Just a rambling point: Let us not forget the famous/infamous craigslist, as a source of supplies.

A few years back, I answered an ad for a 3kw Honda generator. It was for three hundred bucks. While I don't use it often, it has proven invaluable in both my work and for dealing with week long power outages. The one I got starts every time, after no more than three pulls, even after nearly two years set time. I attribute that to my insistence that it and all my other gas operated equipment be ran out of gas, rather than merely shut off.

On a whim, I ran a craigslist search for inverters. I found a 2.5k unit for $150. Not bad. I have a little 1k unit, but it won't run a skill saw, or anything significant. But hey, it was given to me by a friend who, after I told him not to buy it, because it was too small, bought it anyway, to run his boiler fan & injector for his pressure washing business. Anyway, he spent three hundred plus for it, but it didn't work. Now I have a semi-useful tool with autoshut down (so it won't run your car batter below starting voltage.

Thanks for taking the time to post that site side_job. There is a lot of info and some mechanical doo dads that I have never seen before. They are probably outlawed in this state; too practical and the exhaust fumes might kill some endangered fleas or crickets.

http://www.propane-generators.com/simple_explanation.htm

OK, you got me. What kind of generator will run on 2 fuels? I have a propane generator, a 4500 watt Onan that is fueled with propane. It was converted to run on propane at the factory and if I were to purchase some parts I guess I could run it on gasoline. Propane is the cheapest fuel in these parts, burns clean, plus, the unit starts from a remote switch inside the house so I don't have to go out into the cold and rain to start it. I also have a very old cast iron Homelite 7500 watt gen that has 2 fuel tanks. It starts on gas, then you switch it over to the other tank so it will run on kerosene. At one time in history kerosene was cheaper than gas and the generator would run longer on the kerosene. Most of the remote ranches in the west had a similar powerplant to power the homestead; thus the name "Homelite". With the current fuel prices kerosene is out of the question unless you are a millionaire. I have several small portable gas fired generators and one diesel powered 35,000 watt monster that will light up the entire mountainside but the fuel prices make it cost prohibitive to run. :shock:

The reason I say this is it is always good to have a small duel gas running generator. I have several that I have collected that run on propane and gas. If used sparingly a gal. of gas goes a long way.