Rigid generators. Are they GTG?

Generator

Have a lead on a used one.

I believe it has a true Yamaha engine, not a Chinese copy of a Yamaha. It should be fine.

I believe those are tailored for job site use. As a result it may come with a bonded neutral instead of a floating neutral.

If you have a transfer switch and GFCI breakers you'll need to un-bond the neutral and tape off the neutral end to make it a floating neutral or you'll trip the breakers since there will be two paths to ground. You'll then want to label it as having a floating neutral and if you use it for job site work you'll want to re-bond the neutral before use. Shouldn't be too hard. My Champion 7500 came with a bonded neutral and it took all of 5 minutes to make it a floating neutral.

IIRC the 2010 NEC says portable home generators should have a floating since many manual transfer switches don't switch the neutral. Canadian law says the generator neutral must match the type of transfer switch as to whether it switches neutral or not.

I have the 6800, So far so good. It is kinda noisy but it isnt a small honda so some noise is accceptable. The only complaint I have is the two peice wheels. Ive already bent one of mine. I bought mine "used" with zero hours on the meter for $450.00

"Rigid" is Home Depot's house brand. Typically, they mate a famous-brand engine with a Chinese-made alternator head and associated electrical parts. If you examine the alternator head closely, you'll probably find a "made in China" label somewhere on it.

Personally, I don't have much confidence in being able to find repair parts for anything other than the engine 5 or 10 years down the road - something that is not a problem with the stuff from Honda, Yamaha, B&S/Generac/Troy-Bilt, etc. A standby generator is a long-term investment - it may sit in storage for many years before it gets any significant usage. So, long-term parts availability is an important consideration.

The problem isn't the fact that replacement parts would be Chinese-made - It's that you couldn't obtain parts for this particular model.

It's true that many of the Chinese generators are pretty close copies of Hondas and Yamaha generators, and so some electrical and mechanical parts could probably be substituted among various brands. However, most of the "Rigid" models aren't close copies of anything - which means that you'll be depending on Home Depot for any repair or maintenance parts other than the engine.

Q: What are the chances that Home Depot will be able to sell you a voltage regulator board 7 years after this model was discontinued?

A: They're not very good.

Ridgid, aka Ridge Tool Company, has been around longer than Home Depot and Lowes combined.

ar-jedi <–– grew up in family-owned and operated hardware store (in business from 1962 to 1992).

Ill look tomorrow on my generator head and see what I find. Either way, I just dont care. Homedepot isnt gonna sell something that is crap.

on the other hand i have found that the Ridgid power equipment that HD sells is pretty good; after a lot of research on the web i bought a Ridgid power washer at HD last summer. it has a Subaru industrial-grade OHC engine mated to a CAT brand triplex pump. i have about 100 hours on this unit so far and it works great. it's not a "commercial" unit by any stretch but it is certainly a lot higher quality than the Karcher etc stuff sold at Costco.

http://www.ridgid.com/Tools/RD80701-Pressure-Washer/EN/index.htm

ar-jedi

Thank for the info/opinions gentlemen.