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Don and Wayne said most of what I was going to. I have to also agree with Wayne in suggesting that the best solution will likely be to upgrade the generator and keep the engine you already have. Some things people miss with gensets is that they are nothing more than two components, and engine and a generator. There is nothing special about them, of course not talking about fancy units with load sensing circuits, auto start/stop and switch gear, sticking to bare bones start and go units here. "Two bearing" generators cost a bit more at the outset simply because of the added components and framing necessary to support them. In the long run, going with a "two bearing" is far more cost effective than using a direct coupled single or no bearing gen. A good two bearing generator can be found in many places depending on what you are looking for. If you want best of the best and can afford it Mitsubishi Electric is the brand of choice. Harder to find dealers and parts for but then again you'll probably never need to repair it. I know many will scoff at the above statement but speaking from experience, their motors and generators are of excellent quality. Sticking to generators alone here, while I would prefer a Mitsu over others as first choice, this does not discount the high quality shown by many other companies as well. I think Reliant Electric (or division thereof) builds a lot of generators to spec for other companies but I can not say who or what off hand. I'd stay clear of the "disposable" (cheap) units .... I hate to name names here because it usually causes discontent with someone .... I'll leave it as those genset units you find at the home/hardware stores selling for less than $2,000. I keep getting off point here. Depending on what service you expect from the unit as well as how much you can afford to invest in one will be the two main points for choice. Are you only going to use it as a dedicated "stand-by" unit for your home during power outages? How often do you loose power and for how long? Could it be of use elsewhere; cabin, farm, camping, construction jobs? Face it, a 24 Hp engine is not easily moved around so if this is going to be portable, I hope it's on a trailer. Add the weight of a 10 - 15 Kw two bearing generator and you got a unit that's heavy. I can't see anyone who loses power once a year for less than 12 hours needing anything more than a cheap genset capable of 120/240 @ 5 Kw. It's just not cost effective to hard wire the unit into the home, get a couple cords and just plug in the applicance you need to run like the freezer or boiler. The least expensive transfer switches will run you close to 300 bucks plus another 150 or so for conduit and wire, while installing a few outlets and plugs for critical appliances like the well pump, water heater or boiler will cost you generally less than 100 bucks using good quality stuff. Now, if you loose power ten times a year for a day or more, you got a good reason to hard wire a big unit into place and be done. If you want to trailer mount this unit and be able to power the buzz box in the field or run a construction crew or power the cabin, then you should look at buying the best quality you can find at a reasonable price. I've found quality used two bearing units in 120/240 single phase <20kw going for $1500 or less and new ones going around $2500. You gotta shop and shop before buying. I was looking to put a 3 phase unit on my service truck and found prices on new ones vary as much as $2500 from one dealer to the next. One of the best places to check is with amusment ride and mobile vending unit dealers. Most all of these units have a genset on them and you can usually find a lot of good stuff at these places for a lot less than anywhere else simply because of the volume they deal in. As for hook-up, you have to make that choice once you know the speed and Hp required for the gen unit. If the gen needs 3600 rpm, and you rengine is a high speed, direct shaft coupling with a Lovejoy or other brand shaft coupler is a good choice. If the gen is an 1800 and your engine needs higher rpm to get the Hp, belt drive it matching rpm's withe sheave sizes. I would never hard couple an engine/gen if at all possible unless it is done so from initial design. A Lovejoy coupling or belt will likely burn off/rip up in the event of a catastophic failure on either end of the machine hopefully saving the other from becoming a total loss. In addition, vibration and such can be limited by letting each side stand on it's own vibration mounts and there is also the buffer between the input & output shafts. Sorry for getting off point and rambling on....
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