Powerhouse 60376 Inverter Generator, 2000-Watt (CARB Compliant)
Price:


Product Feature
- Portable generator with maximum output of 2000 watts--great for campground use
- Integrated inverter for safe use with electronic equipment
- Variable and constant speeds for fuel economy and full power
- Carry handle; recoil start; convenient fuel primer bulb; manual choke
- 1-year consumer warranty (6-month for commercial use); EPA, CARB, and CSA compliant
Product Description
Powerhouse inverter generators provide clean, quiet portable power; perfect for the campground yet powerful enough for the job site. Inverter generators deliver stable, pure sine wave AC output, reliable enough to power even the most sensitive electronic equipment. A high-efficiency combustion system produces exceptionally low emissions. Powerhouse generators are lightweight, designed for portability. The convenient carry handle makes them easy to take along where ever you need portable power.Powerhouse 60376 Inverter Generator, 2000-Watt (CARB Compliant) Review
We took this out on its first camping trip, 3 days of dry camping on Coronado Island. I filled it with 87 Octane gas 10 percent ethanol, and the recommended 15W-40 motor oil. After priming the carb, and flipping the choke lever, the engine started right up. After opening the choke, I switched to economy mode and the engine idled down as it should. I noticed right away that even without an electric load connected, the idle was not very consistent. Every ten seconds or so the engine would load up, bog down, and the automatic throttle control would compensate. I figured that the initial carb setting came from the factory with a heavy rich setting for break-in. We struggled through 2 tank-fulls with this sluggish performance. The only load we ran was a small LCD TV and DVD player in our camper. The engine idle was very erratic, and it would cause the electric output to go into overload protection which would only reset by shutting down the engine. Several times, the engine actually quit on its own due to the erratic idle. The instructions don't explain any procedures regarding carb adjustments, apparently they don't think the consumer should adjust the carb. However, I found a prominent phillips head screw on the side of the carb, and slowly screwing it to the right eventually raised the idle speed. This seemed to help the consistency of the idle a bit, but it would still load up. I haven't found the carb mixture adjustment. On the plus side, the engine is fairly quiet. There were a couple well-used Honda 2000ie's in the camp, and to my ear, the Powerhouse was just about as quiet. The Powerhouse and Honda four strokes each have a different sound; the Honda is slightly higher pitched, and actually less pleasing to my ear. The Powerhouse sounds more like a 4 stroke motorcycle, a deeper pitch. The powerhouse also seems to be well-built with a heavy plastic case with a metal base, metal electric panel, big rubber feet, and the case has lots of foam sound insulation on the inside. It is heavy at 60 pounds. I also tried running the small microwave in the trailer. It will power the microwave with no hesitation if it starts while not running in economy mode. For half the cost of a Honda or Yamaha, I think that this is a good choice if you occasionally use a generator, but don't want to spend an arm and leg. Time will tell whether this is a good choice.UPDATE: Our Powerhouse's performance is getting better with time. I conclude that these Chinese engines simply need a longer break-in period compared to their Japanese counterparts. Out of the box, they may not run as well as a Honda or Yamaha. But give it time and hopefully you'll be pleased with the performance improvements. Our 2000Wi now has about 24 hours total run time on it. We recently used it while dry camping in the Sierra mountains at 8,500 feet altitude. I did not re-jet the carburetor as suggested in the instruction manual--I left everything in the stock configuration. The unit was still very easy to start up in the mountains, and it ran very well, perhaps even a little better than it runs at sea-level now! Running in Eco mode in the mountains was very smooth and consistent. At normal high-speed mode in the mountains, I noticed only a slight decrease in the engine output at the high altitude. It was still able to fire up our camper's small 800 watt microwave without issue. It was very quiet when running it in the campground. Walking more than 60 feet away, the generator noise completely faded away into the other campground noises; the breeze, the stream, etc., and, to me, it still sounded better up close than the Hondas in the campground. I would recommend not fussing with the carburetor re-jet on the Powerhouse unless you are going to be running it exclusively at high altitudes. If you are only using it for high-altitude camping on occasion and you don't need peak power output from it up there, then I recommend leaving the Powerhouse in the stock configuration, and using higher octane gas. Still it gets three stars for now, however.
SECOND UPDATE: July 2013. Just returned from another week camping vacay in the Eastern Sierras at 8500 ft. The Powerhouse 2000Wi performed excellently. It ran for about a total of 40 hours during the week. It was easy to start and ran very well. We had it pluggeddirectly into our trailer 30 amp power cord. It ran the RV fridge, all the lights, three fans, charged phones and iPads for kids, charged RV battery, and more, all without having to run at full speed. It gets a fourth star! And I see its come down in price by about $60 now under 5 bills.
Update 3: another camping trip, 7000 feet altitude, 6 days, average 4 hours per day. Powerhouse continues to perform well. It ran the trailer's small microwave just fine, but recommend putting the motor in regular, non-Eco mode before firing up the microwave. Continues to start really easy and runs well. Change the oil after every campin trip. If it doesn't start, check the spark plug boot. It had fallen off once on this trip and caused a no start. Reinstalled the plug boot and it fired right up.
If it continues to work well next couple trips, I might raise it to 5 stars.
Most of the consumer Reviews tell that the "Powerhouse 60376 Inverter Generator, 2000-Watt (CARB Compliant)" are high quality item. You can read each testimony from consumers to find out cons and pros from Powerhouse 60376 Inverter Generator, 2000-Watt (CARB Compliant) ...
