OK, to share the common misconceptions with you RE: getting a standby genny for emergency use:
(1) always consider the list of devices you want to power up during outage, add up the total wattage and then de-rate them by 30%.
In other words: if the sum of all your devices you want to power up are, say, 5kWatts nominal, consider getting a 7.5kW unit.
Don't get too "tight" on the budget when doing this, for in my neighbourhood I've seen tightwads running exactly 5kW loads on a 5kW spec'ed chinese genny and the muffler was glowing, makes you wonder why so many of them failed during extended power outage (engine seized up due to excessive oil temp, etc.)
De-rating will help keep your single cylinder, air-cooled engine to run slightly less hot (lower duty cycle), and the engine will last longer too).
(2) if you are going after the inverter type gen-set, de-rate them esp. for AC motors and compressors. They (AC motors, etc.) typically need a surge current of twice or more to kick start the motor, and if you get something too close to your sum of device wattage, it will not start the motor or compressor.
(3) always form a habit of checking your oil level when you are in-between runs, e.g. cooling off the engine to add fuel, etc. Never assume that the engine is "new" or blah-blah-blah" brand and it will not consume engine oil (fault is always on owner if the engine seizes up due to lack of lubrication)
(4) lastly: when running non emission-controlled, air-cooled genny engines, always consider running it outdoor, as far away from the house and flammable liquids as possible. Given the rather terrible quality of construction RE: china gensets, always: get a portable A-B-C rated fire extinguisher on-hand.
Q.
