Chinese diesel generator?

[John White]

I really dont know which catagory would be apporate to ask for the information I need. Has any one had any experience or thougnts on these Chinese diesel generators in the 6 to 7 kw range? Are they any good. I pruchased two Chinese gas generators from Harbor Fright and both have went bad. No parts or service after the 30 day warranty. Refered me to a generator shop, which was to be the authorized repair center. The fellow just laughed at me and said throw it away. Thay they dident even have any specs or repair manuals on then or parts. I would like to purchase something more efficent than a gas. I see the diesel ones advertised on e-bay for around $1000.

 

[Skyco]

I have two of the 6kW chinese diesel gensets imported by Wenpower. One has run quite a bit as it is the power source for my remote cabin. No problems so far. I'd say it has 200 hours or more on it. The other is at my home for power backup and gets run monthly for exercise. If you search the net you'll find they are are mostly the same genset sold by many, just painted different colors.
I lucked out and got these for $600 each at a Pep Boys closeout after they sat for a year or more for $1700 each originally. Many places are selling the same genset for around $1200. Don't think I'd pay that for one but for two I bit

BTW if I make large purchases at HF I usually get the extended warranty. HF sells the same diesel genset and if you get the extended warranty they just give you a new one in case of trouble! Wait for a sale or use the 15% off coupons they mail out to get the price down.

 

[Skyco]

Wow...am I the ONLY one that actually has any of these Chinese diesel gensets?
I'd like to hear more from those with actual experience with them.....

 

[John White]

I cant see as the warranty would help me a whole lot. I would bring the gen. home, run it 4 or 5 hours, put it in storage, start it up once or twice a year, run it for 5 min, then put it back in storage, but then when the power goes off as in the last hurrcane or the ice storm here five or six years ago, then I WANT A GEN THAT WILL GEN. I cant wait a month if a part has to come from China. Like the last storm, the recoil spring broke, simply went to my local lawn mower place and got the part instanly, power back on in 1 hour. In a critical stituation, your life might depend on one. In warm weather all you would loose is your food in freezer but if power goes out in 10 below o you need something you can depend on to keep from freesing and keep your water from freezing up. Actually I have another emergency back up generator that I use for construction, but would like to get a good decent one for the home. I figured one of the Chinese diesel would be pretty fuel efficent (and not cost $40 a day in fuel to run it) and beling a diesel be pretty reliable. But I am beginning to bee leery from what some of you are adviseing.

 

[Dargo]

I have a thread running asking about generators. I am not even remotely well educated on generators so I'm asking a lot of questions before I buy. Most responses and PM's I've received are not favorable concerning the cheap Chinese generators. I have a Rural King store really close to me that had two 6kw diesel generators made in China sitting on their floor leaking oil everywhere up until we had some really high winds that took out power a week or so ago. One was sold for about $350 and the other is still sitting there leaking oil.

I'm very well aware that not everything made in China is junk. My problem is that I am not smart enough to be able to tell which generators made in China are complete junk and which ones would be okay.

 

[RobJ]

Wow...am I the ONLY one that actually has any of these Chinese diesel gensets?
I'd like to hear more from those with actual experience with them.....

I saw some people selling these after Ike, the green ones, can't recall the name. About 1400 bucks for a 7500 or 8000 if I recall. Does yours have an electric start? These did. When I was rebuilding diesels we sold some one cylinder diesels that were hand crank. Not that bad, compression release, hand crank, huge heavy flywheel, easy once it got going. No way to pull start a diesel IMO, but an electrical system is something more to maintain.

Thanks,
Rob

Here is what they were selling off the back of a truck, I think a little more KW. this is from ebay. If that s pull start? wonder how that works?

 

[Skyco]

Yes the two I have are electric start. I can't vouch for all chinese diesel gensets but mine have been good so far, no oil leaks, no problems. Of course they could quit tomorrow, but I'm sort of a generator junky and I have several gasoline ones to fall back on if it is an urgent situation. Lets see a roughly 20 year old Coleman 5kW with a Tecumseh 11 horse, a 10+ year old 4kW Generac with a Nagano (Honda copy) 8 horse engine, and my most expensive is several year old Honda EU3000is, now that is a nice generator Oh and a 4kW Onan Microlite installed in the toy hauler camper.

My chinese gensets look pretty much like this except they are red-

 

[RobJ]

Nice compack unit. Mine is a 1983 model Robyn 3500w. Little noisey but not to bad if I back off the rpm a bit. Actually during Ike the little Robyn out performed my neighbors Honda EM5000s I used a bit(he was out of town). About as loud as the Robyn but screamed rpms, and used more fuel...something I couldn't believe.

Asking $2600 for the Honda on the web, that one not worth it IMO. It actually died on us a few times. My neighbor was using my Robyn for 5 days until he borrowed another generator.

 

[schmism]

it also depends on your handyness level.

some guys are basicly rebuilding the chinese junk to make it into decent equipment.

 

[TMTS]

Will it run on diesel with melamine in it? Might help with the ULSD cetane #'s...

 

[Skyco]

heh heh...I know one thing I'm not gonna lick the red paint, I'm positive it has lead in it

 

[John White]

Yes the two I have are electric start. I can't vouch for all chinese diesel gensets but mine have been good so far, no oil leaks, no problems. Of course they could quit tomorrow, but I'm sort of a generator junky and I have several gasoline ones to fall back on if it is an urgent situation. Lets see a roughly 20 year old Coleman 5kW with a Tecumseh 11 horse, a 10+ year old 4kW Generac with a Nagano (Honda copy) 8 horse engine, and my most expensive is several year old Honda EU3000is, now that is a nice generator Oh and a 4kW Onan Microlite installed in the toy hauler camper.

My chinese gensets look pretty much like this except they are red-

Skyco: What make is it. I cant make it out. On E-Bay there is one co. in Fla. that states they have parts in stock (what parts, ha. probly a fuel and oil filter) and they advertise a 2 year warranty or 1000 hrs. I wonder if it is worth the paper it is written on. One gen. listed offers no warranty at all. Most are 30 day. How much more fuel efficent is your diesel over the gas?

 

[Eagleview]

I bought a couple of the enclosed ones , 1x6kw and a 12kw . The 12 has a 3 cyl Daihatsu Diesel and is great except it runs @ 3000 rpm . With the power of the engine it should only run at 1500 rpm but the 2 pole generator is cheap for the Chinese to buy . The oil leaks on the single cylinder ones you guys are speaking of are easily fixed . It is the cheap 'O' ring that is fitted to the removable screen at the bottom of the crank case (black elongated plastic cap held in with 1 bolt) Fit a good quality one and the problem is gone . Also the ehaust manifold bolts come loose and the escaping hot gases burn the two wires going to the regulator which shorts the reg out . You need to remove the soundproof cover to tighten them . Ive had a good run from them , they are KDE brand , also the Honda clone pumps by Sinopower are exelent as well .

 

[Skyco]

John White- mine are Wenpower, but the brand is relatively unimportant, since they are all very similar, the warranty offered can differ greatly though.

The small one on the right of the pic above looks like mine....there are a multitude of brands. Different importers apparently order almost the same one in their color and slap their name on it.

The oil screen or ring hasn't leaked yet on either of mine, but I think I will look for the exhaust leaks mentioned to head off any future problems. I also read somewhere the head bolts need to be torqued after a few hundred hours, haven't found any torque specs so I'll guess on that and just give em a little twist. One thing I did was replace the wheels with larger ones, the genset weighs 350lbs or so and the small wheels just didn't cut it unless on a very hard surface.

 

[John White]

How much more fuel efficent are they than gas? For same size of gen.

 

[RobJ]

I bought a couple of the enclosed ones , 1x6kw and a 12kw . The 12 has a 3 cyl Daihatsu Diesel and is great except it runs @ 3000 rpm . With the power of the engine it should only run at 1500 rpm but the 2 pole generator is cheap for the Chinese to buy .

Sounds like the big difference in the Limas that we matched up with our diesels. 60hz and the engine ran 1800rpm(about 1850 with no load). The ones we shipped overseas needed 50hz, those turned 1500rpm. I don't recall the specifics on wiring them (it's been a while), but there was a mess of wires coming out of the generator, but I believe we ended up with 3.

Rob

 

[Eagleview]

How much more fuel efficent are they than gas? For same size of gen.

I bought 3 of the small ones pictured at an auction to resell . One guy that bought one from me said that it goes exactly 3 times longer than the gas Honda he has on the same amount of fuel . Diesels are fed metered amounts of fuel , unlike a Petrol which just sucks fuel in and can be over fed because the carb needle is being constantly vibrated off it's seat . Being enclosed they are very quite , from a distance of about 50 yards in a shed you have to listen hard at the house to hear if it is still running . They can also be wired for remote or automatic stop start .

 

[John White]

Today I run on to a Onan 2 cylinder, about 6kw, 60 hours on it. Was a standby gen at a nursing home. (had to get a larger one) . I can get it for $750. The only thing is that it runs on propane. I am not too fimular with it. Some say it is cheaper and better than gas. I would have to get a couple of jugs for propane. I suppose the one you use for a barbcue grill would work? This would be mostly a stand a lone gen. to power my home but would be nice if it was one like the diesels, that could be loaded in my pickup bed and taken out to my jobsite in a emergency to work on my dozer or back hoe. Although I have a smaller one that I probably could use for that. Give me your thoughts on the Onan and propane.

 

[Eagleview]

I tried to get my Petrol genny to run on LPG but it would just stop after about an hour , i never found out why . I think it would be fine for what you are doing but keep in mind that Diesel and Petrol is easy to find when your out on a job with it but Propane may not be . If anyone is going to be using a genset in emergencies like storm cleanup and twister aftermath i would suggest Diesel for two reasons :-1 It wont konk out in the rain like a Petrol one will when the plug lead gets wet . 2 Diesel is less likely to be a risk while running floodlights and implements around spilt fuels etc .