Powermate 3,000-Watt Portable Generator Price: $269.99 Shipping Options:: $5 Standard Shipping Estimates: Ships in 3-5 business days. (Wednesday, Nov 26 to Monday, Dec 01) + transit Condition: New
In my opinion this is an okay deal. If you don’t have a generator, this contender is a good place to start…
You have enough power to keep a refridgerator running, along with a TV or two, a computer and several 100w light bulbs (more if you are using the new low watt bulbs. That’s just about enough to make life a little more tolerable during an extended outage.
While the price of this generator is quite good, be advised that it’s weight is about 100 to 110 lbs. Moving this out of your garage where you store it to a point where you will be using it requires wheels…which don’t come with this unit. A wheel kit will cost you at least $40, which brings the price of the overall generator to about $310 or a little more. Finally, I don’t know why powermate rates the engine at 8 HP. This is a 6 HP engine and no more.
While this unit is a little on the small side, it still provides enough power to save the food in your fridge and thereby save the sanity of you and your family. It is very much worth the relatively small outlay of cash to gain all that peace of mind.
This is a decent deal on a decent generator. In the business, these are called putt-putts. Be informed that this is not a whole-house generator and is only 3k. So it is fine for short term outages and will keep your fridge running cold. I agree with the previous post that you could run your fridge for a couple of hours in the morning and a couple of hours before bed and it will stay cold. No need to run all day and night. Remember, this is gas powered so you’ll have to keep feeding it gasoline and in an emergency like Sandy or Katrina, gas goes in a day and you’ll not have fuel for this maybe for days or even weeks. I would also recommend a wheel kit. We always advised to never buy a generator without wheels. It advertises an 11 hour run time at 50% load. YMMV but I would expect somewhat less than that and then you’ll have to fill the fuel tank again. Unless you have a holding tank at your house, you’ll soon have to run to a gas station, if you can find one open and if law enforcement will let you drive through dangerous conditions. So be advised what a 3k genny can be used for and how to use it. This genny may be the one for you.
acanarelli’s review above is spot on. I bought this unit in Home Depot just about 2 years ago on sale for $239. It has worked flawlessly. I start it up and let run for a while every month. It has started up on the first try every time. It is heavy, but as far as wheels, I have it on a flat dolly that was laying around the house. You can also just put some wheels on a piece of plywood and make your own, thus avoiding the purchase of a wheel kit.
This is a relatively small generator, so it’s certainly not loud enough that it would keep you from buying it. While you are enjoying the comforts the generator will provide for you and you family, I guarantee that you will not think it’s too loud. If you do believe the generator is too loud, you could rent it to your next door neighbor, who I’m sure will pay your price.
Is it a bad idea to wait to run it until you really need it? I’d like to avoid as much maintenance as possible…Or is it best to start it right when you receive it?
I understand that once you fill it with gas, it should be drained for storage. It also gets really cold here (in Michigan) so I’m looking for the best storage method… Wrap in a tarp in the garage?
It’s a great unit I’ve used several and having it saves piece of mind, the food in the fridge not to mention keeps the sump pump going saving our basement.
I paid 285 on Woot so this is a good deal.
I start it up each month for a test and so far so good. I built a dolly for it (very heavy), 100 foot extension cords (2)…and sleep at night.
Unlike you, the generator does not feel the cold…unless it gets cold enough where you are to freeze motor oil. I leave my generator alone until I need it, much the same as I leave my snow thrower alone. Just as long as you have used up all the fuel in the gas tank and carb bowl, it will start up fairly quickly whenever you fuel it up and use it again.
I have two small generators (1500w and 4000w) that I have had for several years now and only had short outages where I live (12 hours or less) and they were useful. I used them to open garage door, power fridges (food can spoil in as quickly as 4 hrs), charge phones/laptops, fans, watch a movie at night etc and they are very useful and good peace of mind.
As far as maintaining them I start mine probably once every three months if I haven’t used them and use 100% non-ethanol gas for ALL my small engine devices. The best thing to do is actually keep the tank 95%+ full when storing, and use fuel stabilizer if you can’t find pure gasoline. Don’t drain your tank prior to storing, it actually is counterproductive and there are several articles on briggs and stratton and other manufacturers websites explaining why.
[QUOTE=acanarelli, post:16, topic:435361]
Unlike you, the generator does not feel the cold…unless it gets cold enough where you are to freeze motor oil. I leave my generator alone until I need it, much the same as I leave my snow thrower alone. Just as long as you have used up all the fuel in the gas tank and carb bowl, it will start up fairly quickly whenever you fuel it up and use it again.
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Thanks for the advice! (to the last three commenters!!) I’m going in on this!
Love it. Came well packaged and had a nice tool kit. It’s not the quietest, but it is very well made and started on the first pull. This generator can run my 3/4hp well pump! It’s small enough to fit in a car trunk - very portable.
Would buy again.
well, i got screwed. did a lot of research first on this and saw mostly good reviews.
mine gets here, fill it with oil and gas(only took 2.8 gallons not 4+ like claimed) and it fired up in about 5 minutes. no big deal.
shut it down, and didnt turn the gas valve off and fuel leaked out EVERYWHERE! now this should not have happened at all, none of the other generators we have at work do this. contacted WOOT, they said sorry about your luck you have to deal with the manufacturer on it. its a brand new leaking fire-hazard piece of crap that i have wasted money on.
well, WOOT, you have just lost a customer who has spent a decent little bit of money with you…
