On 25 Oct, 23:37, "The Medway Handyman"
wrote:

He clearly has no idea about generators. A 3 kva generator simply will not
run any kind of pressure washer. No chance what so f*cking ever. The start
load will stall the generator engine. You need 5 kva minimum.

I have a mid-80s Karcher and a far older 2.2kVA generator that washed
tractors for years. Admittedly the generator needed to be warmed up
thoroughly and the governor working properly, and even then it bogged
down on starting the washer, but it did get there. It's not about
power, it's about the generator's ability to cope with the changing
load without losing too much speed, before engine power has increased
to compensate. Mechanical inertia (flywheel mass) and a fast-
responding engine both help.

Our neighbour's generator had even less trouble doing it, despite a
lower rated power - but then that was even older (i.e. more inertia),
and was a diesel (where the governor is often better capable at this
than a petrol governor).

There's also the tale of the Napier Deltic being used as a generator
to drive AM radio transmitters. They replaced a Crossley engine that
needed an enormous flywheel to maintain stable output, otherwise there
was audible variation as it slowed down, whilst the Deltic (probably
the fastest accelerating diesel ever) could simply ride a constant
speed on its governor.