Honda Generator Questions

The recent Honda generator post was timely, so rather than hijack the thread I'll start a new thread. We just bought a new house and I want to connect an EU2000i and transfer switch to the house. We use the Honda's at work and they are great.

Any recommendations on the best place to purchase the Honda generator?

Does anyone have any experience with the triple-fuel system marketed by Central Maine Diesel? I'd much rather have the generator connected to LP rather than hassle storage of gasoline. And it should run cleaner on LP.

http://www.generatorsales.com/order/Honda-EU2000i-Tri-fuel.asp?page=EU2000i_Tri_Fuel

http://www.wisesales.com is where I got mine, best price, and quick shipping.

The transfer switch will be interesting, I don't recall seeing one that is made to power only one leg. You`ll have to switch your 220v appliances off so they don't even try to run. Let me know what you find regarding this.

Thanks for the good info and link. I'll stick with gasoline. Interesting how much propane it takes to run the generators, I had no idea.

2KW is small for a house & transfer switch but I'm just trying to keep the refrigerator and maybe a few lights going. Nothing in our house is 240V.

We're fortunate to have a robust power grid so I'm not envisioning an outage for any long duration (excluding a large earthquake - then all bets are off).

I haven't done much research yet but I'm leaning towards something like this for a x-switch:

http://www.homedepot.com/Electrical-Brea...catalogId=10053

Hate to disagree with you Izzy-

I find it insanely hard to believe that a 15kw generator on propane went through 250g of propane in 20 hours, especially at 50% load. That's 12.5g per-hour, but they only fill those about 80% so 200 gallons for 20 hours is still 10 gallons per-hour which is no way possible unless it was way out of tune, even then I don't think it would work well at all if it was going through 10g per-hour.

http://www.amazon.com/Generac-4582-2-Portable-Generator-Compliant/dp/B00007J8CB

"A large, 16-gallon capacity fuel tank give the generator a 10-hour run-time at half-load capacity" 10 hours on 16 gallons at 50% load. That's pump gas. If it were propane figure 19.2g OR it would not run 15kw depending on the conversion.

So, no way in 20 hours did a 15kW generator use 200 gallons of fuel.

Also, you are comparing a 15kW generator to one rated for 1.8kW. And also a Honda vs not a Honda I think the propane conversion for the Honda rates them at 1.5kW not 100% on that. Also, every review I've read on-line from converting the Honda eu2k to propane has been positive. The only negative, and the reason I have not done it is warranty. Honda refuses to warranty their units if converted to propane

+1 on wisesales.com Bought my honda from them. Good price and quick shipping. Standard Disclaimer.

Thanks everyone for the Wisesales tip. Far and away the best price with no tax and free shipping to SoCal from IL!

Since I'm only using 120V to run the refrigerator and some lights I've removed the transfer switch from the equation. I've installed a 20A-250V twist-lock receptacle on my garage sub-panel. I rewired the twist-lock plug to jumper between the A & B phases which will energize the whole panel. Since I'm running such a small load I'm not concerned about overloading the neutral.

So...during an outage, I'll open the 200A main breaker, plug my generator into the sub-panel, start it up and close the 20A two-pole circuit breaker in the panel.

I need to call Edison though. During my research I never found a transfer switch that also switched the neutral. So it appears anyone who runs an emergency generator is sending power through the neutral to the power company's nearest transformer. This creates a potential safety hazard to the guy working on the pole. Need to confirm how they handle this.

Of course this is the internet (trust nothing) and I'm not recommending any of this to anyone. YMMV.

Heavy duty extension cords work pretty well...just sayin...

While driving home today I realized, because of the info I learned on ETS, I saved a fair amount of cash while buying by a Honda generator.

So...I've made a donation to ETS. And I had forgotten they're tax-deductible so I added an additional 35% to the total.

This post isn't about "look at me", it's just to give others a gentle nudge to think about what we gain from this website, especially when it's cold, hard cash.

Again, a thank you to everyone.

KTOA.
If you have not bought anything yet, Do I have a generator for you!enough power to share with your neigbhors too!

I have a brand new Honda EU6500is , ZERO hours on it, has the TRI fuel system , Gas, Propane or Natural Gas. Purchased brand new in Feb 2010 (original receipt included, & manual)
and best of all , im in So Cal too, come see it in person.

Let me know if you are interested in seeing it.

as soon as I figure out how to post in classifieds section it will be up with pictures etc...

I am located about 35 miles east of Los Angeles in the greater Pomona area.

Ditto. I've found propane only slightly less efficient than gas and WELL WORTH it for the sake of never, ever worrying about "bad gas" or gelled diesel.

I've used my Honda eu20000i a bunch already!
Great lil-genny.

Got plans to do more with it this summer too!

Hey Todd, I sent you a PM.
check your messages.
thanks