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Expert
Posts: 3147
   
| I have a 4'short wall, 8'long wall aluminum trailer. I need a generator to run air conditioner only-cold weather doesn't affect me like hot and I won't be running anything else. Suggestions for wattage and brand. Hondas are way out of my price range. Thank you. |
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Elite Veteran
Posts: 883
Location: Southern Indiana | You will still definitely want to go with a 3000. Ac pulls about 1500 watts so if you go any lower it's going to be close to overloading it. We bought a Kipor for $1100 and it's just a tad louder than the Honda but it works great so far. It does well on gas. I suggest looking at the decibels and the hours it will run on a tank of gas. The champions look ok and are only about $800 but they have a small gas tank. Trust me you don't want to be getting up in the middle of the night having to fill it up!!! The quiet ones and nice too! |
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Married to a Louie Lover
Posts: 3303
| My in laws just got a Champion, quiet, less than $1000 and runs their AC & TV. They have to shut the AC down to run the microwave - but so do I and we have a 5600. I think theirs is a 3400 watts? I dont think smaller than 3000 watts will handle an AC? I see folks booking 2 Honda 2000's together quite often.
We have a big ol heavy 5600 tank. It's seen better days. It's in our wish list to replace, probably with the one the in laws have. |
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 Expert
Posts: 5293
| Love my champion! Small tank yes. |
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 Elite Veteran
Posts: 889
| I have a Champion, but we got the gas AND propane option. So it'll run off my bottles with a minor attachment. No more hauling stinky gas cans. I am not sure on wattage, I know it's at least a 3500...it'll run the a/c close to 8 hours overnight before fill up.
Edited by RedHead84 2017-09-19 12:48 PM
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 I hate cooking and cleaning
Posts: 3314
Location: Jersey Girl | Tractor Supply sells one for about $350 that will run your air conditioner. |
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Married to a Louie Lover
Posts: 3303
| RedHead84 - 2017-09-19 12:46 PM
I have a Champion, but we got the gas AND propane option. So it'll run off my bottles with a minor attachment. No more hauling stinky gas cans. I am not sure on wattage, I know it's at least a 3500...it'll run the a/c close to 8 hours overnight before fill up.
Do you mind me asking what you spent on the propane version? Because that intrigues me... 8 hours on 1 bottle? Or is that what you get out of running gasoline? |
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 I Don't Brag
Posts: 6960
| I love my Kipor. I think it is actually quieter than the Hondas and is made with many of the same parts. It is a 3000W with a 3500 surge. Runs my ac and a few other low draw stuff just fine. |
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Regular
Posts: 66
| We bought a Powerhorse from Northern tool. LOVE IT! It's just as quiet as a Honda and half the price. Runs for about 8 hours on a tank of gas. |
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Elite Veteran
Posts: 889
| OhMax - 2017-09-19 2:17 PM
RedHead84 - 2017-09-19 12:46 PM
I have a Champion, but we got the gas AND propane option. So it'll run off my bottles with a minor attachment. No more hauling stinky gas cans. I am not sure on wattage, I know it's at least a 3500...it'll run the a/c close to 8 hours overnight before fill up.
Do you mind me asking what you spent on the propane version? Because that intrigues me... 8 hours on 1 bottle? Or is that what you get out of running gasoline?
Sure! I THINK I got it for $650 from Lowe's, but it was on sale. Yes, it runs on gas and propane. The 8 hr run time was on gasoline. Honestly, I haven't had to use it much so I haven't tried out the propane yet. But all you need is an adapter hose to hook it to your existing bottles on your trailer. |
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Married to a Louie Lover
Posts: 3303
| Emily's Biggest Fan - 2017-09-19 2:48 PM
We bought a Powerhorse from Northern tool. LOVE IT! It's just as quiet as a Honda and half the price. Runs for about 8 hours on a tank of gas.
That's what my inlaws had before they bought their Champion. This summer was a distaster with it - it broke down one weekend and they thought they fixed it and then the next weekend it imploded on itself. It wasn't very old at all and Northern Tool basically told them where to stick it... |
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Expert
Posts: 3147
| Thank you for your replies. Keep them coming. Are there certain ones that are extra noisy? |
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Elite Veteran
Posts: 883
Location: Southern Indiana | rodeoveteran - 2017-09-19 2:39 PM
I love my Kipor. I think it is actually quieter than the Hondas and is made with many of the same parts. It is a 3000W with a 3500 surge. Runs my ac and a few other low draw stuff just fine.
I have both and the Honda is a bit quiter than the Kipor, but I think the Kipor works a bit better. This is our second Honda and it's kinda finicky. The first one ran like a work horse. The only thing we don't care for on the Kipor is the gas lid. It's not even a year old yet but time will tell! |
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 Popped
Posts: 20421
Location: LuluLand~along I64 Indiana | i have a generac. not so loud i get complaints from neighbors. will run all night on a full tank of fuel. light enough for me to handle by myself and starts easy. Good Luck with what you choose. :)
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 Expert
Posts: 1523
Location: Illinois | I'm lucky enough to always have a friend's to borrow, and I only need one 2 weekends of the year anyway. I usually just use electric at places, so I've never bought one. But mine's an 8' short wall and takes a 5500 minimum if I want to run anything else with the AC. You can turn one light on with the AC, but not 2 lights with anything less than 5500. I have to turn everything else off and microwave in the dark at night too. They're Champions and aren't loud & have all worked just fine. My friend I haul with has a small 2000W Honda for her 4' short wall and she runs everything fine with it. It always amazes me the difference in our generator needs when she runs fridge, AC, and lights on 2000W and I'd probably need a 7500W to do all that, same brand of trailer too. |
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Elite Veteran
Posts: 883
Location: Southern Indiana | JLazyT_perf_horses - 2017-09-21 9:59 AM
I'm lucky enough to always have a friend's to borrow, and I only need one 2 weekends of the year anyway. I usually just use electric at places, so I've never bought one. But mine's an 8' short wall and takes a 5500 minimum if I want to run anything else with the AC. You can turn one light on with the AC, but not 2 lights with anything less than 5500. I have to turn everything else off and microwave in the dark at night too. They're Champions and aren't loud & have all worked just fine. My friend I haul with has a small 2000W Honda for her 4' short wall and she runs everything fine with it. It always amazes me the difference in our generator needs when she runs fridge, AC, and lights on 2000W and I'd probably need a 7500W to do all that, same brand of trailer too.
That is crazy that you can't even turn multiple lights on!! I have always used a 3000 and can run the ac and fridge, lights, charger, TV. Pretty much anything less than 1500 watts (hair dryer or microwave).
A tip though if you want to use the microwave and not turn the ac off, just turn the temp warmer (if you don't have ducted air). |
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 Elite Veteran
Posts: 787
Location: NE Pa-Gods Country | the Honda 3000is is the way to go...the plain 3000 will not run your ac...and it is very quiet. I love mine |
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Expert
Posts: 4766
Location: Bandera, TX | yep! Save until you can get this one! It's so worth it. |
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Location: Not Where I Want to Be | JLazyT_perf_horses - 2017-09-21 10:59 AM
I'm lucky enough to always have a friend's to borrow, and I only need one 2 weekends of the year anyway. I usually just use electric at places, so I've never bought one. But mine's an 8' short wall and takes a 5500 minimum if I want to run anything else with the AC. You can turn one light on with the AC, but not 2 lights with anything less than 5500. I have to turn everything else off and microwave in the dark at night too. They're Champions and aren't loud & have all worked just fine. My friend I haul with has a small 2000W Honda for her 4' short wall and she runs everything fine with it. It always amazes me the difference in our generator needs when she runs fridge, AC, and lights on 2000W and I'd probably need a 7500W to do all that, same brand of trailer too.
you have something wrong with your trailer if this is true.
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Married to a Louie Lover
Posts: 3303
| 1DSoon - 2017-09-23 6:16 AM
JLazyT_perf_horses - 2017-09-21 10:59 AM
I'm lucky enough to always have a friend's to borrow, and I only need one 2 weekends of the year anyway. I usually just use electric at places, so I've never bought one. But mine's an 8' short wall and takes a 5500 minimum if I want to run anything else with the AC. You can turn one light on with the AC, but not 2 lights with anything less than 5500. I have to turn everything else off and microwave in the dark at night too. They're Champions and aren't loud & have all worked just fine. My friend I haul with has a small 2000W Honda for her 4' short wall and she runs everything fine with it. It always amazes me the difference in our generator needs when she runs fridge, AC, and lights on 2000W and I'd probably need a 7500W to do all that, same brand of trailer too.
you have something wrong with your trailer if this is true.
That was my thought...
I can’t run my AC and Microwave at the same time, but that’s it. I’m not sure that so much a running wattage issue as the start up wattage that overloads it as it is a 6500 watt generator. It’s also old and I think he paid $400 for it. Yeah, we’re the noisy neighbors.
Oh well works for now, not a big deal to shut the AC off while I warm up food. |
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Member
Posts: 32
| Northern Tool normally has a good comparison chart in the catalog on numerous brands of generators they carry. You may also want to check with Camping World and other rv places. I recommend you get the biggest (power wise) one you can afford, you may only want to run the a/c but once you get one you may want to run other things like a hot water heater. If not mounting it on the trailer definitely get one wit a wheel kit and consider weight. Normally the generac's and honda's are the quietest. |
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Expert
Posts: 3147
| Thank you for all your replies. On the advice of my air conditioner man and your answers I bought a 5500 Duramax. It can run off propane or gasoline has both push button and pull start, decibel level 69 decibels (Honda has 61 decibels). Your replies really helped me know what size wattage I needed. Cold weather doesn't bother me very much but the heat does. |
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Generator for my trailer.