At the risk of stating the obvious, with floating neutral generator and 2 pole transfer switch:

 

Be sure to plug in the transfer cord between generator and panel inlet (with panel's generator breaker off) BEFORE you start the generator.

This will afford you proper grounding of generator frame and proper neutral bonding via the main panel wiring in the event something went wrong with generator wiring.

 

Regarding Honda generators, many years ago, my local Home Depot once stocked a Honda that had a switch on the generator panel that would change between bonded and floating neutral. The switch had eyelets that you could thread a long shank padlock through to prevent somone from changing the configuration. I feel that all generators should be that way.

Think about modifying my gen to do just that. Just need to put a switch on the wire that joins the neutral to ground. Connected for 120v use, disconnected for house backup. Now just need to find a smallish 30a switch.

I use a male replacement-repair plug with the ground and neutral jumped inside the plug.

Plugged into one of the outlets when needed.

The only time I have needed it though is when I was running out HE water heater during power outages or our 5th wheel.

I use a male replacement-repair plug with the ground and neutral jumped inside the plug.

Plugged into one of the outlets when needed.

The only time I have needed it though is when I was running out HE water heater during power outages or our 5th wheel.

Do you need to do this on both legs (one in each outlet) our is one plug like this sufficient?

 

 

Sent from my SM-G920V using Tapatalk

 

 

Do you need to do this on both legs (one in each outlet) our is one plug like this sufficient?

 

 

Sent from my SM-G920V using Tapatalk

One is all you need. There is only one neutral in the setup, shared between L1 and L2. By using the mentioned plug, ground and neutral are tied.

 

This would ony be used on a factory unbonded generator.

running in the garage....what're you doing about the exhaust?

I'm curious to see how necessary ventilation is. I wouldn't run a gas engine indoors without a perfect exhaust system, but NG might be okay in a detach with just proper ventilation. After all, gas stoves have zero ventilation in a dwelling.

I'm curious to see how necessary ventilation is. I wouldn't run a gas engine indoors without a perfect exhaust system, but NG might be okay in a detach with just proper ventilation. After all, gas stoves have zero ventilation in a dwelling.

internal combustion engines, regardless of what they run on are amazingly inefficient. they create a lot more crap than your stove.

Cross reference: http://www.njgunforums.com/forum/index.php/topic/84513-generators/?p=1082666

Well since I installed my interlock I’ve only need to use the genset once. For a couple hours in almost 2 years. Good insurance I think. Irony.

6 hours ago, Zeke said:

Well since I installed my interlock I’ve only need to use the genset once. For a couple hours in almost 2 years. Good insurance I think. Irony.

Its like buying a snowblower, wont snow again for 2-3 years.

1 minute ago, SmittyMHS said:

Its like buying a snowblower, wont snow again for 2-3 years.

In 7 I’ve used that a lot. Idk. I hear ya

3 hours ago, SmittyMHS said:

Its like buying a snowblower, wont snow again for 2-3 years.

Only used it once this year.... 

Haven't had to use the Gen yet.

Has anyone have experience with the harbor freight inverters?  They look like the expensive hondas but for half the price. Not a lot of amps but can run all night on like a gallon or two and very quite. As it's an inverter, should be clean power?

Funny! I bought a generator about 7 years ago because I lost power several times a year costing me a freezer full of food! That generator has saved my butt over the past 7 years because since then I have never lost power! I never had to use it even once! Either one hell of a waste of money or the best insurance ever!

8 hours ago, JohnnyB said:

Funny! I bought a generator about 7 years ago because I lost power several times a year costing me a freezer full of food! That generator has saved my butt over the past 7 years because since then I have never lost power! I never had to use it even once! Either one hell of a waste of money or the best insurance ever!

I bought a whole house genset in 2012 as part of my renovation.  I did most of the installation except hooking it into the automatic disconnect.  It took me forever to find someone and I did, just two weeks before Sandy hit.   It ran for 25 hours during Sandy and has since done the exercise every Saturday for 10 minutes plus a smattering of one hour or less outages since.   That initial run kept my basement from getting flooded so that alone paid for it. 

The fact is we had a bunch of really bad storms(Rain, Ice and Snow) in the years leading up to Sandy that were knocking out power frequently.  Everyone saw the need for gensets.  Since then?  Not so much.

Speaking of... I hope people are either doing a full winterizing on their generators for long term storage, or exercising them every other month or so.  I know it's easier for me to remember in the summer, as i'll run the generator for about 30 minutes every 1st mow of the month or so, and change the oil on it when I put the mower away for the season (also changing its oil as well.)  Think I'll drag mine out of the shed today and let it run.

I pulled mine out yesterday, we had a power failure around 11:30 so i said to my dogs we'll wait till around 4:00 to set it up if needed. so 3:30 i dragged out the 30A cord and ng line to start and of course power jumps back on. I ran it for 20 mins anyway but since its priority fuel is ng i dont worry about the carb gunking up. Spent 2K all in for the system and havent really needed it since the Sandy storm motivation for it. Great insurence policy.

16 hours ago, SmittyMHS said:

Its like buying a snowblower, wont snow again for 2-3 years.

I finally picked up a new Ariens in Nov, my 48 yr old Ariens just needs too much attention each winter. So we had that snow a while back and was like 5 degrees out, the new one had to be started via the electric start, first time I ever used/had that option and still took some cranking to turn over. The old 48 yr old clunker went to my moms, that sucker manually started the first pull! It knows about the new one, it normally gives me some grief every other use.... 

31 minutes ago, siderman said:

I finally picked up a new Ariens in Nov, my 48 yr old Ariens just needs too much attention each winter. So we had that snow a while back and was like 5 degrees out, the new one had to be started via the electric start, first time I ever used/had that option and still took some cranking to turn over. The old 48 yr old clunker went to my moms, that sucker manually started the first pull! It knows about the new one, it normally gives me some grief every other use.... 

 

Which model did you get?  I have a compact 24LE(9.5 ft/lb Motor) that I've had for 4 years now and it's just a little too weak for the snow I get up here, so I convinced myself I needed a Platinum 24 SHO with the 17ft/lb motor.   The other one was ok, but 18 inch snow banks just took too long.  It arrives Monday.

Last season bit the bullet and got a commercial Ariens 32" blower. Expensive, yes, but the Sears 8.5HP 26" never did cover the bad storms and lasted 30years, so I'm figuring this one will hopefully last half as long.  It is really built better than the last one, so I hope it will be the last one I'll  need.

57 minutes ago, Malsua said:

 

Which model did you get?  I have a compact 24LE(9.5 ft/lb Motor) that I've had for 4 years now and it's just a little too weak for the snow I get up here, so I convinced myself I needed a Platinum 24 SHO with the 17ft/lb motor.   The other one was ok, but 18 inch snow banks just took too long.  It arrives Monday.

just the no frills 24 classic. took a bit getting used to new controls & the snow being thrown 1/2 mile lol, the old one did not toss it far at all. only used it the one time for the 6" we had and did just fine as it should. I dont forsee an issue with deeper snow as it tore thru the deep chunky driveway plow pilings like butter. I was considering the SHO but I'm a minimulist (and cheap) so the one on sale for $650+ worked fine for me.

20 minutes ago, siderman said:

just the no frills 24 classic. took a bit getting used to new controls & the snow being thrown 1/2 mile lol, the old one did not toss it far at all. only used it the one time for the 6" we had and did just fine as it should. I dont forsee an issue with deeper snow as it tore thru the deep chunky driveway plow pilings like butter. I was considering the SHO but I'm a minimulist (and cheap) so the one on sale for $650+ worked fine for me.

Ah, the Classic is essentially the same as the old compact.    It has the shorter tires, which is also somewhat of an issue for me.  If I lived down in Bergen county like where I work(and you live), that machine would be plenty.  I just get buried up here and more horsepower and ground clearance have been an issue.   My compact 24 shoots the snow a long way, it's hard for me to imagine that this new one shoots it even further.

Bought my genset a few years ago, never used it. Moved into the new house last year and already  lost power a couple times. Good thing I had it hooked up the first week we moved in, ironically the day after our first power outage of 2 hours. Kinda lit a fire under my butt. Also bought the ariens pro snowblower, and got a shit ton of snow..... although with that beast i was hoping for more!

 

I moved up to Sussex from Bergen, so these things are essential if you want peace of mind.

 

Also, my ariens starts right up in 5 degrees with one pull, but it does take a couple minutes to warm up. 

On 1/13/2018 at 9:42 AM, sota said:

Speaking of... I hope people are either doing a full winterizing on their generators for long term storage, or exercising them every other month or so.  I know it's easier for me to remember in the summer, as i'll run the generator for about 30 minutes every 1st mow of the month or so, and change the oil on it when I put the mower away for the season (also changing its oil as well.)  Think I'll drag mine out of the shed today and let it run.

Actually ran mine today./ exercised

ive been told by my dealer mechanic friends, and have embraced Startron as a fuel stabilizer.  Fired right up, 30 min run, shut off fuel, let run till it starve’s. Works on every time 

4 hours ago, Zeke said:

Actually ran mine today./ exercised

ive been told by my dealer mechanic friends, and have embraced Startron as a fuel stabilizer.  Fired right up, 30 min run, shut off fuel, let run till it starve’s. Works on every time 

Been using Startron now for a few years, better than Stabil  Two key points that I use without any problems are to use high octane treated fuel rotated yearly and always use the fuel shutoff to turn off the genset, never the on/off switch.

Hi all! Just a quick question for you guys. I finally bought a Champion generator, and I wanted to get it ready before the next round of thunderstorms blow through and knock the power out again.

The oil capacity is 1.2 quartz. Being the standard bottle of oil is 1 quart, can i get away with just using one bottle (1 qt) of oil? Or do I really need to crack opened another new bottle for the .2 quarts? Has anyone else run into this situation? 

 

Just now, moparman426 said:

Hi all! Just a quick question for you guys. I finally bought a Champion generator, and I wanted to get it ready before the next round of thunderstorms blow through and knock the power out again.

The oil capacity is 1.2 quartz. Being the standard bottle of oil is 1 quart, can i get away with just using one bottle (1 qt) of oil? Or do I really need to crack opened another new bottle for the .2 quarts? Has anyone else run into this situation? 

 

Here's the thing.  You will need to change the oil after about 8 hours of running.

Buy three now.  When you hit 8 hours, and change it, you will have enough.

Yes, you need to fill it.  These things run hot, they run at 3600RPM and they will labor pretty hard under a full load.  They also burn oil, all small engines do to one extent or another.  This is why the capacity is what it is and they didn't pluck the number out of the air. 

 

 

One other thing...Consider converting to NG if you have it available. Even LP is good. You can get 100lb tanks and store them near forever unlike gasoline.  Very simple to do. https://www.motorsnorkel.com/

39 minutes ago, moparman426 said:

Hi all! Just a quick question for you guys. I finally bought a Champion generator, and I wanted to get it ready before the next round of thunderstorms blow through and knock the power out again.

The oil capacity is 1.2 quartz. Being the standard bottle of oil is 1 quart, can i get away with just using one bottle (1 qt) of oil? Or do I really need to crack opened another new bottle for the .2 quarts? Has anyone else run into this situation? 

 

Sorry but that's a strange question. Why would you even think about cheating on the oil, it's only a few cheap glugs and especially on a new machine not even broken in worth hundreds of dollars? 

3 minutes ago, siderman said:

Sorry but that's a strange question. Why would you even think about cheating on the oil, it's only a few cheap glugs and especially on a new machine not even broken in worth hundreds of dollars? 

It runs on quartz. That stuff isn't cheap.

1 hour ago, moparman426 said:

Hi all! Just a quick question for you guys. I finally bought a Champion generator, and I wanted to get it ready before the next round of thunderstorms blow through and knock the power out again.

The oil capacity is 1.2 quartz. Being the standard bottle of oil is 1 quart, can i get away with just using one bottle (1 qt) of oil? Or do I really need to crack opened another new bottle for the .2 quarts? Has anyone else run into this situation? 

 

does it have a dip stick? if not measure and fill as per the instructions