cdaigle430
Veteran Member
I wish
Used the Home Depot card and 0% financing for 18 months (5.5K). Have a little over one year left to pay on it before the promo period is over. The generator has a 10 year warranty.3-Point Hitch PTO Generator arrived today
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I wish
Used the Home Depot card and 0% financing for 18 months (5.5K). Have a little over one year left to pay on it before the promo period is over. The generator has a 10 year warranty.Turbys_1700
Elite Member
If you are in an area like mine that has few storms and a good power grid I really don't know if a generator is justified.
When Hugo came through 30 years ago I was out of power 7 days. At that time I had purchased a welder generator that served me well. Eventually I sold it off from lack of use.
I do remember an ice storm with 4 days of outage years later. When that happened I decided I would always have a backup generator in addition to gas logs as a back up heat source. When I purchased my All Power 10KW generator on close out at Northern Tool 10 plus years ago I had no idea how much I would use it. Fast forward to now and it has a whopping 13 hours of run time.
I still consider it a good investment. Not a lot of coin tied up in something that will get at best intermittent use. I would love to have a PTO generator but can't justify the cost in my current situation. If my power was out more often the cost justification would change.
When Hugo came through 30 years ago I was out of power 7 days. At that time I had purchased a welder generator that served me well. Eventually I sold it off from lack of use.
I do remember an ice storm with 4 days of outage years later. When that happened I decided I would always have a backup generator in addition to gas logs as a back up heat source. When I purchased my All Power 10KW generator on close out at Northern Tool 10 plus years ago I had no idea how much I would use it. Fast forward to now and it has a whopping 13 hours of run time.
I still consider it a good investment. Not a lot of coin tied up in something that will get at best intermittent use. I would love to have a PTO generator but can't justify the cost in my current situation. If my power was out more often the cost justification would change.
carolinarider
Bronze Member
I have long considered getting a Kohler natural gas emergency generator. I have a location for it close to the home's natural gas feed and a location for the generator.
My question is, someone mentioned a ten year warranty on the generator, in your experience, does the warranty require a factory approved installation and factory approved servicing.
I understand how to hook it up, have the location for the automatic switch, and can make that installation. The only issue that has stopped me from installing one is the of maintenance. I can read the manual and do the maitneaoe but don't know if the warranty would be supported with "self maintenance".
My question is, someone mentioned a ten year warranty on the generator, in your experience, does the warranty require a factory approved installation and factory approved servicing.
I understand how to hook it up, have the location for the automatic switch, and can make that installation. The only issue that has stopped me from installing one is the of maintenance. I can read the manual and do the maitneaoe but don't know if the warranty would be supported with "self maintenance".
grsthegreat
Super Star Member
im not sure about kohler, but generac allows for homeowner to maintain it. they DO require a generac approved service tech to do any WARRANTY repair that GENERAC pays for. so a homeowner can change oil, but they cannot repair a defect IF it falls under warranty. but then again, generac pays me to repair it, so what does that matter. The warranty is definitely worth it. I just repaired a customers transfer switch when the electromagnet melted down. part was over 400 bucks and labor was 2 hours plus travel. generac paid me to fix it. didnt cost customer anything.
ive installed a few kohler units, but i dont service them so im not familiar with their policies. Here in Idaho iev done warranty repairs on customer installed units and generac has always paid me for repairs AS LONG AS UNIT WAS INSTALLED PROPERLY. Ihad one unit fail because homeowner didnt put a gas line t trap in and garbage got into the regulator. generac wouldnt pay to fix that and i didnt think that they should. it was installed wrong.
carolinarider
Bronze Member
Many thanks for the information.
Since you have installed both and work on the Generac, would you say one is significantly different from the other.
I don't have any personal experience with either and picked the Kohler of the Generac in my list of two based on information from a national consume group.
Since you have installed both and work on the Generac, would you say one is significantly different from the other.
I don't have any personal experience with either and picked the Kohler of the Generac in my list of two based on information from a national consume group.
grsthegreat
Super Star Member
i like the hydraulic lifters offered on the kohler ( im not sure if their current versions still offer them) as opposed to the manual lifters on the generac, but this only needs 20 minuter to check and adjust every 2 years so no real big deal. I like generacs load shed options FAR FAR better than kohlers. if you have any large loads to shed generacs units are far easier to hook up. the curent version of generac units are all powder coated aluminum and the kohlers i worked on were steel. not sure if they still are though.
both are usa made , both are reliable units. generac holds 75 % of total market share, so be careful about complaints online. if someone has 100 complaints on 1,000,000 units compared to 10 complaints on 100,000 units its the same. personally i do very little repairs on these generators. fact is they dont run too much. the 22 KW unit on my house is 1-1/2 years old now and only has 22 hours on it. it looks brand new. if i needed a generator for continuous or off grid applications id NEVER use a 3,600 rpm machine. id stick with an 1,800 rpm unit
when i put in my new unit i was contemplating the quiet source generac line. there liquid cooled 1,800 rpm units but there 2x the cost. i could not justify it for my circumstances. during my last 3 power outages this winter, the generator powered up my 4,000 sf house and barn without issue. i have high end appliances and electronics and all worked flawlessly.
the kohler units operate great also. my problem with them is the difficulty installing the load shed system. generacs units are wireless and you can install them onto any 240 volt unit of 50 amps or less. you can add up to 8 of them. it makes install so much easier.
WranglerX
Super Member
Any "cut over (transfer) switch" properly installed would do...
Dale
Dale