Sweet deal on a generator, except one thing

[SonofaBoomer]

I can easily pull start my 7200 Briggs generator. Is battery really necessary to start a 9100? I never really saw the point in having another small engine battery to maintain. Just another point of failure, especially if you only use the generator once or twice a year (if that), just my opinion.

 

[repairman54]

My old factory E start Craftsman bought new came with the battery and it's own built in maintainer. Plug in transformer / cord assy. included.

 

[meep]

At 0.5V the battery is probably toast. There’s some pretty wild things you could try with an adjustable current, adjustable voltage power supply, but youll spend money on the supply and 6 weeks of your life tending to it … with marginal results at best. Get a AGM off Amazon or even better a local batteries plus if you’ve got one, and keep it on a small battery minder - I like the 8 hours /week timer idea above.

You do need to run it yearly, with a load. You need to do this now to verify that it has proper residual magnetism. And yes! to draining the bowl before getting stored.

These are nice to have. As the rule goes, you always need them when you don’t have them, and then don’t need them when you’ve got one.

I’d spring at this point in life for a natural gas standby, but I’ve seen the power out here for 45 minutes once in 2 years.

 

[Rand]

That is a great unit. E start is a blessing if your not around and the wife needs to crank it up. And if its stored in a cold area you will not like the recoil at all.
My old 5200 / 8100 Craftsman E start was a solid unit, sold it when I moved to a Generac house. Had it over 15 yrs and it ran non stop for 11 days during Sandy when I lived in NJ. Original battery lasted over 10 years.
Use a premium fuel stabilizer, I stored mine with PRI-G in the tank, tank always full ready to go. I haven't touched a carburetor in years using the PRI-G or a quality marine stabilizer. (non Stabil)
It will run longer than they say on a tank. With no constant electrical load its just idling. Fridges and freezers do cycle on and off.
Mine had a 5 gallon a day habit with 2 fridges and a oil burner cycling with both of us during the day.

Its actually not idling.. it has to run at 3600 rpm at all time.. even with no load or it will be putting out funky energy think 20hertz instead of 60.

 

[repairman54]

Its running on a minimum throttle opening to maintain 3600. Less throttle opening, less fuel consumed. Yes a gen set running with no load is basically idling in the generator world.