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Who makes the best Home standby Genset

G

Gun guru

Well-known Member
I know this may open up to some fists swinging. But out of these makers who is the best, I am speaking of longevity, personal usage-or knowing someone who has one or what you have seen on the job site.

1. Kohler 14 KW, 58 amp output on LP gas

2. Generac 15 KW, most home standby units I have seen are the Generac brand.

3. Briggs and Stratton. 15KW I think. 875cc engine.

The Northern tool website has each of these for under $4,000.
But if I ever buy one who on this tractor website has seen the longevity/usage etc. with a home standby.
I did some research and I guess a diesel gen set isnt common for home standby units.
I am leaning towards the Kohler 14 KW cause it is a 725CC engine, air cooled and I shouldnt have to up size my LP gas line.
I have a quote from a generator dist. in my area and they want $4,860. with transfer switch included. Northern tool is $3800 with transfer switch and $250 delivery fee. (this is the Kohler)

Out of these manf. who makes the best/most reliable/longest running/etc.
I know that Honda makes (or use to make) the best portable generators around. Honda doesnt make a home standby that I know of.

I am thinking about a home standby due to the PITA it would be without power for several days due to storms and stuff. Last week I was without power for 10 hours cause a fire 2 miles away brought down a power line. I can live without power for 10 hours but.....Loosing power for a week would suck bad.
If my wife receives inheritance money from her grandfather I may get one. (grandfather died 5 months ago) estate isnt settled yet.
We will see.
 
I'm interested to see the postings. I too am interested in one. My folks are 90 yrs old and mostly self sufficient but in no shape to get the genny out and start it and I can't always run home from work. Last my dad priced was a Generac I think about 13,000 for about $5,800 installed on nat gas. a few yrs ago. Needs to run the central air and a few key circuits.
 
Generac is owned by Briggs and Stratton. There are certainly better ones out there. How much do you want to spend? Go to a commercial generator supplier if you want the best. I'd guess 1800 RPM or lower would a lot better than 3600 RPM, liquid cooled would be better than air cooled and diesel would be better than gas but maybe natural gas or propane would be the best. A PTO generator is another option but they are expensive too.
 
I didnt think about the 1800 rpm type, less noise I would think and less abuse on the unit.
 

Check out the diesels instead of LP. I was looking at a propane powered set-up in the same size range as you listed, but those LP engine love the gas. I think the diesel powered engine might be a better choice. Though they are more expensive.

I found this site, but I haven't dealt with them or bought anything myself....yet



http://www.hardydiesel.com/
 
Actually in the 15 KW range a diesel will use about .8 gallons per hour and an LP gas unit will use about 1.2 gallons per hour. LP gas is half the cost of Diesel so I would come out ahead. And I have a 500 gallon propane tank at my home. hauling diesel fuel in every day during a long outage would suck real bad. 10 gallons of diesel everyday to run the home. Doable but it would suck.
I do agree that a diesel will last longer and is likely quieter too. I went on the Hardy site and a diesel is $6500 for a 15 KW and an LP gas is $4000 or so.
 
Hi, I have a tiny bit of experience that might help. Experienced 12 days without line power due to ice storm.

No high end equipment, just a 5500w Homelite bolted to service truck.

I was surprised that the greatest limiting factor was finding and moving gasoline for the gen. I burned 260 gallons of gas to make power 24 hrs to feed two houses.

Brad
 
I would go with generac. The ones I have dealt with seem to be of good quality. I agre about going with propane too.
 
I run a 10,000 watt Hobart gen/welder on Natural gas. Connect it to nat.gas with quick connect 3/4 hose. I run it on portable LP tank when welding. I leave it connected to nat gas normally , have an inside transfer switch and have a remote start setup so I don't have to go out in the storm to start it.
 
Think about whether on not you really need a 15 kw genset. We get by quite nicely on 6500 watts, although it means we can't use our electric ovens. We also don't have central air. On the other hand, we do have three refrigerators and a freezer (although I don't know why!).
 
i have been lookin at them for about a year also, just about the time i have enough money saved up something goes to heck, anyway i have a electric feller that is goin to install it for me an he says that the generac is about the best, its what he has at his house, but he say the briggs looks to be like a nice unit. but the thing to look at is service, if something goes wrong who are you goin to service it?
look for dealers,
. i talked to several dealers, an what they told me is that they have to service the unit when called but if they didnt sell it they didnt say how long it would take to get there.
just my 2 cents worth
johndeeregene
 
LP or NG is the way to go. In my case I have a 15kw Generac on LP. LP doesn't go bad, stores along time, and I have a 500 gallon tank that I make sure get's filled before a hurricane. Trying to find diesel or gas during an extended power outage is a big problem.
 
I don't know about the new stuff but I've got an older 8.5 KW generator powered by a two cylinder Lister-Petter diesel. It's wired so that it supplies both 240 volts across both legs and 120 volts on each individual leg so I can run pretty much anything I want with no problems. That's something you really need to think about when purchasing one, especially if your like me and have a well pump, etc operating on 240 volts. The longest I've run it so far was right after I got it, used, ten years or so back when we had an ice storm that knocked out power for nearly two weeks. It ran continiously the whole time and averaged about 5 gallons of fuel every 48 hours or so.

With that said why not consider the option of buying an engine driven welder instead of a stand alone generator? This has several advantages. One is the resale value is going to be higher if you ever decide to sell it, especially with low hours. Two you have a welder that can be used any time, and anywhere, especially if you get one mounted on a trailer. Three they come with a fuel tank sized to handle a full 8 to 10 hour day at full welding load so as a generator alone that time frame would probably stretch to at least 12 hours or more. Four the newer ones typically have a 9 to 10 KW plus rating which is usually more than enough. Too that rating, at least for the Millers is under extreem heat conditions so life expectancy at more moderate temps will only increase....and I've seen units that were worked hard with well over 2000 hours that are still in pretty good shape. Five the newer ones are being designed with a diesel opion, or you can opt for the regular gasoline driven one if you want. Six, they can be had new for not much more than a stand alone generator, or they can also be found used and in good shape for about the same as a stand alone generator with a lower KW rating. Lastly both Miller and Lincoln have both been around for a long time, and will more than likely be around for alot longer, so service and parts shouldn't ever be an issue. Like I said alot of options there that makes a welder combonation look alot better than a stand alone generator.
 
Here is the reply I posted just a few day ago for another fellow.

I have a 30K Onan unit. I have had it about five years. It was about $10000 installed with an automatic transfer system. It also cycles once each week and runs for a short while to keep the batteries up/going.
My unit is propane powered. I have a 1000 gal tank for the house anyway. I have ran it for a week with full house services. My furnace is a corn hot water one and we cook with propane. Hot water heater is electric, if corn stove is going it does not draw any power. During that week I think it used about 150 gallons of propane.

I have been very happy with the whole system. I had a tractor powered PTO generator before. I spent a long cold day getting a tractor started when the electric went out when it was thirty below. I had this put in before the next winter. I am at the end of a long line. I am the last to get fixed if anything happens. My generator runs for real 5-6 times each year. I think it has about 300 hours on it.
 
Generac is part of Briggs and Stratton but they keep the two names seperate. Apparently the larger units are labeled Generac and the smaller units are labeled B&S.
 
If I had an outage in the summer for more then 2 days my wife would give me an earfull about how she cant live with out A/C. I have a 3 ton 30 amp 240vac A/C unit. + electric dryer and electric well. And the list goes on, computers, fridge/lights.
I have a 10HP pull start now that doesnt run the big stuff.
 
My thoughts with the diesel fuel storage, keep a 55 gallon drum or two tapped into the generator, or maybe a home heating oil 275 gallon tank. Adding treatment and topping it off every few months would help in keeping it fresh.

I too have 500 gallon tank, but I'm not sure if LP is the best way to go.

bob
 
Wow! A gernerator thread that hasn't turned into a grounding discussion fit only for reading by Einstiens LOL.

Some good reading here, my ten cents is the very first thing you need to conclude is how conforatable you can afford to be? "only" .8 or 1 or whatever gallons per hour times current fuel prices equals not much when your talking about a couple hours use but if the power goes down for a week just do the math. Another thing to consider is fuel storage life which is chit with todays gasoline. Fuel choice also affects how much less the unit will burn under light loads with diesel again the clear cut winner. Diesel is not entirely win/win though as there are operational minuses like cold starting, initial costs etc.

Another thing to consider if dollars spent means anything and your even a little but handy is building a generator set instead of buying it. There are several forums on the cyber world that deal with this and it is supprizingly easy to build up a reliable set with that info close at hand.

Myself I went with home built, diesel fueled and with two seperate sets. A 12KW capible unit for when we wish to be completly comfortable and a 3 KW capible unit for over night or long hauls of no grid power. Either unit will burn most anything liquid and flammable if need be and the smaller one sips fuel at an amazingly low rate.

Good luck with your search and choices.
 
Don't know how they are today but 19 years ago I bought one of the Onan commercial gensets that are made for bucket trucks and alike for my camp in the adirondacks. originally was gas but the manual said to pull the heads and clean the carbon from the valves at 100 hours. At 110 it started knocking and guess what. I cleaned it up and converted to propane. Since then I've only changed the oil and filters although it might need plugs after 17 years.

Before I put solor in it ran 4 hours every day during the summer and 6 or 7 when we'd go up during the winter. Starts fine at 40 below.

I hope I didn't just jinks myself.
 
Generac is owned by Generac. In 2000 Briggs bought the small portable division from Generac. But has since dropped the line.
 
Maybe she needs to recalibrate what "disaster" means ;)
You might want to consider a 20kw unit considering your AC alone is 7500...

For comparison after the ice storm in '08 I bought a 1200w (yeah 1.2k) 2 stroke Chinese copy of a Honda design to run my sump pump. Other than that we came through fine, my Cub Cadet 70 did a good job charging its battery and the battery off my motorcycle which combined with my 400w inverter ran a few lights and my laptop. We heated with wood and cooked on the Coleman stove (of which I now have 4). My inlaws came and lived with us since they had nothing but canned food they couldn't cook. We also cooked for the neighbors and my wife's aunt. Everybody had baths with water we heated on the stove and we watched movies on the laptop, overall no big deal.
 
Over 10 gallons an hour? Did you strap 5 gallon cans to it?

When we had the big ice storm in '08 a guy I worked with told me how he ran his generator 24 hours and had to change the oil every other day. I asked why he didn't just run it 2 out of 8 hours, he didn't need it all the time, the fridge won't warm up the fast besides which its COLD OUTSIDE. I froze bottles of water outside to put in the fridge. He said "Oh, I didn't think of that". He was without power for a week and burned a ton of gas mostly for no reason.
 
Generator tech for forty years. So here is my two cents worth.

Stay away from Generac. They do have some good units. BUT support from Generac is slim to none.Hard to find anyone that will work on them. The price for parts,well you had better have some deep pockets. Or a good check book.

Kohler is a good brand. Factory support is good. Easy to find shops that will work on them. The price of parts is not out of line.

Onan has some good products. But they do have some problems with their dealers. Not all of them know what they should about generators and controls. Factory support is good. Easy to get worked on.
 
What you need to do is take a total amp load reading on your house. Then add a little more. Then you can fiqure out the size genset you need. Better to have more power than not enough. I would go with N/G with a propane backup. Clean burning and you will not have to worry about carbon build up or choke settings. A properly installed transfer switch is the best way to go. Then set it to run once a week for at least a half hour.
 
Best not to tell those who don't care about grounding, connections and CO fumes. Society would be better if the shallow end of the gene pool was kept from reproducing.
 
An older lister/petter would be my first choice.

I used to work for a fella that refurbished and build generators for a living.That shop was off the grid.He used a single cylinder petter diesel to power the small stuff in that shop during the day.
He had an old army 4 cyl hercules diesel for the 3 ph power tools.We just fired it up when needed.

The petter was an older hand crank but it never failed to fire and it ran on fumes.
A older single or twin aircooled deutz diesel would be my second choice.

I ran a deutz for many years on our farm on a daily basis(we where of the grid also)
The above gen sets ran 1200 to 1500 RPM.

The new stuff won't last anyway
 
Almost lost a toe. Removing the flywheel from an LT1 Lister. Thing hit the floor and knocked a chunk out of the concrete. Very good engines. Built like a tank.
 
How about I say it this way?

It is nice we have approched this topic without the chest beating by those so inclined??

I have no problem with facts but chest beating makes for boring reading after the inital humor.
 
Yessir, Lister is what powers my stand by sets. Kind of a pleasent noise they make under load at 800 or less RPM.
 
Whichever set you buy I would stick with one governed at 1800rpm's. We had a generator set on this Heavy Field Dynanmometer and it made more noise than both 500 hp Ford engines did on this vehicle. Hal
a42045.jpg
 
about 6 years ago I finally gave up on my little army surplus 7.5 kw and dropped the hammer on a 30kw Generac quietset home backup supply. Powered by a ford v-6 engine fueled by natural gas... wired thru an auto transfer switch... exercises it self every week... lights out ?? 2 minutes the genset comes on... power back on... genset waits till a/c is stabilized (abt 5 min) and switches over automatically... hardly see a blink. bought it online at

http://www.electricgeneratorsdirect.com/stories/38-How-to-Pick-the-Perfect-Whole-House-Generator.html

a touch over 8K with free delivery and no tax... transfer switch was another 1k. plumbed it and wired it myself... never looked back. Wife doesn't have to worry now... runs everything including the a/c and her commercial convection oven in the bakery

john
 
A good friend of mine has the Generac home standby. It is the 17 KW model. He had a major problem with it.....The generator flew apart while running, copper wire all over the fricken place and the service tech tried to tell him it was cause the gas line was too small.
What kind of stupid fooking answer is that?

My friend got a whole new one later on. I dont remember the time frame it took to get it but he still has the Generac 17KW model.
 
O come on now B and D. Those dumb folks have to give us entertainment on the TV, like worlds dumbest criminals.
 
I managed a facility with a 300K Kohler and a 500K Kohler. If the little ones are as good as the big boys I'd buy one of those. They had a great support network. Cat has great generators as well.

My 500K had a 1500 gallon diesel tank under it and would run for 72 hours. :shock:
 
Wayne, great suggestion! I run a Miller Bobcat welder with a 15Hp Ruggerini diesel, around 9.5kw, 120/240v. Had it since 1998, pulled whole house with it for several days due to ice storm. Had to do some load rearranging, but no sweat using breakout box. It sips diesel, (have oil heat, so no fuel problems), consumes no oil, is portable on pneumatic tires, and is a heck of a welder also. The cost was very minimal compared to a dedicated unit. For my use, it is ideal.
 
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