Honda generator

[Mark Deeser]

iriswake, do you know if the commerical products used to treat the corn gas are of any value? The good gas is not always easy to find. Thanks, Mark.

[irishwake]

I don't have a clue. I know the man who did the work on my generators told me not to use the ethanol gas in my generators, lawn mower, weed wacker, chain saw etc. I also had to have the injection system rebuilt on my 115 Yamaha 4 stroke from the ethanol gas, all new fuel lines and the fuel tank cleaned and treated. That cost $ 1200.00 and my center console was out of commission for 3 weeks.. We have a Marathon gas station up the street that sells the regular gas, of course it is $.50 more per gallon. I believe the gas at all fuel docks are non-ethanol if that helps. The mechanic did say that if you drain down the fuel system after using ethanol gas you should not have a problem. If it sits in the fuel system for an extended period of time you will be paying dearly. I will not use it in anything but my car. Good luck!

[catalina_mike]

From my Honda owners manual for what its worth..
"You may use regular unleaded gasoline containing no more than 10%
ethanol (E10) or 5% methanol by volume. In addition, methanol must
contain cosolvents and corrosion inhibitors.
Use of fuels with content of ethanol or methanol greater than shown
above may cause starting and/or performance problems. It may also
damage metal, rubber, and plastic parts of the fuel system."

I use Lubrication Engineers fuel additives and have never had any issues with storage of Diesel or Gas.

[jleonard]

In Ct we have had nothing but ethanol gas for many years.
It was a huge problem initially, but many of us have "figured it out".
I use either Stabil or Valvtech additives in my regular gas AND my 2 cycle gas.
I have been doing this religiously for several years.
Never had a problem clogging up any of my various home equipment (lawnmower, weedwacker, snowblower, generator, etc), never had a problem with an outboard engine (knock on teak).
The only piece that has an issue is my chainsaw. It doesn't run well on old gas. But as soon as I dump it out and put in fresh it runs mint.
We don't have the heat up here, maybe that's our salvation.

[Russell]

When I purchased a Stihl chain saw the dealer recommended premium grade gasoline. Below is a link to an informative article from the Stihl website. It says minimum of 89 octane. The major problems seem to be what happens with storage so best to empty the fuel tanks if you do not intend to use the fuel within a month.

http://www.stihlusa.com/information/art ... equipment/

[Chuck Waygood]

Mark, in my experience, WaWa stores (with gas pumps) all carry ethanol free gas on one pump. It is often distinguished by blue paint or a plainly visible label on the pump. I use it in my old tractor and 1973 Mercury cougar convertible. Saves fuel lines and carburetors.

[Pitou]

In Ct we have had nothing but ethanol gas for many years.
It was a huge problem initially, but many of us have "figured it out".
I use either Stabil or Valvtech additives in my regular gas AND my 2 cycle gas.
I have been doing this religiously for several years.
Never had a problem clogging up any of my various home equipment (lawnmower, weedwacker, snowblower, generator, etc), never had a problem with an outboard engine (knock on teak).
The only piece that has an issue is my chainsaw. It doesn't run well on old gas. But as soon as I dump it out and put in fresh it runs mint.
We don't have the heat up here, maybe that's our salvation.

Ditto here. I use Stabil with ethanol treatment and zero problems even in my Jonsered & Husqvarna chain saws. I do have fuel shutoffs on the snowblower, generator & walk behind leaf blower that allow those to be run dry.

When we were first forced to go to ethanol without option everyone was replacing carbs and fuel lines on everything. Ethanol was introduced in the fall in MA and the following spring everyone was having issues with boats and yard maintenance equipment. Lots of carburetors were sold that spring. Soon after the viable treatment options became available and things got better quickly if you jumped on board. The snowmobile crowd got hit the following fall as they had stored their machines during the spring that we were all first discovering our issues.

The moral of the story: if using ethanol fuel, be sure to add an ethanol long term storage product at all times.

[Nepidae]

OK, pony up time.

Last Thursday on the way to the boat I bought a Harbor Freight 2500W Predator generator. Had left my coupon on the boat so I paid the $499.99 in Delaware (no sales tax).

First, while the Generator (gen) is returnable they put a restocking fee of 20% on it. I couldn't find that on the web site and there is no mention on the catalog I got in the mail with a $100.00 off coupon. I guess if I wanted to return it I'd have a position (especially since the salesperson never mentioned it) to remove the restocking fee.

Second, the unit performed admirable.

I had to unbox the Gen and add oil. I use 10-30 in the vehicles and since I had a gal of 10-30 Mobil 1 synthetic, I used that. There was no mention of not using it in the owners manual. I added fuel (with stabilizer and Lucas Fuel treatment in the fuel can). Went thru the steps to prime the unit and then gave it 2-3 pulls and it started. I did this on the dock and let it run for about 5 min (during that time I tested the 2 outlets with a 110 tester, CFGI and a multi-meter, both checked fine, the multi-meter showed 121V) and then moved it to the bow by the pulpit, which is elevated. The exhaust was pointing toward the pulpit so after I started it I angled the gen so the exhaust wasn't hitting the pulpit.

We have a 30A boat with 2 - 110v receptacles. 1 for the house and 1 for the AC. I also have a Xantrex SW3012 Charger/inverter (newly installed).

When we are at the dock, we have DC on for a few items (lights overhead 12v), Raritan Electra Scan and fresh water pump a few other items. On the AC side we have Hot Water Tank (Raritan 20 gal w/heat exchanger) Galley outlets, house outlets (110V), battery charger turned on. The refrigerator is both 110/12. When 110 is available that what it runs and if 12 is available then that's what it runs.

For testing purposes we disconnected the cord at the dock and with a pigtail attached that cord to the gen (we don't use AC a lot but I have a separate cord attached to the boat side, with the dock side that is hung from a hand rail, we attach it to dock side power when needed).

Prior to disconnecting from the shore side power we turned off all switch on the panel, both AC & DC.

The gen was started and the pigtail connected (I know, sounds strange but that is the way I interpreted the manual) and we started throwing switches ON. I should add here that the panel on the gen has 3 lights, 1 green-OK, 1 red-overload and 1 red-oil low. BTW here is a link for the manual (http://manuals.harborfreight.com/manual ... /61169.pdf). If the unit is overloaded the red light comes on and the gen will still run. To reset you turn the gen off and restart (one item I don't like but it is both understandable and workable).

First we turned on the outlets, not a change. Then we turned on the galley outlets, again no change, the gen just ran. The battery charger was next, again no spike. We basically turned on all of the switches we generally use, both AC & DC, and no spike.

We then started turning on galley items like the electric stove, the gen spiked but then leveled out. The microwave, at the same time, spiked and stayed spiked. The toaster oven kicked the gen into overload while running the microwave. I didn't try the coffee maker but I'll go out on a limb and say that will work, at least ours, not knowing what latte producing coffee makers some might have. Also, we didn't test the blow dryer, but since we wouldn't be using that while fixing dinner I will presume that the gen would handle it.

I think we realized that we'd need to be judicious and work out plans what combinations will work and what won't, but friends with built in gen say the same thing. With what we loaded and our initial testing, for the most part, we were quite pleased.

I then dropped the connector to the house, put the pigtail on the AC cord and attached it to the gen and we tried to fire that up.

I don't have any specifics on our AC. There doesn't seem to be a plate and I don't have any manuals so I can say what the BTU's are.

I have a fan and run option. There is a colder and warmer dial (it's dual purpose) and a increase/decrease dial for output. What I guess I would call a basic unit. We also only have 1 unit, under the lower helm seat, where I would suppose some put an ice maker.

The gen would run the fan, but when I kicked in the compressor, the gen overloaded. I tried several times with the same outcome.

I know that there is some electrical switch (I forget the name) that will bring the compressor on line on a more gradual mode that I could try but currently I am leaning on getting a second gen and a parallel switch, but I have time to return it if I want to.

Overall I am very happy with the unit (YTMV) and will hold on to it, even if I don't get a second unit (Woot is having a sale on an AC unit that plugs into your wall 110 and is a floor model that I am going to pick up and if we can't run that then we'll take it home).

I would guess there will be some questions and I will be glad to try and answer them.

In closing I will add that I had added more here including a comment about ethanol which I've never had a problem in a lawnmower or an OB, but the system timed me out while I was typing, no warning, and I lost it. Not going to go back and add as I'd probably lose it again. I'll try to fill in with questions.

[special k]

just looked at harbor freight site and predator 4000/3200w generator is 289.99 on sale from 499.

[JT48348]

Excellent right up!

Would you be able to comment on the noise level as say compared to one of the Hondas you owned?


Does the predator have a fuel shut off valve? Also I read the predator siphons gas as opposed to Honda which pulls fuel via fuel pump. Not sure if this is true. Is the fuel tank on par with Honda unit?

Is there a 30amp plug for output like the Honda option?

Thanks again
JT

[Nepidae]

To both persons requesting additional info:

The Predator does have a fuel shut off valve, on the outside of the case, by the pull start, see page 9 of the manual.

I never started the Honda's. But the dB rating for the Honda is 59, while the HF is 64.

There are 2 - 120VAC type plugs. The HF site says they are 20A duplex outlets, not sure how the duplex fits into the mix. I might add I'm not sure how any of them are rated and what I can say is that I spent $500 (soon to be $400) and not $995 for the Honda. The HF is rated? as a 2500/2200 where the Honda is rated at 2000/1800. There is a big difference in output, again depending on how the rating is done.

If you have the room for the 4000/3200 gen then that might be the way to go. The Albin 43 while a large boat is limited in real estate to put a large gen. There wouldn't be the room up by the anchor pulpit in the first place and in the second, I chose there for placement so it is away from the main stateroom and while might be a sound issue for anyone in the forward V, we probably wouldn't have to worry about exhaust.

[Nepidae]

To Special K;

Another thing I just thought about is that the gen you had mentioned may not be as quiet as the 2500 Predator.

I didn't look it up but usually the more quiet generators are also inverters (which the bigger ones usually aren't) and they all have a similar 'foot print' in shape & size.

If you check out Home Depot and Lowes you'll find larger gen that are also inverters, but beware, in Home Depot a gen you purchase is NOT returnable.

If you are thinking of the gen you mentioned then I'd check out these points.

Of course Honda makes a 3000W generator but if the price of the 2000 is a shocker then the price of the 3000 will put you in cardiac arrest.

Good luck.

[special k]

thanks, i was not considering that genny just looking at price. noise levels on portables on a boat is a huge concern.
personally i still like the honda (have used one) it is pricey but quiet. jmho

cheers!

[Marcy K]

Hello All,

We have the Honda 3000 on our A 34. It will run everything BUT the Heat/AC - Shuts itself down after a few seconds of running after start up. That is not something that is needed very often and everything else runs fine. It is permanently set up on the flybridge between the bench seats with a customized white starboard box around it with a varnished teak removable top. it serves as a coffee/cocktail table up there when not in use. To use it we just lift the top and box off. We always run it with premium gas and an additive. This is the 6th year with no issues. Good luck.

Marcy K
A 34 Paumanok 1986
Cataumet, MA

[Mark Deeser]

Marcy K, what size is your heating and air unit? That sounds scary, I thought 3 k would operate most boat units. Thanks. Mark.