Off-Grid Living #1 - Electricity

When I made the decision to move out to Nevada, everyone I knew called me crazy. Hell, my little brother told me, flat out, that I was insane and would probably die out here. I'll admit, I was not fully prepared for the adjustments I would inevitably have to make. When I arrived, I had two SUVs packed top to bottom with my families belongings, 2 teepee style tents, and the property was covered in sagebrush. For the first two months life was completely primitive; no electricity, no running water, and I spent the majority of my time clearing sagebrush with handtools. Our spirits stayed high and positive, however, and it felt just like camping.

Once we got our first camper, and moved out of the tents, electricity was the first priority on our list. The plan was, and still is, to install wind turbines and solar panels for our power needs; however, it seemed wise to start with a gas generator for simplicity sake. We went with the cheapest one we could find, at the time, and oh boy did we ever regret that decision. It was a little Powermate 1200 running watt, 1500 surge watt piece of junk we found at Wal-Mart for approximately $180. It had enough power to run the camper's lights and charge our phones, but it was a wretched pain in the butt. 

It held 1 gallon of gas, and to it's credit, that would last nearly 10 hours. That said, it was extremely difficult to start, incredibly loud for such little output, and completely unreliable. More often than not, I would spend a good 30 minutes trying to get it to run correctly, and pulling on the drawstring over and over was unnerving and often painful. It lasted roughly 6 weeks before it died. In the end, I had to adjust the carburetor to run it at high rpm for it to produce any power at all. I guess you get what you pay for.

I got the next two generators for free from foreclosed properties in the area. Both of them were worn out something awful when I brought them home, but both were able to turn over. The black one, a Powerhouse 3100 watt, was a beast. The electric start was out, but I was able to start it with

the pull chord for a time. It lasted about a month, but while it was working we were able to run the air conditioning and television in the camper without bogging it down. Unfortunately, it was near the end of it's life when we got it, and it blew.

The second one was an absolute mess. It was a Kipor Sinemaster 3000 watt generator, and it was in a flooded out shed when we found it. It's gas tank was filled with dirt, and I had to take it completely apart to clean it out. The engine did fire one time, and it ran for about 5 minutes before letting out an explosive bang and a plume of black smoke. I haven't messed with it since, but I imagine it was a decent generator before neglect ruined it. 

At this point, it was the end of August, the heat was still in full force, and we needed the electricity to keep cool during the day. We found an ad on the local Facebook marketplace group offering rebuilt generators for relatively cheap, so we jumped on it. This one was a Coleman Powermate 6250 watt generator, and it was an absolute beast. It held 5 gallons of gas,

and would run for approximately 12-14 hours on a full tank. We had moved into a single wide trailer we rescued from the dump, and this guy could power everything with ease. We ran a full size refrigerator, 3 space heaters, 2 televisions, a Playstation 4, and two computers without it even bogging down on us. It was considerably more expensive to use, as it burned more gas. It lasted until the very end of the year, and died around Christmas time in the middle of an epic snowstorm. The timing went out on it, I believe, and every time you would pull the chord to start it, it would pull back violently and misfire. I do believe this one can be fixed, and it is on my long list of projects I have to get to, eventually.

At this point, it was the dead of winter in the mountains. Our road was nearly inaccessible due to the neck high snow drifts, and we had no electricity. Our wood stove did a good job keeping one end of the house warm, however, the rest of the property was unbearably cold, and covered in snow. My dad and I argued for a few days as to what to do about it. He insisted we go find another used one, and I was adamant that we buy a new one, name brand, with a warranty. I ended up winning the argument in the end, and we bought a Champion brand 3500 watt generator online for $400. My 

neighbor had the same generator and told me he paid double for it, so I felt good about the purchase. This one still runs today, for about 10 hours on a gallon and a half of gas. I cannot run quite as many appliances on it as I did with the Coleman, but it costs a lot less to run a day. It got us through the rest of the winter without incident, and still runs about 10 hours a day with ease. If you need to rely on a gas generator, buy a Champion. It is worth the slightly higher price tag.

With all that said, I think the lesson to be learned in all of this is that you get what you pay for. There are just some things you should not buy cheap or generic, and generators are definitely one of them. There is also some regular upkeep that is essential for keeping one running, especially under heavy use. 

Change the oil, at minimum, once a month. The Champion has a low oil sensor in it, and it will shut itself off if it gets low. If this happens, it's best to change the oil out instead of topping it off. I change the oil on mine weekly, and it's had exactly zero problems.

Don't use cheap gasoline in your generator. I have experimented with this and found that the premium gas, which is slightly higher octane, burns more efficiently. I've gotten an average of 1-3 hours more runtime on the same volume of premium fuel, versus the cheap stuff. It's worth the extra 15 cents a gallon.

Make sure your generator is protected from the elements. I originally put them in the bed of my pickup truck with a topper on it. This was hard on them, however, as they need a good 5 feet of clearance for the exhaust and air intake to properly cycle. I now have a designated generator room, which cuts down on the noise, and gives it the space it needs to breathe. 

Pay attention to the load you put on them, and use surge protectors. Overloading them is a sure way to shorten their life. Having the surge protectors in place ensures that if you happen to turn on too many things, the power will cut itself off before damaging anything. It's incredibly easy to forget to turn off the space heater before you use the toaster oven, for example. 

If I could go back and do it again, I would have started with the Champion brand generator, and saved a lot of money. The price has dropped since I purchased mine, and I would highly recommend picking one up for your camper, and/or as a backup in case of emergencies. You can pick one up for about $300 at the following link:

https://www.campingworld.com/champion-4000-watt-portable-generator---49-state-model-67293.html?gclid=CjwKCAjw8qjnBRA-EiwAaNvhwJgPawxhwuqPR7LCNpXIXHd9u9VAVHKJlSyuGrWP9CoD77Xu9RHBmxoC-PEQAvD_BwE