It’s not exactly a holiday, but every so often you need to crank up the Honda EU2000. There are probably a few things that need to be drilled into everyone’s head at an early age…and one of those things should be ‘take care of your gear’. I’d bet money that almost no one here checks the air pressure in their spare tire on a regular basis.
The EU2000 has been, for my needs, an awesome product. Relatively quiet, it sips gas, is man-portable, and at around $1k isn’t going to break the bank too badly. Last summer when we had our hellaciously bad windstorm I was able to sit here with computer, internet, cable TV, cold beverages, and operational security cameras….all thanks to the little Honda and some foresight.
Speaking of foresight. The generator by itself isn’t enough. Accessories include, but are not limited to:
- Lock and cable
- Heavy-duty, contractor grade extension cords.
- Fuel funnel
- Extra filters
- Fire extinguisher for refueling process
- Dedicated supply of stored gas
- Printed copy of startup/shutdown instructions fixed to generator
- Hardigg case to hold everything
- Flashlight/area light for initial setup
- And a few other minor things
Everything fits in a happy little Hardigg case to keep stuff clean, dry, and protected. I use Evernote to keep track of preparedness-related stuff, so I’ll make an entry tagged ‘generator’ and set an alarm to remind me to do this again in another month.
From one flaming idiot to other potential ones-do not, ever, under any circumstances ever buy a piece of junk Chinese generator. Mine didn’t last close to a hundred hours without two major malfunctions. Nowadays solar is cheap enough to scoff at generators ( I sip watts, no gulping ), but if you must have one, if the wife won’t live without a curling iron or you can’t imagine a civilization die-off without a Fry Daddy, buy the Honda. And this is coming from King Frugal.
Two things, if I may:
1) When test running one’s generator, run it under load to confirm that not only does the engine run, there’s adequate (and correct) voltage output. A small (1500 watt) electric heater that has low-med-hi settings works well. The inverter on the EU2000s seems fairly bulletproof, but I’ve seen the ones on the EU3000 killed by “exuberant” battery chargers or chargers with fluctuating output and/or crappy sine wave output (the EU3000 is available with electric start, meaning an internal battery). I have no data on the larger inverter Hondas or other brands, but if you have an inverer-equipped gennie and want to charge the battery, DISCONNECT THE BATTERY FIRST.
2) Spare tires: over inflate your spare by 6-9 PSI. Since most people check the spare only rarely (annually, probably, although semi-annually is enough), slightly over inflating it won’t hurt the tire, and if it is needed it’s easier to let some PSI out than put more in on the side of the road.
Pro tip: if you do a 5-tire rotate on your vehicle every 4500-6000 miles (most folks do a 4-tire rotate, ignoring the spare) every several months the spare becomes a road tire and one of the road tires becomes the spare, making checking/adjusting spare PSI easier.
Second Pro Tip: If your vehicle mfg cheaped out (4 alloy road wheels, 1 cheap steel spare, but the tire make/sizes are the same) talk to your local tire dealer. Probably for about $100-$125 they can locate a matching alloy and do the swap. People frequently trade in the factory wheels when they buy the spiffy shiny rims, And, there’s always the internet.
Third Pro Tip: If your vehicle is a SHTF vehicle (SUV, pickup, etc.) do not discard the steel wheel the spare is on when you buy the 5th alloy wheel; buy 1-3 more because they’ll be cheap. If SHTF one of the things hard to get will be tires. Buy matching tires (size by measurement – not necessarily matching brand. Same circumference is important, especially if you have a limited slip diff) on sale, get them mounted and balanced. After test driving them 50-60 miles for proper balancing, deflate to 5-7 PSI and put them in the basement.
Fourth Pro Tip: If you live where there’s snow/ice, etc., get a pair of reinforced chains for two of the wheel/tire combos you have in the basement or garage. Halloween weekend put the chains on a spare pair of the wheels because it’s 4 minutes to swap wheels with a cordless 1/2″ impact wrench. Easter weekend (unless you live in Minnesota, Vermont or Montana….) take the chains off.
Don’t forget oil for the generator. I also keep spares of anything that might possibly be lost and render the generators inop – gas caps, oil dip stick / oil cap, fuses.
Any of the Japanese (Honda, Kawasaki, Yamaha) seem to be equally good.
I have a GFCI extension/breaker set for my portables….and a tanker tool bag to carry the spares and a headlamp, instead of flashlight.
And as mentioned, generators need to be run, and tested, under load regularly. I recall from my days in the USAF lots of professionally maintained large generators failing, some quite dynamically, when actually put under load, despite being dutifully operated for 30 minutes a month. The standard for backup generators in the hiospital is that the hospital runs on the generators for at least a half hour every month.
I don’t know if I’ve commented on gen maintenance before but I exercise the sets at every quarter. Check the filters, the fluids, turn on the gas and hit the start switch. They run 5-15 minutes under a load and then I turn the gas off to let them slowly starve. I do this to reduce the possibility of the gas drying out and gumming up the carbs.
For charging radios and cellphones I just skip it all and put those on the solar panels, no need in running the 2, 4 or 6k gens for a small DC charge that has to be inverted back down again.
Be aware that some gaskets used in carburetors will shrink if allowed to dry out. So, running a carb dry, and expecting it to work without leaking later, may be foolish. Better to use fuel stabilizer, and keep the fuel system full/wet.
Alternatively, there are some fuel parts on small motors that deteriorate with age, especially if used with gasohol, or ANY use of alcohol added to the fuel.
If it uses a primer bulb for starting purposes, lay in some replacements. The failure mode is to split across the flexing area. Running with this leaking is an invitation to a fire, or at least contamination of the area with a pool of fuel. Normally first noticed with a smell of gas when approached.
If your spare tire is carried under the rear, between the axle and bumper, you can not expect it to be a viable replacement in an emergency or SHTF scenario. The air is almost never checked, since the valve is normally facing upwards, and not accessible without dropping the wheel to the ground.
A workaround for this is to run an air line to the valve, with the fill end located near the bumper, so you can top off the air pressure easily and quickly. Just adding one of those radio pressure caps to the tire valve would help, and may even give you notice if it falls off the vehicle, or is stolen.
Due to theft, or failure of the holding mechanism, the tire may not be there when you most need it. It may also be destroyed through contact with road debris, or vandalism. It may be there, but unusable due to a damaged/frozen/rusted hoist mechanism, or loss of the crank handle needed to lower it.
Do you have locking lug nuts? KEY IN THE VEHICLE? You would be amazed how often this key/adaptor is left in the garage at home. This important item should be located with the crank (jack) handle, not bouncing around in the glove box, unless TAGGED and strapped down in some fashion. What often happens is a family member cleans up the vehicle, doesn’t recognize that metal lump, and tosses it on a shelf.
In this situation, with a 12 point socket just a bit smaller than the locking lug, you can try hammering it over the outside enough to get a grip to break it loose and remove it. (don’t bother with a six point) I did this often enough when driving a tow truck, that I carried a large selection of 1/2″ drive sockets just for this problem, in addition to being able to handle the various lug nuts I encountered. (Land Rovers (Range Rover?) used an oddball 27mm socket, IIRC) This doesn’t always work, however. If it does, the socket can be removed by levering it back and forth before running the nut completely off the threads.
+1 on the EU2000. I used one here in North Alabama after the tornados of April 2011. Ran it about 12 hours a day for a week and still didn’t use 10 gal of gas. Kept both the refrigerator and chest freezer happy and cold. I now run it a couple of times a month driving a 1500 w heater for a half hour or so; a good simple load.
And yes solar is a great thing and can fill a lot of needs. Do your research and be conservative on your load analysis. But you have to have the ‘sky space’ to make solar work. You need at least 5 hours a day of full sun if you’re going to be real productive. Solar is great for ‘smalls’ (lights, radios, etc) but can get chanllenging as you get into larger installs. Pop over to homepower.com and look around; plenty of food for thought.
jd, I came up with the idea for the solar gen after charging cellphones, FD and FRS radios during the SAR in the days after April 27th. Family doesn’t like me running the gen late (and the OPSEC fail is huge) to charge radios when command sends you home…. 🙂
Zero,
Is there a reason you haven’t sprung for a tri-fuel conversion for your EU2ki? Have one on mine and I love it. Can run off stored gas, natural gas, if the utility is still up, or propane. Propane stores basically forever. The thing that will fail is the valve on the tank, and those have a 20ish year lifetime. I got three tanks, one on the grill, and two in the garage. Have a plumber install a quick release on your house’s gas line, get the proper attachments, and you’re gtg.
Really, just haven’t gotten to it yet.
About that spare tire…I have a 140 mile round trip commute every weekday so I drive a PHEV (44+ MPG on average, about $0.04/mile) to save money. No spare at all from the OEM to save weight. Just a can of spooge and a tiny little 12v compressor. But, I’ve got a 72-hr go bag in the car and a fully prepped relative in the city less than 10 miles from work as a way-station if needed. I’d love to drive my truck back and forth to work but I’d get eaten alive on fuel bill every month. Trade offs, I guess.
Keep you eyes open for an ’83-84 Mazda B2200 2.2L Diesel, or similar vintage D-50 Dodge with the Mitsubishi 2.3L turbo diesel. My Mazda got 42mpg on the freeway, 34 around town. That 42mpg was while carrying a full size motorcycle with gear, and it had a full size spare tire under that longbed. Ford put the same 2.2 diesel in their Ranger, but it was heavier, and most had only the standard 4 spd, so mileage suffered. They switched to the Mitsu turbo diesel, but mileage was not as good, and that motor was much more delicate in construction.
The worst I ever saw in my Mazda was 28mpg, towing a trailer at 80+mph, just flogging it the whole trip.
The D-50 is even lighter than the Mazda.
I am in Raleigh NC area. I lost power due to Hurricane Matthew for about 2 days. On Sunday I went for a walk around the neighborhood and saw a traffic light being powered a Honda EU3000i. The cool thing was, on street with almost no cars and no other artificial noises, I was less than fifteen feet away before I heard it. (The huge generator for the building that houses Epic Games, on the other hand, could be heard from 200 yards).
I was very impressed by how quiet it is. I’m in an apartment at the moment, but will be looking to get one of these Honda’s when I get into a house.
I also learned where a few holes are in my (still in the baby phase) disaster prep. But I’ve already corrected a few and more solutions are on the way.