Outdoor Power Equipment (Lawn Mowers, Snow Blowers, Chain Saws and more) Discussions

In Massachusetts right now, I'm without power. I have a Craftsman (relabeled Generac) 4.2 kW (5.2kW surge) generator. But it struggles to run my house. Even being careful with power, it sags badly (some home electronics shut off or restart) when my 240V 1/2HP well pump starts. UPSs constantly cycle between battery and AC. I have tested the voltage (116-117V per line). It's just not enough. I'll make it through this outage (projected to last 5-7 days overall). But the Wife and I have decided that a better/bigger generator is needed for the future. I'm looking in the 8kW-15kW continuous output range. Wheeled to allow its movement and runs on Gasoline. I'd still like it to be at least semi-portable.

I've looked at the Generac GP8000 and GP15000s and they look good. But what other good reliable brands are out there? Honda's big one is only 6500W.
Is Northern Tool's house brand (NorthStar) any good?

It's been a while since Irene and after a tremendous # of phone calls and hours upon hours of research I bought a Gillette Power Pro7500 Watt unit. It was new old stock and bought off Ebay. It arrived in absolutely pristine condition and the seller was a perfect gentleman. Honda 390GX power,brushless design,low oil shut down and the wheel kit was included. The Power Pro line of Gillette is now only made up to 6500 Watts. If you need more you have to buy their Gen Pro line which includes a voltmeter ,hour clock and GFI circuit breakers (the Power Pro line comes with regular breakers).Other than those options the Power Pro and Gen Pro are identical. Normally I would have bought the Gen Pro for the extra $100 but I found this NOS unit on ebay with the factory wheel kit for $1449 plus $300 shipping which turned out to be $850 less than I could get the Gen Pro 7500. Two gages and GFI breakers weren't worth $850 to me. A word about the GFI breakers-In my research I found that even if a generator has GFI breakers they are only on the 120 volt receptacles. The full power 240 volt receptacle on all manufacturers units is not equipped with a GFI breaker. If you are going to use the 240 volt receptacle to power your home through a transfer switch the GFI breakers are I think superfluous. A comment about Gillette- The units are made in America (Indiana) using all American made parts with the exception of the Honda engine. It is an old style American owned and run business and you can get to speak to the owner by just calling on the phone! He is a busy guy so his conversation tends to be a little "short" but he always takes your call. Not being an electrical engineer I can only report what I read from my research but it appears that the Gillette power heads are a unique design that produce power that has a sine wave with less or equal distortion than that from your local power company. This was pretty much a deciding factor for me as the quality of the current is important in not "blowing up" any appliances with electronic controls or computers.I already own a generator which is an old brushed design and found I had problems with my computer and the electronic controls on my stand up freezer when using it during Irene. Gillette power heads also have the heavy hard start winding which allows for easy starting of refrigeration units or other compressor type equipment.This winding that I referenced comes on the commercial grade units of some manufacturers (Winco for example) but not all. In closing a special thanks to fellow member MikieWest for his comments about Gillette. It was these comments that started me researching this brand. Marc

I have a Yamaha EF6600DE and have been very pleased with its performance. The thing is quiet and runs anything I want it too including computers which I had heard needed "clean" power like an inverter type unit has. I have two sumps to run and sometimes they both kick on at the same time but the Yanaha does not flinch. I also have electric hot water that takes 4,000 watts. I have a seperate plug for the hot water and  then move the cord back to the 10 breaker transfer switch when the water is done. While not big enough to run the whole house all at once it handles the basics and then some. I do not run the stove or microwave but I can live without those for a few days or even longer as long as I have heat, my basement is not flooding, my fridge contents are not spoiling, and my grill is working!.

A couple of years ago, I bought an ETQ 4k generator via Amazon for less than 4 hundred bucks delivered... biggest deciding criteria was this unit had a 240V outlet.  I have no doubt it's a Chinese product.  Bought a transfer switch and installed it. Transfer switch, wire, exterior box etc cost almost as much as the generator.  Have had to use it a few times since installed and took me through Irene.  During Irene it was going for three days. Uses 4 gallons in 10+ hours. and runs flawlesly so far! I run all sorts of electronic equipment on it, ref. lights, tv and some microwave thrown in.  I leave the Water Pump breakers off.  When I run the 220V water pump, I do unload most of the other draws, pump up the water tank, WP breakers off, all others back on.

Real Happy with the generator and the setup...  Have heard a few good things about ETQ generators from a few people.  I would think a 6.5K generator would be fine for running a whole house... just realize your working off a generator and use your head!

I had a look at the Gillette generatos web site. WOW those things are built well. I really like how they go into the design details of their generator section. Windings, diodes, etc.
They're quite expensive, but perhaps instead of a 12-15kW Generac, I can use a 9-10kW Gillette.

Thanks for the info.

I own a ridgid portable generator.It's rated at 6800 running watts and 8500 start up watts.It has a Yamaha MZ360 11hp engine and an "armour heavy duty alternator" (whatever that means).I used it during Hurricane Irene for 10 consecutive days,22 hrs/day.I would shut it down for 1 hr in the morning prior to refueling and 1 hr in the evening before refueling.It ran my whole house.I had a 10 circuit manual transfer switch installed.It ran a sump pump,deep freezer,sub zero refrigerator,flat panel tv,computer,toaster,micro wave and never did my generator feel overworked.It has a auto voltage regulator so I guess an inverter gen is not needed. My comp and all the electronic appliances worked perfectly.And I bought it at home depot for $900 + tax. Winco and Gillette make great products as does yamaha and honda.But I cant see spending 2 to $3000 on something that I will use once every 2 to 3 yrs.So far my $900 gen has proven to be reliable and safe to use with electronic equipment.

mikiewest wrote:
I guess I'm trying to just get a generator that works. I don't want to spend $1000 on a generator to have it not do the job (UPSs and Well Pump) then have to fight with the retailer to take it back as a used item.
Maybe I'll see if I can rent a 8 or 10kW generator and see how it fares.