Wen generator

[Pearl]

Hubby is on his way to look at a Wen 5600 watt generator. A young couple got it for their anniversary a few months ago. They don't want it, never put gas in it, it's been in their garage! Hubby is bringing gas and will start it. It has an electric start. They retail about $400, they were asking $300, Hubby is sure they will come down. We know someone who has an 11,000 watt Wen and they love it! Anyone here have any input??

 

[Peepaw from Tex]

Get hubby to get conversion kit so you can run it on propane. Good generator for price.

 

[Pearl]

The smaller generator we have now requires refueling every few hours. This one should run 12-14 hours on a tank! The conversation kit is a great idea Peepaw!!

 

[Mountain trapper]

The smaller generator we have now requires refueling every few hours. This one should run 12-14 hours on a tank! The conversation kit is a great idea Peepaw!!

I've got a 12kw propane generator at the pump house that I plumbed in to a 500 gallon tank. The generator never needs to be refuled.
I'm thinking about buying another 12kw propane generator to replace our Perkins diesel up at the house. Then I could plumb it in to the house propane tank.

 

[d_marsh]

I have heard good things about Wen generators. I believe Home Depot sells them and they started out making generators or parts for other big name companies before just making their own.

 

[Mountain trapper]

I've heard good and bad things about Wen generators. Beware that they are made in China. Also most portable generators now days list the surge watts first, that makes it sound like a larger generator than it actually is. While the surge wattage is important, the running watts, in my opinion, is more important. Some manufacturers even seem to hide the running watts and you have to search for it.

 

[Pearl]

4500 running watts! We made out fine with the smaller generator during a 4 1/2 day power outage. Ran the refrigerators and freezers once or twice a day. Powered lights, TV, coffee pot. The wood stove is our heat so never a problem there, and I can heat food up on it!

 

[zoomzoom]

My recommendation is to make sure there's oil in it before you start it. In many cases, they're not shipped with oil in the engine.

 

[d_marsh]

My recommendation is to make sure there's oil in it before you start it. In many cases, they're not shipped with oil in the engine.

The last two brand new inverter generators I bought said to put in oil, run for 30 minutes, drain the oil and replace immediately with new oil.

 

[Pearl]

It's home, brand new (three months ago), all the paperwork ( manual, receipt)! Has new oil in it, it will be run and oil changed. Electric start with pull rope back up! 4 1/2 gallon gas tank! Purrs nicely! Pics later, gotta get on the pool float before it cools off!!

 

[Bluetick21]

We have had a 8500 watt wen for 5/6 years now I keep stabil In the tank in the off season but I’ve never done anything to it other then change the oil once a year

 

[OldSchool]

Making your own electricity is great. Better yet is producing light from electricity.

In another life I went by the name Edison.

 

[Tim Horton]

At a time I had a 7500/6500 (?) watt dual fuel generator that I got with bonus money from using a Costco credit card.. Don't remember the brand name, but ran it on propane several times and never had gas in it.. Worked well. I would get that kind of set up again, if needed..

 

[SoJer]

Get hubby to get conversion kit so you can run it on propane...

Aye, Heartily Secondeded.. And, here's a Convo-Kit I can Solidly recommend: https://motorsnorkel.com/ Go here: https://motorsnorkel.com/conversion-kits/ ..And just drill-down to yer 'WEN' / Engine, etc, and - Trust Me - Definitely Choose "Tri-Fuel", it's the Only way to not-Cry..

Fwiw..
jd

 

[montanabill]

+1 on the snorkel kits.
Any running generator for that price is worth having around...
And If you want a cheap way to extend the run time on a small generator just find a cheap big generator with the big tank and plum it into the little guy.. I have done several where I find a bigger broken generator and pull the engine and generator out of the wheeled frame with the big tank and set the little generator in it's place.

 

[Mountain trapper]

I have a 12kw Winco propane generator that runs my well pump. It's plumbed directly to a 500 gallon tank. I never have to change tanks and it'll never run out of fuel.

 

[Dave V]

We have 4 dual fuel, natural gas/propane generators that by default use piped in natural gas unless it is no longer available, then the generators can be switched to propane. The largest generator is 150-kW, and then a 100-kW, a 60-kW, and a 30-kW generator. Our back-up fuel is propane, and we have four 1000-gallon propane tanks in an underground, ventilated space adjacent to our fresh, and graywater tanks. Since we added enough solar and LiFePO4 batteries to completely power both the grocery and facility, we have only fired up the generators monthly for testing purposes. Who knows if someday there will be an atmospheric event that takes out our solar, so the generators remain, unused, but ready.