Thread: Back up Generators

My Pop's called me from Sam's club this morning and told me he was looking at getting us one for Christmas this year. I graciously told him not to and they don't need to get us anything. But he is insistant on one, and I sure wouldn't mind having one either. Here's the link to the one he was staring at earlier today Black Max 3,650 Watt Portable Gas Generator - Sam's Club

Although Black Max is typically known to have honda motors, this one has a homelite. No idea if this is a good'en or not, but 3650 watts will be plenty to keep my house warm and food cold should we need it this winter.

Anybody have a generator in the $300 price range that they would or wouldn't suggest? Can't find any reviews on this one.

I have a Generac 4000. It's about 8 yrs old and has been a good one. I don't use it often but it has never failed me. I think the key to keeping one going is to make sure you shut the gas off and run it dry. They sure are handy to have.

How is it going to keep your house warm? It will keep the light on and the food frozen and that's about it. Once you use it, run it atleast once a month and put stablizer in the fuel.

Gas furnace. Only have to run the 110 blower

i have one they are a great tool to after a storm hits like they say keep your gas on hand with the stablizer in the gas and dont run to close to the house and use a hi amp dropcord

You could do like me and not out stabil in it or not run the gas out and pretty much hafta rebuild the carb every time the power goes off. And I also hafta jump it off with the truck cause I won't crank it once a month to keep the battery up. I know I'm a gewber on this, but hey, ya supposed to struggle a little when the power goes off.

That will be some kinda nice Christmas gift--and anything that is named Black Max is going to perform

3650 ain't much,you need at lest 6000ws Ifen you going to power your house.
No AC. Your heater, tv, frig, lights. If you do to right you can plug it in to your
dryer plug and backfeed the house. You got to shut off your main braker & use
The rest of the breakers to power up what you need. Less is good, you don't won't
To overload your gen. Did I say less is good? Just make Shure you disconnect from
The gird.

Originally Posted by TUSHHOG

3650 ain't much,you need at lest 6000ws Ifen you going to power your house.
No AC. Your heater, tv, frig, lights. If you do to right you can plug it in to your
dryer plug and backfeed the house. You got to shut off your main braker & use
The rest of the breakers to power up what you need. Less is good, you don't won't
To overload your gen. Did I say less is good? Just make Shure you disconnect from
The gird.

This is what I do....I made up a large guage cord with a dryer plug on it. I turn the Main breaker in my breaker box off then plug the generator into my clothes dryer plug....this way my generator is feeding 220 into my breaker box....I then use the breaker box as a control panel....turning off what I do not need and running what I do need. I can turn off my freezer and refrigerator and turn the hot water heater on to take showers the switch back etc. works good.....can't run everything in the house all at once but you can still use everything a little at a time. I do use stabil in the gas and been doing this for about 15 years now without any problems. My generator is a Generac 4600. I operated like this during a big ice storm years ago for 10 days.

Purchased one several years ago to use out on commercial fireworks shows. Around the size that your looking at maybe a little bigger. I think ours is a 5500 watt got it from Sears. Have used it more than once to keep the house warm during ice and snow storms. Once for as long as 14 straight days and I live in town! Granted had to switch power cords to the different freezers and other items. But was able to keep the water pipes from freezing up. Main thing like Minnerman said use Stabil, and remember if you don't have power the chances are most gas stations in your area wont have power. So invest in some good gas cans and figure out a good safe storage area for it. Remember that keeping a generator going 24/7 depending on the load will take several gallons of gas. If I know there is a storm coming in that looks like the power will be off I usually go get at least 50 gallons of gas!

I don't know much about power but I will tell you one important thing! DON'T FORGET TO GROUND THE GENERATOR!!!