While at Harbor Freight today to get a hammer drill for a honey-do project, I looked at the 4KW genny now on sale for about $500. I already have a genny, but I can't resist shopping after the fact. It has a Subaru Robin 9 HP OHV engine. HF claims that engine starts easier and will run longer than a Honda. Quite a claim!
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A label on the generator said "Made in China". Oops! The Japanese make some pretty good engines, but I strongly doubt that the Chinese make good generators. I've not seen anything yet from China that has good bearings. I told my son, who is also interested in a genny, to pass on that one.
I did buy the cheapo hammerdrill. Seems to work OK. If it gets this one job done I'll be happy.
Do not buy it... Durability, which I do not expect much from a HF generator, is not the only thing that separates good generators from bad ones. Some other ones are, 1) noise -- cheap ones are impossible to use due to noise 2) ability to handle surges, 3) reliability such as being able to start in bad weather, etc etc. There is no way to make a nice $500 generator.
I would not say all $500 gens are bad, I rented a pump with the Robin engine that ran excellent. I think just about all the small engines made now are good motors. The new ones on the block are the Honda look alikes, I see the "Sterling" engines selling on eBay for very low prices, those I would be concerned about. The sterling has a 13HP selling new for $199. The seller is just a town over so I stopped by just to see one but they were closed. The business next door said they only work in the evenings.
I have a HF credit card and get reward points towards there stuff. It makes it much less painful to "test" a product when its not coming out of my pocket. The cheap grinders are worth every penny, I picked up the 12 ton bar bender that works good (it would have cost me $79)
I sold an old Greenlee bender for $200 that needed work, was missing dies and very used, to top it off shipping it cost the seller $70. The buyer was very happy for his great deal.
I bought the small 4" calipers and have had them for a year now and they still work fine, I measured about 100 reamers last night and never had to re-Zero it.
Bought one of those right angle drill/screw gun adapters and it lasted about
1 day. :(.
The last item I bought (with my points again) is a 10 amp hand drill I think it was $29.00, that seems ok. The chuck its cheap for sure but it works, the drills variable speed with a lock setting works smooth and it holds speed very good, but I have not used it much. It does have shit loads of power and does low RPM very good.
The Subaru Robin engine (Japanese) is probably OK, but I'd be leery of the made-in-China alternator. A good alternator is made with good magnetic steel, copper windings and good bearings, and preferably has brushless excitation. These are all areas where cost-cutting will result in poor performance and/or longevity.
Induction motors are a particular concern. Contractor generators,as the vaunted Honda, typically run lighting and power tools with series-wound universal motors. Critical loads in a residence, fridge, freezer and furnace, are all induction motor loads, albeit small ones. If the genny droops a lot with load the motor will have difficulty starting and will eventually overheat -- if the genny's breaker doesn't trip or the genny doesn't overheat first.
I have heard (from a guy that repairs gennies) that the Honda contractor gennies have trouble with even small induction motors, sometimes frying the electronic voltage regulator board. $300, and you're powerless until you can get one.
Well I have a HF 4 KW genny and I have used it twice. Have about 7 hours on it so it is still fairly new. I ran two refrigerators and a freezer and a couple of lights and TV.
I have a 50 foot # 8 extension cord so the noise isn't too bad. It is easy to start on the rope starter even though I have the electric start option (but no battery).
His customers are primarily rural and agricultural, as opposed to construction contractors. His primary business is rewinding large induction motors (e.g. 75 HP) for irrigation and other agricultral machinery.
Winco is a MN company, may be easier for small dealers to work with than some others, but he likes them well enough to have been selling them for many years. I doubt that he'd keep selling them if his customers weren't satisfied.
But they get pretty expensive after some number of years. I have an Onan generator myself (a 26 year old Onan DJE), and some parts are outrageously expensive. See the story about replacing the solenoid, on my Onan DJE page
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After having owned a moderately cheap generator, and then replacing it with the Onan, I know the difference.
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Onan (right here in Fridley) does make excellent gennies if price is no object as in military, marine, RV, medical, etc. Too bad they don't have a "bargain store" selling discounted scratch 'n dents. With his network of contacts, Gunner might be able to find one from a crashed RV. An RV genny might have lots of hours on it, but Onans run for many, many hours. The Army had a bazillion of them 40 years ago, from little 2.5 KW gas jobs up thru 300KW diesels.
I have a 4kw Onan in the hanger queen motor home parked out back. It did run the last time I schlepped a battery and a gas tank back there to fire it up. Hummm its about time to do that again..along with both the motorcycles and the van.
Gunner
Confronting Liberals with the facts of reality is very much akin to clubbing baby seals. It gets boring after a while, but because Liberals are so stupid it is easy work." Steven M. Barry
The last "scratch and dent" Onan I saw was about that time. It was intended as backup power for a flood control reservoir and had arrived at the freight depot but could not be delivered for a couple days due to a local equipment problem. The general contractor's superintendent took it upon himself to pick up the unit from the depot with his pickup truck, of course it was too long to close the tailgate, they hadn't tied it down, and, for expediency, they hadn't removed the rollers from under the skids. To access the generator room, they had to back over a curb cut and along an approach slab, and of course, being careful, the driver backed slowly, when the rear wheels got to the curb, the truck stopped but the generator continued, turning end over before coming to rest at the threshold of the access door. A temporary power unit was brought in to provide backup until a new replacement was delivered (by the freight company) four months latter. Poor George endured "advise" such as "next time make sure the door is open" and "hit it a bit faster next try" for the duration of the project. Gerry :-)} London, Canada
It is a used refrigerator genset from railroads. Check out alt.energy.homepower, Steve Spence owns one of them. They are sold for less on ebay. Looks like a dependable set.
It is a used refrigerator genset from railroads. Check out alt.energy.homepower, Steve Spence owns one of them. They are sold for less on ebay. Looks like a dependable set.
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