harbor freight score of the year, diesel generator

[WDixon27]

they have had a 5-6kw diesel generator with a full metal enclosure on the shelf for a couple years or so but at $1299 i wasn't that interested, till today when i notice a yellow price tag hanging on it $750, i look it over and it is unmolested and is only missing the wheels that were never installed, the manual and the key, i stroll around the store for a little while trying to think of a reason to not buy it, couldn't think of one, headed up to the counter armed with the 20% off coupon i carry for just such a occasion in my wallet suspecting that it wouldn't work, i suspected correct but the manager took off another $50 without my saying a word so i nailed it for $700+tax and when we loaded it he hands me the key and a fresh set of papers he just printed out with full diagrams part#s and exploded views, sweet! took it to the shop and looked it over noticing that it came with a extra set of rings and a rod bearing and a few basic tools, looks well built and the manufacture date was 5/08 the battery still had 12. 1 and have never been hooked up by the wrapped cable end, slapped a charger on it while i added a fresh slug of delo 15w40, diesel and looked it over for problems, a hair under 500cc and 10hp, looks like it could be recoil started as it has a compression release and most of the hardware but not in this application with the full enclosure, when i get the chance ill see if i can figure out what design they ripped off but it looks good and when i hit the key it turned over 2 maybe 3 times and stated right up, i was expecting to need to screw around with bleeding it, the hour meter showed 8/10 of a hour so it held its prime from the factory, i ran it till it rolled over to 1 and it's spiffy, ill try to snap a pic or two Oo. yay a new diesel powered toy :-laf

 

[Skydiver]

Sounds like a deal. If you could please try to do a load test to see if will make the 5000 watts. If you can use an inductive load and then a resistive load. I bought a gas 2000/1500 watt and it hardly makes 1200 watts and won't start any of my inductive loads, refrig, small 8k btu window unit ect.

 

[WDixon27]

the only thing i plugged into it was one of the big shop fans and it didn't even effect the tone of the motor starting a 4. 5' 6 blade fan, i was trying to think of what i can test it with accurately, i may try all 3 of the mobile fans as that should add up to a pretty decent load as my 6 blader is actually the small one, i have a 5' and a 6' which is so big it tends to eat small extension cords, sorta weeded out the pack so everything now is pretty heavy duty, i may be able to amp test them and figure out the wattage, i think i tested my fan at 11 amps running a few years ago with one of my meters

 

[Skydiver]

Usually you will find that each of the two 120 volt outlets feed off one of the two 120 volt phases that make up the 240 volts.
I also have a Honda (sams) 13 horse 6500/8750 that I take a heavy duty power strip to each of the plugs. Coffee maker, hair dryer, toaster, another hair dryer, then start my small air compressor and/ or a power saw. Those 500 watt quartz lights make a nice resistive load.
My house has everything propane that can be propane. My only 240 need is my central air and I have not tried this Honda on it so far. My old 5000/6250 would not start my central A/C. I work many night shifts and during the summer when we have power outages I must run my window unit++ off the generator to sleep during the hot and humid days.
Be careful running electronics on a common generator as the sine wave may not be perfect.
I often dream about owning a DIESEL generator. LOL
EDIT: Here is an hour of reading.
Home generator installation

 

[Grizzly]

Sweet deal. I'm not a big fan of Harbor Freight, but sometimes you can get a great deal.

 

[WDixon27]

worked on breaking it in yesterday and ran it for 2 hours with a 5' box fan hooked to each of the 2 110v legs for a load, it went near flawlessly with the only problem coming at about 30 minutes when the low oil shutdown system shut it down without it being low on oil, i hit the reset restarted it and it boogied on for another hour and a half till i shut it off without problem

 

[Grizzly]

Any one have a Harbor Freight inferred thermometer gun? Are they any good or should hold out for a Fluke 62 Mini Infrared Thermometer.

 

[WDixon27]

had mine for a couple years now and it works great, even after taking a trip down the road on the roof of a car and getting scattered across the road when it fell off, found the pieces and still with in a degree of my nist certified temp probe

 

[Grizzly]

had mine for a couple years now and it works great, even after taking a trip down the road on the roof of a car and getting scattered across the road when it fell off, found the pieces and still with in a degree of my nist certified temp probe

Thanks, that's what I wanted to hear. Harbor Freight has them marked down to $26 now. This is for my Bro In Law's Birthday. I have the Fluke, which is pricey and probably not any better.



While I'm there I'm going to get me a one ton chain hoist.

 

[WDixon27]

had mine long enough it was $40 on super sale when i got it, if you look in the back of most car magazines you can find a 20% off anything in the store coupon

 

[Grizzly]

had mine long enough it was $40 on super sale when i got it, if you look in the back of most car magazines you can find a 20% off anything in the store coupon

I bought the inferred thermometer and a few other things today. I did have a 20% coupon, which is good for only one item, however I couldn't use it to buy the inferred thermometer because it was on a $25. 98 coupon. I used the 20% coupon on another item.

 

[kenny61]

What exactly are you inferring??? :-laf



Sorry just couldn't resist

 

[Dutch & Di]

Isn't it great to get "such a deal" every once in awhile?? I thought we did good on a slightly used one years ago but you beat us. Way to go!!!!
We too have the Harbor Freight thermometer and it works great. Dutch uses it every time we stop and checks both the truck and 5th wheel tires. We use Harbor Freight quite a bit especially for an odd sized or hard to find item. Diana

 

[WDixon27]

some people try to knock the chinese embassy but if you work it right they are pretty handy

 

[Grizzly]

Isn't it great to get "such a deal" every once in awhile?? I thought we did good on a slightly used one years ago but you beat us. Way to go!!!!

We too have the Harbor Freight thermometer and it works great. Dutch uses it every time we stop and checks both the truck and 5th wheel tires. We use Harbor Freight quite a bit especially for an odd sized or hard to find item. Diana

They do have some things that are good such as supplies and accessories. Large tools, such Central Machinery or Chicago Electric can be junk.

 

[Grizzly]

What exactly are you inferring??? :-laf



Sorry just couldn't resist

I'm totally surprised that you would say something that meaningless???

 

[kenny61]

inferred - infrared, Sorry, I get easily amused after I finish my last night shift and just stay up to get my body back in sync with the rest of the world, or at least my family.

 

[Grizzly]

inferred - infrared, Sorry, I get easily amused after I finish my last night shift and just stay up to get my body back in sync with the rest of the world, or at least my family.

It's okay Kenny61. You're a good sport.



george

 

[kenny61]

Whew!!!, I was afraid I was gonna get a demerit point

 

[Dieselnut59]

they have had a 5-6kw diesel generator with a full metal enclosure on the shelf for a couple years or so but at $1299 i wasn't that interested, till today when i notice a yellow price tag hanging on it $750, i look it over and it is unmolested and is only missing the wheels that were never installed, the manual and the key, i stroll around the store for a little while trying to think of a reason to not buy it, couldn't think of one, headed up to the counter armed with the 20% off coupon i carry for just such a occasion in my wallet suspecting that it wouldn't work, i suspected correct but the manager took off another $50 without my saying a word so i nailed it for $700+tax and when we loaded it he hands me the key and a fresh set of papers he just printed out with full diagrams part#s and exploded views, sweet! took it to the shop and looked it over noticing that it came with a extra set of rings and a rod bearing and a few basic tools, looks well built and the manufacture date was 5/08 the battery still had 12. 1 and have never been hooked up by the wrapped cable end, slapped a charger on it while i added a fresh slug of delo 15w40, diesel and looked it over for problems, a hair under 500cc and 10hp, looks like it could be recoil started as it has a compression release and most of the hardware but not in this application with the full enclosure, when i get the chance ill see if i can figure out what design they ripped off but it looks good and when i hit the key it turned over 2 maybe 3 times and stated right up, i was expecting to need to screw around with bleeding it, the hour meter showed 8/10 of a hour so it held its prime from the factory, i ran it till it rolled over to 1 and it's spiffy, ill try to snap a pic or two Oo. yay a new diesel powered toy :-laf

The engine is a chinese knock off of the Yanmar L100. I have several of the Yanmar engines on my various equipment. I love them. The chinese ones seem ok, until you have to work on them. Parts will not properly interchange, as they could not legally "directly" copy the yanmar's design/engineering. Still seems like I pretty good bargain. I would rather have a chinese diesel than a "premium" gasser, but I prefer the "premium" diesels best.

To test it, you could hook up three 1500 watt heaters to it. I have two Robin diesel 3000 watt generators. I service them once a year and to test run them, I hook two 1500 watt heaters to them. It makes em talk, but they will get er done!