Kipor Generators

[seafox]

I am only running my laptop off it. 120watts. I ran a 500 watt heater the other day and when I had it at home I ran a 1000 watt halogen spotlight and then a 1000 watt oil heater to see if it could do it.

No ploblem sir.

[Strygaldwir]

Another year, and still going strong on the Kipor generator. I continue to use it a lot at home and at least once or twice a month on the boat.

[jsiecinski]

I have been running my Kipor genset on 220 volts. It caught on fire after about 30 hours usage. Has anyone heard about a similar problem??

[Euro Cruiser]

Just to fill in a few blanks in this thread...

There is a lengthy discussion on Kipor gens at the SSCA Discussion Board (which is currently being repaired after a malware attack). Some of the main takeaways were that this isn't built in the same factory as Honda products, that Honda repair parts are not interchangeable with Kipor units (according to multiple Kipor owners with repair needs), and that there is (or at least 'was') a Kipor repair parts distribution system available in the U.S. but often not known by the Kipor retailers (who were just trying to push sales, not service)

In Europe, Kipor products were challenged by the EU for being pirated off patented designs, at which point the retailers - places like hardware stores, where we've seen them on sale in Greece, Malta, Spain, etc. - just slapped a new identity sticker on top of the Kipor labeling. Perhaps because of the generally high cost of living in Europe, there has been a widespread move to retailing Chinese products and, at least in my experience while over there for 5 years and visiting every EU country, the customer clearly is getting (maybe...) no more than s/he is paying for.

I looked closely at buying a Kipor gen because the Honda products were 2x the price and because the output was 230V 50 Hz (altho' my iso transformer could have swallowed it). I couldn't find a single retailer who could answer the Q: 'Where do I find repair parts for this?' Thus, no sale.

Eventually, after returning to the States, I picked up a Honda unit for less than I would have paid for a Kipor unit (USD vs. USD) several years before. So in a sense and for those of us in N America, Honda's are cheaper as well as better (many sad tales from Kipor owners) and certainly better supported. I found I could go down to the local garden shop that carries Honda products, look at the CD the dealer had, and order the spares I wanted to carry quickly & easily (if not cheaply).

Jack

[Strygaldwir]

I missed my update this year! Oh well, better late than never.

The Kipor is still going strong. Fired it up just a bit ago, just to be certain. (Ran during the summer during weekend outings.) Ran for an hour to see how it would stand the load of my space heaters. No problems.

I would absolutely be concerned about the issue of parts! I have not had occasion to need any as of yet. My original premise was if it lasted two year in a hostile marine environment, I will have received the expected value from it. So, 3 years, still going.

[GordMay]

Originally Posted by Strygaldwir

... The Kipor is still going strong. Fired it up just a bit ago, just to be certain...
... I would absolutely be concerned about the issue of parts! I have not had occasion to need any as of yet. My original premise was if it lasted two year in a hostile marine environment, I will have received the expected value from it. So, 3 years, still going.

Thanks for keeping us up to date, on your experience with the Kipor product.

I wouldn’t have expected three years of trouble-free service, from this product.

We’ve also had several other threads, which included Kipor Generator discussions, here at the CF:

➥ http://www.cruisersforum.com/forums/...00i-17841.html

➥ http://www.cruisersforum.com/forums/...000i-7010.html

➥ http://www.cruisersforum.com/forums/...boat-9389.html

➥ http://www.cruisersforum.com/forums/...-up-33588.html

Originally Posted by jsiecinski

I have been running my Kipor genset on 220 volts. It caught on fire after about 30 hours usage. Has anyone heard about a similar problem??

I think that most experts, including Strygaldwir, would recommend running the Kipor generator on gasoline, rather than electricity.

[CaptMarc]

Ohio Kipor Generators IG1000 IG2000 KGE3500ti IG3000 KGE6000ti IG6000 IG6000h Boliy Magna

I am partial to the Yamaha Gensets,
but the above may help,
Good Luck,
marc

[anjou]

Are there any more updates to this thread?

Ive been looking at this Direct Equipment Sales - Silent Type Diesel Generators.

One person advised me it will only run 1000 hours and will be scrap. He couldnt explain why or what faults it might have other than its chinese.

I fitted a wall tap for domestic garden watering hose recently and have replaced 2 tap washers so far due to the cheap and nasty casting in the valve seat. Im fairly certain its a good example of the typical problems we are seeing with some chinese products

Gut instinct says you only get what you pay for, but, if Kipor is an accurate copy of Japanese quality, will it be a safe risk?

The above mentioned site retailer also sells Kipor parts and spares

[Strygaldwir]

Since it is almost the 4 year aniversery of our Kipor, this weekend, I'll TRY running the generator for several hours. Probably 2 on Saturday and 2 on Sunday. I'll be running the A/C also. That will be something of a stress test! Hmmm.... Think I'll change the oil before I do this. I don't actually remember the last time I checked it. In the ships logs some where though.

Will give an update then.

Keith

[Sailorman Ed]

My Kipor is now 4 years old, stored in a closed but not sealed locker in the aft deck, neglected (I finally changed the oil this spring) and still starts with a couple pulls. Purchased primarilly to run the window AC unit mounted on the coach roof, I often use it to power up corded tools or run the battery charger. The steel is rusting and the energy saver switch is not working but I am clearly impressed by how well it has done. I fabricated a simple locker of glassed over blue foam and hung it off the aft deck of my cat and a really cheap foam hinged cover. It is out of the way, any gas fumes are seperate from the rest of the boat and it is easy to get to. Just pull it out and sit it on the aft deck and plug into it. My wife lugs her coffee maker out to it in the morning and starts it up herself. I am quite satisfied with it.

[Strygaldwir]

Well, I pulled the Kipor out of the sail locker just about an hour ago. I didn't have occassion to use it this winter, last time I ran it was at the end of last summer. Since I hadn't run it in such a long time, I decided I'd better give it a once over just to see what conditions things were in.

Well, I pull off all the covers, the first think I noticed was all the screws came off without any ado. Seems like screws getting rusted in place is always an issue on stuff that spends a lot of time by the water. There was a slight bit off corrosion on a couple of the washers, but they are in amazingly good shape, especially considering they were not stainless! Checked the oil, my original thought was to change it. But, it looks just like it does when it come out of the bottle. If memory serves, I originally put synthetic in it. So, I will leave it, for now. The next thing I looked at was the air filter. Perfectly clean, no debris or dust. Rinsed them off anyway. Checked the spark plug, I was originally thinking of replacing that. The electrode looks good, so I just put it back in. Looked at all the screws and bolts inside the covers. They all look good! Checked the fuel tank. No gas in it. Hmm... Did I remove the gas when I put it in the locker, certainly the smart thing to do. Don't recall and neither does my wife. Ah well, good time to use the remaining gasoline from last session. Pull out the can, pour the rest of the fuel in the tank. Look everything over, check the start lever, pull the cord. About a dozen pulls later it starts! Runs for about 30 seconds, some dark smoke starts coming out of the exhaust. Switch the run switch (Oh, that's the choke! Remember when we had manual chokes in our cars! Oh well, showing my age again!) Dark exhaust goes away! Well this is encouraging! What the heck. On to the next test!

Had the generator running in the cockpit so decided to move it while still running. Hey dinghy's move while the engine is running. Asside we'll see what it does. Move it to the bow of the boat. No problem. Turn on the inverter, turn off shore power, disconnect shore power plug, put adapter on shore power plug, plug shore power cord into generator. Go back down to power panel, turn shore power back on. Links shows AC in is active. Meanwhile my wife decides to start vacuuming. Ahk! No problems, just can't hear the generator running with the vacuum on. Decided to do this update while the whole thing is running. 1 hour so far, no issues.

I'll plug in the portable Air conditioning and see if it can handle that! I have the 3000 Ti so theoretically with the 2.5kw inverter it should handle the load. I'll give an update on that in a later post, probably in one of the A/C threads as that doesn't really have a bearing on this post. (Can you tell I am killing time? Waiting for something bad to happen.)

So, four yeas on the Kipor, no issues as of yet. VERY pleasant surprise. It is ready for the season!

Keith

[anjou]

Ah, but yours is a gasoline engine. I was hoping if anyone had news on the diesel ones.

[Strygaldwir]

This is a continuation post for Kipor generator which is gasoline. It may be better to ask the question in a different thread? I have been giving updates about once a year on the Kipor because the original question concerned the longevity and expected life of what appeared to be knock off of the Honda Eu portable.

[Strygaldwir]

My Kipor KGE 3000TI will run my portable A/C and normal system loads. It will not however run the vacuum, A/C, refrig and other loadsat the same time with just the starter battery for the house bank! Trying to do so caused the inverter to trip out of the circuit and the A/C just tried to cycle on an off! But, the generator kept on going, no shutoff it just tried to put out its maximum load.

So, see you again next year, or until something drastically changes with the Kipor!

Cheer,

Keith

[Strygaldwir]

Anjou sorry, didn't know about the diesel version of the Kipor.