Champion 3500 watt/4000 watt peak generator w/ wheel kit and cover $299+tax AC @ cabelas.com

Here's another one (not Champion) just for comparison's sake:

http://www.amazon.com/WEN-56352-4..._sbs_ol_20

$40 more, no cover, but free shipping and probably no tax and can handle 240v

I have the generator in the OP.

Has been used three times since I bought it last FEB.

1st run was 5 days, 7am to 10pm each day

2nd run was 4 days, same times

3rd was 2 days, same times

During one of the outages it was during that Snow storm in OCT in the NE. I didn't like the idea of leaving it outside in snow and rain for six+ hours, but I did.....and it had no problem, I went out every couple of hours and knocked the snow of of it.

I think I paid 260 at advance auto + 30 for the wheels. It's not whisper quiet like the hondas, but it's also not "Loud"

You can talk with a person just fine without yelling if you're standing right next to it.

I am looking for a generator for tailgating. It'll run two 32" TV's, two DVR's and a Jagermeister machine. Plus the occasional blender, etc.

Size & noise are my two main concerns. Since some of you are using this to run your homes I assume this generator is more than enough. Yes?

How about this one, will it do the trick? http://www.cabelas.com/catalog/pr...tId=747272

If not that one, do you have any other recommendatios? I don't know anything about generators but I'm looking for the smallest possible option. I bought a small 800w generator on BF from Harbor Freight and it couldn't handle the load.

I actually got the Costco one up a few weeks back. Champion 7000/9000 and now wondering if that's just too much and will be too loud for my neighbors. I'm waiting for an electrician to come by and look but I was only looking to have furnace heater (for winter), two fridges, some lights and maybe an LCD TV working and some outlets with UPS backups attached so we can keep the laptops juiced up. Wanted the electrician to give an opinion of the unit/needs but taking forever to get her.

There's a little gadget called a kill-a-watt meter that you can get for about $20 that you can use to find out how much electricity your appliances use. There is a lot of variance in usage between different appliances. For example, my energy efficient refrigerator claims 6.5 amps on the plate (which would be 780 watts), but from testing, it only uses about 150 watts running (780 watts turns out to be the surge usage just when the compressor starts). The Natural Gas furnace in my home (44K BTU Carrier) only uses about 800 watts surge and about 350 watts running for the blower fan - this was far less than I expected.

To test for generators, set the kill-a-watt to read in volt amps (VA) and check each appliance separately. Note peak / surge usage (when appliance is turned on) and running usage. Add up the totals. Take the running usage number total as your working number for continuous. Add the highest surge number for a single appliance tested to get the working number for surge usage.

Take the generator's continuous rating and subtract 20%. Subtract another 3% for each 1000' in elevation above sea level at your location to account for lower engine output at higher elevations. This is how much electricity this type of generator can actually deliver on a continual basis without risking damaging the windings.

As long as all of your usages add up to less than the continuous and surge ratings of your generator less 20%, you are good to go.

And if you want a kill-a-watt they have them at meritline for $14.99 http://www.meritline.com/p3-inter...alid=26534

Quote from uscpsycho : I am looking for a generator for tailgating. It'll run two 32" TV's, two DVR's and a Jagermeister machine. Plus the occasional blender, etc. Size & noise are my two main concerns. Since some of you are using this to run your homes I assume this generator is more than enough. Yes? How about this one, will it do the trick? http://www.cabelas.com/catalog/pr...tId=747272 If not that one, do you have any other recommendatios? I don't know anything about generators but I'm looking for the smallest possible option. I bought a small 800w generator on BF from Harbor Freight and it couldn't handle the load.

Maybe - check out my post above about using a kill-a-watt to check your appliance loads. The TV's & DVR'sprobably only use about 400 watts total, Don't know about the Jagermeister machine or the blender.

Quote from whisperingSD : There's a little gadget called a kill-a-watt meter that you can get for about $20 that you can use to find out how much electricity your appliances use. There is a lot of variance in usage between different appliances. For example, my energy efficient refrigerator claims 6.5 amps on the plate (which would be 780 watts), but from testing, it only uses about 150 watts running (780 watts turns out to be the surge usage just when the compressor starts). The Natural Gas furnace in my home (44K BTU Carrier) only uses about 800 watts surge and about 350 watts running for the blower fan - this was far less than I expected. To test for generators, set the kill-a-watt to read in volt amps (VA) and check each appliance separately. Note peak / surge usage (when appliance is turned on) and running usage. Add up the totals. Take the running usage number total as your working number for continuous. Add the highest surge number for a single appliance tested to get the working number for surge usage. Take the generator's continuous rating and subtract 20%. Subtract another 3% for each 1000' in elevation above sea level at your location to account for lower engine output at higher elevations. This is how much electricity this type of generator can actually deliver on a continual basis without risking damaging the windings. As long as all of your usages add up to less than the continuous and surge ratings of your generator less 20%, you are good to go.

Thanx - I actually have one. Is the furnace something that actually plugs in and is 120V so I can test it? I actually have two furnaces but was thinking I could survive with just one running. Not too cold right now so will need to run the heater for a bit and warm up the house!! Also, isn't it possible to have the fridge compressor and the heater surge at the same time?

Quote from FTJoey : Thanx - I actually have one. Is the furnace something that actually plugs in and is 120V so I can test it? I actually have two furnaces but was thinking I could survive with just one running. Not too cold right now so will need to run the heater for a bit and warm up the house!! Also, isn't it possible to have the fridge compressor and the heater surge at the same time?

Mine is, but it's a small furnace in a small house. It will not be if it also has AC and may not be if it's a larger unit. It is extremely unlikely that the fridge compressor and heater would come on at exactly the same time (surge lasts about 1 - 2 seconds on these appliances at start-up).

Quote from whisperingSD : Mine is, but it's a small furnace in a small house. It will not be if it also has AC and may not be if it's a larger unit. It is extremely unlikely that the fridge compressor and heater would come on at exactly the same time (surge lasts about 1 - 2 seconds on these appliances at start-up).

Thanx - I have two furnaces and two central AC units (though I don't think the A/C is going to be on the powered unless my wife finds out it can). It's not a big house, just a split with an addition hence the second unit. I'm pretty sure it's 240, I guess I really need the electrician to show up!! But still thinking I bought too big (7000/9000). The thread on the Costco unit had a person pointing out if its used more than just as an emergency unit once in every couple of years, then the inverter types really pay for themselves, Honda I guess being the quietest. But those are like 3K for 3500 Watts.

Quote from FTJoey : Thanx - I actually have one. Is the furnace something that actually plugs in and is 120V so I can test it? I actually have two furnaces but was thinking I could survive with just one running. Not too cold right now so will need to run the heater for a bit and warm up the house!! Also, isn't it possible to have the fridge compressor and the heater surge at the same time?

Quote from FTJoey : Thanx - I have two furnaces and two central AC units (though I don't think the A/C is going to be on the powered unless my wife finds out it can). It's not a big house, just a split with an addition hence the second unit. I'm pretty sure it's 240, I guess I really need the electrician to show up!! But still thinking I bought too big (7000/9000). The thread on the Costco unit had a person pointing out if its used more than just as an emergency unit once in every couple of years, then the inverter types really pay for themselves, Honda I guess being the quietest. But those are like 3K for 3500 Watts.

The Champion 6k/7k is what's carried in the Costco's in CA along with the Champion 2K inverter units. I went with a pair of the Champion 2K inverter units with the Parallel kit to get 3K output which is all I needed. The flexibility, quiet operation, fuel efficiency, and clean sine wave power output for electronics was the selling point as most of the time I only need to run one of the inverter gens to handle Fridge, Lights, Entertainment Center, Computers, Electronics, etc. (about 8 hours run time on 1 gallon of gas). Energy hogs that require more power are Major Appliances like Furnace, AC, Washer, Dryer, Microwave, etc. However, a Honda 5K inverter unit (EM5000is) is in the $3500 - $4000 range. Not exactly a slick deal. As an aside, Electric Blankets don't use much juice (about 100 watts / blanket give or take) and they might be a viable alternative for some folks to use in an emergency situation instead of having / using a 240 volt HVAC system and larger generators for heating...just a thought off the top of my head as we don't get very cold weather here in socal.

Going to get one of these for my fiance's Dad... He wants to run the sump pump, two fridges, and a large freezer, and possibly some other little things like a TV.

No tax in NJ, so that makes up for the shipping cost of $18. 317.99 shipped including wheels seems like a decent price for this.