what size portable generator??

[keysbottles]

My Onan house generator is on it's last legs and I am looking at portable generators to replace it, mainly because of cost.

My AC is 13,500 BTU on the roof.  Do any of you use a portable generator for your main unit?  Any suggestions for someone on a budget?

Thanks Don

 

[tx2sturgis]

Just how old is that Onan? They tend to last a long time, but they can be expensive to fix when they break.

Budget jobsite generators that are powerful enough to run your roof air with some left-over reserve are going to be loud and heavy. Quiet inverter generators powerful enough, are going to be expensive.

The HF Predator 3500 inverter generator seems to get good marks, and fall in between with a reasonable price.

Champion generators get mostly good reviews. I can attest that they have good customer service. 

Generac, in my experience, have sub-par small generators and lousy customer service.

Anyway, you pays yer money and you takes yer chances. Is this a motorhome or a trailer? How or where will you carry the portable generator? In the back of a pickup that's pulling your trailer, or on a hitch rack on the back bumper of a motorhome?

 

[keysbottles]

I bought a 2114 Thor Freedom Elite rental. It has 44,000 miles, the gen shows 70 hours?? Long story dealing with a bad RV dealer in Conway, Ark. but I have given up on making the Onan dependable. Cheaper to buy a portable generator and carry it on a hitch rack on bumper of the MH.

I have no experience with PG (what brand, size etc) and was hoping to find someone with similar experience that could help out.

I've read reviews of the Predator 3500 and they, the reviews, seem hit of miss... mostly unboxing and showing features. I need to hear from someone that has carried one around boondocking for a couple of years.

Boondocking/caravans are in my future plans. thanks for the reply

 

[B and C]

I have found my Onan 2800 to be a good and reliable generator. My Roadtrek is a 2000 and the generator had less than a 100 hours on it when I got it 4 years ago. I dropped it with the help of a friend (mine is underneath). Taking it apart to clean the carburetor, putting a new fuel pump on it and filter fixed it right up. I will have to admit that taking it apart to repair it was no small feat. Remove this to get to that sort of stuff. When I am camping I fire it every morning to make coffee and give the batteries a little boost. Now that I am stuck here at the house I make sure to run it a least an hour once a month under a 1200 watt load (Onan recommends 2 hours). After sitting for the month, it does take 20-25 seconds for it to fire though. Not exercising a generator is bad for it.

Good luck on your quest for a replacement.

 

[highdesertranger]

70 hours is really low hours for a generator. what makes you say it's on it's last leg?

please whatever you do, if you ever plan to camp next to someone, please do not get an open frame construction generator. please, double please, triple please.

highdesertranger

 

[B and C]

^^^What HDR said. Contractor generators are LOUD and obnoxious. Nobody will want to camp anywhere near you.

 

[tx2sturgis]

70 hours is nothing for an Onan.

That's less than one oil change. 

Crazy.

 

[B and C]

My Onan calls for 50 hour oil change intervals but it doesn't have an oil filter. It is only 2800 watts so basically a lawnmower engine.

 

[Trebor English]

My first wife's dog's mobile groomer got a Harbor Freight Predator 3500.  The spark arrestor is a screen in the exhaust pipe.  The instructions weren't clear about cleaning it.  Since her generator use is strictly urban I removed it, cleaned it, and then didn't put it back.  It has worked fine ever since the arrestor came out.  It barely runs with the exhaust pipe plugged.  

The fuel consumption hasn't been carefully measured with an accurate load but the impression is that it uses less gas than the Honda 3000 it replaced.  Certainly it is not significantly worse.  The purchase price difference is easy to see.  

In the mobile dog grooming situation the load goes from idle to high.  The air conditioner, hair dryer, and vacuum are big, the clippers are insignificant.  Sometimes the Honda 3000 failed to start the air conditioner when the thermostat turned on the compressor.  The Predator 3500 upgrade fixed that.  

The starting characteristics of your specific air conditioner are unique.  The starting surge amount and duration are one thing.  The amount of voltage sag it will tolerate and still start compressing also varies among air conditioners.  Your use patterns are also unique.  The only way to tell if a particular generator will work with your air conditioner is to try it.  

The Predator 3500 sits kind of low.  It helps to have wood blocks to raise it  to fit the oil drain pan under it.

 

[Weldman]

Stay away from Generac, as owner of two of them I can attest it's hard to find replacement parts if you fix your own. If you have the skills and time I would rebuild that Onan, but get a HF while you are doing it, it's nice to have backup. If not then I would go with anything else than Generac.

 

[lenny flank]

Quiet inverter 

I dunno----I've had people with "quiet generators" park near me at the Walmart.
I wanted to kill them and hide the corpse somewhere.

 

[B and C]

When I was running my little 700 watt 2 cycle generator to charge my batteries, I put it at the end of a 50 ft 10 Ga extension cord behind an obstacle and could hear it but the noise was greatly reduced. I wasn't parked near anybody though.

 

[keysbottles]

Thanks for the replies.  I don't have the skills to work on the Onan.  I am really down on RV dealerships and service centers.  I guess the demand for RV's is so high that they can get away with being crooks.  By the way,,,avoid Moix RV Supercenter, Conway, Ark.

I hope to get out on the road in the next month and hope to find fellow nomads to get an education.  Again thanks for the replies.  I think I'll look at the Predator 3500.

 

[highdesertranger]

ok lets try this,

what is the Onan doing that makes you think there is something wrong with it?

highdesertranger

 

[tx2sturgis]

My Onan calls for 50 hour oil change intervals but it doesn't have an oil filter.  It is only 2800 watts so basically a lawnmower engine.

I guess the smaller ones have shorter drain intervals. The one I had was a 4K Onan and if I recall, the interval was 100 hours. Its been several years so I may have forgotten. Plus, during one of two break-ins that my old motorhome suffered, among the stuff that was stolen was the manuals for everything, including the generator service manual.

Either way, 70 hours on an Onan is barely broken in.

THE most common issues with Onans in RVs (that sit for awhile) are fuel problems: Either gummed up carburetor, plugged up fuel filter, bad fuel pump, etc. They will crank and crank, but will not 'catch' and run. Or sometimes they will try to run for just a second or two, then quit.

The FIRST thing to do (if it will crank but wont start) is open the air cleaner cover and squirt some starting fluid into the intake and then push the manual start button on the generator.

If you can get it to run for at least a few seconds this way, you KNOW it's a fuel problem. Sometimes doing this a few times will 'clear the pipes' or 'prime the pump' and the generator will run fine afterwards.

 

[4RunnerBlues]

Can you elaborate on the problems at Moon RV?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[keysbottles]

Gen cranks but will not hit.  I bought RV used and hope it has been setting and the carb etc is gumed up (cheaper fix).  I have no knowledge  or physical ability to attempt fix myself but will ask brother in law, son etc. to try some of the ideas you have suggested.

Why am I considering a portable gen? 
according to the internet they are more reliable and not as temperamental as the onan.  I am not a DIY person and service on the onan is very expensive.

My other small engines, tiller, Kawasaki mule will act up if I use gas with alcohol (engine racing, won't idle properly).  Could this be why the Onan has the fuel gumming problems? 

Regarding Moix RV dealer..."used car dealer syndrome on steroids".  Deal with them and you will probably get screwed.

 

[Trebor English]

Alcohol and water mix.  Scotch and water, gin and tonic, etc.  Gasoline and water don't mix like oil and vinegar.  The three together mix.  That allows the gasoline to carry water into delicate small places like carburetors where the water causes corrosion.  The more volatile parts of gasoline evaporate leaving the less volatile parts behind.  That's the gum and varnish.  

There are two ways to reduce this.  If you run the engine on a regular basis the old gas in the carburetor gets replaced with new gas before it turns to gum.  Sta-Bil and other such fuel preservative and stabilizers help.  The new gas also brings new alcohol that can mix with and carry away water left by the evaporation of old gas.  The other method is to remove the gasoline supply and run the engine until it quits.  That takes most of the gasoline out of the system.  Opening the float bowl drain screw will usually get the last two drops.  If there is no gasoline there is nothing to make gum and plug things up.  

Portable generators also get carburetor issues.  Any gasoline engine with a carburetor will have these issues.  A built in Onan is expensive and hard to throw away and get a new one.  A portable generator can be dropped off at a small engine repair shop (if you can find one) for a carburetor cleaning.  

Inverter generators that can idle when there is no load have a computer controlled throttle to speed up and slow down.  I know that a Honda eu3000 carburetor with a new throttle motor is only $1 more than just the motor.  There is a place in Texas that takes orders on the internet that carries them.  My first wife's dog's groomer took her mobile grooming van Honda generator to three places that sell Honda generators and all said there was nothing wrong.  Generator repair is a much less profitable business than new generator sales.

Whether it is an Onan or a Honda or a Harbor Freight you need to find an old guy to help you keep it going or budget a kilobuck per year to replace it.  The alternative to having your own power system is to always plug in to commercial power at a camp ground and let (pay) the electric company deal with it.

 

[B and C]

Turns over but won't run is the symptoms mine had with the low hours. The fuel pump was locked up (from the gum and varnish from sitting unused). The carburetor jets were plugged like the fuel filter was. The fuel pump was fairly cheap ($25?) online and fuel filters are a couple of bucks. The labor is the hard part. If you can get the carb off, a small engine repair shop can fix it easy (think lawnmower shop) or you can blow a can of carburetor cleaner through all the orifices with the float bowl off yourself. This is what I did. I now make sure to run it at least an hour under half load (I use a space heater) once a month. After sitting a month, mine might take 20-30 seconds to fire up.

My van has now been sitting long enough and from running the generator, I will need to put gas in the van :-( The good news is the van gets fresh gas.

 

[JD GUMBEE]

keysbottles...

I have a 1985 Tiffin with the original 6500?? 7500?? twin jug Onan.
It has 1400 hours on it now, I think...but I am not out in the RV now...would have to look.

Go to a small engine place that fixes lawnmowers.

You want a gray haired redneck type spot...not a young guy with a 5500 dollar a month storefront.

For real...if it runs and has good compression, that Onan will outlive a Harbor Freight by decades.

Could you please post the model/serial numbers from your specific unit.

As a newbie, pay close attention to what is being said by the true mechanical-wonders here.

For the money of that HF coin toss, chances are, you could have that Onan singing like a choir boy. (Or gal...whatever blows your hair back.)

Small engine/lawnmower shop. Screw the RV places. They are like most boating ripoffs.