New Harbor Freight trifuel generator

[raydhd]

I see Harbor freight now has a trifuel generator. 13000 staring watts 10000 running watts. Makes a lot of sense with outages being what they are these days. Powered by the old single cylinder clone of 460 ccs. Harbor Freight had been gasoline only generators.The rest of the line still is that way P.S. I see they have some in stock locally

[SBIRD!]

That's interesting, I was considering a locally available tri fuel 7500 watt 9400 peak open box type for 8 bills. I own the oil well on our place and have free natural gas that heats two homes and my hot water. I already have a old surplus MEP 002 military gen set that's diesel, makes about 7000 watts, and is continuous duty rated. Normally I have between 50 and 200 gallons of diesel on hand but being a bit of a prepper would like something that could be more long term.

What kind of hours would you expect from that HF motor before it gives up the ghost? I know the 5-8KW gassers only live a week or two if ran continuous. In the past I've ran mine 8-10 hours a day total to keep the fridge and deep freeze cold.

[raydhd]

The governed clones with regular oil changes and valve adjustments will run 500 + hours. The real key factor is that its a splash oil oil unit and clean oil makes it live. Another option that is out there is magnetic dip sticks to remove any iron based particles from the engine. Honda claims this adds up to 50% to engine life. James Condon on you tube fixes failed generators. In nearly every case it is poor oil or valve adjustment maintenance OR contaminated fuel causing gas into the crankcase from a stuck carb float leading to the engines failure. With the trifuel using natural gas or propane really extents engine life.His youtube channel really delves into portable generators and what fails on them. Rarely a manufacturing defect. Mostly careless users P.S. Champion,Duramax, Firman and Westinghouse also make trifuel units.Some say the Westinghouse is a cut above the others ? P.P.S. In all 3 of my generators I added the shaft mounted Champion style rockers arms available from Vegascarts that hold valve last way longer than the stock stud mounted units.

[SBIRD!]

That's very helpful info Ray. The local ones are a Craigslist add with folks I've dealt with before. The add shows Firman and Champion pictured. Those and the Predator are much more reasonably priced then the Generac whole house units that are used and in unknown condition.

[raydhd]

The longest I have run was 3.5 days. I did a quick oil change after 1.5 days.

[SBIRD!]

I've had two "long" outages in the 27 years I've lived on this farm. 9 days once after a derecho, man that was a rough one, soaking in the stock tank to cool off. And 8 days after a ice storm over Christmas one year. Staying warm and fed isn't a problem even if I can't get out. After the ice storm I bought the surplus genny just to keep me and the family comfortable.
My biggest concern power wise is a grid down for weeks or more scenario. A lot of people would be really hurting.

[raydhd]

On NG the idea is you can run for whatever time is needed. I still have gens 2 and 3 on propane if something happened to the NG supply.

[augiedoggy]

Pretty sure Westinghouse closed up long ago... The name was purchased like many by folks who sell various generic chinese goods under its name. I can guarantee its from china or some other Asian country maybe even the same as the HF models just a different color.

I have a 12k NG generac sitting in the back of my truck Id like to sell for a few hundred bucks.. Ive had solar for years now so no real use for it.

[raydhd]

The guys here with solar were not able to use it with the power down. They said the solar was linked to the power company since it was down so were they ?

[augiedoggy]

Originally Posted by raydhd

The guys here with solar were not able to use it with the power down. They said the solar was linked to the power company since it was down so were they ?

Yes , if you dont have batteries. they also make a switch that will disconnect the solar from the grid and allow your hose to run off it like a generator. over 5 years now without an electric bill over the mandated connection fee of $18 a month... **** Imminent domain BS!