Small generator - Honda or powerhorse

[greenbeast]

Ive used 2 Honda 2000's in tandem for our camper and I've been pleased. At Oshkosh I did see several smaller units like those at Costco which seemed to be working fine for folks. The can also be ran together where I do not think the Yamaha's can. The noise difference between the two is significant. Honda's are so quiet! I would go with them again. I use mine frequently at farm in the barn where I do not have electricity.

 

[Tapage]

Another EU2000i user here .. you won't be disappointed .. just be sure to dry it from gas if you gonna store it for more than a month .. rebuild the carb it's simple but not when you need to use it ( ask me how I know .. )

I actually did a fairly common mod to cut the fuel right before the carb to keep it as dry as possible .. when going to storage ( I actually do it every time I use )

 

[Helipilot]

^^^What Tapage said. I turn off the fuel while running the generator and let it run the carb dry.

 

[skidplate]

On the bottom of the fuel bowl is a little screw to drain any remaining fuel.

 

[arcteryx]

Appreciate the replies

Pulled the trigger on an eu2000.

 

[stevezero]

I bought a westinghouse 2000 inverter/gen from amazon for 479 shipped to use on my camper. It is pairing capable if needed. 43 lbs, size of a small suitcase. 53 db at 1/2 load (supposedly).

 

[renago]

Hi guys
All depends on what kind of use and watt you need from the generator .
I give you my experience:
Wanted a small efficient and light generator, 500/1000 W will do .
All too big and heavy.
Ended going for a 25 year old Honda EX 500 .
Super happy.
8 kg , aprox 17-18 lb
Well 500 W , but also up to 1500 as a peak for short periods.
Runs continually for 4,5 h with 0,4 L.
Can't complain on that .
Starts at first pull .

By Renago

 

[arcteryx]

Yup

 

[titanpat57]

Like your thoughts on it after a time or two using it

 

[Chris Wilcox]

You will love that thing. I own both an EU1000i and EU3000is. By far the biggest and potentially only problem with the 1000 and 2000 sized units is their tendency to grow legs. Keep that thing out of sight and chained. If you happen to be planning trips to cold climates there is a cold weather kit available. However it is really only necessary if you are in Canada like me...

 

[e9999]

Mine saved the day. I bought it used. Not long after that my main electrical panel blew up. No juice anywhere. It was cold but not so cold that I would not have lost all the food in the house without a very costly emergency electrician visit, and that included a bunch of USDA Prime steaks.... Instead I ran the 2000, it was enough to keep the fridge, furnace, and electronics going for a few days and no need to go to a hotel either. I was able to get the problem fixed taking my time, without a same day emergency repair, and saving me something like 3 or 4 times the cost the of the generator, I'm guessing.
Not bad of an investment!

As to -very minor- downsides: maybe not best to run it (not me) on the beach in the sand, IIRC the feet got a bit rusty and there was sand inside the shell (not a serious problem). The previous owner did not pull the rope correctly and it wore a groove in the plastic -operator error- and it is kinda unwieldy to hold upside down to empty the tank before long storage -but there are other ways of doing that of course.

 

[Tapage]

If you are not using your Honda on a regular basics ..

 

[e9999]

what I'm doing is to empty the fuel tank and then run the engine till it stops. That does not guarantee that the carb will be totally dry, but it seems that it would be more likely to do so than with that petcock mod since the latter might (?) create a vacuum in the carb bowl that could (?) stop the engine whereas the empty tank will keep ambient pressure. Guessing here. I will do a test and see how much if any is left in the bowl next time I have it out.

 

[Chris Wilcox]

What I do is open the bowl drain screw to drain the bowl. This is as per Honda instructions and has worked every time. You can see it in the video above, black screw with clear pink tubing off bottom right left of screen.

 

[e9999]

that'll work. simpler and better. as long as pressure in the tank does not force fuel back in the carb I guess, but I vaguely remember something like the shutoff switch also cuts off the gas to the carb so that might be good. Hopefully gas remaining in the jets and all does not stay there then dry out and leave deposits there.
Will check that one too.

 

[Tapage]

I know this coz I leave my honda about 3 months on storage .. I did the plug trick, but still gotta rebuild my carb / jets

 

[e9999]

in case that helps somebody here is a copy of a couple of sections from the manual that describes the suggested storage precautions. Interestingly, there is something about emptying the fuel pump too. And yes, the engine switch also shuts off gas it seems. I would think that the ultimate gas emptying for storage would be to first empty the tank, then run the engine until it stops and then empty what may be left in the bowl if any. Hopefully that should take care of everything just about everywhere.

 

[73fj40lc]

in case that helps somebody here is a copy of a couple of sections from the manual that describes the suggested storage precautions. Interestingly, there is something about emptying the fuel pump too. And yes, the engine switch also shuts off gas it seems. I would think that the ultimate gas emptying for storage would be to first empty the tank, then run the engine until it stops and then empty what may be left in the bowl if any. Hopefully that should take care of everything just about everywhere.

View attachment 1457452 View attachment 1457453

E9999 is exactly right. There is no need to go to the aggravation of putting a fuel petcock in. If you really needed a fuel petcock Honda would have installed one. If you follow Honda's instructions you are getting rid of all the fuel in the gen and shouldn't ever really need to rebuild the carb. I have a older used eu2000i and a new eu2000i companion. I also have friends who have the Honda 1000k and 2000k models also. None of us has ever had any problems with our carbs. We all follow the factory instructions. I never leave any fuel in the tank and drain carb per instructions. I have a backup tool kit stored with the gen that has a carb rebuild kit as well as spare spark plug, air fliter, oil and basic tools to service the gen. If I never have to use the carb kit I will be happy but it is there if I need it in an emergency.

I also installed a hourmeter on my gens to keep up with the maintenance and hours run. This is some of the best cheap insurance on the market. It does all the work for you keeping track of maintenance times if you run the gen extended times as in an emergency situation. I ran my gens off and on for over a week last year after a really bad ice storm. We had no power for that entire week. Had to change the oil on the new gen twice since it was going through its initial break in period. I also have the extended fuel run kit and the parallel cable to link gens together.

As far as theft goes I have the aftermarket metal handle that goes over the plastic handle on the gen to help secure the gen when cable locked. It makes it harder and more time consuming to try to walk off with the gen. It isn't full proof but significantly better than just the simple plastic handle.