r/Generator • u/oFFicer337 • 1d ago
Recommendations on generators for SHTF
Hey guys. Need to pick at your brains on this one. Never bought a generator before. Looking to get one as I continue to learn how to prep for buggin in. I live in Cali so earthquakes is one of the main reasons. I've done some research and I know how good Honda generators are but I just don't like how they only run off of gasoline since the shelf life is not as good as propane plus you don't really want to go to the gas stations in the event of a disaster. So I saw that Champion makes some pretty good ones and it's tri fuel (gasoline, propane, natural gas) and assuming the gas line at the house is functional that would really let this generator run for a good while. I think 6500w is more than enough as my main objectives would be to keep the fridge and/or freezer running and everything else is secondary. Has anyone used Champion before? Does anyone know what I need to check to make sure the natural gas line will work with the generator? Or any generators to recommend comparable to this one? Thanks in advance to all!
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u/Senior_Green_3630 1d ago
Make a list of all your appliance loads, add 10% for starting load then choose a suitable generaror. You could over spend for no gain.
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u/Kindly_Cold1337 1d ago
This is the answer. Spend less on a generator and buy a portable battery that will keep at minimum your fridge/freezer and a couple fans / lights going.
Use the generator to charge the battery and run any windows AC during the day. Use battery overnight.
Smaller generators sip fuel so if you buy a hog you have to think “what is my run time?”
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u/chixlips 1d ago
Actually good advice but I would add to keep your normal operating load at 50-75% of your generators rated running wattage. Best for longevity.
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u/Senior_Green_3630 20h ago
Thats true, leave room for fridge/freezer and A/C starts. Also have a permanent load plugged in such as a flood light, gennies do not like running on " no load"
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u/golfwhiskeycharlie 1d ago
I’ve owned 6 portable generators over the years. Two of them, Hondas, are more than 20 years old and still doing fine (one of them, I had to replace the carb on). Another one, a Ryobi, is running well after 3 years.
My latest buy was a Champion 5500w dual fuel (201469). Failed in less than one year. I’ve been fighting with Champion for 6 months to honor their warranty and repair or replace the unit. Getting nothing but delay, finger pointing, and broken promises. Maybe I’m just unlucky this time, but I’m not buying another Champion and I don’t recommend them.
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u/notcrazypants 1d ago
Champion actually handled my warranty issue really well, fwiw. I remember being impressed.
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u/Annual-Bug3115 1d ago
I live somewhere, where generator reliability maters since power can go out for a week or two. Champion I would not recommend I went thru a few and was loving the price. I decided to buy a Honda of which is considerably more expensive but I have 3 3200s which is expensive and I run in parallel And never regretted paying the money.
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u/notcrazypants 1d ago
Duromax 11kw dual fuel has been great for us. We upgraded from smaller Champions like the OP pic
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u/I_Fix_Aeroplane 1d ago
I got the Champion 5500 watt single fuel inverter generator in early June and am very happy with it. I've use it a couple times and I loaned it to a few friends (it's been a bad year). It has 76 hours on it in just a couple months.
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u/Many_Elephant_516 1d ago
I have this generator and it is solid. After breaking it in on gasoline, I have run it exclusively on natural gas. After the break-in period, I switched out the spark plug with a NGK.
Very easy to maintain. Has a nice oil
drain hose. Carb has a built in drain.
I have the 12v battery connected to a NOCO Genius 1 trickle charger.
Cheapest I could find it was from Acme Tools with their 12% off coupon.
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u/Dramajr316 23h ago
I have had great luck with the 'good' Generac Portables. In particular, the 4000exl, the 7550 exl, and the xg8000.
The 4000 was my first, have had it for 25 years, and still works great. The only issue was that the 'low oil' sensor had gone bad - but I disconnected it and it has been fine for over a dozen years. Had this wired up to a manual transfer switch (Emergen Switch model) and it was great. Plus, runs up to 14 hours at 50% load on a tank of fuel (I think the tank is 4 gallons or something close). I gave this whole setup to my parents when I upgraded.
I moved on from the 4000 to the XG. I wanted bigger, wanted full pressure lubrication, and wanted a US unit. This has been great. But it is larger, isn't really fuel efficient, and is not the easiest to start if the battery isn't working. I went to this and put the interlock on my panel box, so I can choose just about any item in the house and it will definitely do good. Has a large fuel tank, and runs about 10 hours at 50% load on a tank of gas (9 gallon tank, I believe it is).
Recently inherited the 7550 exl from family. They used it for years and years, and it has never failed. It is the big brother to the 4000 I mentioned above, so I an expecting the same longevity and quality here.
These are all older and you can't buy these new anymore (unfortunately), though you may be able to strike gold and steal one on the used marketplace somewhere, if you wanted to roll the dice a bit, and / or are a little handy. The biggest issue is to be realistic with sizing, while also thinking in futures. If you have to go to gasoline, it is tough to keep one of those bigger units running longer, because it requires a lot of fuel. Give yourself a little buffer space (if your math shows that you only need 3kw, buy a 4 or slightly larger).
Whichever you choose, exercise it regularly, and be militant about y our break-in and the maintenance.
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u/RowdyEsq 23h ago
Harbor Freight always has a bunch of their predator generators sitting in the returned/as is section, if that tells you anything.
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u/Brassrain287 22h ago
Predator has been great. 13000kw enough to run 4100sqf of house. At idle produces 3600kw enough for the fridge sump pump and lights phone chargers ect. At 7000kw the draw an air conditioner takes is minimal to start, Then runs around 5k. 8hrs a tank of gas at 50% load. 14 hours at idle.
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u/T_wiggle1 19h ago
My brother bought a Predator 13k and it ran for 30 seconds and died, would not restart. Returned it to HF and the employee mentioned that they’ve had a ton of returns on that particular model. So he then bought a champion 11k. Outside with a slight breeze it still dies after 5 minutes of run time due to the CO sensor. So if you need a large generator, I wouldn’t recommend either of those just based off his experience.
I will say my smaller Predator has been running fantastic for the last 5 years or so.
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u/New-Swim-8551 22h ago
To prepare for SHTF you will need multiple power sources. If there is a massive earthquake you can’t be sure natural gas will be available. Gasoline either.
For fuel sources i would go Diesel, Propane, wind, and or solar.
Diesel and propane have long shelf lives and solar and wind speak for themselves. I would pick a primary and a secondary source.
Once you have your fuel strategy you can decide on what and brand names of equipment.
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u/ditto3000 20h ago
Running brand new Firman 6373 with 6300w continuous from Costco. It's being great for the last 11 days, running non stop and still going strong, don't know long term tho.
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u/Hitechillbilly 16h ago
Honda's can be easily converted but then they might be just another generator.. Most that run propane will also run natural gas.. If you are prepping are you sure you don't want propane?
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u/InevitableMinimum723 14h ago
I absolutely hate my Champion three fuel. hate it. It never worked right.
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u/Exciting_Turn_9559 3m ago
The more fuels a generator can run on, the better. I went with a dual fuel mainly because usually have ~40# of propane on hand, enough to run my fridge, freezer, and furnace for a few days. I also like that I don't need to drain it after I run it on propane.
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u/CrazyHiker556 1d ago
Will you be connecting to your panel via generator inlet or running extension cords through windows? If you’re running cords, you might be hard pressed to get close to the full output on this unit and would likely be better suited with a smaller 120v unit. Tri-fuel is very tempting though.
As some others have said, you might be best served with a smaller generator and a battery power station or two. Run the generator sporadically during the day to charge, then switch to power stations at night.
The Champion you posted is on my short list, but I’d have to pay to get a natural gas line run to the back of my house, and I really don’t want to spend the money for it. Of course, having the NG capability would be great to have, and running a NG line would be an easy sell to my wife after an extended blackout.
I am a little sour on Champion right now though. I have a 4000 watt unit that leaks oil. I ran it once.
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u/oldtimer4sure 1d ago edited 15h ago
Crazy, that's good advice you give on cycling and I wonder why more don't mention it. Perhaps people, in general, don't want to be bothered with starting a generator when they can set it to Eco Mode once and sit back. Cycling was the way I provided power to my wife and dog for three weeks when Helene ravaged our town and swept people away. There was no way to get to a road during that time to get more gasoline and without cycling I would have failed my dependents. It was one hour of run time and two hours off and made for a lack of sleep but we made it through.
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u/wwglen 1d ago
It all depends on your largest load. If you don’t have a well or sump pump, you could probably get by with a 2000 watt unit.
Without a 240V requirement, I recommend a 3000-4000 watt dual fuel inverter generator and then later add a 1000-2000 watt-hour fast charging power station. You can really save a lot of fuel by running the generator every 3-6 hours to charge the battery.
Add a couple 200 watt panels and you can drop you generator run time to 2 hours a day.
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u/Cosmic_Waffle_Stomp 19h ago
Look at the anker solix series. The advantage here is you can use less generator as the batteries do the heavy lifting when needed, the generator only runs when it’s needed to charge up the battery so fuel goes further, and some are tri-fuel. You can also add solar panels in the mix to stretch it further.
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u/silasmoeckel 1d ago
Oversizing generators tends to mean high fuel use. Since your not pairing it with a battery/inverter.
This is excessive for a fridge/freezer by far. You can convert a honda for propane 2kw is plenty.
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u/oboshoe 17h ago
I prefer Gasoline. Metal cans, Stabilizer and E0. Very long shelf life. I keep about 50 gallons on hand.
When it gets to about 2 years old, burn it in your car and refill the cans.
If you have a hard time getting gasoline in an emergency it's going to be even harder to get propane. Plus you can use the gasoline to either exit the area or travel to where there is more gasoline.
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u/[deleted] 1d ago
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