Sweet deal on a generator, except one thing

[Kurtatron]

I’ve wanted a generator for a while now.

Appliances I want working during an outage: refrigerator, microwave, and small Window AC unit. Maybe a space heater in the dead of winter to prevent pipes from freezing.

I bought a busted 4200 watt craftsman for $40 that I ended up annihilating from sheer stupidity. It was already in pieces, but I wanted to try and fix it. While it was running I shorted a wire to the frame and toasted the generator stator.

So on Facebook, I found this monster instead. It’s a never used 6100 watt craftsman. For $200! Purchaser in front of me bailed because he couldn’t find a truck, so I snatched it.

The only con is the weight. Wow these higher wattage generators are heavy! 198lbs!

My 4200 watt was about 120. Why such a jump? Crazy. A starter is so unnecessary. Can’t see why that and a battery make any sense on a pull start generator.

This generator does not have an oil filter. The 4200 watt did have an oil filter. I wish it did, but I’ve read that small engines last plenty long without oil filters.

I’m planning on feeding it Pennzoil 5w-30 platinum. Since it isn’t something that will see regular use, any recommendations on keeping this thing running for years?

 

[Owen Lucas]

Nice find! Did it come with the wheels?

 

[spasm3]

You need to crank it up and put a load on it at least every year. You don't want it to lose its magnetic field.

 

[fsdork]

Unless it runs for days on end, stagnant fuel is more likely to cause a problem than oil (short of running it out of oil, of course). I keep either alkylate (Aspen or similar) or stabilized non-ethanol gasoline in my generator. If I had an emergency that caused me to consume a fair bit of fuel, I'd run whatever gasoline was available, then run alkylate or stabilized non-ethanol through it before storing.

 

[Kurtatron]

Nice find! Did it come with the wheels?

Yeah, new in box. I just haven’t installed them yet.

 

[Kurtatron]

Unless it runs for days on end, stagnant fuel is more likely to cause a problem than oil (short of running it out of oil, of course). I keep either alkylate (Aspen or similar) or stabilized non-ethanol gasoline in my generator. If I had an emergency that caused me to consume a fair bit of fuel, I'd run whatever gasoline was available, then run alkylate or stabilized non-ethanol through it before storing.

I intend to use non ethanol gas with stabilizer. Gas station 10 minutes away sells it.

 

[eljefino]

Keeping that thing gassed up during a weather event will be your biggest challenge. OTOH It will be good for keeping not one but multiple ACs going if it's really swampy and you can find fuel.

 

[Chris142]

Get the wheel kit or mount it on an old lawnmower chassis

 

[Kurtatron]

Keeping that thing gassed up during a weather event will be your biggest challenge. OTOH It will be good for keeping not one but multiple ACs going if it's really swampy and you can find fuel.

Yeah, you’re right. I’ll probably have to run the thing in bursts. It says it’ll run 13 hours on 7 gallons of fuel at half load. Not great.

Clearly greatest advantage of inverter generator.

 

[Sequoiasoon]

I have 4x 5 gallon cans. 3 of them are frequently empty unless there is a predicted potential weather event. At that point generator is full, all cans and all vehicles. Event ends and the 3 cans get used up in my vehicles ready for next time. 4th can gets used for my riding mower.

I haven't tried siphoning from vehicles in forever. Supposedly issues these days on newer vehicles. The 20+ gallons in SUV will get me pretty far if I need to travel and get stuff (fuel or other). I run mine to get refrigerator/freezers cold, get boiler running for heat/hot water and then it pretty much shuts off. I hate the heat but I can survive if needed. I also have some battery operated fans for camping. I'll cook on the grill since I have 3-4 spare propane on hand. Kind of like camping with nicer amenities.