800/900 watt HFT 2-stroke generator

[JTK]

I know these get brought up from time to time, I just thought I'd post my recent experience with mine. I had purchased this unit about 3-4yrs ago and it's sat on a shelf sealed in it's box in the basement since then.

We had a power outage about 4:30pm yesterday and I had a pot roast in the oven with another ~1.5hrs to go. Of course gas with E-controls is dead as a door nail with no power. Oh the humanity!

After about 20min of no power, the weather getting much worse and it starting to get dark, I ran down and unpacked this little guy. I ran 100ft of heavy gauge extension cord through a glass block vent window in the basement, worked it upstairs and through the house. Fueled up the little smoke and fume generator with some premix I had made up a few months ago and it fired up on the second pull.

This little thing vibrates WAAY less than my 4-stroke ~1800w coleman powermate and it's relatively quiet! Just a low mellow 2-stroke drone.

It got the roast done no problem, then powered a few lights and got rotated among two of my tropical fish aquariums. It stalled once out of the blue for reasons unknown, but started back up one pull.

The generator ran 3hrs and the fuel tank still looks full. I know it can't be, but it appears to be a fuel sipper with light loads on it.

A handy little tool to have. I believe I got it for $79 back then.

 

[Andrew1972]

Thanks for review.

I have considered one for powering my Home Office for my 100% remote IT job. However ended up using laptop and a $100 UPS that powers my wifi/internet router(only) for 8 hrs to cover the needs silently without fuss. I have 8500watt monster generator(.5 gallon/hr) to power home but what a hassle to drag outside etc only to find power back on within a few hours!

 

[The_Jeff]

I like mine. I particularly like being able to leave an $89 gadget out in the rain and wind without long-term concern for its well being.

A two-stroke running at only 3600 RPM with a well tuned quiet muffler sounds odd: sick, almost. It does not have "that chainsaw sound", thankfully.

 

[SwampSurvivor]

I have one - got it for my Popup to charge the (future) battery bank. Small popup + small camper!

There are two things that surprise me about it. It starts on the first pull, even with the junk factory spark plug and no primber bulb. And it's quiet and doesn't vibrate.

Was "testing" it and definitely had over 800 watts on it. Startup on a few of the things I was testing is >1Kw ...

Originally Posted By: eljefino
I like mine. I particularly like being able to leave an $89 gadget out in the rain and wind without long-term concern for its well being.

A two-stroke running at only 3600 RPM with a well tuned quiet muffler sounds odd: sick, almost. It does not have "that chainsaw sound", thankfully.


My father commented the same when he heard it run. He didn't think it was running right with it running so slow.


There are some videos on youtube of a guy that played with one of these and raised the compression a bit to run it on diesel. Surprisingly enough, it kind of ran for a while. Wouldn't shut off. And eventually blew up. Kind of entertaining, though.

 

[gman2304]

At first I thought it had powered an electric oven. Then I reread your post. LOL! Glad it worked out for you.

 

[The_Jeff]

Yeah I ran a fridge off mine (280 watts for a full size modern samsung) but beware there's a defrost timer that kicks in every once in a while.

 

[JHZR2]

You've got to love 2-stroke engines for being compact and powerful. No idea what the power quality looks like though... Especially under loads starting up.

 

[JTK]

Originally Posted By: JHZR2
You've got to love 2-stroke engines for being compact and powerful. No idea what the power quality looks like though... Especially under loads starting up.


The output is definitely a little bouncy. You could also hear the load change big time on it when the 150 and 200 watt aquarium heaters kicked on/off.

I really was expecting this thing to vibrate all over the place. It is amazingly smooth that way for as low cost as they are.

 

[WobblyElvis]

So would one of these generators take it when a full size refrigerator kicks in? I have a shallow well 1/4 hp water pump, able to start that?

 

[4wheeldog]

Originally Posted By: WobblyElvis
So would one of these generators take it when a full size refrigerator kicks in? I have a shallow well 1/4 hp water pump, able to start that?


Water pump? Probably would work fine. Full sized house refrigerator? Nope. Refrigerator is usually 1800 watts or so.......Twice what one of these little gennies will handle.

 

[skyactiv]

I have one I bought at Meijer for $89 about 10 years ago. I've ran my sump pump and a 20 CF refrigerator, not at the same time though, without an issue.
Mine won't start unless I shut off the petcock and let it run out of fuel.
Even if I shut it off and turn the petcock off, the spark plug gets wet when trying to start and it won't start. Mine came with 12 volt charging clamps and I loaned the generator to a friend to charge a dead battery in a car he had at a storage lot.

 

[Jetronic]

I would really like a small diesel generator. I could run it on heater fuel which I have 500 gallons of... Main purpose would be to power the electrics of the heater, some lights and the tv/wii until mains are back up

 

[SwampSurvivor]

Originally Posted By: skyactiv
I have one I bought at Meijer for $89 about 10 years ago. I've ran my sump pump and a 20 CF refrigerator, not at the same time though, without an issue.
Mine won't start unless I shut off the petcock and let it run out of fuel.
Even if I shut it off and turn the petcock off, the spark plug gets wet when trying to start and it won't start. Mine came with 12 volt charging clamps and I loaned the generator to a friend to charge a dead battery in a car he had at a storage lot.


What are 12v charging clamps?

 

[JTK]

Yeah, the newer HFT "Storm Cat" ones don't come with a 12VDC output and a set of battery clamps. Just a single 3-prong 120VAC outlet.

 

[Rand]

Yep the yearly model change

for example their new 700running/900w "starting"
63cc "stormcat" model

the owners manual still says 800/900w
http://www.harborfreight.com/900-peak700...carb-60338.html
http://manuals.harborfreight.com/manuals/60000-60999/60338.pdf

 

[AandPDan]

I have one of them too. Took it out of the box during an ice storm about 4 years ago. It ended up running for about 5 hours a day for 5 days. No problems whatsoever.

It would run my full size refrigerator OR the computer, tv, and some lights.

Still runs good, probably up to about 50 hours or so now.

 

[cronk]

I have one as well, got it on sale and had gift cards, so it cost me nothing out of pocket. I use it for running small power tools in the back yard rather than untangling long extension cords.
It it sits for any length of time it takes around 10 pulls to get it started, but runs well and actually powers more than expected.
Quieter than I expected, but I have a Champion Inverter for camping when I want ultra quiet.
I always run a good synthetic 2 stroke oil, has Stihl ultra now, may get Amsoil Sabre in the future.

On the RV forums, they are either loved or hated.
Some have gotten many reliable hours from them, others call them annoying buzz boxes.

 

[DNVDMAX]

I bought one in 2009 at CSK Auto and initially regretted my purchase due to it running rough under light loads and having a constant knocking sound. It kinda grew on me and I started taking it everywhere and is still with me today. It run non-stop for 7 days on 3 different occasions for bear, moose and caribou hunts. And lots of 3 day camping trips. It’s also great when ice fishing at -20 to keep the trucks batteries and oil pads warm. I noticed the knock went away with time and governor settled down and stopped hunting. I have run everything from Supertech tc-w3 to Amsoil Saber 2 stroke oils. I have even run ATF and PCMO in a pinch when I forgot to pack 2 stroke oil. Only real side effect was plumes of smoke and a ton of carbon build up. I just decarbonized the engine about 100 hours ago and it was caked on the piston top and head. The top ring was barely free and the ring lands were carboned up pretty good. I’d estimate mine has between 400 and 700 hours on it and the only part that looked beat was the piston wrist pin from the roller bearing. A new pin was $3.99 shipped on ebay. I took the liberty of polishing the piston top and head chamber as they were pretty rough, even for Chinese quality control. I’m still not picky on the 2 stroke oil but prefer to feed it something with an ISO-L-EGD rating. Oreillys has Master Pro 2 Cycle Sport in 1 qts for $6.49 that meets EGD. I wish I could get Mystik Sea and Snow up here. I have more than got my monies worth out of it.

 

[SwampSurvivor]

Originally Posted By: JTK
Yeah, the newer HFT "Storm Cat" ones don't come with a 12VDC output and a set of battery clamps. Just a single 3-prong 120VAC outlet.

Interesting. Do they make 12VDC anywhere? I'm assuming since they are not an inverter style ... not?

 

[Cujet]

I've owned mine for a number of years now. I've got a good one. I've used it to power external lights, and even a HF "MIG" welder.

The sine wave is actually pretty darn good. But frequency control is absolutely horrible. I've run somewhere around 15-20 full tanks through it. Changed the plug and fuel line, cleaned the air filter. Nothing else.

It will run about 8 hours on a full tank with modest loads.