Generac generator?

[turbodog]

Anyone have one? A family member is thinking of getting a permanently installed Generac standby generator that runs off of natural gas to run a gas furnace or the electric central AC unit as needed and to keep the frig running, etc. Their stove and hot water heater are gas and do not need electricity.

I've had a whole house nat gas auto xfer for 5-6 years now.

Generac floods the market w/ sales literature. I would not buy one due to 1) a class action suit against them regarding the generator part coming apart/delaminating and 2) generac-specific parts.

1. I'm sure this has been fixed, but this was a HUGE oversight which speaks to their quality control and warranty (they had to be sued to fix it).

2. This makes service/etc more expensive.

I went kohler... the unit will talk to other control boards from generic manufacturers. Neighbor has one also. So far... no problems with either one.

The sound is not really a problem. Yes, it runs at 3600 rpm. The engine and generator head are on rubber isolation mounts. There is sound deadening in the enclosure also. Is also runs at a more or less constant tone, not ramping up/down. So you sort of get used to it.

It's right through the master bedroom wall and I have _zero_ problems sleeping with it running. If your neighbor is a whiner, and 20' away, expect some complaints. These can usually be remedied by throwing an extension cord their way for their fridge, microwave, lights, tv, and phone charger.

I DID mount the unit in a gravel bed to absorb vibrations and preventing creeping. I would recommend it.

 

[bykfixer]

Yup the ole toss the cord next door trick should certainly cut back on complaints.
Those are priced pretty decent as well.

 

[ilikeguns40]

Highly recommend Generac. This GP6500 will power my whole house including my AC unit. Never wanted to pay for one considering the rare chances it's needed. I have 2 deep freezers and 3 refrigerators and power had gone out for around 3 days last year from a bad storm, before I purchased this I had lost over $1000 worth of food. If my neighbors need to keep something running they can as well with an extension cord. This post just reminded me to get this fired up and run for a little while. Yes it's loud and annoying, but not as annoying when all your food gets wasted. If power goes out in the winter, I can still run my gas furnace

 

[RWT1405]

Thanks much RWT! I was thinking 14kW would probably be enough to run the AC and the frig, along with a few lights and small appliances (guessing that a smaller generator would be a little quieter too?). But a 22kW could probably power most homes with everything running at the same time!

When we had the house spec'd out, my friend (he is an authorized Generac installer) told me 16kW was recommended

I looked into the different available and told him I would like to go with the 22kW (biggest air-cooled they had, at that time) and he told me that was the best bet, as he found they (22kW) had the least amount of problems and was what he figured I would want

I hear lots of people talk sh*t about Generac, but in our neighborhood, Generac rules, with minimal problems noted from any of them

The reason I went with a whole house generator was my wife told me they (late 2016) have multiple "blackouts" a year, sometimes for 3-5 days

The one thing I would recommend is to make sure you deal with an authorized Dealer/Installer and make sure you do the yearly maintenance

 

[BVH]

If you step up to the water cooled units, they run about half the RPM and are far, far quieter and will probably last longer as they tend to run quite a bit cooler than air cooled units with less temp variation at different parts of the engine.

 

[ilikeguns40]

We have several Generac generators at my work. We use them almost everyday 5 days of week at work mostly during the winter. They always start and never have any issues. Just gotta keep them maintained like any other motor.

 

[turbodog]

If you step up to the water cooled units, they run about half the RPM and are far, far quieter and will probably last longer as they tend to run quite a bit cooler than air cooled units with less temp variation at different parts of the engine.

For home use this is just another maintenance issue: radiator, belts, hoses, coolant, etc.

Problem with standby generators...

They sit cold/ambient temp. They are cranked, immediately revved to rated rpm, and a large load applied all at once. This is NOT the best treatment but comes with the territory. The nicer ones can be programmed to sit X seconds before activating the transfer switch... but there's still not enough time to warm up pistons, cylinders, oil, etc.

 

[IMA SOL MAN]

We had a 60kW Onan genset. Very nice, but honestly, it was very much overkill. Worse, because of its large size, the expense of running it and keeping it going (because a mechanic has to drive out to us to work on it), I'm not so sure it's worth it. We only have propane available and a large generator guzzles through that propane faster than (insert your favourite off-color analogy here). As such, we'd have to shut it down somewhat often otherwise we'd run out of propane. Good luck getting a propane delivery during / after a disaster. Yes, I speak from experience. It was 3 weeks before our next propane delivery. Fortunately power was back in 5 days for that one.

Having been through many hurricanes, here's what I've been recommending:
1) Remember: You're building a life raft, not an entire cruise ship here. You want it to power what you actually need. Yes, our 60kW genset powered everything, including landscape lighting and fountains...but also would only run for 3-4 days if left on 24/7 at a considerable expense. Realistically, some (not full) climate control, refrigeration, lighting, and some electronics is all that's needed.

2) Get an inverter mini-split heat pump, 120v. As to where this ends up depends on your home's layout. I've been having people put them in their bedrooms, but these are usually newer homes with large master bedrooms.

3) Get a pair of Honda/Yamaha inverter generators and twin them. This allows you to have redundancy if one decides to crap out in an emergency, the extra capacity when you need it, and fuel efficiency by only running 1 at a time if you don't need all of the capacity. The Honda/Yamaha inverter generators are also very quiet. You can have a full conversation standing in front of one without a problem. They also do make models with electric/remote starting.

4) Keep an eye on that fridge when on generator -- don't let it auto-defrost. Why melt the ice you just paid to make?

My "portable" emergency setup is a 6,000BTU window shaker AC and a single Honda EU2000. I only use about 1.5-2 gallons/day with this setup, including powering a full-size fridge, electronics, fans, etc. Compare this to the typical 5,000-10,000 watt generators which can drink that much in an hour. The EU2000 is now 18 years old and other than changing the oil, I've never done any maintenance on it. I probably should... then again, I say that every year.

You said you had a 60kw genset, what did you do with it?

 

[Jim Bonney]

Depending on your power needs and your mechanical ability, I'm convinced the best setup for most is a pair of Honda's. It's a versatile arrangement, very portable and storeable, low maintenance, quiet, reliable, easy to have/buy parts for and easy to convert to propane if necessary. You can even have one setup for propane and one on gasoline and you can still companion them even on the different fuels. Of course, if you make you're own adapter and understand how generators work you can companion any two generators. The power output on propane is slightly lower. You can get into a pair of EU2200's for 2200 bucks or so. The GX120 in the EU2200i is just plain a stellar engine. Easily top 3 singles of all time.

 

[TPA]

You said you had a 60kw genset, what did you do with it?

24' storm surge took care of it. Actually, it KO'd all three of our large generators. This pic is from the other side of the building. We had the Onan feeding our side of the building, not sure what brand this one was.

In the meantime, my 18 year old Honda EU2000i is still going. Another advantage for the portable inverter generators -- portability and the ability to move them to safer areas, or even take them with you when it's time to bug out and abandon the building.

Highly recommend Generac. This GP6500 will power my whole house including my AC unit. Never wanted to pay for one considering the rare chances it's needed.
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The problem with this type of generator (non-inverter) is fuel consumption. With my Honda EU2000 inverter generator, I'm going through 1-2 gallons PER DAY running a 6,000 BTU AC, fridge, lights, fans, electronics, etc. Generators like the one you're showing can drink that much PER HOUR.

In an emergency, gas stations also won't have power. When they do get power back, lines for the pumps are 1-3 hours long, and are only handing out 5 gallons of gas per visit, providing they can even get fuel deliveries. From my experience, you need to be self-sufficient for at least 7 days before the outside world starts to get back on its feet again.

Inverter generators aren't cheap, but are worth every penny. My 18 year old Honda's proof of that. I think I've changed the oil on it 4 times in 18 years and that's it. It's been fed some really questionable gasoline over the years too. Still starts on the first pull.

 

[Jim Bonney]

I can't overstate how awesome the Honda GX engines are and how well Honda builds a generator. There are other really good generators half the price, but not one of them combines the sum total of awesome the Honda brings to the table. The bigger Honda generators are also very good and you can also make your own adaptor to companion those, or even companion two different output generators, different brands, etc. Do your homework and remember this is emergency kit. It's worth getting old faithful because in the middle of the struggle the extra 600 bucks you spent on a Honda over a Predator isn't going to matter, but the extra gallon of gas you have, or the fact that it still works, will.

 

[kaichu dento]

Inverter generators aren't cheap, but are worth every penny.

My first and only generator so far is a Champion inverter and the only things it's lacking are 240v output and just a bit more power.

 

[raggie33]

love to see some stay under 70 decibels

 

[TPA]

love to see some stay under 70 decibels

Not to sound like a broken record, but Honda inverter generators.

EU2200i: 48dB(A) at 1/4 load, 57dB(A) at full load
EU3000is: 50dB(A) at 1/4 load, 57dB(A) at full load
EU7000is: 52dB(A) at 1/4 load, 58dB(A) at full load.

 

[Guitar Guy]

+1 on the small Honda inverter / generators. LOVE my little EU2200i. Ultra quiet, easily movable, small enough to take camping, amazingly dependable engine, and sips gas. I think it runs for 8 to 9 hours on a gallon.

What prompted me to get it a few years back was when a rural community about a half hour away from me had the power knocked out by severe storms and didn't get it restored for over 3 weeks - in hot humid weather.

I'm not as concerned about running the whole house in an occasional 5 hour outage as I am with running the essentials in a major "once in a lifetime" outage, such as a national emergency, terrorist attack on the grid, EMP attack, earthquake, major flood, etc.

As mentioned by others, gas could be nearly impossible to obtain in a major disaster. I keep enough gas to run my Honda for a month. I would buy 2 or 3 small Hondas before I'd buy one large big-box store brand.

I know a guy who lives way out in the sticks, and bought a huge expensive loud gas guzzling generator that he was barely able to drag from the barn to the house during a storm. He was bragging about how many watts it was. I asked him how much gas he had. He said "a 5 gallon can, and another smaller can". I laughed.

 

[Poppy]

Anyone have one? A family member is thinking of getting a permanently installed Generac standby generator that runs off of natural gas to run a gas furnace or the electric central AC unit as needed and to keep the frig running, etc. Their stove and hot water heater are gas and do not need electricity.

If money is no object, I'd get one installed. I can't comment on the brand, vs any other brand, because I've not looked into it.

Something that no one mentioned is the threat of theft.
Sub_Umbra in his water epiphany thread (his experience of sheltering in place during Katrina) stated that armed thieves roamed the streets, and the police stole portable generators. MY guess is that permanently installed units are less apt to be stolen.

I had a Coleman 5500 watt 10 HP briggs powered noise maker, during Sandy. It ran for 3.5 days and nights. I dug a hole and poured a one cubic foot concrete footing with a Large Eye Bolt imbedded in it that I chained the generator to. I know that won't stop a determined thief, but it will deter him.

I had a small BBQ unit that was connected to a natural gas line. I looked into converting my 10 HP generator's carb into accepting Natural gas, and found that the line wouldn't supply enough NG to power it. So it was going to be too big a deal/too costly to get a plumber in to upgrade the NG connection. So I dropped the idea. A smaller unit could have been fed by it.

In those 3.5 days, I think I went through about 45 gallons of gasoline. That was an eye opener.
Also when it ran out of gas during the middle of the night, I rolled over and went to sleep.

I had one friend who had a whole house unit installed before Sandy hit. She was stunned by her NG fuel bill the following month. IIRC it was North of $1000. I think she was on generator power for more than two weeks.

When I sold my house, I left the generator.

I guess it was three years ago that I bought a Predator 3500 watt super quiet inverter generator. I haven't needed it yet. One reviewer of it, ran it on his 18 wheeler 24 x 7 for a year without problems, so I'm confident that it will last for a few weeks at a time if needed. It is very quiet, and sips fuel. It's short coming is that it is not 220V and won't power my central AC, but it will power a 110 window or portable AC unit. Or a mini split 110V unit. So if necessary, one may reside in one room of the house in comfort.

As a backup, or a unit to share, I also have a 2000 watt Predator super quiet inverter generator. I bought that one used at a good price.

One commentator mentioned that he found that 30lb propane bottles were easily available during Sandy, when gasoline was scarce. If I was to do it again, I'd strongly consider getting a duel fuel 2000 or 2500 watt Champion inverter (super quiet). Just to have more options.

 

[Guitar Guy]

I chain mine to a metal clothes line pole that's cemented into the ground out back with the heaviest piece of chain I could get, or to a tree when I'm camping, to some anti theft brackets that Honda makes for them. If I'm not using it, I can put it back in the basement, or in my enclosed camping trailer. If it would shut off while I'm using it, it had better be outta gas because if someone's trying to cut the chain and make off with it - click click boom. Plus, with the small quiet Hondas, you're not advertising that you have a generator. From the front street, you can't even hear it running.

 

[Poppy]

Plus, with the small quiet Hondas, you're not advertising that you have a generator.

LOL.. but the lights ON in the house might give a suggestion.

 

[Guitar Guy]

LOL.. but the lights ON in the house might give a suggestion.

C'mon, this is a flashlight forum - I use my many flashlights, diffusers and LED lanterns to light the house. I use the generator for the fridge, freezer, and to re-charge batteries. 😁

 

[bykfixer]

love to see some stay under 70 decibels

Look for "camping" generators. Camp grounds have noise rules and there are generators that can meet them. The Honda mentioned a million times here is one. Yamaha makes one as well. Don't know about reliability for the Yamaha though.