Morning Cup Of Coffee And Weather

It was a gas powered generator that you could hold in your hand. It could charge a car battery enough to start most cars in about 30 minutes.

 

Oh, now that sounds cool At this point, the last thing I need is another generator --- I've got a 5kw construction open frame, a Yamaha 2800, and a Honda 2200. But I'm always curious about things like this and I'm still not sold on battery solutions

The smallest genny I've ever seen is the little 2-cycle generator that harbor Freight for a hundred bucks and was identical to about a dozen other companies. It worked great for what it was.

We ran a concession tent with it for a couple of summers. It sipped gasoline (though it was 2 cycle, so you had to mix oil) and never missed a beat. We ran it for hundreds of hours and being 2 cycle it was literally maintenance free except the air filter. I gave it to a friend for his emergency use, and to the best of my knowledge it still works. You just needed to run it for a few minutes every few months to keep the gasoline from varnishing and gumming up the carb.

The 2 small inverter generators I have are equally reliable but take oil changes yearly or after extended use.

I'm from the hank hill school of maintenance --- I change the oil every 25 hours or I get bored whichever happens first.

The recommend 100 hours (after the initial 20) --- so mine ought to outlast me. I just don't want to be sitting a 90 hours on the clock, to have the lights go out and not be able to change the oil on time. If I change at 25, or even 50, I have 50-75 left on the oil. Using synthetic, I've still probably got a lot of life left...Oil is cheap -- engines aren't.

 

Good info Sweeney, thx!

 

On all these little generators, since they've added Ethynol to the gasoline, its critical you drain the carb bowl . That stuff will varnish and gum up in no time. Also, adding Sta-Bil. to the gas.

Draining the bowl is nothing more than running it empty --- waiting a few minutes choking it, and starting it up again a few times....or turning a screw on the bottom fo the carb to let it dribble. Its easiest to just run it dry. Since I do a start every 60 days or so, I've never had to crack the drain screw.

I bought my first Yamaha Generator specifically because, at the time, it was the only company with a fuel shutoff. I've ran the carb bone dry every time I run it, and I "exercise" it every couple of months....it usually takes 4-5 pulls of the cord to start but it takes right off. I think that is just filling the fuel bowl....subsequent starts are 1-2 pulls.

The Honda's now have a fuel shutoff, and the EU2200 is very small and light compared to the Yamaha. They've added the fuel valve in the past couple of years.

The Eu2200 is fantastic....the burp when the AC compressor starts is minimal, and it produces more than enough power --- with everything on in the camper (except for the initial surge of the AC) its only about 1/3 to 1/2 of rated capacity....awesome little generator. Starts on the same 3-4 pulls then 1-2 pulls if the carb bowl isn't dry.

 

Today would be a great day to be in the Camper. Even though we're in the heart of winter, this morning I woke up to heavy rain, with gentle thunder and lightning. This is exactly the kind of day, I just want to listen to the pitter-patter on the roof and roll over for another 30 minutes of snooze time, but I have to pay the bills.

Instead - I'm reviewing changes, approving access to consultants, and training for a new position, while enjoying my favorite Columbian medium roast or possibly the guilty pleasure of "Michigan Cherry" flavored from Meijer, a regional chain based out of Grand Rapids --- the heart of Cherry country.

 

The one my friend had was a two stroke.

 

Does the Honda 2200 power the CampInn air conditioning ok?
That alone makes it worth finding a way to bring it along to extend the shoulder seasons in very hot areas.

 

My Honda 2000 will power the Campinn AC easily.

 

Ethanol-free aka clear gas is available in my region. Check out where the boaters or car racers buy their gas, you may have it available too. 6gal, immediately treated with sta-bil, gets us through 6mos of lawnmowing, chain saw, etc.

 

Such a good tip, Seth thanks.
Regular gas in CA is 10% corn oil but can be more...

 

Ours too --- in "premium" blend from a farm coop. I've found though as long as I drain the bowl and/or run the engine every couple weeks its no big deal. Reminds me -- I need to run the big v-twin lawn mower ASAP :O

ok...I'll buy 6 gallons of the good stuff....

Mine too -- if its on economy mode, it "burps for about 1/2 second as it takes on the momentary high load --- taking it out of eco mode and you don't even know the AC started. But you burn more in general. The EU2200 is an amazing little generator!!! Nice part is, with the app, you can monitor its output easily and get reminders to run it periodically, as well as when to chance oil and do other services.

 

Thank you!
Saves me a lot of noodling...
The killer app for shoulder seasons...
Plus bluetooth!
Dayum. Thats like the bluetooth on the Victron 100ah agm and charger combo- peak tech that works.

On the future must do wishlist...

Now to figure out where to mount the extra jerry cans...hmmm.
I haz...ideas.

 

Actually, it doesn't take THAT much fuel -- the EU2200 sips. The 1 gallon onboard tank will run for 8 hours on 1/4 load.

The AC isn't pulling that much power most of the time, so I'd guess the 8 is pretty much an easy goal. Extended run kits are available if you want to run it longer...basically a syphon between an external tank and the on board. The Honda pulls a slight vacuum unlike the older Yamaha's, not sure about the new ones.

I've yet to need the generator. Indiana doesn't allow generators of any kind to run after 10pm in any of our campgrounds, and I only have 1 that is a no-electric site that I normally stay at -- I just discovered this one last autumn and fell in love with it. We'll see how picky they are, I am sure the honda will be quiet enough to possibly slip under the radar.

 

Thanks for that detail.
Ya, my experience on the older Yamaha 1100 is similar- eight hours of continuous running takes 1gal.
Only need the Yamaha when the sun's not shining, and its been raining three days and you are off shore power.
And your CPAP needs juice.
And you cant run the tow vehicle engine as battery charger at idle, cuz that will burn the gas you need to get back to town.

Or you meed MOAR POWAH for other toys, or the gear for working remotely.

 

Gotta love radiant heat. It’s 15F outside, 68F inside and my floors are 85F!

FDEEE548-0147-4204-883A-516073B12483 by Tour 931 posted Jan 14, 2023 at 7:15 PM

 

What heats the floor.. resistance coils, or hot water tubing?

 

Water tubing.

 

They are good for small rooms like bathrooms in warmer climate from what I read.
So far my propane radiant heat has been fairly economical. Even with propane at $2.29 it’s only costing me about $1,200 a full year for house heat and hot water. If I add propane and electricity together here and compare it to natural gas and electricity in Seattle I’m paying about a third.

 

Yes, now it would, but when we built our home in 1985, that's what the power company in our area was promoting, and giving low off peak rates for using it over night as an incentive. I asked them what they did if a customers resistance wire were to burn out for some reason, as I had heard had happened before, and they said "switch to baseboard, or forced air".

It was kind of novel idea then, but we decided we didn't want to be dependent on one source of power for our heat, so installed tubing under the slab, a foot on center, in a foot deep sand bed underneath of which is a two inch layer of foam insulation to act as a thermal break. There are four zones, all of which begin and end in the utility room, with no joints in the tubing beneath the slab. Initially, in my days of boundless energy, and a relatively endless supply of wood for that use in our 6 acres of forest, I heated the water with a wood boiler, but as the years went by, and that boundless energy began to find it's limitations, we eventually converted the system to a geothermal heat pump, and haven't looked back. Now the only wood we burn is in our fireplace, which with it's outside air feed, and airtight clear ceramic glass doors did successfully heat the house one mild winter when our heat pump died in mid December, and it took three months to get a new one built and installed. We kept warm, but missed the warm floors a lot. I don't think they ever got to 85 degrees though, usually in the 70's.