Harbor Freight 800 Watt gen

Status
Not open for further replies.
I have one, purchased as a toy, just like you say.

It took a little tweaking to get it right. The fuel valve leaked like crazy, the fuel line was awful and the spark plug quit.

I use mine from time to time, for simple "around the yard" tasks. It's good for that. And easier than dragging out 300 feet of extension cord, just to charge the tractor battery.

In many of the magazines (such as Cycle World) , the coupon price is $89, FYI.

There are some owners who get good service out of these generators. One guy, an off grid type, has thousands of hours on his.
 
I've owned one for years. It's never been particularly reliable.

It was running fine for 30 minutes powering an old dorm fridge and it died for no reason. It had a nearly full tank of fresh gas/oil mix.

Mine floods easy which gets the spark plug wet and wont start. I must shut the petcock off and kill the engine of fuel. If I don't, it wont start. Probably the float setting. This thread is giving me an excuse to buy the Yamaha generator I've been wanting. The HF gen will be in a rummage sale soon enough.
 
I have one and it's great. Runs a full size fridge. My old fridge, I had to run a hair dryer to get the thing to rev up then simultaneously kill the dryer and plug in the fridge. My new fridge has a starting capacitor and needs no drama. BIL also enjoyed success with his fridge during a blackout.

It's pretty quiet, so quiet you think something's wrong. Remember it's a two-stroke and those usually sound "blatty-blarey" and this thing just sort of has a bassy growl. Got mine for $79 and that's a good target price.

I got it so I could leave it out in the rain, eg, hurricane, and power my essentials.
lol.gif
 
I have 2. Change the junk sparkplug imediatly to something respectable. I have over 300 hrs(stopped keeping track) with no problems. I run a good oil in mine.it will run moms oxygen generator and the fridge at the same time! The 2nd one is new and i keep it as a backup for when the other one dies
 
Originally Posted By: eljefino
I have one and it's great. Runs a full size fridge. My old fridge, I had to run a hair dryer to get the thing to rev up then simultaneously kill the dryer and plug in the fridge. My new fridge has a starting capacitor and needs no drama. BIL also enjoyed success with his fridge during a blackout.

It's pretty quiet, so quiet you think something's wrong. Remember it's a two-stroke and those usually sound "blatty-blarey" and this thing just sort of has a bassy growl. Got mine for $79 and that's a good target price.

I got it so I could leave it out in the rain, eg, hurricane, and power my essentials.
lol.gif



Is that your main genny? Can't see how it would support your household.

Offtopic, what's this about 'starting capacitor' in your fridge? Does that mean that it doesn't require a "surge" to power it up? I have a Frigidaire bought in August, so can it be assumed all new Energy Star compliant (like mine) fridges have caps? Or is it a cheapend way to build them now?
 
Originally Posted By: Nayov
Originally Posted By: eljefino
I have one and it's great.


Is that your main genny? Can't see how it would support your household.

Offtopic, what's this about 'starting capacitor' in your fridge? Does that mean that it doesn't require a "surge" to power it up? I have a Frigidaire bought in August, so can it be assumed all new Energy Star compliant (like mine) fridges have caps? Or is it a cheapend way to build them now?


No. I have a bigger 2500/3250 surge watts that will power my well pump (lucky to have a shallow well with jet pump)

This thing is just for powering one fridge then maybe some internet.

I toss out the "starting capacitor" thing b/c advise is often thrown around based on worst case scenarios, motors "need 3x their running amps to start" claims, etc. I have seen first hand this is not the case. My pretty new fridge runs on around 280 watts and seems to take 500-600 to start. My Kill-A-Watt meter only updates every 1/2 second.

One thing about fridges is they electrically heat up to defrost based on a timer and that could be a few hundred watts.

I wonder how many people don't get any generator (eg this one) because they can't afford/ don't have room for a huge one, then their food spoils.
21.gif
 
I have one. It got me through a 5 day power outage a couple of years back. It would power the fridge, tv, and internet. It didn't use much gas either, about a 5 or so hour runtime.

It has kind of a purr to it when it runs. It's not loud at all.

The only trouble I've had was the circuit breaker failed, easy swap.
 
Originally Posted By: Cujet
I have one, purchased as a toy, just like you say.

It took a little tweaking to get it right. The fuel valve leaked like crazy, the fuel line was awful and the spark plug quit.

I use mine from time to time, for simple "around the yard" tasks. It's good for that. And easier than dragging out 300 feet of extension cord, just to charge the tractor battery.

In many of the magazines (such as Cycle World) , the coupon price is $89, FYI.

There are some owners who get good service out of these generators. One guy, an off grid type, has thousands of hours on his.


+1. Took the words out of my mouth. Sounds almost exactly like my experience. Although, I got mine for $79.
 
They seem like better than nothing and with luck decent. I think they require lots of interventions.

You could just spend 3-4 times and have something that actually works. The Champion stuff seems decent for low budgets.
 
I bought one as a gift paid about 85$ with coupon and tax.

Then we used it to paint some buildings (nearest electricity over 1000ft away)

And its used out at the end of the yard for various tasks.

only problem so far is the gas tank lid leaks like a sieve if it sloshes in transport.
 
Last edited:
I got them to sell me a 2200W "refurbished" one for under $150. Ditched the Chinese spark plug for a champion and cleaned the carb and air filter and it now starts on first pull.
 
Mine ran great for 2 days during Sandy but then the crankshaft cracked in half.

Still ran but generator end didn't turn.
 
icnd.jpg


Used it today to charge a dead helicopter battery. Works perfectly for such a task. Using an Aviall 115v to 28v ELCON connector charger. Takes a few hours.

TH_PP_282.JPG
 
Last edited:
^ Nice. We should have a "what's the most expensive thing you plugged into your HF generator" thread.
lol.gif
 
Originally Posted By: eljefino
^ Nice. We should have a "what's the most expensive thing you plugged into your HF generator" thread.
lol.gif



Haha, The Heli was 4.5M new, worth about 3M now. The battery it was plugged into cost about $7,000!

I'd be a lot happier using a Honda EU1000 generator for such tasks. As the HF will hunt a bit in RPM.

When I use it to charge the tractor battery, the ammeter needle on my battery charger swings up and down in time with the minor fluctuations in engine RPM.
 
I bought one on impulse last year. HF was having a "tent" sale in the parking lot and had them at $79. Surprisingly, the clerk let me use a 20% off coupon also, so it made it irresistible. I put in a new NGK plug and changed out the fuel line as recommended, but mine still takes 10-20 pulls to start when cold. Not a whole lot, but aggravating nonetheless. Once warmed up, she purrs like a kitten. It will run my refrigerator, TV and a couple of light bulbs at my vacation house. I also use it in the yard when I don't want to fool with a very long extension cord. For the price, it's a useful toy.
 
I've owned one for almost 2 years. Mine has been a good one.
I trashed the stock "Bonon" spark plug and put an NGK in it.
I run 91 octane no ethanol gas with Stihl ultra synthetic oil.
I mostly use mine to run power tools out in the yard and take it to hunting camp to run some lights. My friend was impressed with mine and bought one for himself. He recently used it when an ice storm knocked out his power for 3 days. It ran his side by side fridge and a few lights.
Not bad for the money!
 
The fact that it is a small two stroke has me wondering:

Wil this thing respond to typical two stroke tuning practices....carb mixture tuning, exhaust port/muffler modding to improve flow?

Therefore, capable of a lot more than 800W? (at a penalty for fuel consumption)

I want to get one just to hot rod!
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top