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:cool:

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.

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!!!

I've got a Troy Built 8550, has come in handy a couple times.

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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.

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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.

My panel is in the garage and I will be adding a plug out of the bottom of the panel to back feed.

Looks like 2 votes for generac

I had a electrican install a receptacle below my main panel(outside) and have 8ga. extension cord. Pull the meter and crank up the gen.

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Originally Posted by EmptyStringer

My panel is in the garage and I will be adding a plug out of the bottom of the panel to back feed.

Looks like 2 votes for generac

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That will work....use a 220 receptacle and wire it with 8 guage wire into both legs in the breaker box with at least a 30 amp breaker . Be a good idea to check with Speck on this because I am not a electrician.

This reminded me that I hadn't cranked mine in a while. Two cans of starter fluid later it still won't run if I stop the starter fluid flow. What's up?

If your generator has a battery, go to Harbor Freight and get one of the small on-board trickle chargers for $19.99. Plug it up to your battery and never worry about a dead battery. Put 1 on my 4-wheeler and 1 on my riding mower and never un-plug them except during use. Ask EZ, he bought 6 last time.

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Originally Posted by majflyboy

This reminded me that I hadn't cranked mine in a while. Two cans of starter fluid later it still won't run if I stop the starter fluid flow. What's up?

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carburetor gummed up or needle and seat stuck and is not getting the gas

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Originally Posted by crappiholic

If your generator has a battery, go to Harbor Freight and get one of the small on-board trickle chargers for $19.99. Plug it up to your battery and never worry about a dead battery. Put 1 on my 4-wheeler and 1 on my riding mower and never un-plug them except during use. Ask EZ, he bought 6 last time.

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good idea MorrisThumbs Up

ES one thing you need to remember granted its great to have power but the noise factor isn't good! Kind of like having a next door neighbor who loves to mow his yard every Sunday morning at 7 am! And the farther you move the generator from the house the more power you will loose.

I was an electrician for 10 years. Not a good electrician like speck, but one none the less so I know the ropes. A for the noise, if the power goes out, my neighbors can kiss it

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Originally Posted by EmptyStringer

I was an electrician for 10 years. Not a good electrician like speck, but one none the less so I know the ropes. A for the noise, if the power goes out, my neighbors can kiss it

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I put a chain and a pad lock on mine so that the neighbors won't borrow it!!!!Thumbs Up

ES. You'll like it if you ever have to use it. Small enough to load and take camping or to use tools from. 3650 watts by 120 volts will put out 30 amps. most mid size campers run on 30 amp total.

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Originally Posted by "G"

carburetor gummed up or needle and seat stuck and is not getting the gas

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That's about the same thing Billbob told me. Going to try opening the needles a half turn and try it tomorrow.

Is the fuel shut off turned on?

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Originally Posted by majflyboy

That's about the same thing Billbob told me. Going to try opening the needles a half turn and try it tomorrow.

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If your engine has a float type carb.....then the needle and seat that the float operates inside the carb may be stuck......You will have to drop the float bowl on the carb and remove the float to get to it. The needles you are talking about are different critters. You might try getting a can of Deep Creep thats a spray can form of SeaFoam and open your throttle plate and spray the carb down good with it and clean it out.

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Originally Posted by ATM

Is the fuel shut off turned on?

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Yep, but I do turn the fuel off to run all the gas out when I shut it off.

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Originally Posted by "G"

If your engine has a float type carb.....then the needle and seat that the float operates inside the carb may be stuck......You will have to drop the float bowl on the carb and remove the float to get to it. The needles you are talking about are different critters. You might try getting a can of Deep Creep thats a spray can form of SeaFoam and open your throttle plate and spray the carb down good with it and clean it out.

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Don't know much about dropping bowls G.

I bet EZ does Maj.....If we lived closer, I would get it running for you

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Originally Posted by majflyboy

Don't know much about dropping bowls G.

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They should be one 7/16 or 1/2 nut under yo carb. Loosen it and let the gas drain out and then take it completely out. The bowl is what the nut is holding in place. When you get it off, you'll see it's not actually a nut, but a bolt. Your bowl will Prolly be stuck to the body of the carb because of the gasket. Go ahead and pull it off, but be careful with the gasket. They normally don't tear tho.
When you get the bowl off, you gonna see a plastic float. They normally C shaped. It's held in place by a small pin. Use a paper clip to push it out. Some are tapered and will only go in from one direction. When you get this pin out, your needle valve will be hooked to the float and up in the body of the carb. When you get your needle out you're supposed to be able to blow into the fuel supply line and air comes out where the needle was. If ya can't blow air thru it, then it's stopped up. It's better to always try to clear it by applying air pressure from the fuel line in, otherwise you gonna just cram the trash on up into the carb. Occasionally you'll hafta clear it from the carb end. Spray it with a carb cleaner and let it soak a few minutes. And then reassemble when you can freely blow air from the fuel lone thru the carb. You can test your needle and seat after you reassemble the float and needle by blowin with yo mouf on the fuel line and workin the float with yo finger.

Hope this makes sense.

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Originally Posted by majflyboy

Yep, but I do turn the fuel off to run all the gas out when I shut it off.

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Check the oil, it has a low oil/ pressure shutdown.
You might try tapping on the carb. To free up the float.

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Originally Posted by "G"

I bet EZ does Maj.....If we lived closer, I would get it running for you

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I know you would G, thanks.

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Originally Posted by Minnerman

They should be one 7/16 or 1/2 nut under yo carb. Loosen it and let the gas drain out and then take it completely out. The bowl is what the nut is holding in place. When you get it off, you'll see it's not actually a nut, but a bolt. Your bowl will Prolly be stuck to the body of the carb because of the gasket. Go ahead and pull it off, but be careful with the gasket. They normally don't tear tho.
When you get the bowl off, you gonna see a plastic float. They normally C shaped. It's held in place by a small pin. Use a paper clip to push it out. Some are tapered and will only go in from one direction. When you get this pin out, your needle valve will be hooked to the float and up in the body of the carb. When you get your needle out you're supposed to be able to blow into the fuel supply line and air comes out where the needle was. If ya can't blow air thru it, then it's stopped up. It's better to always try to clear it by applying air pressure from the fuel line in, otherwise you gonna just cram the trash on up into the carb. Occasionally you'll hafta clear it from the carb end. Spray it with a carb cleaner and let it soak a few minutes. And then reassemble when you can freely blow air from the fuel lone thru the carb. You can test your needle and seat after you reassemble the float and needle by blowin with yo mouf on the fuel line and workin the float with yo finger.

Hope this makes sense.

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It does make sense, thanks for taking the time to write it.

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Originally Posted by TUSHHOG

Check the oil, it has a low oil/ pressure shutdown.
You might try tapping on the carb. To free up the float.

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I'll check that too, thanks Tush.

You should be able to get it going with that info Major.......if you get lost just give me, minner, or tushhog a shout and we will try to walk you through it.

Thanks guys, still got my secret weapon,,,,,,,, EZPoleholder the modern day McGuiver.

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Originally Posted by majflyboy

Thanks guys, still got my secret weapon,,,,,,,, EZPoleholder the modern day McGuiver.

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EZ can handle it.....no problemThumbs Up

Since my thread has been jacked, who wants to fry some chittlins?

Are the creak washed and stump whooped dry?