I like it so much I bought another, refurbished on ebay from the firman plant for 399.99, and a parallel kit, and I can now power my entire house. I highly recommend
I got the same generator last year from Costco. I did a thorough break in and put in a magnetic dipstick last summer and put in synthetic oil after 2 changes. I have tested it with both gasoline and propane for a few hours before putting it away. With a full tank of propane, it would run for the whole day. I measured the noise level to be 60dB with load from 23ft. I can hardly hear it from inside the house. We are in the middle of a multiple day power outage after an ice storm right now and I am running it for 2 fridges, one chest freezer, a microwave, two heaters, and a few battery chargers since yesterday. I prefer to use propane even it has less output as it has several advantages over gasoline inclduing the longer run time, easy long term storage, etc. It is a good unit although it is a little bit noisier than other brands.
Hi Bill. Thanks for watching! I agree! They really are great little generators! We found the same thing with the propane tanks. It’ll run from morning well into the night. One question though: what is a magnetic dipstick? I’m not familiar with them
@@FlatTireFarmHomesteadingAlaska The magnetic dipstick would replace the original plastic oil cap. It has a magnet at the tip inside that it can capture the metal debris particularly from a new engine that may damage the pistol. It is only around $15 from Amazon or eBay and it is the same model for Champion 3400/3500. For the first oil change after the first 30min run without load, I can see metal debris on it. For the second oil change (I switched to synthetic at this point) after ~2hr run with varying load, there was much less metal debris in it.
This is the best generator review video ever! This guy is so knowledgeable, well-spoken, handsome and just generally amazing! I should probably go out and buy four of these generators right now! Why four? Why not?! 😉
I had a Firman last summer I bought at Costco. After about a month, I had to return it because it wouldn't start easily. I had to adjust the rocker arms and tech support wanted me to take the whole generator apart to unplug the circuit board and then plug it back in. I returned it to Costco. I bought a Honda and don't have any issues with it. Thanks for the review.
Yikes! Sounds like you you made a great choice there! Honda makes a great, reliable generator. My Yamaha is my favorite, but about 3 times the cost of that Firman. Bites ya in the wallet a little too hard for me to buy a new I’ve just yet. 😊
Why did you return it when you said it would start easily? I have one. I only use propane. Its 3 years old and works great. My brother bought one and he is off grid. He uses gasoline and he had zero problems so far. Preventive maintenance is a must.
I have a similar unit, only for gasoline, but my only negative point is what you mentioned, it is hard to do maintenance without disassembling the panels and possibly the "frame" holding those panels. The fact that it is very quiet makes up for it as I am in a suburban environment and when we're out of power. For those like me without propane, you can buy a can of starter fluid and spray some in the carburetor through the air filter housing, when it's too cold and it won't start. Unfortunately it means taking off six screws, not that big of a deal, except when it's so cold that your generator won't start...! I wish they thought about this and put a little hole so we could insert the tiny red straw directly in the air chamber behind the air filter.
Absolutely spot on with the maintenance access. Just bought one of these and needed to remove the battery to retrieve the battery cable connector that had shifted in shipping. Nightmare. Ditto on the air filter. Other than that, initial impressions are very good.
Hi Stephan. Thanks for watching and commenting! I have been quite happy with mine. I’m at almost 700 hours on it and it’s still doing very well! I simply removed the panels and just leave them off all of the time now. If you do that also remove the screws as well, because they will vibrate out of the holes after a while.
Great review! I bought this same model after watching your last review. I haven't had to use it as much as you but I'm super happy with the purchase. Thanks for the more detailed breakdown and goodness, stay warm!!
Hey friend, that’s awesome! We’re so glad you find our videos useful. Thanks for watching and commenting and don’t be afraid to ask questions if you have ‘em. We’re happy to help. Woodstove is currently blazing, staying warm is on the agenda. Ha!
Thanks for the review. I just had one of these delivered from Costco today. I'll be using it for occasional RV use and emergencies at home if we get a power outage, and I plan to mostly use propane so I don't have to keep a can of gasoline in my garage. Your video makes me think that I got a great generator at a great price.
@Jack Sichewski I hear they make an aftermarket heater for that exhaust hose, but pulling it out in the winter seems to be much less of a hassle to me...and free. Ha!
I'm pretty savvy when it comes to generators, but am unfamiliar with Firman. We are in the market for a medium sized inverter genset for emergency backup for my MIL's trailer here on our ranch and she noticed this model was on sale at Costco, so let the Y.T. research begin. Armed with your review and Gavin's Garage review, we have decided to give this model a try. Very informative review, thank you for the effort.
Thanks for watching friend. Glad you found it helpful. There’s some good information in the comments too. Lots of discussion about specific questions people have had. It might be worth a look. Be blessed.
Motor freeze up. During Ice storm 98, there was no reburn at that time. However, the generators would freeze up in January, but it was only the air filter that would freeze on the open frame generators. The solution was to remove the air filter (not a lot of dust in January in Malone, NY) or cut two flaps out of the box the generator came in and place that over the generator. The heat from the generator would warm the are in the box and reduce the amount of freeze up of moisture condensing on the filter. On today's generators, the carbon monoxide safety mechanism would prevent this solution. But it is a great tip on removing the reburn if you are in a very cold climate situation. Oh, I have the W03382 Firman unit. It is also very quiet compared to the Generac XL5500.
Exactly! That’s just how we would prevent air box freeze up in the older generators too. Using the box to give it a house I mean. We have yet to have a problem removing the reburn tube from the valve cover but I don’t know how many people know about it. I still see it become a problem for a lot of people up here. Thanks for watching and commenting friend! Be blessed!
I agree with the PCV hose. In the big Christmas blizzard last year my big 6250w generator had the PCV freeze and shot all the oil out of the low oil shut off switch on the side of the crank, the valve cover gasket, and the fill plug seal. I thought for sure I blew the engine with the oil all on the ground but thankfully it was just the PCV that was frozen and made the pressure climb so high that the oil shot out and shut down the generator when it ran out of oil pressure. My band-aid fix was to place the generator in a makeshift enclosure and I used pipe insulation on the PCV hose. The real solution was I bought a PCV warmer that is meant for whole house generators and wired it up to the 110v outlet and wrapped it around the PCV hose. My moisture is even worse since I run mine on natural gas with an aftermarket conversion kit but we will see if I ever need to take advantage of the warmer on the hose.
I bought a Firman a few years back for my permanent campsite on my acreage in the country. It kept a solar battery stack charged in the inclement days and power tool days. It was great until the brain in it got stupid. I would much prefer an older style of system operation. I rewired it with full mechanical control and it is still kicking but is starting to use oil. Soon it will be scraped.
I would definitely sign up for an older style control system too! Less to break down. Glad to hear you’re getting as much life out of your as we got out of ours
Thanks for this video! There a few on here with start up and usage, none but yours gives a long term pro/con view! I've been looking at these for awhile and they will be going on sale at Costco very soon.
Hey Miss Mary! I’m glad you enjoyed this one and found it useful. Don’t be shy if you have any questions when you get your generator. We’re happy to help where we can. 😊
[sigh.] I miss those decorative black rings the cast iron pans left on your Alaskan wallpaper. They are nothing more than faded memories of the past now. -Dusty
if you need a bigger generator another option is to just buy a second one, and get the firman parallel kit works great I have two of these that I also bought from costco. I also have been leaving them in the cold in the winter without disconecting the battery and in the spring they start right up still.. I do not recommend abusing it like that but just saying I dont treat them well and they still work.
Hey Jim! We have used this one for a year now and we decided this week that they were going to get another one before winter. Because we live completely off grid, having a back up generator is necessary. And we really like the fact that we can buy this one at Costco, and if it dies within a year we just return it and get a new one. We have gone through our fair share of generators that’s for sure. Ha!
@@FlatTireFarmHomesteadingAlaska doing good it got pretty cold her we hit the single digits in temp but it only lasted a couple days. Southern states problems. Lol
@@Mindy56743 That’s pretty cold for you guys! I’m glad you made it out unscathed. You’re a tough lady, that’s one thing I know for sure about you. Bet it never even phased you. 😊
@@FlatTireFarmHomesteadingAlaska I am a incredibly tight ass. I closed down the house to 2 rooms and lived in my kitchen/dining room for the cold spell. I am on the grid and don’t want to pay the expensive electric bills.
Being an inverter generator is why its so quiet! I had everything but the fuel tank on my predator 3500 removed and it really made no difference in sound.
Hey Jewels! Glad to hear from you again. We’re always so happy to find a generator that can function through our winters. The propane function saved our bacon more than once this winter. Stay warm out there friend. 😊
@@FlatTireFarmHomesteadingAlaska I am definitely staying warm, Florida here. Need generator for hurricane's...ugh! Your input on running it on propane was informative so thanks 😊
I have the Firman one size smaller. Thanks for the tip on pulling the crank case hose in the winter time. My main complaint with the enclosed engine parts is the battery is very difficult to access and or remove. With no battery my understanding is that the propane fuel system won't work so this summer in the warmer weather I am going to see about installing some sort of extension jumper cables in case I have to boost the battery should it become drained or even need to connect an external battery in an emergency.
Awesome tips! thank you! I'm glad to have found your reviews of this model and living with winter conditions similar as mine. I'm still looking to know how / where to run the unit safely. The manual says it needs to stay on a dry ground and grounded. How / where do you run yours? Do you cover it?
Thanks for watching! I do keep it covered, and it is up just a little bit off the ground. We haven’t grounded ours, but it is a good idea. We have ours in a garden shed with the exhaust directed either out the door or out a hole in the wall. I will often run it outside as long as it is not snowing or raining, but I try to keep it in out of the weather! Hope that helps! Let us know if you have any other questions! Thanks again!
Hey friend! We ran this generator to its last leg. I just kicked ot last week. I think the rings have gone. I’m gonna take it apart and clean it out and see if it isn’t something simple. But it’s probably just dead. We ran this generator for about 3000 hours and used it as our main power source for two years. Totally worth the $500!
I just returned two of these units back to Costco. Definitely not quite, I was really bummed and wanted these to work because costco has the best return policy in the game. The predator 3500 in substantially quieter. If noise is not an issue for you... go for it!
Hi Tom! Thanks for watching and commenting. It’s true this generator isn’t as quiet as something like a Honda, but we don’t mind. I’m not familiar with the predator. Who makes it?
The predator 3500 is the quietest generator ive ever heard. I had one which I absolutely loved i had to stop using it because the muffler went bad and the stuff inside blocks the exhaust and makes it run crappy, i tried to buy a replacement muffler and found out that it can’t be found, and HF doesn’t sell the replacement either so I ended up buying this same generator in hopes that it can be as good or better than the predator 3500
Hey Mick, we do have a short video on it. How to use a SMALL OFF-GRID SOLAR SYSTEM - HOMESTEADING ALASKA ua-cam.com/video/-Jm9oW-CI78/v-deo.html We are happy to answer any questions you have on whatever we didn’t cover. It’s just a small 2000w system. 😊
mine backfired and would not run again after about 20 hours, returned it and just got a refurbished. It will not run on the propane fuel but does fine on gasoline. If I hold the red battery button for five minutes I can get it to fart a bit, but still will not run. I tried two different tanks, both good and full. Im feeling these things have a weakness at the propane solenoid system. Dont really want to go get the 4000 now on sale for 600. The smaller 3200 is good for me, but it needs to RUN!
Hey Doug, thanks for watching! That’s awful! I’m sorry that you’ve had such a crappy experience with yours. Maybe return it and tell them you want a new one. It shouldn’t be that difficult to get it to run!
@@FlatTireFarmHomesteadingAlaska yeah..no time..really right now to be repairing new stuff that doesnt work. I can just get the costco 200 off for the 4000k firman right now. Return this refurb from Ebay. It wasnt tested its clear.
@@FlatTireFarmHomesteadingAlaska So here is what happened, I troubleshoooted the refurbished and find the propane system is dead. There is no resistance or continuity at the little plug that activates the valve. Power comes out at the outlet when the red battery switch is pushed, but no propane. So Firman agreed to send a new propane setup and then I still had nothing the next day, no shipping notice or message. So I called back again today and got them off their ass and they promised to send, this is a new supposedly tested item that does not work with $100 shipping cost! And to return it Id have to drain the oil and run all the fuel out of it, rebox it..A ton of work. They promised to send it USPS so hopefully first class and I get it as needed but I regret the purchase and this is typcial sketchy Chinese quality although a great design, solid machine and great value but enough incompetence! A new (refurb) item should work! And now after two failures of the propane solenoid, my prior unit and this one, I want a spare on hand and Im going to repair my old solenoid and keep it handy for next time! You see I live on a boat and use this regularly and most of these units arent run 20 hours a year, but I expect a good long useful service life of a thousand hours or so..as we get from our cars and appliances that we call 'durable goods' right? Okay Im not so happy with Firman. And Ebay still shows my generator as 'not delivered.' Crazy. A day after I got it, UPS finally sent me a delivery notification. sheesh! Thanks for reading.
If you use a measured oil container to fill the generator who's required volume was determined in the summer, you may be surprised to find that you grossly overflow and make a mess in a very cold winter! Why? ADHESION! If at a winter oil change, you wait the same amount of time that you did in the summer, the oil adhesion may have left 30% behind. Adding 100% of the required oil makes 130% and it overflows. It's just amazing how much of that cold cruddy oil stays behind. After draining for a normal length of time, leave an empty pan underneath for another 12 to 24 hours and see how much more you collect! Never do COLD oil changes, only HOT oil changes; otherwise, do a very length darin.
Hey Robert! As usual, great points! I run it for a bit before I change oil, but when it’s below zero it still cools down fast enough that I don’t quite get it all. I feel like that is another good reason to do oil changes often, especially in cold climates. Thanks for watching and commenting! You really know your stuff!
Awesome review brother! Thank you for the maintenance tips and cold weather running. What is your maintenance schedule which has proven effective as you have a generator that you’ve run for 10 years? I want to copy it and then print it and laminate it and keep it with my generators. I am buying this generator today for my travel trailer as I have a 9800W Westinghouse for my home. Thank you!!
Hey Sean, thanks for watching and commenting! Wow! Laminating a copy and keeping it with your generator! You must be part engineer! Ha! My Dad is an engineer and that is exactly what he would do! For my money, the most important maintenance is oil changes. I change it every 200 hrs except for the first one. On the first oil change, it’s usually recommended at 25 or 50 hrs or so. I don’t do that. I like to run it for about 5 hrs and then immediately change the oil. I also change spark plugs at least once a year. I think the Yamaha generator that I have has run for so long partly because of the build quality too. I’ve never had another generator go so long. At least not the small portable ones. One thing I have added to my maintenance is adjusting the valve lash. I just learned how to do it a year ago and it seems to smooth out the running of the engine. I’m planning to do a video on that this summer. Stay tuned!
Any chance you've installed a Fumoto valve on the oil pan to help with oil changes? If so, do you recall the thread size, it's not listed in the manual/assembly drawings.
@@FlatTireFarmHomesteadingAlaska NBD, I reached out to Firman direct. They sent me the information. Incase you'd want to make the upgrade its M10 x 1.25
Hey Krook, thanks for watching! It’s definitely not fun to carry it around, but it has wheels and a handle which work great. It’s definitely heavy, but lifting it in and out of vehicles is totally manageable. It really is a great machine. It’s been going strong for us for a while now!
The reason I am looking at this is, I believe the engine is a Kohler. Most others are made in China- Duramax, Champion, Predator, and Genmax, etc. I guess I want dependability more than bells and whistles. Do you see the benefit of the invertor over the conventional generator? I'd be interested to here your opinion on this,
Hey John, hope the day is treating you well. I really like the Kohler engines as well. For us, the inverter is important. We need that clean sine wave electricity coming into the house, because our house inverter has sensitive electronics. That’s the only reason though. If the generator wasn’t run straight to the house inverter, I would definitely choose longevity over bells and whistles.
I just bought the same generator at Costco. Do I need to worry about the battery freezing? I’m storing it outside under the house here in Fairbanks. I forgot to charge the battery so will need to bring it inside to thaw out before charging. Does it charge while running or only when plugged in?I have 2 jugs of gas and 4 propane bottles on standby. I’ll start it up when it is fully charged and the magnetic oil stick comes in from Amazon. Thanks for your review!
Hi Deb! Thanks for watching! The battery doesn’t charge while it’s running. The charger that came with it has to be plugged in. I just keep it plugged in to the generator itself and it keeps it topped off
I bought this exact generator from Costco a couple weeks ago. I went camping last week and the generator went through a full tank of gas in 20 minutes; I filled it up again and it did the same thing. I can't believe that this in normal, any thoughts?
@@PPyle oh no! Ours runs for 6-8 hours on a tank. It goes through fuel much quicker at a higher draw and maybe it runs 3-4 hours. I would say you might want to exchange it. Best of luck friend! We’ve ran this generator for 2 years now as our primary power source (not including the solar panels) and it just started running rough last month. Gave it a tune up this week and runs like a champ again. 😊
i just bought a this used generator and the guy said no power was coming out it starts but no power and the hour meter does not light up any idea on what might be the problem?
Hey friend, I’m no mechanic, but my experience tells me that it is either a wiring problem in between the display panel and the genset or the genset itself has gone bad. Any chance you’re local? I know a really great generator guy.
The Firman generators were all the craze in early 2023 since Costco was selling them here in Québec, Canada. Sales went through the roof when we had an ice storm in late March/early April (I forgot the exact timing). My gorgeous neighbourette bought one as we lost power for 28 hours straight. Thereafter, I googled “Firman generators”, and I found out many horror stories about those generators on UA-cam. Many critical parts on this generator are made of plastic. Soooo, when I saw your video where you live in Alaska and you needed a generator to power everything, I wondered why you didn’t buy a Honda. You kinda gave me the answer at the end. Your Firman generator cost you only $500. Wow! A Honda generator would have cost you a lot more. But then again, I have yet to find a contractor in my neck of the woods that uses a Firman. Pretty much all of them use a Honda generator…
Hey friend, this firman has done really well for us. With the number of hours we put on a generator, if it lasts us a year, it’s great! Ha! Yeah a Honda that’s almost the same power is over $3000 here. If I could get a 7 year warranty on it, it might be worth the money, but no body has good warrantees these says. At $500 we can’t pass it the Firman, and if it dies in a within a year, we can just return it to Costco for a new one. And from what I here the new fuel injected Hondas have a flooding problem if it doesn’t start on the first pull. At -30F nothing starts on the first pull. Ha! So far we’ve really liked the firman, maybe we just got lucky and got a good one. Ha! Be blessed friend.
@@FlatTireFarmHomesteadingAlaska Tks for your reply. I bit the bullet. I’m getting my EU7000is today. Will tell you if I have the flooding issue. Let’s put it this way. For the price I’m paying, I’d better not. Otherwise, they’ll get an earful… It gets pretty cold here in Quebec in the winter. So…, I’ll make sure to attempt to start the generator when it gets to 0 F. Stay tuned! I’ll let you know how it performs!
We have used the ua-cam.com/users/postUgkxOTeIs0vv4_9B5hsmnLsk9r930uDQLu_Y for probably 30 hours with our camper and it’s been great! The noise level is really only noticeable when running the AC and other appliances like the microwave, hair dryer, or coffee pot. It’s not huge like other ones and it has wheels so even at 90lbs, I can move it!
Hi Kristen! Thanks for watching and commenting! The cover that we have came with the generator when we bought it. Have you googled it or checked Firman’s website?
The system can draw power either from the solar panels or a generator. Both of those sources can charge the batteries. That way when there’s not sun available, we still can charge batteries with the generator. Great question. Thanks for watching.
@@FlatTireFarmHomesteadingAlaska If my battery runs out at night due to lack of sunlight... how can I charge my batteries with the generator? Is there any way to connect them? Directly? Connecting the load directly to where the solar cells enter the converter? 😬
Hi Henry! The first video I did on this generator shows where it is and how to set it up: Alaska Cabin Life FIRMAN DUAL FUEL GENERATOR SETUP and COLD CLIMATE MODIFICATION ua-cam.com/video/8fzHR4HR-oo/v-deo.html
We don’t really don’t use synthetic oil on small engines because it’s not always worth the cost. But either would work for this generator. The frequency of the oil changes far more important. 😊
Hey friend. Here we get a 1 year, no questions asked return policy. 😊 So, if it dies in a year, we switch it out for a new one. If it’s longer than a year, then we are just out $500 bucks. So far this generator has continued to run great for us. Alternatively, we really like Honda generators, but they’re seven times more expensive here and only offer a two year warranty. So for our purposes, this gives us the biggest bang for our buck. Thanks for watching and I hope you found this helpful.
Hi Jody. There isn’t a separate fuel shutoff, but the fuel selector switch acts as one. When it is switched from gas to propane it shuts off the gas. I haven’t needed one, because with such a small fuel tank, I simply run it out of fuel each time I run it. Thanks for watching!
How long do firmans last compared to generacs? I am looking to get a new unit and I found this and different one. I'm not experienced in generators and it's hard to find good information on websites (fakes reviews).
This firman has lasted longer than we expected for sure. The generac lasted a year. It was a larger generator, 10,000 W, and what we paid for. It was more than twice the price of this Firman. So if we were given the opportunity again to choose the Firman or the Generac, we would absolutely buy the Firman. Be blessed friend.
@@rudy-s2k this generator has been absolutely fabulous for us. We use it as our main power source when there’s not solar gain throughout the winter here in Alaska. We just gave it a tuneup this fall so we expected to run at least another winter. We put an insane amount of hours on generators so anything that lasts more than a year is worth its weight in gold. Be blessed friend. I hope your generator runs well for you.
Well, first I gotta ask you if you ever used it on the lake or ice fishing and do you recommend keeping it off the ground? I usually use a fire pit grill Stan from my suitcase, Honda. Just to keep it off the ground and out of the snow.
We haven’t used it ice fishing, but I would definitely use something to keep it up off the ice so that as it melts the ice the water doesn’t get into it
Those jugs used to be 2 for $15 on amazon 2 years ago. Now, they’re are $30+ for 1, if you can even find them. They’re our long term investment plan. Ha!
@@FlatTireFarmHomesteadingAlaska yes I bought about 10 back them froM Walmart I think for 7-8$. It was cheapest price. Great jugs. I was hauling water from a local spring off the highway. But they closed it down from some bacteria. I think for control. Tons of people got water there. I found another source well luckily
@@mick5740 Glad you found another source for sure! We do have a small creek in our property, but it runs pretty slow. Definitely need to be filtered before drinking. But nice to set your feet in when summer gets hot. 😊
@@FlatTireFarmHomesteadingAlaska awesome. Here about are you in AK. I wondered about goin there but have no idea where would be a good place and or what towns
@@mick5740 We are in Willow Alaska. Smack dab between a mountain and a huge river. Not too many people. A gas station, and everyone’s got a snow plow. It’s Heaven. Lots of off grid subsistence folks here. We’re on 40 acres that Id bordered on one side by a grandfathered dog sled trail. We have about 15 acres of muskag full of cloud berries, blueberries and a small type of cranberry and our tint creek But the best part here is the community. Everyone is ready to lend a hand for whoever needs it. Such a blessing here.
I like it so much I bought another, refurbished on ebay from the firman plant for 399.99, and a parallel kit, and I can now power my entire house. I highly recommend
Awesome!
Great tutorial video. Well documented and easy explaination for even the most novice. BIG THANKS and have a great Navy Day!
@@f14tomcataocretired95 Glad you found it helpful. Oo-rah!
Your review has provided me with the confidence to purchase this generator! Just south of you in BC. Thanks for taking the time.
@@LG-yp6on awesome! I’m so glad you found it helpful.
Great review!! Thanks very helpful
Yay!! I’m glad you found it useful!
I got the same generator last year from Costco. I did a thorough break in and put in a magnetic dipstick last summer and put in synthetic oil after 2 changes. I have tested it with both gasoline and propane for a few hours before putting it away. With a full tank of propane, it would run for the whole day. I measured the noise level to be 60dB with load from 23ft. I can hardly hear it from inside the house. We are in the middle of a multiple day power outage after an ice storm right now and I am running it for 2 fridges, one chest freezer, a microwave, two heaters, and a few battery chargers since yesterday. I prefer to use propane even it has less output as it has several advantages over gasoline inclduing the longer run time, easy long term storage, etc. It is a good unit although it is a little bit noisier than other brands.
Hi Bill. Thanks for watching! I agree! They really are great little generators! We found the same thing with the propane tanks. It’ll run from morning well into the night. One question though: what is a magnetic dipstick? I’m not familiar with them
@@FlatTireFarmHomesteadingAlaska The magnetic dipstick would replace the original plastic oil cap. It has a magnet at the tip inside that it can capture the metal debris particularly from a new engine that may damage the pistol. It is only around $15 from Amazon or eBay and it is the same model for Champion 3400/3500. For the first oil change after the first 30min run without load, I can see metal debris on it. For the second oil change (I switched to synthetic at this point) after ~2hr run with varying load, there was much less metal debris in it.
Ah! I have heard of those! Maybe I will pick one up!
Many thanks. I am a 69 yr old widow trying to prepare for emergencies. I needed this info.
We hope you found lots of helpful hints. 😊
Wow. I love the way you BOTH describe things so thoroughly. Everyone benefits from that approach! Great video, Mr Reeve!
Stay warm up there! ♥️
Thanks Miss Sandi! Happy Saturday my wonderful friend! ❤️
Excellent review. Straight to the point. Thanks!
Glad you found it useful, friend.
Liked the review! I figured if an Alaskan has run a piece of equipment through its paces, it should be good to go in the lower 48!
Hey friend! I’m glad you enjoyed this one. Thanks for watching and commenting. Stay warm out there. 😊
This is the best generator review video ever! This guy is so knowledgeable, well-spoken, handsome and just generally amazing! I should probably go out and buy four of these generators right now! Why four? Why not?! 😉
Humble and handsome! How do you spell the sound your eyes make when they roll? Ha!
@@FlatTireFarmHomesteadingAlaska 🙄
I had a Firman last summer I bought at Costco. After about a month, I had to return it because it wouldn't start easily. I had to adjust the rocker arms and tech support wanted me to take the whole generator apart to unplug the circuit board and then plug it back in. I returned it to Costco. I bought a Honda and don't have any issues with it. Thanks for the review.
Yikes! Sounds like you you made a great choice there! Honda makes a great, reliable generator. My Yamaha is my favorite, but about 3 times the cost of that Firman. Bites ya in the wallet a little too hard for me to buy a new I’ve just yet. 😊
Same thing with mine i had to adjust the choc closure it took a few minutes ,
Why did you return it when you said it would start easily?
I have one. I only use propane. Its 3 years old and works great.
My brother bought one and he is off grid.
He uses gasoline and he had zero problems so far.
Preventive maintenance is a must.
@@wt9653 *wouldn't
@@MyAlaska12
Wouldn't what?
I have a similar unit, only for gasoline, but my only negative point is what you mentioned, it is hard to do maintenance without disassembling the panels and possibly the "frame" holding those panels. The fact that it is very quiet makes up for it as I am in a suburban environment and when we're out of power.
For those like me without propane, you can buy a can of starter fluid and spray some in the carburetor through the air filter housing, when it's too cold and it won't start. Unfortunately it means taking off six screws, not that big of a deal, except when it's so cold that your generator won't start...! I wish they thought about this and put a little hole so we could insert the tiny red straw directly in the air chamber behind the air filter.
Absolutely spot on with the maintenance access. Just bought one of these and needed to remove the battery to retrieve the battery cable connector that had shifted in shipping. Nightmare. Ditto on the air filter. Other than that, initial impressions are very good.
Hi Stephan. Thanks for watching and commenting! I have been quite happy with mine. I’m at almost 700 hours on it and it’s still doing very well! I simply removed the panels and just leave them off all of the time now. If you do that also remove the screws as well, because they will vibrate out of the holes after a while.
Great review! I bought this same model after watching your last review. I haven't had to use it as much as you but I'm super happy with the purchase. Thanks for the more detailed breakdown and goodness, stay warm!!
Hey friend, that’s awesome! We’re so glad you find our videos useful. Thanks for watching and commenting and don’t be afraid to ask questions if you have ‘em. We’re happy to help. Woodstove is currently blazing, staying warm is on the agenda. Ha!
Thanks for the review. I just had one of these delivered from Costco today. I'll be using it for occasional RV use and emergencies at home if we get a power outage, and I plan to mostly use propane so I don't have to keep a can of gasoline in my garage. Your video makes me think that I got a great generator at a great price.
Thanks for watching and commenting! We are very happy with it! I’m sure you will be too
Thank you very much,Your channel has some of the most helpful information is greatly appreciate!
Thanks friend! We’re so glad you enjoyed this one.😊 stay warm out there.
@Jack Sichewski I hear they make an aftermarket heater for that exhaust hose, but pulling it out in the winter seems to be much less of a hassle to me...and free. Ha!
Mr. Arlen, my sweet friend, your Hollywood debut is up and running in our latest video. ❤️
ua-cam.com/video/Fwq6U6TJ8Pk/v-deo.html
I'm pretty savvy when it comes to generators, but am unfamiliar with Firman. We are in the market for a medium sized inverter genset for emergency backup for my MIL's trailer here on our ranch and she noticed this model was on sale at Costco, so let the Y.T. research begin. Armed with your review and Gavin's Garage review, we have decided to give this model a try. Very informative review, thank you for the effort.
Thanks for watching friend. Glad you found it helpful. There’s some good information in the comments too. Lots of discussion about specific questions people have had. It might be worth a look. Be blessed.
Excellent review from a guy that uses and relies on his generator. Thanks for sharing yr experience with us.
We’re glad you enjoyed it. Have a great week friend.
Motor freeze up. During Ice storm 98, there was no reburn at that time. However, the generators would freeze up in January, but it was only the air filter that would freeze on the open frame generators. The solution was to remove the air filter (not a lot of dust in January in Malone, NY) or cut two flaps out of the box the generator came in and place that over the generator. The heat from the generator would warm the are in the box and reduce the amount of freeze up of moisture condensing on the filter. On today's generators, the carbon monoxide safety mechanism would prevent this solution. But it is a great tip on removing the reburn if you are in a very cold climate situation. Oh, I have the W03382 Firman unit. It is also very quiet compared to the Generac XL5500.
Exactly! That’s just how we would prevent air box freeze up in the older generators too. Using the box to give it a house I mean. We have yet to have a problem removing the reburn tube from the valve cover but I don’t know how many people know about it. I still see it become a problem for a lot of people up here. Thanks for watching and commenting friend! Be blessed!
Love Alaska and the Alaskan people! Both beautiful!
Thanks Leo! We’re a unique bunch thats for sure. Ha!
I agree with the PCV hose. In the big Christmas blizzard last year my big 6250w generator had the PCV freeze and shot all the oil out of the low oil shut off switch on the side of the crank, the valve cover gasket, and the fill plug seal. I thought for sure I blew the engine with the oil all on the ground but thankfully it was just the PCV that was frozen and made the pressure climb so high that the oil shot out and shut down the generator when it ran out of oil pressure. My band-aid fix was to place the generator in a makeshift enclosure and I used pipe insulation on the PCV hose. The real solution was I bought a PCV warmer that is meant for whole house generators and wired it up to the 110v outlet and wrapped it around the PCV hose. My moisture is even worse since I run mine on natural gas with an aftermarket conversion kit but we will see if I ever need to take advantage of the warmer on the hose.
Good luck friend! Stay warm out there. Thanks for watching. 😊
Great video! You’re a natural at this.
Hey Leo, hope you get some traction out of this. We tried to give helpful advice and a bit of tattle tailing. Ha!
I bought a Firman a few years back for my permanent campsite on my acreage in the country. It kept a solar battery stack charged in the inclement days and power tool days. It was great until the brain in it got stupid. I would much prefer an older style of system operation. I rewired it with full mechanical control and it is still kicking but is starting to use oil. Soon it will be scraped.
I would definitely sign up for an older style control system too! Less to break down. Glad to hear you’re getting as much life out of your as we got out of ours
Thanks for this video! There a few on here with start up and usage, none but yours gives a long term pro/con view! I've been looking at these for awhile and they will be going on sale at Costco very soon.
Hey Miss Mary! I’m glad you enjoyed this one and found it useful. Don’t be shy if you have any questions when you get your generator. We’re happy to help where we can. 😊
@@FlatTireFarmHomesteadingAlaska I may take you up on that. I'm pretty handy, but electrical tends to make me very leery.
@@maryrothfuchs9404 Sounds great, friend. We’ll be here. 😊
[sigh.] I miss those decorative black rings the cast iron pans left on your Alaskan wallpaper. They are nothing more than faded memories of the past now. -Dusty
Ha! I hated them. Hated! But you, you I like. 💕😊
if you need a bigger generator another option is to just buy a second one, and get the firman parallel kit works great I have two of these that I also bought from costco. I also have been leaving them in the cold in the winter without disconecting the battery and in the spring they start right up still.. I do not recommend abusing it like that but just saying I dont treat them well and they still work.
Hey Joseph! Good info! Did Costco have the parallel cable or did you have to order it?
Good info, I have a small Firman but haven't used it yet.
Hey Jim! We have used this one for a year now and we decided this week that they were going to get another one before winter. Because we live completely off grid, having a back up generator is necessary. And we really like the fact that we can buy this one at Costco, and if it dies within a year we just return it and get a new one. We have gone through our fair share of generators that’s for sure. Ha!
Very good honest review. Those are really hard to come by these days. Thank you
Hey Miss Mindy! I’m glad you liked it. Sugar coating does us no good when it’s -25°, Ha! Thanks for all your support. Hope you’re doing great!
@@FlatTireFarmHomesteadingAlaska doing good it got pretty cold her we hit the single digits in temp but it only lasted a couple days. Southern states problems. Lol
@@Mindy56743 That’s pretty cold for you guys! I’m glad you made it out unscathed. You’re a tough lady, that’s one thing I know for sure about you. Bet it never even phased you. 😊
@@FlatTireFarmHomesteadingAlaska I am a incredibly tight ass. I closed down the house to 2 rooms and lived in my kitchen/dining room for the cold spell. I am on the grid and don’t want to pay the expensive electric bills.
@@Mindy56743 You are a genius! I love your ingenuity.
Great all around review.
Thanks!
Nice, Thanks for sharing.
Thanks for watching friend
At the beginning I thought the dog was a polar bear. 😂
Ha! Wouldn’t that have been a show! Be blessed friend.
Excellent review, thank you!
No problem friend! Thanks for watching. 😊
Being an inverter generator is why its so quiet! I had everything but the fuel tank on my predator 3500 removed and it really made no difference in sound.
Great and informative review!
We’re glad you found it useful. Thanks for watching and commenting. Have a great weekend. 😊
Ha! I knew i recognized that voice. Hope you 2 are staying warm! Great review BTW.
Yay!!! We miss you friend!! Think of you often. We have the same numbers. You should get ahold of us.
@@FlatTireFarmHomesteadingAlaska ww will! We pass by often, have a home at mile 133.
@@Akdale777 Awesome!
That was a good review! Maybe my next generator will be that brand.
Hey Jewels! Glad to hear from you again. We’re always so happy to find a generator that can function through our winters. The propane function saved our bacon more than once this winter. Stay warm out there friend. 😊
@@FlatTireFarmHomesteadingAlaska I am definitely staying warm, Florida here. Need generator for hurricane's...ugh! Your input on running it on propane was informative so thanks 😊
@@jewels7832 Ha! Got it! Stay cool and…not windy! Ha!
Great video
Glad you enjoyed it friend. Thanks for watching. 😊
What a great video thank you.
I’m so glad you enjoyed it! Thanks for watching. 😊
I have the Firman one size smaller. Thanks for the tip on pulling the crank case hose in the winter time. My main complaint with the enclosed engine parts is the battery is very difficult to access and or remove. With no battery my understanding is that the propane fuel system won't work so this summer in the warmer weather I am going to see about installing some sort of extension jumper cables in case I have to boost the battery should it become drained or even need to connect an external battery in an emergency.
What a great idea! Let us know how that works out. Have a great week friend. 😊
Great review
Thanks friend! We’re glad you enjoyed it. 😊
Thank you sir.
No problem friend. Hope you found it useful!
I use syntec oil on mine gen ,its a great advantage in the cold
Thanks for the tip! We’ll be trying that for sure. Thanks for watching and stay warm out there.
Great review well done.
Thanks friend! Hope you found it useful. 😊
@@FlatTireFarmHomesteadingAlaska very useful info and straight to point. I hit the like button!
@@bbrutalx4404 thanks friend. 😊
I subscribed. This guy is good.
We appreciate it friend. Glad to have you along with us on our journey.
Awesome tips! thank you! I'm glad to have found your reviews of this model and living with winter conditions similar as mine. I'm still looking to know how / where to run the unit safely. The manual says it needs to stay on a dry ground and grounded. How / where do you run yours? Do you cover it?
Thanks for watching! I do keep it covered, and it is up just a little bit off the ground. We haven’t grounded ours, but it is a good idea. We have ours in a garden shed with the exhaust directed either out the door or out a hole in the wall. I will often run it outside as long as it is not snowing or raining, but I try to keep it in out of the weather! Hope that helps! Let us know if you have any other questions! Thanks again!
Any update on how this generator is still running? How many hours you’ve put on it. Great review!
Hey friend! We ran this generator to its last leg. I just kicked ot last week. I think the rings have gone. I’m gonna take it apart and clean it out and see if it isn’t something simple. But it’s probably just dead. We ran this generator for about 3000 hours and used it as our main power source for two years. Totally worth the $500!
@@FlatTireFarmHomesteadingAlaska thanks for the update!
I just returned two of these units back to Costco. Definitely not quite, I was really bummed and wanted these to work because costco has the best return policy in the game. The predator 3500 in substantially quieter. If noise is not an issue for you... go for it!
Hi Tom! Thanks for watching and commenting. It’s true this generator isn’t as quiet as something like a Honda, but we don’t mind. I’m not familiar with the predator. Who makes it?
@Flat Tire Farm - Homesteading Alaska harbor freight carrys it. For the money... in my opinion... it's one of the best, quite and affordable.
Maybe worth a look! Thanks!
The predator 3500 is the quietest generator ive ever heard. I had one which I absolutely loved i had to stop using it because the muffler went bad and the stuff inside blocks the exhaust and makes it run crappy, i tried to buy a replacement muffler and found out that it can’t be found, and HF doesn’t sell the replacement either so I ended up buying this same generator in hopes that it can be as good or better than the predator 3500
Subbed
@@hownotto4067 whoop! Thanks friend!
Im interested in your solar setup. I’ll see if you got any vids on it
Hey Mick, we do have a short video on it. How to use a SMALL OFF-GRID SOLAR SYSTEM - HOMESTEADING ALASKA
ua-cam.com/video/-Jm9oW-CI78/v-deo.html
We are happy to answer any questions you have on whatever we didn’t cover. It’s just a small 2000w system. 😊
mine backfired and would not run again after about 20 hours, returned it and just got a refurbished. It will not run on the propane fuel but does fine on gasoline. If I hold the red battery button for five minutes I can get it to fart a bit, but still will not run. I tried two different tanks, both good and full. Im feeling these things have a weakness at the propane solenoid system. Dont really want to go get the 4000 now on sale for 600. The smaller 3200 is good for me, but it needs to RUN!
Hey Doug, thanks for watching! That’s awful! I’m sorry that you’ve had such a crappy experience with yours. Maybe return it and tell them you want a new one. It shouldn’t be that difficult to get it to run!
@@FlatTireFarmHomesteadingAlaska yeah..no time..really right now to be repairing new stuff that doesnt work. I can just get the costco 200 off for the 4000k firman right now. Return this refurb from Ebay. It wasnt tested its clear.
Well I hope you’ll be as happy with the 4K firman as I have been. If you have any questions let me know
@@FlatTireFarmHomesteadingAlaska So here is what happened, I troubleshoooted the refurbished and find the propane system is dead. There is no resistance or continuity at the little plug that activates the valve. Power comes out at the outlet when the red battery switch is pushed, but no propane. So Firman agreed to send a new propane setup and then I still had nothing the next day, no shipping notice or message. So I called back again today and got them off their ass and they promised to send, this is a new supposedly tested item that does not work with $100 shipping cost! And to return it Id have to drain the oil and run all the fuel out of it, rebox it..A ton of work. They promised to send it USPS so hopefully first class and I get it as needed but I regret the purchase and this is typcial sketchy Chinese quality although a great design, solid machine and great value but enough incompetence! A new (refurb) item should work! And now after two failures of the propane solenoid, my prior unit and this one, I want a spare on hand and Im going to repair my old solenoid and keep it handy for next time! You see I live on a boat and use this regularly and most of these units arent run 20 hours a year, but I expect a good long useful service life of a thousand hours or so..as we get from our cars and appliances that we call 'durable goods' right? Okay Im not so happy with Firman. And Ebay still shows my generator as 'not delivered.' Crazy. A day after I got it, UPS finally sent me a delivery notification. sheesh! Thanks for reading.
Good grief! That sounds stupid! I’m sorry it’s been such a mess!
If you use a measured oil container to fill the generator who's required volume was determined in the summer, you may be surprised to find that you grossly overflow and make a mess in a very cold winter! Why? ADHESION! If at a winter oil change, you wait the same amount of time that you did in the summer, the oil adhesion may have left 30% behind. Adding 100% of the required oil makes 130% and it overflows. It's just amazing how much of that cold cruddy oil stays behind. After draining for a normal length of time, leave an empty pan underneath for another 12 to 24 hours and see how much more you collect! Never do COLD oil changes, only HOT oil changes; otherwise, do a very length darin.
Hey Robert! As usual, great points! I run it for a bit before I change oil, but when it’s below zero it still cools down fast enough that I don’t quite get it all. I feel like that is another good reason to do oil changes often, especially in cold climates. Thanks for watching and commenting! You really know your stuff!
Awesome review brother! Thank you for the maintenance tips and cold weather running. What is your maintenance schedule which has proven effective as you have a generator that you’ve run for 10 years? I want to copy it and then print it and laminate it and keep it with my generators. I am buying this generator today for my travel trailer as I have a 9800W Westinghouse for my home. Thank you!!
Hey Sean, thanks for watching and commenting! Wow! Laminating a copy and keeping it with your generator! You must be part engineer! Ha! My Dad is an engineer and that is exactly what he would do! For my money, the most important maintenance is oil changes. I change it every 200 hrs except for the first one. On the first oil change, it’s usually recommended at 25 or 50 hrs or so. I don’t do that. I like to run it for about 5 hrs and then immediately change the oil. I also change spark plugs at least once a year. I think the Yamaha generator that I have has run for so long partly because of the build quality too. I’ve never had another generator go so long. At least not the small portable ones. One thing I have added to my maintenance is adjusting the valve lash. I just learned how to do it a year ago and it seems to smooth out the running of the engine. I’m planning to do a video on that this summer. Stay tuned!
Any chance you've installed a Fumoto valve on the oil pan to help with oil changes? If so, do you recall the thread size, it's not listed in the manual/assembly drawings.
Sorry friend. I have not.
@@FlatTireFarmHomesteadingAlaska NBD, I reached out to Firman direct. They sent me the information. Incase you'd want to make the upgrade its M10 x 1.25
@@Werno15 oh thanks!!! You are awesome!!
Great Video. How hard is this beast to carry around? That's basically my only concern about buying it. Like getting it in and out of the vehicle.
Hey Krook, thanks for watching! It’s definitely not fun to carry it around, but it has wheels and a handle which work great. It’s definitely heavy, but lifting it in and out of vehicles is totally manageable. It really is a great machine. It’s been going strong for us for a while now!
Looks like a cool chanel !!! Im in mt
Thanks friend! Glad to have you along with us on our journey.
The reason I am looking at this is, I believe the engine is a Kohler. Most others are made in China- Duramax, Champion, Predator, and Genmax, etc. I guess I want dependability more than bells and whistles. Do you see the benefit of the invertor over the conventional generator? I'd be interested to here your opinion on this,
Hey John, hope the day is treating you well. I really like the Kohler engines as well. For us, the inverter is important. We need that clean sine wave electricity coming into the house, because our house inverter has sensitive electronics. That’s the only reason though. If the generator wasn’t run straight to the house inverter, I would definitely choose longevity over bells and whistles.
I just bought the same generator at Costco. Do I need to worry about the battery freezing? I’m storing it outside under the house here in Fairbanks. I forgot to charge the battery so will need to bring it inside to thaw out before charging. Does it charge while running or only when plugged in?I have 2 jugs of gas and 4 propane bottles on standby. I’ll start it up when it is fully charged and the magnetic oil stick comes in from Amazon. Thanks for your review!
Hi Deb! Thanks for watching! The battery doesn’t charge while it’s running. The charger that came with it has to be plugged in. I just keep it plugged in to the generator itself and it keeps it topped off
I bought this exact generator from Costco a couple weeks ago. I went camping last week and the generator went through a full tank of gas in 20 minutes; I filled it up again and it did the same thing. I can't believe that this in normal, any thoughts?
@@PPyle oh no! Ours runs for 6-8 hours on a tank. It goes through fuel much quicker at a higher draw and maybe it runs 3-4 hours. I would say you might want to exchange it. Best of luck friend! We’ve ran this generator for 2 years now as our primary power source (not including the solar panels) and it just started running rough last month. Gave it a tune up this week and runs like a champ again. 😊
@@FlatTireFarmHomesteadingAlaska Thanks for the quick response, I appreciate it. Looks like I will be taking it back to Costco and exchanging it.
@@PPyle anytime friend. 😊
i just bought a this used generator and the guy said no power was coming out it starts but no power and the hour meter does not light up any idea on what might be the problem?
Hey friend, I’m no mechanic, but my experience tells me that it is either a wiring problem in between the display panel and the genset or the genset itself has gone bad. Any chance you’re local? I know a really great generator guy.
Being that the drain plug is deep inside the unit, is it a pain to change the oil?
It’s not really much of a problem. 😊
Can you refill the gas while it is running ?
It’s definitely not advised but plenty of people do. 😊
The Firman generators were all the craze in early 2023 since Costco was selling them here in Québec, Canada. Sales went through the roof when we had an ice storm in late March/early April (I forgot the exact timing). My gorgeous neighbourette bought one as we lost power for 28 hours straight. Thereafter, I googled “Firman generators”, and I found out many horror stories about those generators on UA-cam. Many critical parts on this generator are made of plastic. Soooo, when I saw your video where you live in Alaska and you needed a generator to power everything, I wondered why you didn’t buy a Honda. You kinda gave me the answer at the end. Your Firman generator cost you only $500. Wow! A Honda generator would have cost you a lot more. But then again, I have yet to find a contractor in my neck of the woods that uses a Firman. Pretty much all of them use a Honda generator…
Hey friend, this firman has done really well for us. With the number of hours we put on a generator, if it lasts us a year, it’s great! Ha! Yeah a Honda that’s almost the same power is over $3000 here. If I could get a 7 year warranty on it, it might be worth the money, but no body has good warrantees these says. At $500 we can’t pass it the Firman, and if it dies in a within a year, we can just return it to Costco for a new one. And from what I here the new fuel injected Hondas have a flooding problem if it doesn’t start on the first pull. At -30F nothing starts on the first pull. Ha! So far we’ve really liked the firman, maybe we just got lucky and got a good one. Ha! Be blessed friend.
@@FlatTireFarmHomesteadingAlaska Tks for your reply. I bit the bullet. I’m getting my EU7000is today. Will tell you if I have the flooding issue. Let’s put it this way. For the price I’m paying, I’d better not. Otherwise, they’ll get an earful… It gets pretty cold here in Quebec in the winter. So…, I’ll make sure to attempt to start the generator when it gets to 0 F. Stay tuned! I’ll let you know how it performs!
@@jean-marcfiliatrault266 Thanks! You’re the best!
Great information. We are considering this. The weight on Costco says 111lbs? Is it really that heavy? You picked it up so easy.
Yep it is that heavy. Miss Chrystal feeds me pretty well. Helps make heavy lifting look easy. Ha!
😊thank you passed the info on to my hubby..
We have used the ua-cam.com/users/postUgkxOTeIs0vv4_9B5hsmnLsk9r930uDQLu_Y for probably 30 hours with our camper and it’s been great! The noise level is really only noticeable when running the AC and other appliances like the microwave, hair dryer, or coffee pot. It’s not huge like other ones and it has wheels so even at 90lbs, I can move it!
Hi Kristen! Thanks for watching and commenting! The cover that we have came with the generator when we bought it. Have you googled it or checked Firman’s website?
In Canada propane in half of gas in costs
Hey Tim, that’s awesome! If you come for a visit, bring some propane with you. Ha! Thanks for watching and commenting.😊
how can you charge your solar panel system batteries with this generator ?
The system can draw power either from the solar panels or a generator. Both of those sources can charge the batteries. That way when there’s not sun available, we still can charge batteries with the generator. Great question. Thanks for watching.
@@FlatTireFarmHomesteadingAlaska If my battery runs out at night due to lack of sunlight... how can I charge my batteries with the generator? Is there any way to connect them? Directly? Connecting the load directly to where the solar cells enter the converter? 😬
Where is the battery? How i charge it?
Hi Henry! The first video I did on this generator shows where it is and how to set it up:
Alaska Cabin Life FIRMAN DUAL FUEL GENERATOR SETUP and COLD CLIMATE MODIFICATION
ua-cam.com/video/8fzHR4HR-oo/v-deo.html
Did you put in synthetic oil ?
We don’t really don’t use synthetic oil on small engines because it’s not always worth the cost. But either would work for this generator. The frequency of the oil changes far more important. 😊
Are these not eligible for Costco’s lifetime no questions asked return policy?
Hey friend. Here we get a 1 year, no questions asked return policy. 😊 So, if it dies in a year, we switch it out for a new one. If it’s longer than a year, then we are just out $500 bucks. So far this generator has continued to run great for us. Alternatively, we really like Honda generators, but they’re seven times more expensive here and only offer a two year warranty. So for our purposes, this gives us the biggest bang for our buck. Thanks for watching and I hope you found this helpful.
Is there a fuel shut off ?
Hi Jody. There isn’t a separate fuel shutoff, but the fuel selector switch acts as one. When it is switched from gas to propane it shuts off the gas. I haven’t needed one, because with such a small fuel tank, I simply run it out of fuel each time I run it. Thanks for watching!
How long do firmans last compared to generacs? I am looking to get a new unit and I found this and different one. I'm not experienced in generators and it's hard to find good information on websites (fakes reviews).
This firman has lasted longer than we expected for sure. The generac lasted a year. It was a larger generator, 10,000 W, and what we paid for. It was more than twice the price of this Firman. So if we were given the opportunity again to choose the Firman or the Generac, we would absolutely buy the Firman. Be blessed friend.
Thank you! I will take your input into consideration. God bless.
Bless you too sweet friend. 😊
I will go the same way. What size of tank do you use?
Theres a 1.8 gallon tank on that firman. 😊 oh you probably meant what size propane tank. We use a couple 20 pound cylinders.
@@FlatTireFarmHomesteadingAlaska My thought exactly.
How's a generator let's see on a lake in an ice castle, basically just using a t v
@@rudy-s2k this generator has been absolutely fabulous for us. We use it as our main power source when there’s not solar gain throughout the winter here in Alaska. We just gave it a tuneup this fall so we expected to run at least another winter. We put an insane amount of hours on generators so anything that lasts more than a year is worth its weight in gold. Be blessed friend. I hope your generator runs well for you.
@@FlatTireFarmHomesteadingAlaska stay warm 🥶
Well, first I gotta ask you if you ever used it on the lake or ice fishing and do you recommend keeping it off the ground? I usually use a fire pit grill Stan from my suitcase, Honda. Just to keep it off the ground and out of the snow.
We haven’t used it ice fishing, but I would definitely use something to keep it up off the ice so that as it melts the ice the water doesn’t get into it
I use same water jugs as you lol iv got a wen. Dual fuel.
Those jugs used to be 2 for $15 on amazon 2 years ago. Now, they’re are $30+ for 1, if you can even find them. They’re our long term investment plan. Ha!
@@FlatTireFarmHomesteadingAlaska yes I bought about 10 back them froM Walmart I think for 7-8$. It was cheapest price. Great jugs. I was hauling water from a local spring off the highway. But they closed it down from some bacteria. I think for control. Tons of people got water there. I found another source well luckily
@@mick5740 Glad you found another source for sure! We do have a small creek in our property, but it runs pretty slow. Definitely need to be filtered before drinking. But nice to set your feet in when summer gets hot. 😊
@@FlatTireFarmHomesteadingAlaska awesome. Here about are you in AK. I wondered about goin there but have no idea where would be a good place and or what towns
@@mick5740 We are in Willow Alaska. Smack dab between a mountain and a huge river. Not too many people. A gas station, and everyone’s got a snow plow. It’s Heaven. Lots of off grid subsistence folks here. We’re on 40 acres that Id bordered on one side by a grandfathered dog sled trail. We have about 15 acres of muskag full of cloud berries, blueberries and a small type of cranberry and our tint creek But the best part here is the community. Everyone is ready to lend a hand for whoever needs it. Such a blessing here.
AWESOME VIDEO THANK YOU FOR SHARING .
Glad you enjoyed it friend!
@@FlatTireFarmHomesteadingAlaska I SURE DID,