# About those generators ...



## mosquitomountainman (Jan 25, 2010)

About those generators ... if you live in a cold climate you might want a generator with an electric starter. When the temperature dips down below zero the pull cord (recoil starter) may not be enough to get it going. An electric starter is a real advantage. If you don't have one on your gen. you may have to bring it inside to warm it up to start it. (Uhmmm ... take it back outside to start it. Don't start or run it inside your house.) Also, be sure to have winter weight oil in the crank case. If you have fuel stored for the generator be sure to put some gas preservative in it.


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## Tweto (Nov 26, 2011)

I have a small 1500 watt pull start generator that has always been very dependable, but because it's small I keep it in my heated shed and that maybe why.

My main generator sits outside and is close to 500 pounds so it's not inside or could I get it inside, but what it does have is a regular car battery and an auto starter on it. I start it every month for about 30 mins and put it under a load.

The biggest problem is cleaning out the mouse nests. I have had to replace the battery about every 5 years. I have also had problems with corrosion and I end up cleaning electrical contact points on occasion.


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## fteter (May 23, 2014)

I have a big honking generator with electric starter...11,500 peak and 7,500 continuous. It's wired into the incoming line just my side of the master breaker, along with a switch for changing from incoming grid juice to generator juice. Gasoline fueled.

Always grateful for the electric start when the weather is cold. In fact, I'm planning to switch it out for a tri-fuel generator next year. And electric start is a requirement for the new model.


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## forluvofsmoke (Jan 27, 2012)

Funny you should bring this up today, mmm. I thought my snowblower would start with recoil. The last cold snap we had it took off on one pull...today, @ -23*F? Not. Went to grab my 1K inverter generator to power the 120VAC starter motor...1K wouldn't start...lets try the 2K...nope. Ran a cord out of the house to the snowblower...still wouldn't start (I don't particularly like using ether). It's -9* now...heat wave. I brought the inverters inside to warm up a couple hours ago...we shall see.

My inverters are mainly for emergency power for winter/summer storms, etc. I get other uses out of them, too, so they're not just sitting around for years without use. With this latest bit of knowledge I'll have to bring them in if a nasty winter storm hits so if I lose power they'll run...otherwise, they'll be useless to me, and they're necessary for whole-house heat in an outage (forced- air furnace) and to keep the refers happy.


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## WSSps (Sep 30, 2016)

fteter said:


> I have a big honking generator with electric starter...11,500 peak and 7,500 continuous. It's wired into the incoming line just my side of the master breaker, along with a switch for changing from incoming grid juice to generator juice. Gasoline fueled.
> 
> Always grateful for the electric start when the weather is cold. In fact, I'm planning to switch it out for a tri-fuel generator next year. And electric start is a requirement for the new model.


I added a tri fuel kit to my 7500w gen last summer. super simple to do. It can switch from gasoline to lp on the fly, no shut down, pretty neat system. It's a motor snorkel kit


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