I’ve spent the past week or two learning the limits of a good-quality portable generator.
Never used it for anything but power tools before, and never more than one at a time. Turns out when it comes to running household appliances the amp draw adds up fast. There are basically three things I’d like it to run in Ian’s Cave: The pressure pump, the washing machine, and (decreasingly and we’re almost done) the refrigerator. The Honda will happily run any one of those three things but it won’t run two of them together in any combination.
I did not know that. But it’s good to learn it in the absence of any real emergency, I guess…
Unsurprising, for a very small generator.
Ohm’s law is not just a suggestion… 🙂
That’s only a 2 kilowatt genset ( I have one just like it) and yes, it won’t run a lot of stuff. The killer is the starting amps, once the reefer or pump or washing machine is running, the amp draw drops off quite a bit. But it’s still quite a draw for the little guy. I intend to use mine in a winter emergency to run a pellet stove, maybe a light or two, and not much else. No way would it start the heat pump, which is not much use below 40 degrees anyway….
I tested my Honda to the limits quite often . For fifteen years it gave good service. Then one time after over amping it to auto shut down…it would not restart !
Seems that if you keep over doing it…it ends up frying the works .
To the point that it isn’t worth repairing.
Be gentle on your little Honda , and it will probably outlast you.
Be rough and it won’t.
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=qZOGlgVldAs
My old 1800W Coleman won’t start the 1 HP table saw (before I had proper power in the barn). Many years later, I found the 5500W Coleman doesn’t work well with a 3 HP compressor. The latter probably has a lot to do with elevation; it’s not fond of working at 4000+. (The compressor would get near the cutoff pressure, then the generator would stall out. Sigh.)
Really long pressure hoses can do the job if you are somewhat crazy.
The EU2000 isn’t even a 2 kw generator-it’s 1800 watts, 2000 surge. I know, I have one. It will run two refrigerators or one freezer, but not one refrigerator and one freezer. In its defense, when we bought it we had one refrigerator. And the PITA is that Mrs. Freeholder will not allow me to buy another generator that is big enough to run them all–even if I sell the Honda. “The power doesn’t go out that much.” Next time she can stay up all night babysitting the food.