i've live in a single-family home (upper midwest) for many years but have never once owned a generator...yes, brilliant, i know ! So i saw one at Costco yesterday (not on sale)for $800 called Champion Dual Fuel 9000/7000 (peak/running watts). It gets very good reviews from what i can tell but i also know that many of those 5-star reviews can be "biased", meaning written by people with an interest in selling a particular product. Anyway, this model does run on either gas or liquid propane, has electric start and some other nice features. Has anyone here used this one or heard anything about it , good or bad ? By the way i have seen other recent generator-related posts on this site where everyone recommends either Honda or Yamaha...i haven't yet even looked at those brands but i'm guessing that their equivalent models will probably cost at least 50% more than the Champion.
Thanx in advance for any advice/feedback !
The Honda and Yamaha generators so frequently recommended here are inverter generators. They more fuel efficient at low speeds than standard generators, the power they produce is 'cleaner' electrically speaking, and they are much, much quieter. The catch is that they are much more expensive than standard generators. A 2 kw Honda or Yamaha will run around $1,000. Larger models are available, but they can easily cost multiple thousands of dollars.
The model you are looking at is a standard generator that is already equipped to run from gasoline or propane. It's going to be loud, at least as loud as a regular lawnmower. Most of Champion's generators get solid reviews; I've heard very little negative feedback from actual users.
While a generator will have a longer lifespan if run on propane, this is more than offset in the higher costs of buying propane tanks unless you already have a large one. If you don't, then my advice is to not worry about it. Gasoline can be stored very safely for sufficiently long periods of time; a year is no problem. Also, rotating through gasoline to always have fresh gas on hand is easily done.
My question is why you are considering such a large generator. Large generators consume a lot of fuel even if you don't have a significant load on them. The least amount of power that standard generators can provide is usually 25% of their running watts, which is almost 2,000 watts in your case. If you aren't using all that power, you're just wasting fuel.
If you have a well and need to run the pump or need to run a large air conditioner (though a whole house AC might not be able to start from even that large of a generator), a generator that size would be justified. But if you just need enough power to run a refrigerator, TV, lights and such, a significantly smaller generator (like the 2 kw inverter generators) would fit the bill.
For lots of generator info, listen to the podcasts on generators that can be found at
www.solar1234.com.
