Whole house generator

[Ridgewalker]

What brand diesel are you looking at?

I keep thinking LP for me since I already have a tank on site. It would be easy to tap into it.

We had a power outage for 3 full days recently. I thought I was protected with an 8kw Dyna (Winco) genset. I was, sorta. However, if you happen to have a number of motors starting up simultaneously, the instantaneous current draw can do some bad things. I lost my expensive dehumidifier and my oil burner and refrigerator sounded a bit weird at times. Most likely due to low voltage at that time. I felt 8kw was ample, but keeping that genset would necessitate my taking some things like our freezer, dehumdifier, and a couple other things off to make sure I don't have a brown voltage situation again. It is also why I'm considering a 14kw unit now. It's a commercial diesel, very well built, and if I project another 10 years ahead with it, it will still have low hours and be worth nearly what it's worth now. It does not seem like a bad investment for me now, all things considered. Still, 3600 bucks ain't cheap, but as I said, it's not gonna lose much value and no function with whatever in the next decade.

 

[Mighty Dodge]

I might lose power 2 or 3 times a year. I use a Lincoln Weldanpower G8000. It won't run the whole house but keeps the fridge, freezer, well pump and lights on.

M.D.

 

[tmajor]

Here's a link to another post of mine, which has a few links, which might be helpful.

 

[daBear]

I am in the middle of Mississippi and lived with two females (wife/daughter) for three weeks without power in August which is hot. When I built a new house in 2006 I was certain to include a NG generator. I bought a 16KW Generac which up until last week had less than 100 hours on it. I noticed it did not start for the weekly exercise cycle and to make a real long story short the stator was fried. The Generac service rep, said well they just do that every once in a while. My unit being about 42 months old was out of warranty and a new stator will cost $2,000 with labor.

I will have a 20KW Cummins/Onan delivered in about a week. Beware of all the bells and whistles and low prices associated with Generac. Cummins is made in the good old USA and that is for me. Plus they have a 5 year/2000 hour warranty. Generac does not even come close.

 

[grsthegreat]

Like i said before my Onan generator was purchased USED in 1994, not sure how old it really is. It electric start and has run flawless (cept batteries and oil) since i bought it. Its propane fed

 

[ayelvington]

I'm looking to install a whole house auto start up unit before winter myself. I'm trying to decide between 14kw and 17kw being run on NG. It will be either Kohler or Generac. Any pro's or cons of one brand over the other?

I'd be inclined to go with the Kohler. I don't want to open a can of worms with why. I'll just say that opinion comes from friends that do large commercial power systems.

 

[coobie]

I thought I read some where that Onan was out of business is that true??coobie

 

[daBear]

I thought I read some where that Onan was out of business is that true??coobie

I am not coobie, but I talked to the Cummins/Onan regional rep and local residential rep only last Friday about 20KW residental units and load management quesitons. Onan has always been big in RV gensets and now its Cummins/Onan so maybe they got married.

 

[coobie]

I am not coobie, but I talked to the Cummins/Onan regional rep and local residential rep only last Friday about 20KW residental units and load management quesitons. Onan has always been big in RV gensets and now its Cummins/Onan so maybe they got married.

OK,thats a good thing since I have a 20hp Onan motor in my 1996 ingersoll lawn tractor.Hopefully I will still be able to get parts.coobie

 

[msjanket]

I've been looking at a Ruggerini diesel, air cooled, around 22 HP. Should put out 14k electricity. Air cooled, very nice unit that has BlueDiamond generator end.