We lost power last Tuesday for about two hours For some unknown reason. Friday the area to the north of lost power as well, so I fired mine up and charged the batteries. Dual fuel, so generally use it with propane.

It's that time of year. Mine didn't want to start this afternoon. A few minutes cleaning the plug and gapping it fixed that. Started on the first pull afterward.

Thanks for the reminder. My date came 2 weeks early this year as we lost power for 2 hours early sep.

12,000 watts powers the whole house.

I've only got a little 3kw genset, but it's enough to keep my fridge and freezers going so I don't lose food. We have a gas stove and flash water heater, so even if we lose power we can still cook and take hot showers. Wood stove takes care of heating the house. Also have a big kerosene heater and propane heaters.

I also decided to check out my lanterns and found a couple that needed some love. 4/6 fired right up. One of the recalcitrant ones needed a new generator which I had on hand, but I suspect the pump seal needs replacing as well. The last one probably needs a new generator too.

2022 reminder.

Just did an operational check on my generator, cleaned and gapped the plug, topped off the tank with no-ethanol gas. Ready to go for the winter.

I need to get another one, the last one was a pull start and it hurts my back if I have to pull more than 10 pulls. I sold it two years ago thinking I’d get a bigger electric start. Well here I am generatorless.
Thanks for the reminder @delliottg.

Yep.

Good idea to check all power outage backups…

Back-up charger/batteries for cell phones, etc., …

Test function flashlights/camp lights, and back up battery supply.

Make sure you have a flash drive stored other than at home, with insurance info, etc., …

An added tip is to exercise the full system. For a portable, during your run time plug in a heat gun, portable heater, or some other load to pull the system down some. For a large or pad mount type, turn the house lights on, plug in a few portable heaters and such. If you have a whole house system you can run some hot water to pull in the HWT during the exercise cycle. That is the homeowners version of a load bank.

I ended up buying one of these a while ago:
https://westinghouseoutdoorpower.com/products/wgen7500-generator

Didn't really want the electric start but it ticked all the other boxes, got good reviews, and the price was right. Now that I have it, the electric start is kinda nice

I've been running power tools on it at my remodel for the past 6 months or so. Works great, seems to kick in faster than the generac I had before

Too funny, my daughter and son-in-law just bought one of these last year. We are looking into it.
Thanks Scott.

I just got done welding a well casing with my generator!

Gonna fire mine up now!!

I'll be back.

Good thread thanks

Running fine

I got the earlier version of that same generator with push button electric start. I’ve used it every year during power outages (up to 4 days) and it worked flawlessly. No complaints. Compared to my old generator it sips gas and runs quiet.

I’m spoiled. I just moved into a place with a 22kw natural gas auto unit. It fires up every week and texts me.

I have the 8 kw ready to go if the big one fails. I’ve even got a separate cord inlet for the portable, just in case.