Chicago tools 800 watt gen set review

[ww3sabiture]

Ok so this is my first review ever i hope it will help you guys out.

The chicago tools 800w gen set can be found for $130-$89 at harbor freight and other places. I got the gen set about a year ago and have used it plenty of times.
specs
-63cc 2 stroke motor
-1 gallon fule tank
-built in oil mesure on fule cap
-has fule on/off valve
-one outlet
-very quite
-not much bigger then 1sq ft
-800 watt running 900 watt max
-5+hrs of run time on a gallon of fule

I have found that it runs best on 2 stroke raceing oil and premium gas. I have run 3 campers off of one for around 6 days wile at the dunes to charge the batterys and run lights and still got 7hrs of run time off of a gallon of fule. I have run the gen set when it was 10*f out side in 12in of snow and it never stoped. the longest i have run this gen set is 11days and only shuting it off to fill it up with fule. i have taken it to events with 1300 people and i ran it all night long and no one even knew it was running. the longest time iv got from a gallon of fule is 9hrs and that was running the lights and chargeing the batterys of a pickup and pickup camper. if you do get one invest in a good out door 3 way split. its cheep and very reliable.

[majorhavoc]

How many total hours do you think you've run it then?

[ww3sabiture]

Around 1500hrs I clean the spark plug with a wire brush every 500hrs. I run my fule with a little more oil then it says to (around 40:1). I have to clean it more often but iv found if you run a 2 stroke with a little more oil then it needs the will last much longer.

[mark9atq]

Good review. Knowing how to fix these portable generators would make a person quite valuable after
the apocalypse. Bartering a repair job for food etc. Skills can't be lost like the stuff in a backpack.

The 800watt Chicago generator might be the most common in the world. Seems there are many places
in the world right now that are basically "portable generator societies" without a power grid but
still making use of standard household electric appliances. Generator repairmen always have work.

[ww3sabiture]

the motor can be repaired with simple hand tools and by some one with basic nolage of motor up keep and repair.

[Muffin]

My buddy has one of these, his is even camo. we take it ice fishing and hunting. When on the lake we usually set it up about 200-300 feet from us so the vibrations dont scare the fish from where we are (it happened the first time we where out with it, watched the fish run away when we started it on the Vexlar) and hunting he's got some exhaust adapters to go into a "big" turbo muffler for a car/truck and you can bearly hear it run, combined with a 2 foot earthen wall around it, works awesome.

[ww3sabiture]

because its a 2 stroke it loves the cold and will start much faster and eseayer then a 4 stroke.

[sheddi]

One of these?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m18Q-dzJcHg

I've had one (or something very similar; mine's a 230v 50Hz variant) for the past 7 years. I've only used it occasionally, but so long as there's fuel in the tank it's always started within a few pulls even if it's been standing for a year.

Mine does need a reasonable head of fuel before it'll start; a couple of times I've thought there was enough fuel in the tank from the sloshing sounds, but it's taken an extra qt or so before it'll actually fire up.