Generac or Koehler whole house generator?

[ning]

One of my neighbors has a Generac whole house system, I think it is a 22Kw generator. It is noisy but tolerable. My other neighbor just installed a Kohler system, no idea on the size. It is VERY loud, the loudest of the 4 in the neighborhood. My other neighbor has a cheap 5Kw portable unit, it is slightly louder than the Generac. Me, I got a Honda 7Kw inverter generator that I can't hear running from inside the house. The only issue with it is that it won't run the 4 ton AC unit in our new house. So I am looking for a whole house generator in the 14Kw range. This has been a timely thread for me. Still deciding what unit I want to go with. Whatever I do I will set it up for manual start and manual switch over.

Any idea which Kohler system it is? I've been considering a Kohler system installation (DIY).

 

[IXLR8]

Any idea which Kohler system it is? I've been considering a Kohler system installation (DIY).

Sorry I don't know. Even though he has more money than he knows what to do with, he tends to buy the cheapest thing that will do the job.

 

[IXLR8]

before you do that buy and install this if its a startup issue. be aware you can parallel the 7k to get to 14kw

Amazon.com

The AC units are inverter units so they should have minimum startup currents. The unit lists 32 amps as the running current. A second 7k unit would give me the most flexibility and give me a way to power my shop if I didn't need AC in the house during an outage. Hmm. Thanks for the idea, I need to research this more.

 

[ponytug]

The AC units are inverter units so they should have minimum startup currents. The unit lists 32 amps as the running current. A second 7k unit would give me the most flexibility and give me a way to power my shop if I didn't need AC in the house during an outage. Hmm. Thanks for the idea, I need to research this more.

+1 on paralleling. I've only paralleled the smaller Hondas, and it works like a charm. I think that there is a lot to be said for it, if you can manage within the power output. Plus you get some redundancy and the ability to turn one off to refuel safely.

All the best,

Peter

 

[MAX-24-Dean]

During all of the outages in Texas no deliveries for home use were interupted to the best of my knowledge. Folks had problems getting heat in their homes due to power failures due to gas supplies not being delivered to power generators. No power at the house, blowers and controls won't run. If you generate your own power that issue is moot. The power outages were also due to poor performance from solar and wind as well. Since the freeze of 2022 a number of things have been done to improve natural gas delivery in Texas. For example many of the gas processing plants/compressor stations in west Texas had not been designated as critical infrastructure and when the rolling blackouts came the facilities were cut off. This just made the problem worse. There have been a number of other changes that have been made to improve reliability of the natural gas supplies in Texas. After being in the natyural gas business for nearly 50 year I believe your concerns are way overblown as well as overstated.

My son lived in east Texas and had NG gas through the whole power outage during this time frame. NG heat and a NG 5KW 1800 rpm kubota running during the whole outage.
I would personally prefer propane as you know how much reserve you have if the NG ever was curtailed.

 

[check]

In 2023 I took a job with Generac. The QC now, vs 5-10 years ago is not even remotely close to acceptable. In the plant I worked at, there were 100's (and I'm not exaggerating) of defective units stacked up in the aisles of the warehouse for the entire time I worked there. You couldn't go thru those 12' aisles except on foot.

One day a "QC" control gal came by and asked where was putting today's production. (I was a fork lift operator transporting finished product to the warehouse). It turns out that assembly line put the wrong stators in the wrong units for the first several hours of the shift. QC didn't catch it at that point on the line, or any other point of the assembly line. Only after it was boxed up, shrunk wrapped and ready to ship out did they discover the faux-pas. The defective units sat there for weeks. Not sure if they ever fixed them.

I've worked for numerous companies in my life, and I've never seen a company that didn't try to fix their mistakes, or to get better...until this. They also had major "bugs" in their software. I'd have to scan the same Serial# 7 times in order for it to be accepted into the system.

Frustration got so bad, I moved on.

WOW - stay away from Generac.

 

[sixdogs]

I'm the OP on this and am getting my pricing soon with a Koehler generator for whole house and propane fuel. The guy's coming over tomorrow so we'll see what happens.

I'm not sure about the manual start/stop switch. Can I have this combined with the auto start feature as well?

 

[ning]

I'm the OP on this and am getting my pricing soon with a Koehler generator for whole house and propane fuel. The guy's coming over tomorrow so we'll see what happens.

I'm not sure about the manual start/stop switch. Can I have this combined with the auto start feature as well?

I expect that something like this Kohler 20kW unit is what I'm going to end up getting.

 

[grsthegreat]

I dont have much experience with the Kohler line. But there supposed to be pretty reliable.

I dont know anything about kohler manual remote start and stop. I do inow its never a good thing to stop a running generator while its under a load. If the manual switch doesnt cut off the load prior to start or stop you let out the magic smoke…… i mean literally..you can smoke the generator.

A transfer switch automatically cuts the feed and thus the load and allows the generator to operated unloaded for some time prior to shutting down. The reverse is true for starting up.

 

[EddieWalker]

I expect that something like this Kohler 20kW unit is what I'm going to end up getting.

Please keep us posted. I'm very undecided on what I want to get for my place.