On Thu, 15 Mar 2018 08:41:06 -0400, "Mr. Luddite"
wrote:

On 3/15/2018 8:24 AM, justan wrote:
"Mr. Luddite" Wrote in message:
On 3/15/2018 2:01 AM, wrote:

I bought my Honda in 2000 so it's coming up on 18 years old. Still runs great.


Yeah, my neighbor bought his in 2000 also primarily for camping. 18
years old and it still runs like new.

I've only changed the oil in mine twice in 12 years and it has many,
many hours on it because the contractors used it daily for a summer
to power the stone cutting saw when they were installing the bluestone
for the pool. I figured it was a donation to the pool installation but,
it still runs.

Yesterday I checked the oil level. It's supposed to shut down if the
oil drops too low. Oil was still full on the little dipstick.

I also pulled the spark plug recently figuring that after all the hours
on it the plug probably needed to be replaced. Nope. Electrodes were
still in great shape and even the gap was per spec.

Amazing little generator. The only problem with them is that they
generate 124 vac, single phase only, so you really can't backfeed
a house power panel with them. I ran my furnace yesterday by pulling
out the hot lead for the furnace circuit from the breaker in the
house panel, wirenuted a power cord to it and ran the furnace for a
while off the generator.


You can backfeed one leg. You can also move things around on your
power panel to put all the circuts you want to use on that same
leg. You do need to try to keep the panel balanced. It's pretty
amazing that the little generator can do so much.



It has it's limitations, power-wise but I am willing to deal with that
because it's so quiet and can run all night providing power to
essentials. Can't see having a big, whole house generator for the
number of times we lose power. If necessary I can hook it up to the
furnace and run it for a while.

That said, I was just given a brand new, still in the box, 4800 watt
generator that produces 240 volts. Person who bought it never had to
use it and doesn't need auxiliary power anymore. Don't know what I am
going to do with it yet, if anything, but the price was right. Free.

My brother was using a generator I gave to his step-son (Barry) after
Wilma when Barry had a house in Florida. Contractor type and I couldn't
believe how freakin' noisy those things are. He had it running in his
driveway near the house and you had to shout to carry on a conversation.


I have one of those, 5.5 Briggs. I figured out if you hang mover's
blankets around it, you knock that noise way down. Just be sure it can
breathe and the exhaust is not pointing at the blanket.
Places like Harbor Fright sell those blankets for $7 or so. They are
handy for other things too.