I Bought a Firman small 3650 Watts gasoline generator 3 1/2 years ago from Home Depot. It is a stand by generator that I use only when the electrical power from the grid is down during snow or ice storms. Up to now, there is no rust on the metal parts and it starts flawlessly on the first manual pulls everytime. With the electrical power provided, it is enough to power up the gas furnace, the refrigerator, router, tv and computer and a couple of lights. Myself I am happy with this purchase. I use a Reliance transfer switch to connect to my home electrical circuit. If I ever need to replace it, I will go with a natural gas generator that will use my gas line and I would not have any worry about bad gasoline, running out of fuel and the carburator going dirty.
I have one of these at my cottage with a Generlink and whole system surge protector. Runs everything great. For sensitive items, the THD is not the big problem. It is the frequency. Mine was putting out 63 Hz vs the standard 60 Hz for North America. After much research and adjusting the engine speed, got it to 60.5 Hz, my furnace and everything runs great now. The furnace electronics did not run when generator was running at 63 Hz. Firman was useless in troubleshooting all their response was that "it is still in spec". When in doubt, consult with an Amish or Mennonite person who lives off the grid with these generators all the time.
I have the same genny and bought it with less than an hour on it for $650 mint with everything as described. Tim if I were you I'd keep an eye on that fuel selector switch as several have been known to fail due to a small capacitor (I think) inside the selector switch electric valve. It caused my generator to shut down after 5 minutes and nearly resulted in a flooded basement. The parts cost around $40 from Firman in the US. Another gentleman on RUclips posted the fix initially. If interested I'll find it and post the link. My genny works perfectly now via a 12 circuit interlock Eaton panel and runs everything on 120 V including two pellet stoves and all appliances except the 220 V stove, oven and deep well pump. I don't worry about that as it's usually only used for hydronic heat and watering during drought conditions. Shallow well 120 V jetpump keeps us in water and induction plates,bbq, small air/convection oven keeps us cooking. Overall a decent generator that replaced my bulletproof 16 yr old small champion. I did buy a small inverter genny as a backup during the switch failure part wait as if groundwater gets too high and sump not working means flooding. BTW I'm posting from beautiful southshore NS in Canada. Here is the stuck switch fix... ruclips.net/video/-IBEGaVCSy4/видео.htmlsi=HFP1UV4hi-XpBv8j
I had to sell mine due to the THD issue. UPS units wouldn't even charge on it. Modulated furnace hated it. 2 ton A/C was fine. I had to move to a tri fuel Champion Inverter open frame.
Great video Tim. I just bought one of these and have a couple of questions. I ran it for 20 minutes out of the box and plugged in a ton of stuff from the house. But, I never heard the engine oscillate. It seemed to run full throttle the whole time. Is that normal? Also, is synthetic oil better to use? And, about how long will a 20 pound propane tank last? Thank you for any help, Heg.
Thanks for taking the time to comment, first it takes quite a bit to hear it oscilate becuase these non inverter gens run at almost full throttle all the time. Second yes synthetic is better to use for sure but on the advice from Firman if you use sythetic don't go longer than the suggest 100 hrs between oil changes. also use conventional oil for the break in period, not exactly sure why but thats what they reccomend. It will use 1.6 liters per hour no load 3.2 half load and 5.6 full load
your battery has a disconnect on it, it appears. You can probably disconnect that and not have to worry about the trickle charger being on it all the time.
With my 1998 Generac XL5500, I think that it did affect my 2 yr old fridge. I lost all control panels in the fridge, The panels could not be replaced so I got a new fridge. I can't tell if this will affect the new fridge but I am not taking any chances, I put surge suppressors on the fridge. I then purchased a smaller inverter for the fridge and furnace, Now the smaller inverter 3600W will be the only thing running my house in the future. the generator is only used for emergencies, so I don't have to run everything in the house at the same time. My inverter is a Firman WO3382.
Those machines are decent for running basic electrical items like power tools or light bulbs. But they are super dangerous to use with any sensitive items like nice TVs or laptops because the THD levels are way too high. I had something like this once and my UPS units inside my house went nuts. Hell no, never again.
I Bought a Firman small 3650 Watts gasoline generator 3 1/2 years ago from Home Depot. It is a stand by generator that I use only when the electrical power from the grid is down during snow or ice storms. Up to now, there is no rust on the metal parts and it starts flawlessly on the first manual pulls everytime. With the electrical power provided, it is enough to power up the gas furnace, the refrigerator, router, tv and computer and a couple of lights. Myself I am happy with this purchase. I use a Reliance transfer switch to connect to my home electrical circuit.
If I ever need to replace it, I will go with a natural gas generator that will use my gas line and I would not have any worry about bad gasoline, running out of fuel and the carburator going dirty.
Nice video. I just bought mine and unboxed it. You hit a lot of good points in the video. Thanks.
I have one of these at my cottage with a Generlink and whole system surge protector. Runs everything great. For sensitive items, the THD is not the big problem. It is the frequency. Mine was putting out 63 Hz vs the standard 60 Hz for North America. After much research and adjusting the engine speed, got it to 60.5 Hz, my furnace and everything runs great now. The furnace electronics did not run when generator was running at 63 Hz. Firman was useless in troubleshooting all their response was that "it is still in spec". When in doubt, consult with an Amish or Mennonite person who lives off the grid with these generators all the time.
I have the same genny and bought it with less than an hour on it for $650 mint with everything as described. Tim if I were you I'd keep an eye on that fuel selector switch as several have been known to fail due to a small capacitor (I think) inside the selector switch electric valve. It caused my generator to shut down after 5 minutes and nearly resulted in a flooded basement. The parts cost around $40 from Firman in the US. Another gentleman on RUclips posted the fix initially. If interested I'll find it and post the link. My genny works perfectly now via a 12 circuit interlock Eaton panel and runs everything on 120 V including two pellet stoves and all appliances except the 220 V stove, oven and deep well pump. I don't worry about that as it's usually only used for hydronic heat and watering during drought conditions. Shallow well 120 V jetpump keeps us in water and induction plates,bbq, small air/convection oven keeps us cooking. Overall a decent generator that replaced my bulletproof 16 yr old small champion. I did buy a small inverter genny as a backup during the switch failure part wait as if groundwater gets too high and sump not working means flooding. BTW I'm posting from beautiful southshore NS in Canada.
Here is the stuck switch fix...
ruclips.net/video/-IBEGaVCSy4/видео.htmlsi=HFP1UV4hi-XpBv8j
I run mine once a month for 15-20 minutes, only used Natural gas. runs the whole house . so far so good.
Appreciate the long term review!
Good info ! Thanks for posting
Thanks Tim❕ Very helpful 😎👍
Thanks Tim. What do you use for a trickle charger? Im researching what to get in my first genny. Your channel is very informative
I had to sell mine due to the THD issue. UPS units wouldn't even charge on it. Modulated furnace hated it. 2 ton A/C was fine. I had to move to a tri fuel Champion Inverter open frame.
Great video Tim. I just bought one of these and have a couple of questions. I ran it for 20 minutes out of the box and plugged in a ton of stuff from the house. But, I never heard the engine oscillate. It seemed to run full throttle the whole time. Is that normal? Also, is synthetic oil better to use? And, about how long will a 20 pound propane tank last? Thank you for any help, Heg.
Thanks for taking the time to comment, first it takes quite a bit to hear it oscilate becuase these non inverter gens run at almost full throttle all the time. Second yes synthetic is better to use for sure but on the advice from Firman if you use sythetic don't go longer than the suggest 100 hrs between oil changes. also use conventional oil for the break in period, not exactly sure why but thats what they reccomend.
It will use 1.6 liters per hour no load 3.2 half load and 5.6 full load
your battery has a disconnect on it, it appears. You can probably disconnect that and not have to worry about the trickle charger being on it all the time.
I have a blue model with a co2 cutout
I run the fuel out of the tank and I also drain the remaining fuel out of the bowl. No worries about the fuel going bad in the carburetor.
Thanks for clarifying it's not an inverter generator. I love the idea of tri-fuel but I don't want to fry anything.
So I have mine hooked up to my electrical panel. Am I risking ruining my nice refrigerator? I’m not plugged in directly to the generator.
With my 1998 Generac XL5500, I think that it did affect my 2 yr old fridge. I lost all control panels in the fridge, The panels could not be replaced so I got a new fridge. I can't tell if this will affect the new fridge but I am not taking any chances, I put surge suppressors on the fridge. I then purchased a smaller inverter for the fridge and furnace, Now the smaller inverter 3600W will be the only thing running my house in the future. the generator is only used for emergencies, so I don't have to run everything in the house at the same time. My inverter is a Firman WO3382.
I ran a fridge, freezer and furnace and everything was fine. For electronics, I used a portable inverter or any other cordless tool with a usb outlet.
Those machines are decent for running basic electrical items like power tools or light bulbs. But they are super dangerous to use with any sensitive items like nice TVs or laptops because the THD levels are way too high. I had something like this once and my UPS units inside my house went nuts. Hell no, never again.