majsharps wrote:
READ my experience with a Champion generator.Not bashing it but giving my exp as a soon to be former Champion owner.
I believe talk is cheap and the proof is in the product.
Garage kept & never been exposed to the elements.When used it sometimes ran 6-8 hrs/day.
Purchased Nov 2011 (less than 1 yr old)
I don't want to bash anything, but here's my experience with Onans. I have one 4.0KW in my RV - built in 1972, purchased by my father with the RV I now own and run a few hundred hours a year. Every decade - 70s, 80s 90s and 00s there would be at least one two year period when it just sat. It's got several thousand hours on it. It needs points occasionally, new spark plugs, a muffler every decade, and I need to clean the fuel filter now and then. It still runs perfectly.
I have another Onan made in 1999 (much too new, but I couldn't resist the price and couldn't convince the seller not to sell it to me.) It's 6.5KW, purchased for $100 with 4,000 hours on it. The phone company ran it in a bucket truck every day for 8 hours. I needed to repair the "modern" voltage regulator, which cost me $6 for a part. (full story - if I'd had to replace the VR it would have been $300 and I needed to buy an $18 battery voltage regulator I couldn't fix.) It also runs great for emergency backup power.
I see these 1800 RPM gens for very reasonable prices on Craigslist all the time. Don't confuse them with the 3600 RPM contractor gens found in Big Box stores. The Onans are much quieter and sound like they are idling at 1800 RPM. Yes, I know they aren't as quiet as a smaller inverter gen, nor as fuel efficient or light as modern designs but they are unbelievably rugged, reliable and easy to maintain. If you have to run an AC all day/night, they might be too noisy or costly in fuel, but if you are just rapidly recharging batteries and running it in the morning to make coffee, toast and run the MW, they are great. I only start mine every 2-3 days for battery charging.
I just have a real soft spot in my heart for these old reliable hunks of American iron. :)
