Coleman PM0431802 Powermate Pulse 1800 Generator

Subaru, 4 HP, OHV/OHC Gas Engine, 1,800 Running Watts, 2,250 Maximum Watts, Portable Gas Generator, Overhead Valve, OHV, Engine Provides Improved Fuel Efficiency, Longer Life & Easier Maintenance, Overhead Cam, OHC, Engine Contains Less Moving Parts Equating To More Reliability, Quieter Operation & Reduced Emissions, 1.3 Gallon Gas Tank Runs Up To 6 Hours @ 50% Load, Control Panel Outlet Package Includes Two 120V Outlets, One 12V Battery Charger Outlet & Circuit Breaker Protection, Fully Enclosed Generator Reduces Noise, Fixed Handles On Both Sides Of Unit For Balanced Carrying, Includes Battery Charging Cables, 3 Year Limited Engine Warranty, 2 Year Limited Generator Warranty.
Customer Review: Not built very well
While the the has run reasonably well the recoil starter has broken twice so far. The recoil starter is attached to the engine shroud with RIVETs! I haven't been able to find replacement parts or service manual on the web. Coleman's web site no longer mentions generators, so much for support! Next time I'll just go with Honda. This price is about double what I paid for my Coleman at a Home Depot and I didn't have to pay shipping! You can find these much cheaper on eBay. Also, my only experience with Grady's Ace Hardware has been very bad, I'll never do business with them again. I'm surprised that Amazon still carries them.
Customer Review: Coleman 25KW standby generator
This standby generator is huge and weighs about 1/2 ton so needs special delivery. I bought it in 2006 and have only used todate for 250 hours. The reasons I chose it was that it runs off natural gas, rotates at 1800rpm and is powered by a 4 cyl Ford industrial engine. It needs a GE Zenith ZTX Transfer switch. It is capable of delivering over 100 amps at 240v even using natural gas, so long as one has the gas utility company supply a 2 psi delivery rather than the usual 10 inch pressure system. The only problems I have had resulted from unclear directions from the now defunct Coleman Powermate customer service. For the first oil change I used 10/30w multigrade Penzoil which caused the black lithium grease to flush off of the big ends and mess up the pressure sender module. This caused it to shut down because it sensed a low oil pressure situation. Going back to the proper Castrol HD 30 weight oil solved that problem. After Hurricane Ike, when the generator started automatically as designed, it later shut down automatically when utility power was restored. I then found an error message on the operator panel which read "Watchdog Fail" and "Recycle Power to Rest". There is no mention of this fault condition in the owners manual. This was when I discovered Powermate was out of business. By removing and replacing the small cartridge fuse for the control panel I managed to unfreeze the control panel. Maybe this is what the "Recycle Power to Reset" instruction means. The generator is now ready for automatic switch on again. This generator cannot be heard from inside the house. Engine parts should be available from any Ford dealer as it is basically a modified Ford Ranger engine. It was obviously well designed as its safe use controls are comprehensive and have been my main problem of ownership. As a whole house standby generator it is the equivalent of main utility supply, runs my two 3 ton AC units without a hickcup, but the cost of running it is more than our regular electric utility provider service. Living as I do on the Texas Gulf Coast this generator is my biggest reason to "hunker down" for a CAT 3 hurricane. I think, with care, it will prove very reliable and parts most likely needing replacement can be purchased from their OEM suppliers (Ford). It would be interesting to learn why Coleman Powermate went belly up. I suspect that after Ford withdrew their LRG-425 engine that GM required payment upfront for the intended Vortex replacement. I also suspect that there were s few design problems associated with the change over. For me, the fact that the GM engine was a 3600rpm unit was a downer and made it similar to the Koehler 30Kw generator. I am a happy owner of my PM402511 unit but a bit frustrated with how Coleman backed out of its 3 year warranty. For a city homeowner, propane is probably a forbidden fuel so natural gas is the way to go. People buying gasoline generators probably underestimate the amount of gas they need to store, the difficulty buying it after a disaster, and the dangers of storing it. This Coleman Powermate is definitely a loss for us all.

Today, finding a true level of an area is commonly done by using modern apparatus such as spirit levels or laser levels. These methods actually work quite well but there are more ways to find an accurate level of an area without using expensive and sophisticated equipment.

Years ago, builders would find true levels by employing a very simple technique which only involved materials such as water and tubing. This is more commonly known as a Water Level and is actually still used by builders today as it offers great accuracy.

There are many uses for a water level like, suppose you need to find the level of two separate rooms in different positions of a house, or maybe you're working on a site where you are setting out and need to establish a datum to work to. A water level will help you achieve all of these things with ease.

For those of you who want to find a cheap and very effective method of establishing true level, read on! Firstly, go and find yourself a good length of plastic tubing. A water hose works absolutely fine for this and you can pick lengths of hose up from any DIY or garden centre for relatively cheap.

Once you have your length of hose, position it on site or wherever you hope to achieve your true level. Make sure one end of the hose is at either side of the two points you want to get your level from. Fill the hose with water but only enough so that you leave about a couple of feet of air at the ends. Hold one end of the hose at the position you want to use as your 'level reference' and then with the aid of a helper, get them to hold the other end of the hose up at the other point you want to establish your next reference point. Mark this clearly with chalk or pencil etc.

Here's the trick to this!

While your helper is holding the hose up at his reference point, move your hose up or down until the level of water in the hose matches the level of the first reference point that is to be transferred. When you have done this task, the line of water in the hose at the second reference point where your helper is will be identical as to where the level is at the first reference point.

Stick with me on this as I know it can be very difficult to visualise this technique without actually seeing a diagram to illustrate it. But trust me when I say this, get this method right and you will always establish true level or datum lines wherever you are working. By the way, for those of you who aren't sure of what a datum line is; A Datum line is the true level line of reference that all other trades, for lets say on a building site for example, will work to.

This is highly important as without establishing a true datum line, it would be very difficult to establish any form of uniformed level. You can use this method to transfer level to as many points as you wish but for higher accuracy, always be sure to transfer your reference points from the first, original point. This will eliminate any chance of accumulative errors.

So there you have it, a great and very accurate tool to use, and one that is only a fraction of the cost of an expensive, state of the art laser or rotary level. So go build your new water level today for immaculate and accurate workmanship.

Kirk Smith's company 4K Construction Limited are Liverpool Builders. Please also visit 4K Constructions Builders Talk for further reading.

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