Generators on sale....Got one!!

[Engloid]

I just bought a small generator at Harbor Freight for $89. For $40 more, you get a replacement warranty for 2 years. If ANYTHING goes wrong with it for 2 years, you take it to the store and leave with a NEW one.

I know they're not a big brand name, but for backup power for the fish tank, it will do fine.

It's a 2stroke, runs about 5hrs on a tank of gas. To get that price, you will have to find the coupon that was in the sunday paper. I found 4 different sale prices, based on where it was. Even in the store, they had 2 different filers up front, and they had different prices in it. You have to have the coupon to get whatever price, or show them the coupon code on a smartphone.

I haven't used it to run my return pump or skimmer yet, but it ran an 8 gal shop vac, so I'd imagine it will do fine with a return pump and skimmer...which is all I need to keep my fish alive in a power outage.

 

[CoryC]

nothing like listening to a 2 stroke motor when you're trying to sleep! haha better stock up on ear plugs. or bury it in your backyard.

 

[cee]

4 cycles aren't much better unless you get a Honda. Mine's quite loud. You're not going to use it enough in 2 years to put enough hours on it to worry about a warranty. That's a scam unless you do something dumb like forget to mix the oil into the gas.

 

[Engloid]

nothing like listening to a 2 stroke motor when you're trying to sleep! haha better stock up on ear plugs. or bury it in your backyard.

It's not as loud as you'd think. You don't want to run it indoors anyway, but it's quieter than a weedeater, since it's got a muffler that's much bigger than they do. I figure the times I will use it for backup, it will be much better than getting up every 2hrs a night to start the car and use an inverter and cord run into the windows. Not only that, but I had to do some work at a house recently that had no power. If I wanted to get power turned on just for a few days it would cost $26 connection fee, probably a $45 minimum for the month...so the generator was just a little more and I get to keep it for other things.

4 cycles aren't much better unless you get a Honda. Mine's quite loud. You're not going to use it enough in 2 years to put enough hours on it to worry about a warranty. That's a scam unless you do something dumb like forget to mix the oil into the gas.

This one isn't a Honda, so I doubt it will have the reliability that a Honda does. Buying warranty on a Honda would be pretty useless, but I think this is a Chicago Electric. Odds are, it will be fine, but odds of it messing up are a lot higher than a Honda, IMO. The guy at the store said the only problem he's seen was the starter cord breaking. I figure if the cord breaks, rather than pay money for a new cord and spend that time, I can just get a whole new generator. Not only that, but I still got it cheaper than the regular price was on it, considering the sale price. Part of me hopes I dont' need the warranty but part of me hopes it dies a month before 2yrs is up. haha!!

 

[SLUF681]

Didn't you say they would replace it for ANY reason? You've just gotta remember for it to tear up a month before the warranty runs out! Just joking, of course. That would be immoral.

 

[seased]

I got one of these about 2 years ago. Make sure to run it for an hour or so when you first get it. The first one I got would not stay running for more than 10 minutes. I ended up taking it back and exchanging it for another unit. The new one ran fine. Luckily, I have not had to use mine, but its good peace of mind.

 

[Engloid]

I got one of these about 2 years ago. Make sure to run it for an hour or so when you first get it. The first one I got would not stay running for more than 10 minutes. I ended up taking it back and exchanging it for another unit. The new one ran fine. Luckily, I have not had to use mine, but its good peace of mind.

Must have been a lemon. Sounds like something like a problem with the fuel line or carb float, but I'm not all that good on 2 stroke engines. Good part is you didn't have to mess with it, just get a new one.

I have run mine through a whole tank of gas already. When it ran out, it was a bit finicky on restart. It would start, but the motor would surge. Even after a minute, it was still doing it. I turned it off, started up again and it ran perfectly. Hopefully, today I will be renting a carpet cleaner and running it off the generator. I've got to clean carpet in a rental... dang people can live in a place for 3-4 months and mess up a lot. They put framing nails in the walls to hang pictures. Walls were dirty, carpet is horrible. It looks like when they spilled something, they didn't even try to clean it up.