Portable generators to stay away from?

[mjonesnh]

Not a post on generators to stay away from but had to post this. In early Jan. Amazon had a sale on Champion open frame inverter generators 5000/6250 for 470.00 off. Reg. 899.00 for 429.00. Too good to pass up so i bought one. End of March, run carb dry and emptied fuel tank. Today put a gallon of 87 ethanol gas that has Startron and a splash of Seafoam in can and pulled rope, started on first pull. run 30 minutes with 2 1500 watt space heaters plugged in to get it ready for winter. Quite pleased with performance. Not started for almost seven months and started on first pull

 

[nancyk]

"run on half load for a half an hour once a month" what exactly is half load? Years ago my husband had told me the generator should be run for 20 minutes every month. He did not explain any more than that. (He also said the zero turn should, in the winter months, be driven out to get the mail once a month))

 

[Sawyer Rob]

Whatever the rated "running" load is for your generator, run it with half that load for 30 minutes.

So, for a 5,000-watt gen set, you would plug in something that takes 2,500 watts to run and run the generator for 30 minutes.

SR

 

[nancyk]

Uh oh, time for the calculator

 

[DarkBlack]

Sorry to buck the prevalent wisdom, , but I see no reason to have to run a generator every month, and no reason to have to load it 1/2 load either.
Love to see real data showing that’s required

 

[Sawyer Rob]

The load and run time are to dry out any moisture that has collected in the generator head, it gives it enough time to get warm up enough to drive the moisture out.

SR

 

[DarkBlack]

Any moisture is long gone after a spinning at 3,600 rpm’s for a a few seconds.
Doesn’t take 30 minutes.

 

[Sawyer Rob]

Any moisture is long gone after a spinning at 3,600 rpm’s for a a few seconds.
Doesn’t take 30 minutes.

Maybe on the armature, but not on everything else...

SR

 

[RjCorazza]

I have had half a dozen generators over the years, and every manufacturer recommended running them monthly at 1/2 load for around 30 minutes.

 

[LittleBill21]

I own 6 generators. some don't run for years. They all start and run without issue when I need them. I was told this use to because the windings years ago were not coated. all windings I am told are now coated. I wonder how much this is really a issue. I have never seen it.

 

[grsthegreat]

The generac whole house units i service only are set to run 5 minutes every week. No load switching. I service units that are 15-20 years old doing this and they still run fine. Mind you, the older units ran for 15 minutes weekly, but the EPA did away with that allowing only 5 minute exercises.

Mine, we have power outages at least 6 times a year lasting many hours each time, so i dont bother with loaded test runs.

 

[jyoutz]

My well pump alone is 2hp...

Whole house is electric to boot

Yeah I have a 2hp well pump also. My small generator will run refrigerators and freezers, but not the well pump. Fortunately I have gas heat. The furnace won’t run without power to run fan and electric ignition, but a also have a freestanding gas stove/fireplace that is ignited by a pilot light.

 

[grsthegreat]

Small generators can, and do burn up well pumps. I have an acquaintance that owns a local well drilling company. He told me that every time theres an extended power outage they get swamped with calls to replace deep well pumps. The homeowner tries to power the poor thing on their undersized generators and burn up the pumps. These pumps can easily draw 3x the rated power to start, especially if it has a large head of water to overcome.

 

[nancyk]

Update on generator ordering: went into Lowes to order the Duromax duel fuel 13000. They could not even order it for me, the system would not let them do it, something about no stock available. The very helpful rep looked in the system and saw a Pulsar generator with pretty much the same specs as the Duromax, and could be ordered. I just checked and could find no reviews on this brand. Believe I will just wait for the Duromax.