About to pull the trigger on a Champion generator...

[cmcoker]

While good generators have relatively few problems, planning on using 2 smaller ones seems like doubling the chance of having problems.
Get one good one and have a electrician wire in a separate panel for it.
I use a gentran for mine.
I buy clear gas ( non alcohol added ) and use a fuel stabilizer and do a twice a year fuel change out when it hasn't been used.

It seemed like what I read was people only adding a small amount of fuel to the generator to run it monthly and allowing it to run dry... I don't know if that is the best thing for the motor. Does this seem like a bad idea? I haven't had to do a fuel change out.. what do you do with the old gas? use it for the mower or ?

 

[Biglew11]

Engines don't care if they run out of gas. Now that most gas has 10% alcohol in it, it's better for the whole system to sit dry. The alcohol in the gas absorbs water from the air around it, and causes many problems.

You can still find some gas that don't have the alcohol, (recreation fuel). If you can find it, I'd use this in your gas equipment that isn't used frequently.

As to what to do with old gas? What would you consider old? If it's only sat around for a month or three, I'd probably just run it through my vehicle, with a mostly full tank of fresh gas. If you were going to use it fairly quickly mowing, it would be fine.

 

[ca1ore]

Neighbor of mine has a champion. Not sure which model but he really likes it and has had no issues. Managing the gas is the biggest challenge. I’d keep three 5 gallon dated cans on hand (plus fill the cars ahead of a storm), use gas stabilizer, and then use them in the cars at the end of six months. Make sure to run it periodically.

 

[William Morris]

My son has this model - works great. You can run them in parallel too.

 

[reefiniteasy]

I keep three 5 gallon containers. I use ethanol free gas and I add a stabilizer for good measure. I use it for my other gas equipment as well. I keep the tank on the generator full and run it for an hour every month. I close the fuel valve and run the carburetor dry every time.

 

[mfinn]

It seemed like what I read was people only adding a small amount of fuel to the generator to run it monthly and allowing it to run dry... I don't know if that is the best thing for the motor. Does this seem like a bad idea? I haven't had to do a fuel change out.. what do you do with the old gas? use it for the mower or ?

What do is when the power comes back on, simply turn the fuel valve off to run the engine and fuel lines out of gas.
Like I said I use non alcohol gas and I use a fuel stabilizer.
I change out the gas in the spring and fall and mix it ( 6 gallons ) with a full tank of gas in my truck.

 

[homer1475]

My champion genny(bpught at tractor supply many many years ago) sits with gas in it for months at a time, sometimes years before I need to use it again. I put some stabil in it, never run it dry, and have never had issues starting it in the 15 years I've owned it(second pull everytime). Run my snowmobiles the same way that sit for about 8 months every year.

I do start it every other month and put a load on it, just to make sure everything is working.

Everyone does things differently, but when I used to run small engines dry, fuel lines tend to dry rot and crack, gaskets tend to dry out and become brittle, float valves in the carburetor bowl tend to get sticky and not work like they should, etc, etc, specially if they sit for an extended period of time without use.

Always found it better to leave fuel in the lines, and engine regardless of what some "expert" might tell me otherwise.

 

[thewire]

I am tempting to get a dual fuel one and strictly run propane for emergency and for camping. No worry about storage time. Just oil change and filter, spark plug. Plus you can have 2/3 can of 20lb propane laying around for a long time and use it for grilling too!

 

[ReeferBud]

I have a Ryobi 4000 watt and it worked great for me during winter storm Uri.

but I am also looking for a better solution and was considering dual/tri fuel options.

having lived through the winter storm and several hurricanes, managing gasoline has been the biggest pain. I couldn’t even get gas at one point during the storm after running out because the gas stations had no power.

I would ideally just like to be able to connect the generator to my natural gas supply line, just like the grill, and have gas for backup.

the other pain about gasoline is emptying the generator after using... need to disconnect the fuel line, drain it and somehow always end up spilling gas everywhere. Interesting to read the comments about just leaving it filled with gas indefinitely, I always thought that would end up gumming the engine, even with a stabilizer.

 

[jay06705]

In own two champion inverter generators, IMO they are wonderful never had any issues.

 

[Reyco77]

TL/DR at the bottom.

After going through Winter storm Uri and having both of my tanks crash, my wife agrees a generator is necessary both for my hobby and for our household in general. The watts I have calculated, including allowances for surge, are around 5600W. We will have an electrician out to see about a manual transfer switch for the critical circuits (included in my calculation). I also have some battery backups on the way to power the DC returns automatically if I am not home or until someone can connect the generator.

I have been looking around and found a Champion Generator that will power all our critical circuits with a bit of room to spare while not breaking our budget completely. The generator is a 7,000 running watt, open frame, inverter generator. This is the most cost-effective option.

I have also considered getting 2 of the smaller Champion inverter generators and a parallel kit. This would be more expensive but give us some power if one failed and the option to purchase a dual fuel model that could utilize gasoline or propane.

I was also looking at the Westinghouse iGen4500DF and getting 2 of them with a parallel kit. The dual-fuel model is currently out of stock, and these would be more expensive than the Champion generators.

I like the idea of having an option for propane since fuel storage would be easier, and the odds are I could find one of the types of fuel if I needed more during an emergency.

We are in North Texas outside of DFW, so hurricanes are not really an issue though they have contributed to fuel shortages in our area. Another winter storm like we just experienced, or damage to the area grid from a tornado, a car taking out a transformer, etc., are more the types of issues we expect to be preparing for.

Wondering if anyone has any good or bad experiences with these brands of generators? Any tips or advice about generators also appreciated.

And while I would love a Kohler, Honda, etc., that is really not in our price range, as this needs to address the power needs of a few things in the house besides the tanks.

We also are not sure how long we will be living here, so we are not considering a permanently installed, whole house situation.

TL/DR: Champion generators any good? Buy one to cover the load, or split the load between 2 smaller generators? Worth the extra cost to buy 2 smaller generators to have a dual-fuel option? If Champion is no good, what about Westinghouse? Any other thoughts?

I use power inverter with car batteries... Just for the aquarium. Im from venezuela and i got a degree on those electrical power problems. I use to have daily electrical cut fro 3 to 12 hours. U also have a litlle gas generator. But injust use it for the aquarium( africanan cichlids breeder) my teef tank and some little other things like wifi, fan, leds bulbs. Ive seen those champion in here and they work good. Of course that westinghouse and the best trademarks can last more. Cheaper also do yhe job. Just innvase pay an 8ns7rance plan in amazon when u buy it

 

[ReeferBud]

Now that we’re in hurricane season again, want to get a larger generator and transfer switch.

Has anyone had any issues with the sensitive electronic equipment (lights, powerheads, apex, dc pumps, etc) when running a generator (not a generator-inverter) with a THD >5%?

From doing research, THD<5% is recommended for sensitive electronics and typically found in smaller generator-inverters but not sure how “sensitive” our reef gear is...

 

[Blue Spot Octopus]

I might be mispeaking but I heard of a guy frying 3 very expensive return pumps for his large system using the wrong type of generator.

 

[CanuckReefer]

Now that we’re in hurricane season again, want to get a larger generator and transfer switch.

Has anyone had any issues with the sensitive electronic equipment (lights, powerheads, apex, dc pumps, etc) when running a generator (not a generator-inverter) with a THD >5%?

From doing research, THD<5% is recommended for sensitive electronics and typically found in smaller generator-inverters but not sure how “sensitive” our reef gear is...

No, (mine is not an inverter gen) however I run most of my equipment through a UPS to clean up the power/ eliminate spikes when I switch over to backup Gen.

 

[ReeferBud]

I might be mispeaking but I heard of a guy frying 3 very expensive return pumps for his large system using the wrong type of generator.

that’s exactly my fear!

 

[mfinn]

I have a Predator ( Harbor Freight ) generator and it is wired to a gentran.
I have no issues with my computers, or Red Dragon pumps on my tank.

 

[clown99]

I got a Firman Dual Fuel 7500 running Watts from Costco 2 yrs ago for California summer rolling black-outs. An electrician installed a plug box to my panel so I can just plug it in to run my whole house, including the AC, refrigerator & fish tank, during the outage. Only had to use it twice, few hours each, so far. But it is LOUD !!! I'm going to build a quiet box to cover it before the next black-out. Or else my neighbor will ex-communicate me.

 

[CanuckReefer]

I got a Firman Dual Fuel 7500 running Watts from Costco 2 yrs ago for California summer rolling black-outs. An electrician installed a plug box to my panel so I can just plug it in to run my whole house, including the AC, refrigerator & fish tank, during the outage. Only had to use it twice, few hours each, so far. But it is LOUD !!! I'm going to build a quiet box to cover it before the next black-out. Or else my neighbor will ex-communicate me.

I have same unit but gasoline only. Yep, its LOUD alright, but reliable. Built a well vented box for mine and reduces the noise by half....

 

[ramona]

My champion genny(bpught at tractor supply many many years ago) sits with gas in it for months at a time, sometimes years before I need to use it again. I put some stabil in it, never run it dry, and have never had issues starting it in the 15 years I've owned it(second pull everytime). Run my snowmobiles the same way that sit for about 8 months every year.

I do start it every other month and put a load on it, just to make sure everything is working.

Everyone does things differently, but when I used to run small engines dry, fuel lines tend to dry rot and crack, gaskets tend to dry out and become brittle, float valves in the carburetor bowl tend to get sticky and not work like they should, etc, etc, specially if they sit for an extended period of time without use.

Always found it better to leave fuel in the lines, and engine regardless of what some "expert" might tell me otherwise.

For a complete novice in the field of generators, what stabilizer do you use and how (with details) please, we have the champion model, had to use it once 2 years ago. Thank you.

 

[homer1475]

Sta-bil fuel treatment.

Dump in the amount(direction on bottle), run engine till stabil makes into the engine, leave it be. Once a month(if I remember, I normally don't lol), I will start it, and let it run for 15 minutes or so, then put a load on it(plug something in). Shut it off, let it cool off, cover it back up.

Simple as that.

EDIT: Forgot link.