O.T. Generac generators

Dave F.

Member
I have a question about generac generators, I am considering getting a whole house system installed, Are they any good need to know the good / bad & ugly this will be a L.P gas install. Thanks Dave F.
 
We've had 2 Generacs at our place, first worked well for years until a contractor doing some electrical work in the house shorted out the generator while the power was on, so that was the end of that one.

New one just got installed, has a better warranty then any other brand for the price, hopefully it holds up well.

Both are LP house systems.
 
I researched both Generac and Kohler before buying my 20 KW whole house back up generator in 2014.

I was very impressed with the Generac dealer but not the Generac unit. I was very impressed with the Kohler unit but VERY unimpressed with the Kohler dealer. Eventually I bought a Kohler and installed it myself.

FWIW, the Kohler engine has hydraulic valve lifters, whereas the Generac does not. In order to maintain the warranty one must readjust the valve clearances on the Generac engine every two years. This is time consuming and I did not want to do so.

Both are similarly priced and have similar warranties most of the time, though Generac has offered specials with a "10 year warranty" but I do not know just what is covered.

If doing it again, I would again buy the Kohler.

Dean
 
I bought a Kohler. I bought it back in October 2017....just got it installed and working last Monday. Be very careful who you buy from. The DEALER is who I had the trouble with, not Kohler.
Dealer recommended Kohler then said that they were not available in our area. I called Kohler. They did have them but the dealer was not able to buy them.
Long story short, Be very careful who you deal with. I wish I had bought from anyone but Power Services Inc out of Gainesville, Georgia.
We have not had to use it yet but I do like having it just in case.
We got the 20KW. Dsmythe
 
I have had the generac LP house system for 15 years, I would not buy generac again, unreliable, it's just for emergency use or I would have long since replaced the system. There are many reasons they are the cheapest.
 
I bought a G.E. and installed it myself. Runs on L.P. Just ran for 7 days straight after the first nor"easter we got hit with.Also installed a Kohler for my son. Pleased with both units. My is a 20 kw and my sons is a 14 kw. My advice is not to buy Generac. Cheap parts and no support.

Al
 
My 16kw Generac has been nothing but perfect. If I had to buy another generator it would be a Generac.
 
We've had our Generac whole house for quite a few years now. No problems what so ever. I'm actually quite impressed with it. Without looking, I believe it is a 17,000 model. I know it's a two cylinder. The dealer recommended a two cylinder for central air. Dealer also does all the maintenance, for a fee of course. Sure I can do my own, but one less thing I have to do/think about. Kind of a piece of mind. I have plenty of other things to focus on... The name of the company is Home Power Systems.
 
Dave plenty of negative on here about Generac . I have had my 20 kw installed to run on propane as you are considering. Unit was installed when we built the house 7 years ago. Nothing but perfect and has over 300 hrs. Had one outage that ran 3 days. It is self exercising and kicks on when the power goes out. So far so good and really satisfied. I am thinking maybe the latter or newer units may be better than earlier units. I did split the service to put the essentials on the generator and not full load. Now wish I had put it all on the generator.
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I defer to Billy Shafer, retired Genset Technician and the real "Go to Guy" on this Forum when it comes to small Genset questions.

That being said, I've owned RV's continuous for 47 years and was a used dealer and experience showed me Onan or Kohler was superior to Generac. HOWEVER I happen to have a 4 KW Generac in the current RV and so far its worked perfect.

This could be like a what's the best oil or spark plugs question and you get 10 different opinions ALL of which are correct and expert LOL

John T
 
I have had my 4kw Generac since hurricane Gloria in 1985, still starts and runs every time i need it.
 
Look into Winco. Last I knew they still made their own gen head here in the USA. Old time company still family owned.
 
Dave
From my dealings with them. They are junk. But I have seen some that ran for years. With a good service life. I have seen some that didn't last five hours and went out. I got a call from a guy last year that had a one installed. In two hours the gen section burned out. As for as I know he is still fighting with Generac to cover it under warranty.

The main problem is Generac
No product support.
Warranty can be denied for any reason.
Getting parts can be a problem.
Production can be stopped at any time
Anyone with money can be a dealer.

Check out the dealer you are buying it from.
How long has he been in business.
Are his people trained.
Does he offer a service plan. If he does take it. Makes it harder for Generac to denie warranty.

Any generator can break down. Things happen. But Generac has earned the name Genajunk for a good reason. I am here willing to help.
 
I have a Generac 22KW installed on my home hooked to my propane tank with the automatic switch....we live in rural area and loose power at least every three months...ours has worked great...Had it for 2 years
 
Generac is owned by Generac. They did sell off the small engine section. To Briggs for a short time but bought them back.
 
I?ve had a 15kw Generac since about 2003. No problems. It does have the mechanical lifters, but I think the new ones are hydraulic.
 
My 2 cents. Have a 3300 Generac portable that I got 1/2 price at Lowes as a return. Works just dandy as a handy portable. Now one neighbor has a 22K Gererac whole house. Has worked perfect for two years now. Another neighbor has a Kohler system. Perfect for close to 6 or more years. Another neighbor bought a 7.5K Generac at Lowes as a cancelation of order. Stole the blasted thing. Hasn't gotten it hooked up yet. Another neighbor has a 4,500 watt? Generac portable. Works perfect. Kohler is a plus ++++ good unit. Thing is I haven't seen a Generac with trouble yet. Take you choice but you want to buy as HIGH of quality as you can afford, and also you would be better with a 22K unit. No questions if you can power all and everything in your home. If it is not under a heavy load the fuel consumption is not that bad.
 
I have one that is 12 years old, first engine leaked oil right out of box, two years of fighting, new engine, no issues in 10 years.

If you get a good one, should be fine, bad one and service sucks.
 
I installed a 20kw Generac about 10 years ago. NO problems, except when lightning struck tree about 100 ft away and fried the control panel. Insurance paid. Otherwise very good and reliable service.
 
I specify a lot of commercial and industrial generators. A few pointers to improve any generator you get, including for the home. First, the three main things to a successful generator install are big enough, but not too big that you waist a lot of money; don't place it where the exhaust fumes will get sucked inside the building; and quiet, you can get units that have a sound level on the order of a whisper, and it is not that difficult or expensive to do.

After it is installed, the two things you want to do are regular maintenance and to test regularly. Once a week on the test is best, but at least once a month. When you test regularly, you know when the power goes out it will run, no dead battery, bad fuel etc. I can not tell you haw many facility owners tell me their generator failed to start when the power went out and I asked how often do you test it. The usual answer is they don't. So test and maintain.
 
Hello Dave F,

Generac is now owned by B&S, so the engine will be their ownn. My first choice would be a Kohler powered unit. Sizing is up to you really. You don't have to have a unit with the same power as you present service, unless you wanted it for the peace of mind, as a smaller unit will use less fuel,

Guido.
 
We put in a 16kw Generac a little over a year ago. So far so good. Automatic switching, hooked to propane. We had it installed for about 2 months, had company, small kids in the house. Power went out for about 3 hours. Everything in the house worked just like normal. We did use electric range, TV, computers, etc. It was mild weather so A/C, heat wasn't in the picture.

Gene
 
I have done a lot of research on generators' Installed my own built the controls myself, used a Kohler 200 amp transfer switch. I will post a picture if I can find one. I used a GM engine and MacAlte Generator 30 KW. Did a lot of research. Kohler appears to be the best perhaps Cummins 2nd, Generac the cheapest made. They make more than anyone else but stay in business by playing the odds that it won't be used much.
 
Generac is owned by Generac. They did sell off the small power section. To a group that went under so Briggs bought them. That deal didn't work so Generac bought the small power units back. I believe it happened around 2008. Generac also had a deal with Cat for a few years. But it went bust. Kohler also got into the act. By filing a lawsuit. Because Generac claimed their units were better than Kohler or anyone else. For awhile we didn't know who owned who. Just like what happened when the Telecom industry fell apart.
 
That was my biggest problem. People would a 10 kw unit when they needed a 15 kw unit. Always buy one a little bigger than you need. Another problem was testing. Wasn't uncommon to find a 5 year old unit with 10 hours on it. Then they would complain to me because it didn't start.
 
Very nice looking unit and installation. Glad to see you left enough room around it to work on. Any problems with heat build up.
 
I bought the Generac (online from them) brand because it is uniquely designed for the purpose of Generating AC power. I selected the 11kw to power a good portion of my house during an outage. I chose that size because it was more fuel efficient than had I bought a larger one and lived like normal during an outage. When you have an outage, you never know how long it will last.

The engine is about 20 hp, Vtwin, made by Generac for that specific purpose. Generac has sold more than 1 million power units.....I think they know their business. I did the installation and the switch box. It was delivered to my house via motor freight. Instructions were very detailed. I think my unit was about $2700 and the switch box $480. The switch box senses the power line and automatically disconnects it and connects your generator. When power is restored, it senses that, changes the switch to power line position and shuts down the gen.

The local LP supplier sold me the 250 gallon tank and did the installation of that. The Generac instructions tell you how to setup the tank and plumbing including regulator size and all. That was about $1400 with a full tank of fuel which was very high at the time.....what drove up the price so much.

Once a week it turns on for 15 minutes. It has status lights on the end and when scheduled maintenance is due it shows an amber light and your instruction manual tells you what to do....basically change the oil and check your battery water and connections. Also, if not setup on a pad out of harms way of grass, floods and all that, checking the input grille for foreign objects.

It is an absolutely wonderful feeling to not have to worry about power outages any longer and not have to drag out the portable and string extension cords all through the house and run out of gasoline when you need it most. I have Propane as a heat source for the house so in the fall when they come out to top that tank off they top off the gen tank too.

Some of the best money I ever spent.
 
That was one of the statements among many that got Generac in trouble. All generators are uniquely designed to generate power. Generac is a new comer to the power game. Onan, Kohler,Winco, B&S all started back in the twenties. Generac in 1959.
 
The usual Generac bashing BS from the brain trust. My 16KW pad mount Generac with auto-transfer switch runs flawlessly with NEVER an issue. It replaced a portable 8kw portable which still runs flawlessly with no issues. The union electrical contractor who installed it for me who I've known for over 40 years says all brands have issues but in his experience Generacs are on the top of the list and is the only brand he will install. He averages two to three installations per week. He says the biggest problem with any generator is the self proclaimed "experts" who install the generators themselves. Generac refers a lot them to his company to get running. I also own a Dixie Chopper with a Generac engine. I too runs without any issues. It's just like Champion spark plug bashing. If Champion and Generac are so bad how do they stay in business?
 
I have been working with Generac units since 1980. It is not Generac bashing it is the truth. I wish I had the time to go over all the problems I have had with them. They do make some very good industrial units. The main problem is with Generac. No support unless you are a Generac dealer. They stay in business because they sell cheap.

I use to think Champion was the only plug to use. But after my dealings with them in the last five years. I will never do business with the again. Three weed eaters brand new and one chain saw. Wouldn't start. Took out the Champion plugs. Put in NGK. All four started up. So I am not bashing just telling what I have gone through.
 
Other considerations, There are liquid cooled and air cooled engines. Those that operate at 1800 RPM and those that operate at 3600 RPM. Obviously, all things being equal an 1800 RPM liquid cooled would be the most durable, and yes, the most expensive..
 
I didn't shop the competition when I bought mine. I had a 10hp 5 kw I think, portable I had since our bad freeze back in 1983 I think was the year. Been powering my necessities in the house during outages all those years with nothing changed but the oil. Used it hooked to my Miller 130 for light welding jobs in the field. Not sure if I ever changed a spark plug. Not sure if Northern Tool was carrying them then or not as they advertise regularly now.

Did a www and they were selling and shipping, I bought, the rest is history. I am fully aware of Onan in the RV market but never entered my mind to check them out. I see Kohler powered units advertised now at Lowes.

On the cooks installing their own, I'm not a cook and had I been I would have had it professionally done. My installation is every bit and maybe better than some professional jobs, if quality and care of workmanship are your metric. I know it will be with me for the rest of my life like my house I built in 1979. I'm not a jobber moving from job to job! It has stood the test of time.....definition of quality!
 

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