Honda Generators

It would have been about year 2000, give or take a year. We had a winter time power cut. A friend of mine had water in the cellar. He could not stay ahead of the water, with buckets. Carpet in the cellar got wet. His brother was out of town, had a generator in the garage, but it would not start. Old gasoline. I gave it a spray of ether in the air intake, and it fired right up, old gas and all. I can't afford a Honda, but I do like them. My Dad had a Honda for a while, and he really liked it.

Christopher A. Young Learn more about Jesus

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Reply to
Stormin Mormon
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Mmmm I like the idea of a keeping a bottle of ether around for a standby generator..

I rotate my backup gasoline at least yearly, by dumping it into one of the cars and refilling the storage tank with gas+Stabill. I also use that gas during the year for smal motors like lawn mower and chainsaws, Have about 20 gallons stashed that way.

But I'm looking to convert a generator to propane and just have a bunch of propane tanks as backup Propane doesn't go bad like gasoline.

Reply to
Atila Iskander

I have a Yamaha that never fails. If I have a start problem with any gas engine, I found that a shot of cheap carb cleaner also acts like ether for easy starting. There are gas additives to prolong gasoline life in the tank.

Reply to
azjohn

Hi, Up here in cold weather every one loves Honda for ease of starting.

Reply to
Tony Hwang

As little as I use it, I couldn't justify the Honda either. So I splurged a hundred bucks on the little Chicago 800 watt

2 stroke toy at Harbor Freight.

It has only been used to run a pressure washer and fans while working on the boat. It has never missed a beat though.

Reply to
Richard

Sounds like you got your money out of it. Glad to hear.

Christopher A. Young Learn more about Jesus

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As little as I use it, I couldn't justify the Honda either. So I splurged a hundred bucks on the little Chicago 800 watt

2 stroke toy at Harbor Freight.

It has only been used to run a pressure washer and fans while working on the boat. It has never missed a beat though.

Reply to
Stormin Mormon

LOL! My small shop vac gave all for this job. It was attached to the palm sander to keep the blue fug down (copper based bottom paint - ionic copper!)

100+ degrees temps, and a 300 foot extension cord were listed as contributing causes. I doubt we were getting 90 VAC there.

The shop vac was $30. The pressure washer cost $100. Seemed like it was gonna cost a hundred bucks either way, so now I have a generator (of sorts) to boot.

Reply to
Richard

Priced a Honda generator, and the salesman fired it up inside the store. I have never heard, or didn't hear, a generator as quiet as that one. Silence cost a lo of money.

Reply to
Bombgod1

Might come in handy, for the next power cut. Run the furnace, and some lights.

Christopher A. Young Learn more about Jesus

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LOL! My small shop vac gave all for this job. It was attached to the palm sander to keep the blue fug down (copper based bottom paint - ionic copper!)

100+ degrees temps, and a 300 foot extension cord were listed as contributing causes. I doubt we were getting 90 VAC there.

The shop vac was $30. The pressure washer cost $100. Seemed like it was gonna cost a hundred bucks either way, so now I have a generator (of sorts) to boot.

Reply to
Stormin Mormon

My Dad had similar experience, in a Honda generator store. Neat demo. I wonder how many of thier sales guys die of monoxide?

Christopher A. Young Learn more about Jesus

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Reply to
Stormin Mormon

I once happened to witness to salesman from two US companies (T-x & H-y) that made calculators, go after the same potential customer. After both did their spiels about all the features of their respective product, the H-y salesman took his calculator and threw it as hard as he could at the ceiling a good 20+ feet up Calculator went up, hit the ceiling, came back down, landed on a bench, bounced off, and landed on a concrete floor As the sales guy picked up his calculator, and started demonstrating how it was still operational, he looked at his competitor and said: "Our products are designed and built by engineers, for engineers who work and rough environments. We don't expect our equipment to be treated this way. But at least, they have a good chance of surviving such abuse.." He then turned to the other sales rep, and said: "How about your calculator ?" The other rep declined lobbing his calculator at the ceiling. Guess who got the sale...

Reply to
Atila Iskander

I used to install and service a lot of home backup generators and even converted a few gasoline generators to run on natural gas. The small engine shop in town sold me the conversion kits and the kits worked out very well with the typical portable 5kw contractor generators. ^_^

TDD

Reply to
The Daring Dufas

The clerk at HF said they were only returned for being too loud.

Reply to
Jim Wilkins

Too bad Honda generators break and are VERY expensive to fix. I went instead with a couple of very cheap second hand Colemans I can maintain with a chainsaw tool, and a noise-reducing folding weather enclosure made from fireproof ceiling tiles, which quiets them enough that they can't be heard from a moving car in the street. We lose power for a week or more after bad ice storms and a 2KW Honda won't start my washing machine; the Coleman 3750 can barely supply the starting current.

The smaller Coleman is light enough to carry through deep snow without shoveling a path, or lift into the back of the car. Those can be important.

jsw

Reply to
Jim Wilkins

One nice thing about Honda generators is that they're quiet.

That quietness enables you to hear all your neighbor's generators during a power outage.

Reply to
HeyBub

If this happened with any regularity (read: twice), I'd have a permanent installation by the time the power came back on. Sometimes, 0ur power goes out daily but it's usually just long enough to screw up all the clocks and set the 'fridge alarm off. It's rarely more than an hour (even after a storm has taken lines down) and never a week after an ice storm. ;-)

Reply to
krw

Keeps the generator thieves from looking for one at your place during a disaster. ^_^

TDD

Reply to
The Daring Dufas

Oooh! Good point! But, if you can't hear the generator, how do you know it's gone?... Never mind.

I have burglar-bar doors and chain my generator to the door. For others, it seems trivial to sink an eye-bolt to the brick facade (or similar).

Reply to
HeyBub

Sounds like the guys who sell Thermal Imagers in the fire service. They will take a unit and bounce it off a concrete floor or throw it around to demonstrate how much they can take. One rep had that fail at our station though. He brought in the units and started his demonstration. He would then pass the unit around to show how the functions worked. When it came to the tossing part he did his thing and handed me the camera. OOPS! the screen had a big blank spot where part of the sensor or screen failed!!!

Reply to
Steve W.

I can run on a solar-charged battery and use the genny only to top up the battery on overcast days or wash laundry. The clothes dryer is solar.

Soon enough we'll have Social Poetic Justice when the carbon tax jacks up the energy bills of those who demanded it, but don't know how to reduce their consumption.

Reply to
Jim Wilkins

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