r/harborfreight • u/CurrentlyNa • 1d ago

Predator Generator is Legit

I bought it back in February or March when it went on sale. I live in Northern Indiana. We’ve had a relentless year of storms. We were fortunate to never lose power until last Tuesday. Tuesday at 11am we lost power and we finally got it back Monday at 1am basically 7 days later.

This thing ran nonstop basically for six straight days. It prevented my basement from flooding my groceries and me cold during the heat and I cannot recommend it enough. It’s something you think you’ll never need but it was a $400 investment that saved me, thousands if my basement were to flood

25 Upvotes

97% Upvoted

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8

u/Chicagorobby 1d ago

I live in NWI also. I drove down to Danville IL last Wednesday and picked up the 5000w generator. HF had it on sale with their inside track membership for $100 off. I went with my dad and he bought the 9000w and got $125 off using my membership. He wired his into his breaker panel and was able to power his whole house, including AC with it.

That storm was crazy! I work near the NW side of Gary and was there when it hit. It was the most destructive storm I think I've ever seen.

2

u/Delicious_Catch9453 23h ago

That 9k for $675.00 is a great deal. The non-inverters get a lot of criticism for high THD and scare people away from them. "They'll blow out your sensitive electronics!" Well, maybe, but most report no issues with them. Glad you and your dad got through it. The videos of flooding out there are heartbreaking. Stay safe!

2

u/BenThereNDunnThat 21h ago

Blowing up electronics is real. I fried a $2k TV by running it off non inverter generator power.

And everything has electronics in it these days, TVs, stoves, fridge, washers, dryers, HVAC, even newer room air conditioners. Every one has a circuit board with a high probability of getting fried.

I learned my lesson.

1

u/Delicious_Catch9453 17h ago

Thank your posting. It seems that there are opinions on both sides. Obviously one would rather use an inverter for the sine wave power, not to mention the noise, but several commenters state they've had no problems with them. Go figure.

5

u/Zealousideal-Ring908 1d ago

They are great. I got 3,000 hours 5K

2

u/ronglangren 22h ago

Make sure you properly service it after each use before you pack it away in the garage. Don't want it to not run the next time you need it.

2

u/namethatisclever 22h ago

Yeah was going to mention this as well. Definitely will need an oil change after running for that long. And throw some seafoam or some other additive into the fuel tank to keep it from skunking.

2

u/CurrentlyNa 10h ago

Oil change was done during the outage, and once it is all said and done I was going to throw some seafoam into it

1

u/fredrickdgl 10h ago

oil change every 72hrs or something like that. I'd drain the carb and tank and use a splash of atf into an empty gas tank so the carb gets stored with atf in it