How many Appliances can it run? Complete Craftsman 3500W generator review.

This is a review of the Craftsman 3500W portable gasoline generator. I purchased this generator last fall when hurricane Karl was supposed to be a big storm in the area where we live. Fortunately it didn't turn out to be that bad and I never used the generator. I probably could have returned it, but I figured it would be handy someday. Today was at least the day to put it through the paces. Check the links below for more information on the generators.

Nearly identical Lowes versions I tested in the video:

[joshlasceski]

Devices with motor or compressor such as refrigerators take 3X the power to start up vs. when running, so try plugging the fridge in last as if it was cycling off and on and see if generator has enough surge watts. Also, that appears to be a non-inverter style generator, so the more power produced, the dirtier the power gets. For your sensitive electronics like TV, you may want a device like APC that conditions the dirty power into clean sine wave. One down side of inverter generators is they have more parts to go bad such as inverter, electronic ignition, and servo on carb that syncs engine speed to demand.

[dainsookdeo]

The choke is only for cold start after two pulls you must put back the choke to original position

[TurboWorld]

Great video. Time to check them out! Getting Houston Texas prepared for Artic blast next week! Stay warm out there while keeping your turbo world!

[chrisn]

Uh, she fired up on first pull, that's when you disengage the choke (moving to the right) you had her flooded out.

[jayluss]

I HATE modern gas cans. Whoever is forcing us to use these should be in jail. Great video, just what I was looking for

[wendlandpark]

We have the 5000 watt version. Great to know the 3500 can do all that. We used it to power our chest feeezers when we lost power for a few days last summer.

[davidgaston]

Well glad to see your choke did the same thing. Panic bought this today after storms took out our power, and it was 100 degrees today so couldn't go without AC. Was paranoid something was going to go wrong since I didn't do the choke as the manual said. Everything worked out fine.

[ytpremium]

I just need a generador to power my synthesizer keyboard outside so I can play in the Woods with headphones on

[plantmanstudios]

The correct way to test this generator is to find out how many watts each appliance uses, add the numbers up and then compare it with the rated running watts and not the start up watts.

[badtothebone]

Think about investing in a manual transfer switch.

[ericj]

I have a 5000 watts version of this. I use efree gas. Never had to really use it yet in power outage. But i will at some point....

[Akhazmat]

You use the new gas cans? Why.... FYI if you want internet then hook up your wireless router. Just hooking up a laptop won't get you online

[sarssars-hmox]

Hmm I also have that wattage great video

[Lawdoggd]

You did choke it when it first started, when it's starts to die flip the lever. Geez, you must use electric lawn and garden equipment

[waterawarness]

Did you ever the choke position to the left when you were adding more appliances?

[alistairwindsor]

I never charge my computer directly from the generator. I have some battery packs that I charge and then run the computers of those. Non-inverter generators produce notoriously dirty power. Also I have heard that people experience refrigerator compressor issues after running from a generator if they push the generator near capacity. Like all electrical engines those compressors pull high amps (and hence high watts) on start up. You will hear a change in the tone of the generator when it happens.

[MRCLSmoothful]

That six month old pepsi made me laugh.

[rd]

Would this be good for a RV Trailer?? Does it have a 50 amp plug in??

[Fundaykidzz]

Sweet video .. check out hooking your generator up to a Generlink to run the whole house .. Generlink hooks up to your glass electric power on the side of your house then you plug generator into it

[phillipmorgan]

How loud does it get? Has anyone done a decibel check?