generators

I will need to buy a generator soon and was looking for input from the people out there that can give me their personal opinions on different types.

thanks in advance.

Honda makes an excellent generator that is extremely quiet, but they are also pricy. I believe its worth the investment. http://www.hondapowerequipment.com/gen.asp Click on the EU series, those are the quiet ones.

dw

All depends?

What are your wattage, noise, size, weight, mobililty requirements?

I found a run quiet from Briggs & Stratton. Works great & was about half of what Honda charges.

quote:

Originally posted by ShellysDawgHouse

I will need to buy a generator soon and was looking for input from the people out there that can give me their personal opinions on different types.

thanks in advance.

I would go with a Honda like the previous poster said. Even though they are expensive it's worth it because they are quite. I bought a cheap brand generator off Ebay and it has a alot of watts but sounds like a leaf blower.

I would look at a diesal gen set. You can get a great diesal modle on Ebay. I purchased 3 of them off there. They were 900 bucks each and 250 bucks to have all 2 delivered.

These are self contained and weather proof. Silant as they say (YOU CAN HEAR THEM).

The deisal gen sets will give you 10 times the life as gas and operate much cheaper on fuel oils.

You can also get them to produce (Like the ones I purchased) 120/240 AC and 12 volt DC. The 12 volt is nice as it will charge the batteries of a moble set up if need be.

Now, if your operation is totally contained in a vehical. Like a cattering wagon. I would look at a true APU. These are used on semi trucks and motor homes. These are expensive. Like 9k. Yhis is why I purchased 3 of the cheap ones off e bay. Two to be mounted on out semi trucks and one for the grocery store as a back up.

http://cgi.ebay.com/NEW-6000-WATT-6-KW-COMMERCIAL-DIESEL-GENERATOR-SILENT_W0QQitemZ290216203650QQihZ019QQcategoryZ29520QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

That is similar to what we ordered. We have used them for over 2 years. Ours were 7k watts. with a 15k "surge". Dng good deal in my book.

Shelly Do you have a Pep Boys Store near You, I bought a 3,000 watt gen for 400.00 it was very quiet, Can't remember the brand name tho. But today I'd buy the 5,000 watt one. for about 500.00 It held 8 hrs worth of Gas.
Cowboy Bob in PA

well since i use generators for all the festivals that we do here is what has served us faithfully for four years. two honda eu3000is generators. these gennies normally run between 24 to 72 hours per week continuously and the only problem was during one torrential downpour i had one flame out. when it dried out 12 hours later i fired it right back up. maintainence is easy. also these gennies are on file with some festivals as being "noise approved" and they are approved for onsite by the motion picture association. with the "eco-switch" on i can run both gennies for 72 hours on 14 gallons of gas. my electric load consists of 22 cu. ft. reefer,7.2 cu. ft. freezer,FEC100 smoker,SM150 smoker,3 well steam table,5 ft. hood system,hot water heater and water pump. the other plus is being in florida i get asked a lot of questions about them as people are attracted to them due to their quiteness. these questions 9 times out of 10 result in people buying food from us just because we took sometime with them. if you have a camping world near you spring the 20 bucks for the presidents club card. the 20 bucks will give you about 200 bucks in savings since it is an automatic 10% discount. i was very fortunate to have a friend in utah who does catering for movie shoots on the salt flats reccomend these units to me. they have done everything he said and more!!!
jack
ps. as an added plus you can plug a computer into these since the current is inverted and gives clean power. all of your appliance motors will last longer since they demand a clean sine wave. the cheaper ones will not give you a 100% clean sine wave.