New Predator 4375 generator

[Ausfahrt]

My wife and I have been getting along with our old reliable Honda EU2000i just fine for years. Then we had a three day outage last winter which taxed our (wifey's) ability to get by. The main issue was that our home has a well and our little Honda can't run the pump.

So I recently relented and bought a HF Predator 4375 generator with 240 volt output so that I can run it a few hours a day to power our house. Our home came with a lockout panel so I can just tie into that when we need to. I plan to only run the Predator an hour or two in the morning and in the evening during extended outages.

Of course I bought the wheel package as well.

Then I chose Rotella T6 5w-40 from my inventory as an initial fill.

The generator fired up on the second pull and it ran great powering just a 500 watt shop light.

I zip tied an hour meter just because It's new and I didn't want to cut it up and void the warranty but I will eventually find a permanent mount.

 

[Dave Sherman]

Nice! I have its predecessor, the 4000. Looks like they got smart and put some sturdier circuit breakers on the AC side. I'd recommend a magnetic dipstick, they are cheap and easy to find on Amazon. Only trouble I had with mine was I found my Torch spark plug was broken inside the boot (yet still ran), and my GFCI outlets got very touchy and would trip at odd times. New GFCIs fixed that, and an NGK spark plug was an upgrade.

 

[Cujet]

Well pumps are notoriously difficult to start. If you've not already done so, make sure it will start the pump repeatedly.

 

[spasm3]

I have a 4375. Very pleased with it. I run our well pump , and our gas furnace, as well as lights and refrigerator. ( Water heater is gas as well).

I just don't have the well pump run, while running the furnace, with the other loads.
When we need to refill the toilets , or take a shower, I turn the furnace off till we are done with the well pump.
All our interior lights are led, so Minimal load there.

The fuel consumption is nice. I can go 20hrs on 5 gallons. That's great if you are out several days.

 

[Ausfahrt]

Well pumps are notoriously difficult to start. If you've not already done so, make sure it will start the pump repeatedly.

Good to know. I'll be checking that out as soon as it warms up a bit.

 

[spasm3]

Good to know. I'll be checking that out as soon as it warms up a bit.

It should, just don't have a lot of other loads when running the well pump.
Mine will start the well pump with the furnace running , but you can hear it bog down pretty good for a moment. I don't want to burn up the water pump windings with inadequate startup amperage, so I turn off the furnace when running it.

I'm happy with it because I can fill it up at 6 am and it will still be running at 9pm when I get home from the hospital. Wife never has to worry about refueling.

 

[Ausfahrt]

I did the first oil change at 3.5 hours and the old oil looked good. The cheapo spark plug was changed out for a NGK and I taped off the O2 sensor since there are a lot of complaints online about false shutdowns.

 

[spasm3]

I did the first oil change at 3.5 hours and the old oil looked good. The cheapo spark plug was changed out for a NGK and I taped off the CO sensor since there are a lot of complaints online about false shutdowns.
View attachment 202636

Mine does not have the CO sensor. I also changed the torch plug for an NGK iridium.

 

[GMBoy]

Those are actually really good units as they have made improvements over the years. I still have and run my older unit from about 2010 and while the quality is typical chinese like of the era- it has never let me down and starts on about 3-4 pulls every time. I would love to have the later model like what you have there!

 

[TheLastWord]

All Predator generators at HF are 20% off now.

Until 2/18

 

[spasm3]

Those are actually really good units as they have made improvements over the years. I still have and run my older unit from about 2010 and while the quality is typical chinese like of the era- it has never let me down and starts on about 3-4 pulls every time. I would love to have the later model like what you have there!

I've been very happy with how little fuel it uses for a non inverter unit.

 

[z71bill]

I noticed the neutral is bonded to the frame on this model.

Back when I was looking for a generator the models with this set up - as opposed to a floating neutral could cause some issued with the GFI tripping on the generator. It depended on how it was hooked into your electrical panel.

Is the 240 plug on this unit GFI protected?

The set up I have is simple - a mechanical interlock requires the main breaker be off before I can turn on the breaker that feeds the panel.

This type of hook up is the one that did not work - because the ground built inside your breaker panel and the ground on the generator means it has two grounds and this confuses the GFI outlet and causes it to trip.

I AM NOT AN EXPERT - I could be FOS -

I just recall reading a lot of comments from people that had problems because of the neutral being bonded to the frame causing the GFI to trip - some had to install a transfer switch that cost about the same as their generator.

It may be a good idea to test it before you need it.

 

[football]

On most generators of this type, you take the outlets off and the white wire (neutral) will be bolted to the green (ground) wire. This is a bonded neutral. You must break the bond when hooking it up to the house via a 240V 30 amp cord.

Your electrical panel will have the grounds and neutrals bonded together, and they can only be bonded in one spot. That’s why you have to break the bond on your generator.

You can make or buy a bonding plug which you plug into an outlet to bond the white/green together for when the generator is used as a stand alone unit and not hooked to the house.