Small generator?

[JDDavao II]

We've all seen those little generators in Ace or Citi Hardware. Does anyone have any experience with buying one? 

I'm only looking to run a couple of fans and  keep everyone's electronics charged up for now. Maybe a larger one later on. We seldom have long power outages (except for right now, which prompts this question: 4+ hours). 

[OnMyWay]

28 minutes ago, JDDavao said:

We've all seen those little generators in Ace or Citi Hardware. Does anyone have any experience with buying one? 

I'm only looking to run a couple of fans and  keep everyone's electronics charged up for now. Maybe a larger one later on. We seldom have long power outages (except for right now, which prompts this question: 4+ hours). 

Four years ago after the Bohol earthquake I bought my BIL a small promate for about p10,000.  I never heard anything negative about it and he was able to keep his business going.

For my use I would probably spring for a Honda.

[sonjack2847]

Most people recommend Honda.

 

[Dave Hounddriver]

This one.  I do not have one but I know a few people who do.  They love them, but they are small.

 

[not so old china hand]

5 hours ago, sonjack2847 said:

Most people recommend Honda.

I certainly do. Based on my experience of using a 2kVa frame-mounted Honda genny: it didn't once let me down in 4 years, required the bare minimum of maintenance and always started on the first pull.

Edited December 3, 2017 by not so old china hand

[Gator]

7 hours ago, JDDavao said:

We've all seen those little generators in Ace or Citi Hardware. Does anyone have any experience with buying one? 

I'm only looking to run a couple of fans and  keep everyone's electronics charged up for now. Maybe a larger one later on. We seldom have long power outages (except for right now, which prompts this question: 4+ hours). 

Another option - human powered generators!

 

Or if you want to keep in shape AND do something with your SO:

 

You can always use your new found power to call in an airstrike on your neighbor's karaoke too!  

 

(The last one is actually a WW1 era listening post for air craft, but me thinks it's cool looking -).

 

Edited December 3, 2017 by Gator

[JDDavao II]

41 minutes ago, Gator said:

Another option - human powered generators! 

Oh, man! Power has been going on and off here in Davao. My little niece can't sleep and has school in the AM, and the adults are all cranky. That was a very welcome belly laugh, Gator. Thank you! 

[Huggybearman]

Personally I would go for something like a small Honda. We have an eu10i which is a superb piece of kit. Extremely quite and economical. Around 7 hours on a tank of just over 2 litres of petrol. The invertor is pure sine wave so it will run anything up to its rated output. (900 watts)

The cheap ones you get in the likes of Citi hardware are not very economical, very noisy and use a modified sine wave. Some types of equipment, such as fans with timers, don't like modified waveform. 

Like most things in life, you get what you pay for. 

Ken