Inverter Generator Shopping

[greekfreek]

Looking for an Inverter generator, approx 2000 watts. Looking at Champion, Briggs, ETQ, Powerhouse, & lastly Generac. Need it for pellet stove, furnace, and new refrigerator. Any one have EDIT any opinions?? Thanks

 

[rbh]

Re: Inverter Generator Shopping

Looking for an Inverter generator, approx 2000 watts. Looking at Champion, Briggs, ETQ, Powerhouse, & lastly Generac. Need it for pellet stove, furnace, and new refrigerator. Any one have one or any opinions?? Thanks

2000 watts is not alot when you consider that it is 2000 watt max draw for short periods of time and about 1500 continuois.
(drip coffe pot 1200watt draw+-, toaster about the same, hair drier about 750 watt.)

Add up all the appliances max watt draws that you will be usings include lights ETC.

 

[sam60]

Re: Inverter Generator Shopping

http://www.portableinvertergenerators.com/

 

[greekfreek]

Re: Inverter Generator Shopping

I have a 5000 watt generator for the house, but need "clean" power for the above items.

 

[Chip Chester]

Re: Inverter Generator Shopping

I'm a long-time owner of a Honda eu3000is. Not on your list, but a fine, quiet, stable generator. It gets along well with UPS units as well.

Chip

 

[ehenry]

Re: Inverter Generator Shopping

I have two inverter generators and they are both Honda EU2000i. I"ve had them for about 5 years and they get used fairly regularly. I've only had problems with one and it was because it sat too long with fuel in the carburetor. Dropped the bowl, cleaned the jets and it hasn't skipped a beat since. I HIGHLY recommend the Honda EU2000i. It will run about 13.5 hours on less than 1.5 gallons of gas and you can parallel it with another EU2000i or EU2000 companion generator and best of all they are super quiet. They are high priced but well worth it.

I have no experience with the others you listed other than Generac. I've got a 15kw natural gas Generac standby unit on the house. I've had it for 13 years. Its been a good unit with no problems.

 

[bruceb58]

Re: Inverter Generator Shopping

I bought the Yamaha EF3000iSE. It is less than $2K and includes the wheels which are extra on the Honda.

I like the electric start which you can also do remotely with an RF remote control.

 

[markheck1]

Re: Inverter Generator Shopping

Looking for an Inverter generator, approx 2000 watts. Looking at Champion, Briggs, ETQ, Powerhouse, & lastly Generac. Need it for pellet stove, furnace, and new refrigerator. Any one have EDIT any opinions?? Thanks

Go cheap get cheap.....you want a Honda.....get one, yeah I know they are around 1100 for a EU2000i but they are worth it, we've only had one with problems in the shop and that's cause the guy was running it continuously and it was eating it's own exhaust....he ran it inside a shed to protect it :facepalm:

I see so many of these chinese pieces of garbage in our shop and half the time we end up giving them back in pieces because they aren't cost effective to fix.

you can also use a line conditioner for the sensitive circuits instead of have 2 gennys
check out http://www.tripplite.com

and you ARE using a transfer switch for the generator, right?

 

[calvinator]

Re: Inverter Generator Shopping

x2 - don't buy a cheap one. We have a motorhome and over the years I bought a Boliy 3500w and a Magna 2000w inverter generator -- pretty much b/c of price. Neither lasted long, maybe 100 hrs over 8-12 mos, of light use. The Boliy physically broke down - plastic parts and pot metal components broke. Then the computer module flaked out. There is no service center for these generators, so it was me tearing the thing apart all the time.

The Magna was a total waste. The carb is cheap and fussy. After a few uses it would not idle properly. Then it started leaking oil and it became an oily mess all the time.

I threw in the towel and bought a used Onan MicroLite for the motorhome -- all good.

If I was to buy another inverter style gen, it would be a Honda or Yamaha. They just work.

 

[Chip Chester]

Re: Inverter Generator Shopping

Well, since I brought up Hondas in the first place...

The 3000 is heavy -- 160 or so -- and the factory wheel kit is good for moving around the garage or driveway, and that's about it. (There may be a newer one with wheels that are bigger than 3".) In addition to "perfect" power (a 60 hz sinewave with distortion figures that would be fine on an audio amplifier) it is very, very quiet. Like the other Honda inverter gennys, it can be ganged to provide 6000 Watts of power -- but that's only at 120. Real 220/240, with the waveforms 180 degrees out of phase with each other, is not available.

For hand-carrying, the 2000 watt units are great. Reasonably luggable, and you can get 4kW with two of 'em.

I have used mine the most for a challenging setup: Office trailer, with an RV roof air conditioner, and a desk full of computers and pro video recorders (back in the 'tape' days.) I put all electronics on a APC UPS -- one of the SmartUPS series devices that has the "power quality" switch on the back. (This switch lets you define what is "good" power -- the genny -- and tailor the response of the UPS accordingly.) Then I wired the rooftop air to the direct genny feed. When the air kicked on, the genny obviously "noticed" and the UPS handled the electronics with no problem. In about 5 seconds, after the air was running, the UPS reverted to input power and all was good again.

I'm not sure how a UPS would handle some of your loads, but you can experiment with grid power before purchasing your generator.

I think Honda has a 6500 watt inverter genny now, too... with 220. Mmmmm.... 220, 221, whatever it takes.

Chip

 

[markheck1]

Re: Inverter Generator Shopping

yep the 3000 is rather heavy, they make a 3000 Handi now that's smaller lighter, etc, but no electric start.

Yeah, the EU6500i is really, really nice, but at almost 4300 clams we don't sell too many.
you can put a board on top of it and play cards on it while running and still be able to talk to each other, LOL