My apologies in advance for the long post but there is a bit to be said.
Carol I can speak from personal experience with this issue. After moving to our new temp home, I purchased what I considered to be a large new generator to power my workshop requirements due to the power conditions at the temp home.
Despite using overkill by far, gauge wire to run from Generator to a panel and then to supply receptacles and power tools, I have found huge issue with the concept when it comes to high startup current associated with a machine like my 3HP jointer.
Initially I blamed belt slop and a dud start capacitor for my issues. fitted new start cap and blew that. Have the third start cap and will first check the motor centrifugal switch and will feed power cord extremely shortened to just as long as it has to be to get from jointer to gen and see if that works.
My generator according to all the specs and reading I have done should be able to handle the load. The jointer has run on the generator twice but where the issue comes in is in the startup.
A motor of 3HP 220v type draws an incredible current on startup spike, I cannot measure it and although we can read about approximately where the spike should go this will have a lot to do with how the power factor of the motor is setup which goes back to design which I am sorry to say given my jointer is tai chi I don't have a lot of faith that the design is a great one.
The initial clue to me in this respect is the mere fact that the supply voltage is 220v rating for the motor and the start cap is rated a 250v normally one would look at these and say yeah that's ok but in my electrical engineering education I would have said the tolerance is way to thin. Of course greater voltage would have meant greater cost and size all impacting on ex factory cost etc.
So even in the case of my jointer as Stu so aptly said ,,,,,,/"You get what you pay for" .
Now my generator is a Champion, definitely not putting out clean power...but for a plain old motor it should work. The issue is what is happening to the voltage when start up occurs and the spike current loads hit that generator circuit and if that voltage fails to hold then the whole power as in Power equals Voltage times Current is adversely affected, never mind the fact that in ac current power is not simply voltage times current but should include power factor.
In my research for the reasons Hu mentioned and then definitely for the reasons once again that Stu (specifically the second hand aspect) mentioned... I decided I would buy new and buy bigger than needed because I was/am only going to run one machine at a time.
Of course I am discounting worrying about issues such as my variable speed routers, my newest Milwaukee is a 3HP too but its not 220v but its variable speed and I am merely going on the logic of the conditions which I have seen pros on jobsites working with them so feel that should get by. ( again speculation...have not tried it and even then done so for a long period.)
Of course noise is another factor. When you look at good quality makes like Honda you get silence as bonus, not total but way better than the likes of the unit I have. Again this started/resulted in a further must do first project of building an enclosure to silence it given the neighbors. That project has been put on hold until such time as I sort out if this thing will run the jointer.
The next issue is since my shoulder dislocation last year, yanking on a pull to start unit well that's risky and not fun. My unit was not available in Canada as electric start more specifically at the price I was initially prepared to layout (since I got mine on a sale). The unit is available in the US with electric start and I am/have been looking into obtaining the required parts and retrofitting but on hold out until I resolve whether this will run the jointer.
This of course has all been nothing but a huge distraction from the hobby and frankly I am running thin on bothering with it anymore given the time I have to spare on it and what I wish to be doing in that time. Hence my move to carving or other things. I don't plan on being in this temp home for long and the more time I put into it the more it detracts from my other objectives.
To be specific here is my generator model
http://www.championpowerequipment.com/generators/41154/
says 5500 running watts and 6250 starting watts.
@ 6250 start with 220v I should be good for a start current of roughly 28 amps.
Grizzly specs my motor at 15 amps ....???? and recommends a 20Amp circuit breaker.
But bear in mind the centrifugal switch on these motors is supposed to remove the start cap from the circuit once motor gets up to operating speed in my case 3450 rpm.
Before I blame the generator and pack it all in, I am going to haul the motor out and take a look at said switch just to make sure its not the cause of the whole cap blowing issue. I will also couple it as said, as close to generator as physically practical with as short and thick a lead as practical and see if anything changes. Only reason I am bothering is I have cherry I now wish to joint for several projects on hold.
So bear in mind these issues. My guess is to properly run the putter palace is going to take a generator of significant dollars if its going to meet all the requirements.
Sorry to be a wet blanket but better warned than not.
I will try to take some time out and see if I can attend to looking into my issues so as to be able to clarify my problems before you end up springing for a generator just so you know for certain.
But the issues of noise and quality of power don't change.