residential whole house generators comparison
Looking for any input on Guardian residential generators 20 to 25 kw.house has 100 amp.service. Thank you. Angelo
Moved to General Discussion forum.
Moved to General Discussion forum.
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I'll chime in with an opinion as that is our business, generators.
Guardian/Generacs are lot cost and chaply made. Their warranty isn't real good, sometimes hard to find someone to do the warranty work. Our company will work on them but will not honor the warranty as Generac doesn't stand up for it about half the time.
Generac/Guardian is the Yugo of generators.
Far better are Kohler, Onan, Katolight and Baldor. Marginally better is Winco.
You get what you pay for.
If you only need it for a couple of hours a year, you might do OK with one.
If I were to buy one, that's about the last on the list for consideration, better than no generator but if you have one and it doesn't work, that's worse than not having one cause you are expecting it to work, greatly adds to frustration.
By the way, read the fine print with the documentation that comes with Generac/Guardian home standby machines. It specifically warns against using it to back up any life support system. Got someone on a breathing machine? Better look for another brand. None of the other major brands have that warning/disclaimer.0 -
I know that all Law Enforcement Agencies that I know of use ONAN for their back-up power. I'm not sure about the hospitals 0 -
BACKUP GENERATORS are fine to have. Yes, I do have a small 3500 watt
115/230 one for EMERGENCY use. However the storing of gas, specialy for the large ones is a pain. Even with "Stable" it only lasts about a year. Natural gas etc. is fine unless something happens ot our natural gas piping. The smallest gasoline generator needed is the best as it uses less gasoline per hour. At half load I can run for 9 hours at half
load on 3.5 gals of continual running. Conservation of your used power
is the main thing. Is air conditioning really a must during a emergency? Lighting can be cut by one third by using these new type
"twisty bulbs". The main thing is my refrigerator/freezer, my heat which is natural gas (and if this goes out I still have my fireplace with wood available) and although I have city water I still have my well pump for house use. A EMERGENCY GENERATOR does not have to run
all day and night for absolute necesities. Just occasionally during the night and day. This is only for poorer people that can "make do"
in a pinch.0 -
Yes, Onan, and some of the other brands, are better choices if it is something that is critical.
They will cost more,.......but as the old saying goes,....well, you know!
I do work at some huge industrial plants, and most use Onan, or Kohler.0 -
I'm sure AJ is correct in his assessment of the generators mentioned, but I'll just give my personal, and maybe lucky, experience with what I have. I bought a Guardian 15Kw standby generator. I live in the country and the power goes off pretty regularly. I installed the unit and the transfer box myself, but I also do my own plumbing, electrical and building work myself, so there was nothing to it. If you aren't experienced with electrical work you might want to have it done for you. It cycles/runs once a week at a set time. When the "juice" goes off, count about 12-15 sec. and you have power again. My 15Kw runs a 3.5 ton ac unit, every light in my house, TV, computer, microwave, refrig. and freezer. And it will run them all at the same time if I have to (I don't ever run all at the same time, but I did "test" it when I first hooked it up just to see if it would). I purposely left the Stove, off the transfer box because it's electric and would probably pull too much. My hot water heater is gas, but if it was electric I would have left it off too. I've used it about 25-30 times in the last couple years I've had it. Most have been just 2-4hr. outages, the longest was about a day. I service it regularly and am now running full synthetic oil in it, as per their suggestion after thorough break in. I've never had the first problem out of it. Since I didn't buy it from a dealer, and installed it myself, I have no service or help from the local dealer if I ever needed it, which I don't. I did, however, break one of the locking latches on the top door of the generator. I called Generac and they sent me a new one free. I was about 2 months out of the warranty but they didn't care. Guess it was such a cheap part ($25). My father has the exact same systemand was bought and installed the same time mine was and his has given him no problems either. Ours is an air cooled engine, whereas the 20-25Kw units are liquid cooled. I have a friend that has one of the liquid cooled Gaurdians and his has given him no trouble yet either. Total cost on mine was around the $3000-3500 mark since I did all the work myself. To be honest, if it lasts me another 5-7yrs. and then dies, for the money, I'll just buy another. If I had a ton of money I might look at getting one of the better units AJ mentioned, but for now, it's a....if it ain't broke, don't fix it kinda thing.
Ben0 -
Hey JBW,.......for your purposes, I think the Guardians are fine.
I was referring to someone with a "total need" for constant power, and also assuming that some, like I am ,......are in hurricane territory, where you can lose juice for weeks.
I have sold, and worked on the Guardians, and they are fine for the purposes you are mentioning.0 -
quote:Originally posted by Marc1301
Hey JBW,.......for your purposes, I think the Guardians are fine.
I was referring to someone with a "total need" for constant power, and also assuming that some, like I am ,......are in hurricane territory, where you can lose juice for weeks.
I have sold, and worked on the Guardians, and they are fine for the purposes you are mentioning.
Yeah, not sure I'd want this air cooled motor to run a week straight (if it would[:0]). I'd give it plenty of breaks.
Ben0 -
Get one that runs on propane so you don't have to store gasoline.
Storage of gasoline is one big pain in the ass.0 -
I have a Generac 5500XL generator (I got it new for $499 on sale) and have run it for 3 days before. Now to be nice to my neighbors I shut it off at night (they are incredibly loud). I've never had an issue and it plugs right into my box. It runs my whole house accept my A/C. 0 -
quote:Originally posted by A J Christ
I'll chime in with an opinion as that is our business, generators.
Guardian/Generacs are lot cost and chaply made. Their warranty isn't real good, sometimes hard to find someone to do the warranty work. Our company will work on them but will not honor the warranty as Generac doesn't stand up for it about half the time.
Generac/Guardian is the Yugo of generators.
Far better are Kohler, Onan, Katolight and Baldor. Marginally better is Winco.
You get what you pay for.
If you only need it for a couple of hours a year, you might do OK with one.
If I were to buy one, that's about the last on the list for consideration, better than no generator but if you have one and it doesn't work, that's worse than not having one cause you are expecting it to work, greatly adds to frustration.
By the way, read the fine print with the documentation that comes with Generac/Guardian home standby machines. It specifically warns against using it to back up any life support system. Got someone on a breathing machine? Better look for another brand. None of the other major brands have that warning/disclaimer.
My dad has a Winco (made in America)for his house and has also been selling them for a good 26+ years. Rental Agencies and farmers have always been his biggest source of income. He covers North Dakota, South Dakota, Wisconsin, Minnesota and I'm not sure what other states.0 -
at current Gas prices, could you generate your own power cheaper than the electric company to begin with? (and just run all the time off generator)? Throw in a few solar panels... Other than the noise that would be cool. 0 -
quote:Originally posted by mrseatle
at current Gas prices, could you generate your own power cheaper than the electric company to begin with? (and just run all the time off generator)? Throw in a few solar panels... Other than the noise that would be cool.
I ran the numbers once, I would be paying like $600/month for gas to run the generator. WAY more than I pay for electric, even in the worst of months!0 -
I seem to remember .50/kwh for generator power 0 -
In northern europe it is common for people to run generators [cogen]
and use the waste heat to heat the house and sell excess power to utility.0
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