator smell was really nice. If i were to get a century demand regulator off ebay for another $45 it would take care of the propane demand regulation, but since i rarely use the generator, I prefer my solar panel, i didn't think it was worth the extra expense, when this simple setup works well enough.

[Raspy]

^^^👍

[Dennis McMillan]

Gompka, I like your solution. Would you have a photo or sketch of the connection at the pcv port? Thanks, Dennis.

[Gompka]

Originally Posted by Dennis McMillan

Gompka, I like your solution. Would you have a photo or sketch of the connection at the pcv port? Thanks, Dennis.

I used a y connector and some spare hose at this point to connect to the propane. The hose is 3/8". You can't leave the original pcv hose unconnected because it will put oily exhaust all over the generator.

[Dennis McMillan]

Gompka, Thanks. Gonna give this a try. Dennis.

[Kip in Ga.]

Just some information.

Up until recently I have been a huge fan of Yamaha since my first Yamaha motorcycle in 1969 ish. Also owned Yamaha boats and outboard motors. Yamaha speakers, and 2 Yamaha generator/inverters. Am considering a Yamaha golf car or 4 wheeler. I would likely have a Yamaha car, if they made one. Yes, they have been that good.

Here is the reason for this post. I use the Yamaha 2000 gen/inverter around the property quite regularly. No problems at all.

HOWEVER the 6300 inverter is reserved for the house when we have a power outage.
I run it for 30ish minutes every month and replace the Sta-Bil enhanced fuel every 3 months. Oil change every year, even though only a few hours of run time.
Purchased it new in 2016. IT HAS 34 HRS ON THE METER.

We recently had Hurricane ZETA's wake headed toward us, so I got it out of its home to get ready. it refused to start. Battery would spin the engine, but no start. The storm came through with no bad damage, although many of our neighbors lost power for a couple of days.

Next day I call the local Yamaha dealer. Then another, then everyone in Ga. on the Yamaha dealer locator.
Nope nobody works on Yamaha Generators. So I called the Yamaha Corporate help desk that handles Generators, pumps and small engines.

We went round and round. She eventually got her boss involved and thru her he made it plain that because it is out of warranty it is the Customer responsibility to find someone to fix it. I asked, "if it was still in warranty, who would fix it"? Their take is, " that is not the point, YOU are not in warranty". I told her I wasn't looking to get free service. I just wanted a dealer, that I could pay. Her last reply was. " I've done all I can do, have a nice day".

I immediately went to the local lawnmower dealer that also sells Honda Generators. I asked if they work on them. He said they do. And that Honda requires all their direct dealers to have someone that is factory trained. Got home and looked up Honda Service Center and got another Dealers name. Visited them and they do work on them. Both dealers took me thru their shop.

All that to caution that if you buy a Yamaha generator, check first if they will repair it.And make them prove it.

K

BTW, The Yamaha has 34 hours on its meter.

[computerspook]

Originally Posted by Kip in Ga.

I immediately went to the local lawnmower dealer that also sells Honda Generators. I asked if they work on them. He said they do. And that Honda requires all their direct dealers to have someone that is factory trained. Got home and looked up Honda Service Center and got another Dealers name. Visited them and they do work on them. Both dealers took me thru their shop.

All that to caution that if you buy a Yamaha generator, check first if they will repair it.And make them prove it.

K

BTW, The Yamaha has 34 hours on its meter.

Actually is this a unit that is built into the house or portable? Do you have a riral king in your area? Rural King works on about everything. Now what they sell they can usually fix next day or same day warranty or not. What they don't sell can take a couple weeks while they get parts if they are special.

Most handy guys can at least narrow down the problem. I would bet on a fuel problem. I also pretty much always have fresh generator fuel around. I store it empty. I hae two gas cans. One is full designated for the generator. The other is for the lawn mower and other gas things I have. Then when I emty that can it gets filled and becomes the generator gas and the generator gas becomes mower gas.

[Kip in Ga.]

The unit is portable and sleeps in a dry enclosed semi climate controlled building. Forgot to mention that the the fuel is always shut off and unit runs until the carb is empty.

I agree about it probably being a fuel delivery problem, but on start up only. I checked the plug and it looked good and sparked when the engine turned over.
The gap was at .030" Also noticed when I extracted it that it was DRY. So I injected 1cc of fuel into the hole before reinstalling the spark plug

It start right up and ran for 20 or so minutes under different loads. Turned it off with the key and it would not restart until I injected more fuel. Cant see anything in there. The carb faces the air cleaner which faces the electronics boards. Real close fits. Looks that the only way to really get to the carb is to remove those boards, which I'm not ready to do. It will run as it is, and my concern is it not running at all with me not having any experience in that area.

I'm going to check out Rural King.

Thanks,
K