I bought a used portable generator on craigslist for $150.. The owner assured me it worked fine. I plug in the leaf blower I was going to use and it ran so I figured it worked OK. I tried it out today and got smoke from the blower within about 20 minutes. The power cord plastic is melted and I need a new cord. The plug-in connector on the blower is covered in melted plastic so it needs to be either replaced or just cleaned. I don't understand why this isn't working. 2500 watts should be plenty to run a leaf blower.

Hi,
It may be the gauge of the cord, it should be a minimum of 16 ga. Too small gauge wires will cause excessive voltage drop and make the current increase which transaltes into heat.
Peace,
Clarke

Yardguy, I would check the gensets output with a voltmeter. Good luck

Possible... except I use the same power cord when running off household current and have no problems.

The generator is in for testing at this moment.

One other note: The leaf blower is a Black & Decker model BV4000 which when it came out had a tendency to catch fire at the plug in. So, maybe there is something about the way it was built to handle regular current but not A generator?

I spent about $50 to have the generator checked over and the company was able to volt meter test and by dropping the RPM of the engine was able to get everything to acceptable levels.

Hey Yardguy, I'm glad your all good, and thanks for the update.

The cord was 100 feet of 16 gauge wire bought at a home improvement store. They recommended I buy the 13 gauge wire and use 50 feet. At nearly $50 it is difficult to buy but the smaller gauge gets all twisted up and maybe the heavier gauge will keep its shape.

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Originally Posted by Yardguy

The cord was 100 feet of 16 gauge wire bought at a home improvement store. They recommended I buy the 13 gauge wire and use 50 feet. At nearly $50 it is difficult to buy but the smaller gauge gets all twisted up and maybe the heavier gauge will keep its shape.

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13 gauge? 12 or 14 perhaps.