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Since Florence was heading our way, I prepped our 2003-ish PowerBoss 5500 for use since it's sat for at least 4 years from actual use, though I do remember cranking it once when we moved to our current house in 2015. Last thing I did back then was to drain the tank of gas, and let the engine burn what was in the carb.
Earlier this week, I changed it's oil (um... pretty sure that's its first oil change), cleaned the spark plug, and cleaned the carb. It is pretty old timewise but looks great, just has a little light rust on one portion of the engine, and typical dust that has collected almost all over.
It was running a bit rough before I cleaned the carb, though actually the jet was clean, it was probably just the old gas that was still sitting in it (running the engine 'til it shuts off still won't pull the last bit of gas out of a carb).
After that, it's running like a champ! I didn't check the output voltage, but have no reason to believe it's not spot on, as always.
So, anyway, I considered buying a newer generator before the storm. Costco has a good looking Firman 7500w that's dual fuel, battery start, and a 50amp output. I'd like to get something with higher output, particularly to run the downstairs AC if we'd be out of power for days in the summer heat. However, it seems newer generators aren't as reliable as the older models. Plus, with all of the extra "controls" like the battery starter, low oil shutoff, voltage and hour displays, it seems to be complicating the units, making them harder to work on.
One thing I do like about this PowerBoss is that it's a B&S engine, a rotor with built-in sockets (2x20a 1x30a) and push-button breakers, and a gas tank. Nothing complicated about it, and easy to get to everything since the frame is open on all sides except the top due to the tank.
The wife would rather, if we're gonna get another gennie, to get a 20kW whole house unit (Cummins probably) and propane tank for it, and of course auto transfer switch, etc.
So far, we haven't lost power at all due to the storm, so I guess I'm glad I didn't get a new generator. But, even if I did, I'm not sure "new" is better than "old" in this case. Opinions?
Earlier this week, I changed it's oil (um... pretty sure that's its first oil change), cleaned the spark plug, and cleaned the carb. It is pretty old timewise but looks great, just has a little light rust on one portion of the engine, and typical dust that has collected almost all over.
It was running a bit rough before I cleaned the carb, though actually the jet was clean, it was probably just the old gas that was still sitting in it (running the engine 'til it shuts off still won't pull the last bit of gas out of a carb).
After that, it's running like a champ! I didn't check the output voltage, but have no reason to believe it's not spot on, as always.
So, anyway, I considered buying a newer generator before the storm. Costco has a good looking Firman 7500w that's dual fuel, battery start, and a 50amp output. I'd like to get something with higher output, particularly to run the downstairs AC if we'd be out of power for days in the summer heat. However, it seems newer generators aren't as reliable as the older models. Plus, with all of the extra "controls" like the battery starter, low oil shutoff, voltage and hour displays, it seems to be complicating the units, making them harder to work on.
One thing I do like about this PowerBoss is that it's a B&S engine, a rotor with built-in sockets (2x20a 1x30a) and push-button breakers, and a gas tank. Nothing complicated about it, and easy to get to everything since the frame is open on all sides except the top due to the tank.
The wife would rather, if we're gonna get another gennie, to get a 20kW whole house unit (Cummins probably) and propane tank for it, and of course auto transfer switch, etc.
So far, we haven't lost power at all due to the storm, so I guess I'm glad I didn't get a new generator. But, even if I did, I'm not sure "new" is better than "old" in this case. Opinions?
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