Haha, that’s funny but I do agree.
A pensioner couple from Stockholm moved in across the field last year. Bought a house with a small stable and keep horses to play with.
They mentioned to me what seemed funny to them was firewood being almost a religion around here. I never thought about it that way but they may be right. Personally I was certainly attracted to this site because of the shiny Alabama woodpiles 
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Hi All,
I was viewing a newly released Project Farm video where he was comparing four different types of Pennzoil brand of engine oils.
Thier Ultra-Platinum’s what I’ve been using now based on his previous long engine oils testing comparisons.
Hard to find the Ultra. I’ve been using the non-Ultra, plain Platinum.
Well maybe not anymore.
On this new test series, he is intentionally contaminating with a % of gasoline. Then repeating contaminating with engine coolant.
My small air cooled four strokers tend to gasoline contaminate their oil due to the carburetors manufactures jetted for E10 gasolines. And me using ethanol free “Clear” gasoline; they tend to run a bit too rich then.
See his testing for gasoline contamination at 8:48
Coolant contaminated tests at 10:20
Ha! And I DID clean the rider mowers upgraded off road motorcycles air cleaner. Not done for? three years?!!
Runs with more power and cleaner smelling oil now. Imagine that.
And be buying the black label Pennzoil stuff now.
Regards
Steve Unruh
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Hi All,
Since I am not yet fueling my Harbor Freight 9500/7600 Inverter-Generator yet on woodgas I’ll be posting up my gasoline and soon propane testing results here instead.
It’s 459cc engine is rated as 15.3? .7? horsepower at 3300 RPM.
Did a manual pull starting test this morning at 40F/5C on the 5W-50 Castrol I try and use in all of my air-cooled 4 stroke engines. I think they all run hot. Seems to be fine down to 32F/0C for me.
I got my 4" (100mm) longer pull rope by removing the handle end and retying down against the actual engine cover. This is how Honda does it on their 7000/5500 Inverter-generator.
Plus, I’ve noticed the pulled out through the outer cover units from running vibration fray their ropes. Then they break.
This 9500 sure blows a lot of air off of its two ducted directed fans. The rectangular opening just below the muffler enclosure. Can feel it from 30 feet away. Be great for wood drying.
Ha! The Honda walk-behind picture is just because I powerwalked it on less than one tank for an Autum yard weed heads trimming. It’s 4.4 hp.
Ha! Ha! And yes, Wallace; I did pull it down far enough to find the in-cylinder head wax thermal pellet for the auto choke. Glad I have squirreled away the semi-automatic one off of the older GXV engine.
Regards
Steve unruh
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Sure will be interesting to see how it performs on Propane. Some of the other generator manufacturers will state the true Wattage capacity on different fuels, I believe Duromax does.
Mom wants to get one for herself, I told her to get the V Twin Duromax at tractor supply.
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Some engines have a fudge rating in the HP figures.
The assumption that a 5.5 hp Honda GX160 is a 5.5 hp motor includes that extra power you might need in a pinch.
In reality your not going to want to push that hard.
There is a standard I read someplace that assumes a 1 hour overload in a 24 hour use cycle to ensure that the engine if run continues it does not overheat.
What you get these days is a crap shoot.
In the old timey times something like the Onan CCK came in several flavours.
It was rated at different speeds and in some cases the exact same engine might be bolted to a 3 4 or 5 kva generator ( 6 if you include the water cooled marine version ).
Much of this is not about what the engine can put out, but rather how well it might cool and how long you want to run it at that RMP and load.
That wax pellet is pretty reliable Steve.
Its just not what I would have done.
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Hi Cody,
You might want to watch these two videos before letting her pull the trigger on the new 12,000 watt DuroMax V-twin unit.
Why? You’ve had theft at you location already. You really, really want quiet, unknown at your location. Even at the end of a dead end road I’ve added a sound wall at the back of the house. And will be wheels pulling and chaining down once set up outside. We do day trip away.
I searched out this video to give to the Wife if she still keeps bugging me about PV Solar. She has been listening to too much NPR on her car radio.
Told her PV to be a value to us needed a battery banking and then inverting. (I actually have the 250 pound 100% duty cycle inverter. And the multiple common sized 31P batteries now in four of the vehicles would be the battery bank.)
So I’ve told her; IF SHE wanted to spend her money to be current, modern, then spend it on an all-in-one PowerStation. “Solar Generator”
This video, he has these at the ending. BLUETTI and another brand.
Figuring at best I can only get her to watch ONE informational comparison video.
Hard to talk to folks about personal electric generators. They want to focus on $$$, or $,$$$ to for unit. Or $'s per watt. Never realizing that at best the $$$ units are 400-1000 hour useable service life units. And the $,$$$ units are at best 1000-4000 hour service life units.
That the Telecom, Rail, Marine 7500-10,000 hour service life units are $$,$$$. And these will always be diesel, LPG, steet-gas methane.
Yes.Yes. personal electrical generators are actually in classes depending on the intended usages. Here’s the Den of Tools guys “Best Emergency Generators” for 2022 video:
He covers the theft problem better in this one.
So a very real dollar an hour to actually work any of these over and above fuel and oil, routine maintenance costs to buy them; used up, then to replace them.
Steve Unruh
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Sound will always be an issue, I live in a natural basin inside of a holler. Basically a dirt auditorium. But I do see your point and it would be best to go ahead and drop the hammer on an inverter generator.
Mom decries when I’ve shown her other generators: “but it isn’t dual fuel!” When she knows full well I can swap a carburetor out. A very Inside The Box thinker but she’s my mom.
I was thinking of storing and running the generator in the boiler room. Not attached to the house and has a chimney for the old oil heater that we no longer use. Route exhaust either out the door or out the chimney. Put louvers in the door for ventilation. Other bonus to that, it’s right next to the external breakers so any cords will be shorter.
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All good advice there re the generators , one thing i wouldn’t go with would be the Bluetti , well not at that price anyway ,after all it is just a pack of lifepo4 cells and what looks like 3 foldable solar panels and a built in inverter m Great if your stinking rich and have no clue how to build the simplest of power stations , but not for the average wood gasser i bet .
Dave
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I have a small Bluetti power station. 700 watts. It’s handy for if the power goes off, it give me time to get outside and get a generator running and it will run the electronics. I think it retailed for $500 but we got it on sale for $430. Probably an extravagance but I like all my power bases covered. I mentioned before about losing power for a week in 2012 during a three foot snow event and then using up the batteries in the phones and the uninterruptible power supply for the computer internet. Snowbound with no idea what was going on in the outside world. Generator we had wouldn’t start. It was an eye opener for me. If I had the spare bucks I’d get a 1500 W power station as well.
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I do not disagree with you Dave.
Unfortunately it becomes a husband and wife thing between us.
On the one hand she get to feeling that to assert her working Independance’s and self-sufficiency she can order in and buy off-the-shelf solutions with her own earned money.
That the things I would do would be hobbyist.
As you say. Sure she can throw dollars at others made fears. For a price. One price being then warranty dependent. Warrantees with no backing up service shops. Paper promises.
DIY me would know a system having assembled it. Know if it is to be; it is up to me.
Just today for the third week driving her old 2007 Hyundia Tucson snow season vehicel because her newer Ford car is in the body shop she called me with a flat left rear tire. For two weeks riding with her I’ve been saying this rig had something bad, bad going wrong. It jiggles at low speed. Evens out some at high speed. And is getting worse. I pulled, prodded, flashlight looked it over - nothing seen. Tire pressures were O.K. I even followed her in a 2nd vehicle not able to see a problem.
So I dropped everything and drove to her putting on her temporary spare. Portable pumped up the taken off tire and wheel. It is no longer even across the tire. The inner edge belt has separated. These tires were put on at a premium tire shop in one of her snits, mad-at-me, saying she wanted the best they sold. Wanted anything seen repaired. $2,200. For their best Finnish (made in Russia) tires. Premium ceramic brake pads all round and two new made-in-China rear brake rotors. She was horribly oversold.
That shop could not now of course do a replacement on this now three models back 9 year old tire to match the other three ~40% tread worn.
So it is grub-me off to the greater urban area used tire shops I will be going now for something just to match the aspect ratio and circumference.
Will I be paid for my time, gasoline used up? Sheee. Love has a price too.
Sometimes it is best to just let them go their own way.
Sometimes I get some pretty good extended 2nd life stuff off of her buying. A couple of Honda engines. Her Plymouth mini-van I got another 100,000 miles out of it to 330,000. And I have put the last 35,000 mile on this Hyundai now at 232,000.
S.U.
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Hi Wallace,
I was going over the replacement Honda engines spec on an engine sales site.
You are right. It seems Honda power over-rates their homeowners and light commercial models.
Under-rates their cast iron bores dedicated commercial engines.
Power ratings have always been a squishy thing to me.
The horsepower haters have tried to use torques instead. Does not work.
Now hp haters trying to use kW/mechanical instead. Which I find just as misleading as horsepower.
Here is my situation with my deep well submersible pump. It is pumping at least a 300 foot head. Supping ~40 psi ground floor. ~30 psi upper floor shower and toilet… So combined adding the 2nd story on the house ~350 vertical feet. So I know it must be at least a 3-horsepower rated submersible pump motor. Those take at least 14 to 17 amps at 230vac split-phase I read.
Hard real world experiences says I will need at least a 5500 watt rated if using a very good electrical generator. A not so good one had better be an 8500 watt rated unit.
Why my 9500/7600 rated Harbor Freight unit.
Should be enough . . . .
At $3.500 replacement cost I got a well pump on the line. Replaced, installed probably 2X, maybe 3X that.
So that thing of one horsepower being 746 watts . . . . pencil-whipping math.
Steve Unruh
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I don’t think honda makes any engines for these applications that are not iron bore and ball bearing
I know Briggs and Stratton makes cheaper ballononiun bushed and bore engines for anything not labeled as commercial
Power ratings are subjective
If it’s rated for let’s say 6.5 hp assume you will get 5 up from it reliably without pushing it too hard
From that extrapolate
If you have 10 hp you good for not more that about 5 or 6 kw.
Honda will tell you different
But if you load it beyond that there is a pretty good chance it will fail early
Average out what you need and size the unit accordingly
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I am referring my next back up to my first post of WHY I’d started this topic in this Woodgas Farming category.
Things have changed since I began this back in July 2018.
Mine/our situation. We no longer have 18 acres adjacent.
Now five in one location and five 60 miles away at another location. 1 1/2 travel hours apart. Each way.
Lots of outside stuff needs getting done on both of these rural properties, heavily, seasonally. And done quickly, with my own limited time; efficiently.
And that can only get done with power multiplication over and above my own one-manpower, even combined with the wife’s one-womanpower.
Both properties, rural spread out, that power multiplication delivery had to be right there at the jobs needs.
Many places on these properties cannot be wheeled into. The power multiplication man-packed to the job.
Small effective internal combustion engines are the 70 years best developed way to provide these needing 2 1/2 to 18 horsepower jobs. And rural you are always fighting narrow weather windows of opportunity. Wait to do . . . then get done NOW.
The other significant change since 2018 is now all three of the West Coast U.S. States are timeline set to eliminate the sale of any new internal combustion engines into their States. Yes. Yes. Right down to lawn mowers, gardens rototillers and home electrical generators.
The WAR Against The Engines has heated up driven by the city/urban folks here.
And their elected Govenor’s in these states are now the Generals in this war. Able to issue and command COVID mandates, have embolden these Generals.
Why we are “sin” taxed, and special lower emissions formulations mandated to having the highest in the U.S. gasoline and diesel fuel costs to use.
I donno’. Ain’t a good day for me unless I can hear one of my small engines running, working producing.
Even when I do use an electric plug-in or battery powered just ain’t nearly the same.
Steve Unruh
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We have a local man here that imports good quality used second hand lifepo4 cells from china and also Maxwell super caps they come in a pack of 48 volt units and come out of trains , if any one wants them for 12 volt systems they are remade into 16v units , i have bought 4 for myself and friends , he also makes hybrid batteries i bought 3 hybrid 25 ah starter batteries for my truck and the ute at the yard and 1 for the forklift they are amazing turn the engine over so damn fast its running before you turn the key almost lol .
The reason i mention this is that some of the people on this face book group must have well pumps like yours Steve as they run off grid and use these Maxwell units to soft start there well pumps so the drag on there batteries are put at a minimum .
Dave
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A bit over the top
And for the next75 yeatrs we will still be pulling them out of barns
I’m still cutting grass with 2 cycle mower made in the early 70s
I fix it sometimes with parts I buy on ebay
I think on 20 years I will be looking at a significant portion of my youth and my love affair with the internal combustion engine kind of like how
I look back today to my grade 9 typing class on an ibm selectric
Quaint….
And my crush on the red head girl with the braces and dangerous curves who sat on n front of me
Just a crush from the past….
But that was the past
And I moved on
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Hi Wallace,
Very significant what you said with,
“But that was the past”
“And I moved on”
Human endeavors do advance, change and as they say, ‘March On’.
The two most important worthiness factors in my opinion on technical delivery changes are:
Is the new way more effective at delivering results over the previous way it is pushing out?
And is this pushing out being driven by this proving more effectiveness . . . or a mandate by someone(S) else’s assumptions on better?? By this I do not mean factual in numbers provable better (less horseshits; less fly’s; better overall healthy environment); but their programed in social “What I believe will be better for All”.
Here is a moving on’s I have personally experienced. Recorded music. When I got old enough to buy it was vinal records at 33 1/3 and smaller faster 45 rpm had just pushed out older Bakelite 78 record discs. O.K.
Audio wire recordings and magnetic tape, reel to reel music recordings were done but not down to a personal usage level.
Then all-in-one magnetic tape cassettes were developed. Single tracked, long plays. And shorter lengths but eight tracked versions. I jumped on the one. Bypassed the other. Better than the vinal? Actually No. Heck of a lot of tape hiss conditioning schemes had to be developed over 10-15 years to match vinal’s audio quality. But was more portable. Handling convenient. Allowed for then personal recording affordably. Even became a true Revolutionary (Iran) tool. Durability sucked even worse than vinal.
Then CD’s shouldered their way to prominence. Better? I’ll say yes, I did slowly changed over 100%. But say better with some reservations. Much, much more media durable.But when the player lazer reader goes toast that’s it. No cleaning, de-gaussing, needle replacing. Land fill junk. You can repolish the one side of the CD. Scratch the other foil side and it too is toast, junk. Your losses.
Then the newest in digital downloads by whatever acronym format.
Nope. Nope. Not me. I did not change again to this latest.
Did I just get old and inflexible? I do not think so. I did hippy-skippy out of contact points and mechanical carburetors to electronic ignitions and generations of EFI.
But having seen and lived with the Ying and Yang of the previous types of music recordings I did not like the loss of ownership, accountability, fixed stand-a-lone security given up over the previous types. You connect for your downloads; electronically kissy, kiss for transfers; and a better tech adept than you has you at their mercy.
I re-fuse-nick to give others this control over me. Kissing I insist on safe clean responsible partners.
So to the point of topic of landowners/managers suppling yourself with at point of usage 1 1/2; 5 1/2; 7.0; 10.5 &10 horsepower levels of intermittent usage power needs . . . pretty obvious that small internal combustion engines are far better than any previous animal power. Better than the previous indentured and outright human slavery that had been used.
Electricity soon proved better at fixed location non-portable shaft power.
Yes. Yes. In-roads being made now cordless portable. Effective realistically still only at less than working 2 1/2 horsepower needs.
I changed over clear back in the late 1990’s to battery portable drills/power screw drivers. Worn out and upgraded twice now.
I’’
I will continue to sit out the now advanced far past from 24vdc to 36vdc → 60 vdc wars trying to get the 2 1/2 hp and higher portable capabilities.
Let others be the pocket draining, real-world Beta testers stuck with reels and reels of magnetic tape. Boxes of eight-track cassettes with no players and no new music.
But you and others here do not live the existence of us here in the US coast social-political environments. “They” mandate. “They” do not just wait for a new better to usage prove out.
No natural evolving tech birthing for them. Forced change overs regardless of personal costs. After all . . . they the advanced ed-u-ma-cated. Know better for ALL. Their professors and peers tell them this.
Mandates on new replacement equipment’s and systems allowed is a first step. The three West Coast States, and now the 5-7 US mid-Atlantic East coast States now in locked step hating IC engines in all forms DO dictate clear back to primary manufactures in Japan, Germany, Sweden, Korea and China.
Concurrent with mandating and price availability controlling IC engine consumables.
It really is about social-political control. Progressivly more for them. Less, and less personally, individually for you.
Steve Unruh
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Exactly. That’s why music, TV and most other means of communication are digital. Very easy to manipulate. Analog much harder. Music all chopped up into segments tricking the mind into thinking it’s a continuous flow. I’m too old to worry about the abolishment of IC power. It won’t happen in my lifetime. All the alternatives depend on an infrastructure that is currently crumbling. I cannot think of any way to directly charge a battery with a piece of wood.
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I wouldn’t worry to much about the end of petroleum
People did not jump out of windows or riot n the streets when the railway left coal fired steam behind
Change will come pretty fast and we will get used to it
Change will not stop
As I get older I am getting more rigid in my thinking more rigid in my ideology’s and perhaps conservative in my choices
It’s life it’s how we all get
I will not be an early adopter
I only got a cell phone last year ( as most of you can tell I am still learning how to use this thing )
But there are a lot of younger people that embrace change and new tech
They might not be the last ones to cling to our current energy mix but they surely will be the first to join and buy into what’s to come next
This week end I am going to pick up an Onan cck
It might be the last I buy just because I sense the winds are moving opposite to the direction o have been sailing for so long
But maybe not
I also really just like to play with all this stuff
That too says a lot about my unwillingness to let go of the past
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Hey Wallace along about 2014? I’d beeen haunting area Pawn shops for small quality engine generators. At one point I had three lined up to buy. An old, old, old Honda EM200. An old,old Honda EM400. And a merely old 1989-90 Honda EM600. Cute little 4-stroke flat head slant cylinders. Ha! I went another way with the Harbor Freight Chinese 2-stroke Yamaha clone units new, instead. For the measly 600 watts.
Still these early suitcase Hondas are cute little buggers though:
At 19:40 he does comment that he keeps a fire extinguisher always close on hand. He does get a little wild with gasoline splashing in a closed shop. Makes me wince.
Note his conclusion on the coil energization.
At the ending he shows setting for loaded voltage droop. And at 27:40 frequency checking and setting.
A bit of a Canadian accent wouldn’t you say?
S.U.
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Ha Steve i have several of these very very small generators , i think mine are a bit older than the one in the video though and yes i have run both the 240 volt and the 12 dc gen sets on charcoal many years ago and still keep the 12 volt unit handy in case i have a battery i quickly want to get some charge in, now days i use petrol as its sips so little .
Excuse the state of it but i hardly ever run with covers on as i was always messing with some part of it when i was on charcoal so never got round to putting covers back on .
Dave
Note the bolt on the end of the flywheel , so i can spin it up with the drill when on charcoal .
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