Small and quiet genny

[monkeylizard]

During the early days following the May floods, I was able to borrow a 5500W generator from a friend until the main power came back online. It was extremely useful and post-flood cleanup would have been much more diffciult without being able to power up lights at night, fans all the time, and recharge battery-packs for tools.

I plan on buying one for myself now, but the large ones in a frame on wheels (like the 5500W Craftsman) would have to reside in my garage. If it had been in my garage, it would have been flooded and may not have worked when I needed it. So I've been looking at some of the smaller ones like the Honda 2000W and 3000W series. Even with all the stuff I had going, I never taxed the 5500W. A neighbor was running pretty much his whole house excpet the HVAC on an 8000W. The Honda ones are supposed to be super quiet (45-55 db) which could be important in an SHTF to not announce to the zombies that I have a genny. They're also small enough that I can keep them upstairs in an attic storage area, so no flood problem.

I think a 2K or 3K would do th normal 6hr to 3 day power outages we have around TN from ice/snow, or the occasional tornado. I have a gas fireplace, so I don't need to run space heaters in a winter outage. Natural gas grill for cooking. I'd mostly just want it for some lights, the fridge, TV, and a PC/cable modem.

So, does anyone have experience with the small generators (Honda or others)? Good or bad?

Edited August 26, 2010 by monkeylizard

[Guest jackdm3]

Look at P.Stegall's bit on this from last week.

[monkeylizard]

A little help locating it? I don't see any related threads.

[Guest jackdm3]

It's slightly related. Initial query was diesels.

http://www.tngunowners.com/forums/general-off-topic/44741-diesel-generators.html

[Guest Revelator]

FTR I'm now leaning toward propane, mostly because it would be safer and easier to store. Was thinking of getting a hundred pound tank to go along with it.

[56FordGuy]

Honda makes a quiet generator that I'm really impressed with. I don't own one, but have been around several in use. I couldn't tell they were running until someone turned on something electrical.

[gsbell]

I had a Kipor (chinese honda clone) 3K watt unit when I was into RVing. A very nice unit it was about an 18" cube on wheels weighed 135 pounds very quiet.