Harbor Freight drops a new genny

https://www.harborfreight.com/gener...tor-with-co-secure-technology-carb-70143.html

 

Really hate horrible freight but wow duel fuel and remote start! 3600 propane or 3900 gas not to shabby in a fairly small package.

Was just looking at the new honda 3200 injected

 

How does the propane part work - unplug a gas cylinder from your grill, plug it into the generator, and hit the start button? What's the benefit of having both, gas and propane anyways?

 

HF just re-markets the same generator available from a couple different brands, they all come out to the same company in China.

https://www.senci.com/index.php?c=article&a=type&tid=149


For $1k, I upgraded this year to the 7100w one from Costco, which is also split phase so you can run 220v stuff, or run your house when the grid goes down.

Propane is nearly maintenance free, the preppers love that shit. We just all use gas b/c bikes and all.

 

well and it will put out less power when fueled by propane vs pump. Key words... preppers love

 

Biggest drawback on this HF 5000 I see is, no 240v plug/breaker. not sure it would do well in rv/home settings requiring 220, high load for well pump, ac etc...

Ski

 

There is not 1 single appliance in an RV that requires 220v. All AC units are 110v in them.

 

Did not know that, and I own an rv. makes sense, when running 110v for warmers, ac, then run the microwave, or other accys... pops the 30amp breaker regularly. pisses me off to no end. (yes, I have a soft start capacitor on the ac too) Ski

 

Every 50A service RV is 240VAC coming into the breaker panel, via a NEMA 14-50R. The difference lies in the construction of the actual breaker panel in the RV. They have the Main breakers (50A double pole) either in the middle of the panel with a 120V leg going left and right, or in the middle with the 120V legs going up and down....but there is still 240VAC coming into the breaker panel.

With a generator like the one that is being discussed, that would be used on an RV that has a 30A service instead of the 50A service. The 30A is a simple 120V circuit with 1 hot, 1 neutral, and one ground wire. There are however, adapters made to be able to use a 50A shore power cord that ties the two hot leads together at the adapter and feeds the same 120V into the trailer.

And as a tibit of info for you....some of the newer luxury/top of the line RVs and motorcoaches will in fact have 240VAC stuff in them, mostly clothes dryers and sometimes the instant on water heaters

 

Any single appliance is single pole, but if you have multiple AC units, they won’t all run if you’re not on a 2-pole circuit.

Oh, and if anyone ever asks, higher voltage is always better.

 

Eric....here is a pic of my choice for an Emerg. generator for the house. It's definitely too heavy and too loud for RVing or even trackside, but when the power goes out at the house, it will run the heat pump (A/C or Heat), along with some lights and refrigerators.

The version that I bought is Dual Fuel....gasoline and propane. I would normally run it on gas, but in an emergency where I ran out of fuel, I can switch it to a 20lb, 30lb, or even a 100lb propane tank. The issue with that, is that the total output is somewhat less when running on propane vs. gasoline. That 12,000W running wattage drops down to 10,800W running.

 

Besides the aforementioned maintenance benefits, and long term storage benefits.....availability.

Living in hurricane country gasoline is always the first thing to sell out after a storm. Propane sells out too, but often not as quickly. Having multiple fueling options when things are scarce is a nice feature.

 

On mine, you would turn off the gas shutoff valve, flip a switch that is optioned as gasoline or propane, attach the propane cylinder and hit the start button. Total time is maybe a minute for the swithover.

 

My home was ground zero Hurricane Ian. Everyone in my neighborhood bought the propane ones as it was waaaaaaay easier to find than gasoline for a few weeks. I just abandoned our home and went and stayed in a camper for over a month as our power line was ripped off the house and coiled up in our neighbors yard for 3 weeks. I grabbed my Honda quiet and 3 heavy duty air movers and threw them around the house and dried it out in a day.

 

What RV uses 220? 221 maybe.

 

Since we have a huge propane tank buried in the yard, I'd imagine,(line in and) I'd never have to worry about filling it or running out...

 

we have to run our warmers off a separate cord from the generator. or it pops the 30amp main in the camper.

the 6300 Yamaha is a great generator but dam it's big and in the way. i am considering down sizing

 

I Just got a dual fuel from tractor supply and love it so far . Have not even tried the propane option. Main advantage I see is propane doesn't go bad? It recommends using at least a 40 pounds tank due to the flow rate so it doesn't freeze up the tank. Not sure if that applies to smaller generators

 

I explained that in post #9

 

Whatever it takes.