Here's a quick little entry. I picked up this 2kw inverter generator a year ago for a screaming good deal, $279 plus tax and free shipping, from Home Depot. It's a great running generator once I get it started when cold. If it's a cold start though, look out. Get ready for 15 to 30 pulls of the cord before it springs to life. I thought that maybe there's some simple thing that is amiss, and I wondered if the twist knob that actuates the off/run/choke settings is maybe not fully closing the choke. So, off to the great YouTube to see if anyone else might be suffering this same malady. Lo and behold, there was.
In the below photo, the cable running through the brass piece actuates the choke. I loosened the top screw, pulled the cable a little further through the hole, then tightened up the screw again. You know what? The generator started on the second pull. Yay!
Before changing the cable position, I noted how far closed the choke would go. It was *almost* all the way closed but not quite. I wouldn't have thought that such a small additional movement of the choke plate would make such a huge difference in cold starts, but it did. I don't imagine people who buy those little 2kw Honda inverter generators have to deal with this type of quality control.
I use this small generator when the power goes out (well, duh). Most things in the house only need 120 volts and they don't draw a ton of current, so if the well pump doesn't need to be run, I use this generator to basically power the whole house, including the refrigerator and freezer (we obviously don't use things like the microwave). I turn off all 240v breakers and have a special breakout box that feeds 120 volts to both legs of the power panel. I do also have a breaker panel lockout so I can't back feed to the main incoming power lines.
I have an old Onan 5CCK 5kw generator if we need to run the well pump or something else that requires more than the Pulsar can supply.
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