I considered many of the alternatives before purchasing the B&S 30470, and I'm happy with my decision.
I was hoping to find a model that was not manufactured in China because there have been a lot of quality control problems with hardware (and food products) that come out of China and when you are purchasing a 200 pound product, you really don't want to take a chance on having something go wrong that will require you to bring it/ship it somewhere because of a problem. Unfortunately, it seems that virtually all of the generators in this price range are manufactured in China, including this one. B&S is a US company, but as others have noted in nearby reviews: much of their manufacturing is in China. But since they are a US company and they do have a brand name to protect, that was slightly reassuring. Also, if something ever does go wrong with it, there are plenty of small engine shops around that should be able to work on it.
The Honeywell models also seemed interesting, but I got cold feet when I found where one person had published a lot of false information about them on Amazon, Home Depot, and one or two other web sites. Investigating further, I found that they are made by a small company in the Midwest that licenses the Honeywell brand name and, like B&S, does their manufacturing in China.
It's loud, but quieter than I expected. For a neighborhood where the houses tend to be at least 50 yards apart, this is not an intolerable noise level in my judgment. It seems to be no louder, and might actually be quieter, then the generators that my neighbors run. If you are really worried about noise, spend an extra $3000 and purchase a Honda inverter generator.
It starts right up and smooths out pretty quickly. It hardly skips a beat when you throw a load on it.
A nice touch is the recessed well around the gas tank filler spout any spills will tend to stay right near the filler neck and can easily be wiped up.
Some things could be better:
1) The ignition switch and key are so cheesy that I decided it would be smartest to leave the key in the switch permanently. This is my biggest complaint and Briggs and Stratton need to do better.
2) It's good that it comes with a low-oil cutoff system, but the manual indicates that the only way you know if that system is working is if it won't run. Since a lot of other things might cause it to not run, it would be nice if there was an indicator of some sort telling you that the low-oil protection system had disabled it.
3) Since I'm using this to power my service entrance panel (I have an interlock in the panel that prevents backfeeding), and since the neutral and ground are bonded in the panel, I need to modify the generator to have a "floating neutral", instead of the "bonded neutral" that it came with. The majority of portable generators have this same issue: very few are shipped with a floating neutral. That's fine if you want to use it standalone to run extension cords, power tools, etc, but it's wrong for powering a house when there's a service interruption. All of the manufacturers need to do a better job of documenting this requirement and making the configuration change easy to accomplish. Briggs and Stratton doesn't even talk about it in the manual, but they did respond when I e-mailed them and they did assure me that this modification would not void the warranty.
4) It would be really nice to have a gauge that showed me what my current load is, or at least what my peak load has been. I calculated that this model would be big enough to run the refrigerator, the well pump, the furnace, and a few other things, but it would be reassuring to have a gauge tell me that I am/am not approaching the maximum load that this model was rated for.
I had contemplated that I would manage concerns about stale gas by adding fuel stabilizer to the gas and also by shutting off the fuel valve and then letting it burn up the gas that remained in the carburetor, but the fuel valve trick is not a good idea. In order to produce the correct 60 Hz electrical frequency, the engine needs to run at constant speed. If you start to starve the engine for fuel, it spends a couple of minutes revving up and down as the fuel mixture becomes leaner and leaner, before it finally uses up everything in the float bowl. I concluded that it was better to just shut it off with the key, leave fuel in the carburetor, and go with the fuel stabilizer.
My garage doesn't really have room to store a generator, and even if it did: I don't like the idea of dragging this out into the driveway or over a snow bank when I need to use it. I wound up building a small shed to store it in. I designed it so that the roof tips up and all four sides can come off when I want to run it. That allows for plenty of ventilation and cooling, but provides a stable place, out of the way, to store it. And since the roof tips up but stays on the shed, it has some amount of protection from rain and snow that it wouldn't have if I was just wheeling it out into the driveway.
So far, I've only used it a couple of times but I've been very happy with it and it seems to provide ample power to run the things I need the most when the power goes out: submersible pump, oil furnace, refrigerator, a few lights and etc.
I am a Consumer Reports subscriber (magazine and online), this generator is brand new for 2010 and it has not yet been reviewed by Consumer Reports. The last ratings they have for generators was in June of 2009, one of the top ranked then was Briggs and Stratton model#30242. I purchased model#30470 from Ace Hardware because at the time it was cheaper than Amazon(same price now).
This generator comes almost fully assembled, all I had to do was put on the wheels and add oil, (provided) gas and connect the negative battery terminal. It started with the key on the first try and I don't think it is loud at all, my neighbors even commented on how quiet it is for a generator (my Echo Backpack leaf blower (74 dB(A) is almost as loud as this generator). I have run this generator at half-load 3,500 running watts using 30 and 20 amp extension cords and have had no problems. I fully expect this generator to handle the brutal New England winters without a problem.
Buy Briggs & Stratton 30470 7,000 Watt 420cc Gas Powered Portable Generator With Wheel Kit Now
Living in a house that has well water with 3 young kids and the fact that neighborhood looses power frequently and with a history of multi-day outages, made the purchase of a generator a necessity.
I spent weeks researching generators, and kept coming back to the B&S 30470.
I have had great results with Briggs and Stratton engines going back to a 1979 lawn mower that i could not kill (wanted my dad to buy a self-propelled or lighter unit after 10 years of use) I digress...
I was fortunate to get the unit hooked up to a transfer switch by an electrician the day before Hurricane Irene came and I was so glad that I did. Before putting the generator to use, I loaded it with Mobil-1 Synthetic 5W-30. The drain plug on mine was on super tight and was nearly a knuckle buster when I broke torque. Below is some tips and advice that I have gleaned from my research and hope that it helps others.
1) Purchase price of the generator is typically not your only expense to getting power to your house. You have to consider the cost of a transfer switch, electrician, cable purchase which can run about $150 for a 50ft run, shed cost (if you plan on storing outside). You can also cheap charlie it and just use extension cords. But in my case the hastle of dealing with bugs in the summer,heat escaping in the winter and kids yanking or tripping on cords zig zagging through the house made the cheap charlie route not pass the WAF (wife acceptance factor).
2) Oil Consumption -I have read in Popular Mechanics that air cooled engines on average can consume 1 oz of oil per hour. I just changed after 5 hours and did not notice a drop in level. Knowing the potential for oil consumption, I am going to check oil level religiously during use and keep spare oil on hand.
3) Changing oil -Getting a rigid oil transport container under the drain plug is very difficult. My solution is to cut a reasonable size square opening say 2" x 2" in a 2 liter soda bottle and drain into the bottle first.
4) Use fuel stabilizer irregardless if you think that you are going to use it all up. Gas goes bad really fast especially E10 which is dispensed in most major metropolitan areas. Gas will turn to varnish and gum up the engine.
5) I want to explain the differences in float charger versus a trickle charger. I see so much misinformation in reviews on other sites. A float charger will only charge at the natural rate that the battery looses power. For example if a battery looses 5% a day, then the charger can only charge at 5% a day. A trickle charge will apply a constant charge to a battery, which could potentially lead to an overcharge which is a bad thing. Also all portable generators that I have seen do not charge the battery when they are running.
The cons:
The key insertion when the rubber cover is a little pain for me because the orientation of my generator in my enclosure. YMMV.
Noise, some might complain that it's too loud, I do not have any comparisons to other generators nor am I really close to my neighbors.
Oil change process.
Pros:
B&S reliability
Decent run time
A whole lot cheaper solution than a 12kw natural gas generator.
Read Best Reviews of Briggs & Stratton 30470 7,000 Watt 420cc Gas Powered Portable Generator With Wheel Kit Here
Bought this after last year's brutal snowstorm. I liked that it definitely handles my needs to operate comfortably (home mostly propane) and I like the key start. I keep it in the garage with the battery charger plugged in so it's ready when I need it and had an electrician install a manual transfer switch.
The electrician tested the generator hooked up to the switch with the well pump and most of the normal 120 circuits I'd want in a storm with no problem. He flushed the toilet repeatedly to empty the well tank so I could hear what a normal "blip" at the generator would sound like while the pump kicked in and refilled the tank.
I am rural so the noise is not an issue for me. I've not run this generator for a lot of hours but have run it the 5 hours prior to changing the oil the first time so it is ready for anything that this coming winter brings.
Want Briggs & Stratton 30470 7,000 Watt 420cc Gas Powered Portable Generator With Wheel Kit Discount?
I purchased this generator after researching for quite awhile. The reviews on all websites were overwhelmingly positive, and I have always been well pleased with Briggs and Stratton products. However, after receiving this shipment I found that the choke was broken off the carburetor, two rear engine mount bolts were sheared off at the heads, and the negative battery terminal had one end broken off. None off these pieces were located anywhere near each other that would suggest damage from being dropped. I inspected the box as I received it and there was absolutely no damage to the container. So this generator must have left the factory in this condition.
After fixing the battery cable, the engine mount bolts, rigging the choke, and completing all necessary preparation procedures I stared the generator up by electric start and immediately heard a loud screeching from the manual pull rewind. I shut it down and found that the rewind was broken off at the head on the inside. I then left the head off and started the generator. It ran fine and smooth. I hooked up a well pump to it since this draws a tremendous amount off surge watts, and it handled it with no problem. Overall, I like this product, but am very wary of buying another B&G product. In my opinion, this kind of quality control is unacceptable. I wonder if it is now going to be their policy of displaying shoddy workmanship.
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