It's time for a whole house backup generator. Any thoughts on Generac vs Kohler vs any other brand? Any other issues to consider besides the brand? I'm in north Houston so any recommendations for a dealer / contractor are also appreciated.

( I did search for old threads on this topic but didn't see any)

Our house had a Generac installed by the previous owner and no issues for us. 99% of the start ups are it's weekly test. When we do need it, it's been for 10 or so minutes here and there with a few 1+ hour uses and one 8+ hour use.

Each spring, I go out and change the oil, filter, and plug and just replaced the battery this spring as the other was getting a little old. Ours also runs on natural gas.

There are a few dealers that have posted on these threads in the past(general generator threads), they may be helpful. Whole home generators have been a thing for awhile, but have become more common/popular in the last 10 years. With that being said most people won't have owned both brands to compare. I'm sure a few will though. I've always assumed it was a Ford vs Chevrolet kind of thing when comparing generac vs Kohler, but honestly don't know.

When we built our house about 4 years ago, we installed a 22kw whole home Generac generator. When we had the bad freeze a couple of years ago, it ran about 55 hours that week. When we lose power, everything is back up and running in less than 10 seconds. I did install a small ups on all my home automation/ audio video equipment to help prevent an surges during transfer. We just replaced our battery a couple of weeks ago.

We got our generator from Texas Star Power in Plantersville.

Texasstarpower.com

I have a large liquid cooler generac and have been very pleased with it.
It's nice because when it kicks on it's so quiet it's like a cat purring.

Just this week had a 26kw Generac put in. I noticed that several people in the area we live in had generators and when I checked with those I knew they had the Generac brand. Plus there was an earlier forum here that most of the posters there had the Generac. We didn't get hit with the last statewide blackout/brownout but with the looming threat of high temps I decided to go ahead and pull the trigger.

Texarkanaag69 said:

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Just this week had a 26kw Generac put in. I noticed that several people in the area we live in had generators and when I checked with those I knew they had the Generac brand. Plus there was an earlier forum here that most of the posters there had the Generac. We didn't get hit with the last statewide blackout/brownout but with the looming threat of high temps I decided to go ahead and pull the trigger.

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Not sure mine's gonna purr like a cat and the possible noise bothering my neighbor is a concern. Mine's so new I'll find out on that weekly check. Not sure there's a solution though.

Generac has by far the most extensive network of authorized service reps and spare parts are more readily available.

We have a 60 kw Generac and we replaced a smaller unit the previous owner had installed. Both units have been flawless.

The main thing is get the most reputable installer/service rep in your area.

As the grid becomes less reliable with more and more renewables coming online we're all going to become more familiar with generators.

I haven't looked at the numbers but Generac appears to absolutely own the market. I am a little surprised that a decent competitor hasn't popped up by now with such a demand. Apparently Generac is really doing everything right to hold them off. They need competition IMO lol, so I can get a better deal on our new house build install.

We installed a 22kw General about 3 years ago and has worked perfect for our 3300 ft home. We do have it monitored and they come out annually to do yearly maintenance. 2 times I have had phone calls from the monitoring company that their was issues with the system and have out to repair it.

We live in Spring and use Generator Supercenter.

Installed a 22kw generac in June of 2021. Has been great and very dependable with the generac automatic transfer switch. Power is restored in less than 15 seconds. Ours runs on natural gas. Powers a 1400 sqft home with plenty of reserve power.

So many neighbors have generators going now I am no longer worried about noise. Found a good FB page with guidance on getting this setup going so we may do that. Anyone done this instead? Looks like you can get it done between $3-$5K. Much more work I suppose.

Whole home

We live in the Spring area and when our power went out a few nights ago, it was weird looking out and seeing everyone in darkness while our home was all lit up and cool. The power was out for 15 hours, can't imagine no AC for that long.

Had a 22kw Generac installed February of '21, about 12 hrs before the big winter storm hit. It was worth the cost alone for that week. Since then we've had several other extended outages where it's been nice to not worry about power. The only issue we have is our heaters are heat strips only, and the generator can't handle more than 2 out of 3 running. We almost never run all 3, our fireplace fans are ducted into the vents so we mainly use that and supplement with oil heaters in the kids rooms that are on a separate unit. Oh and we have 1 ac unit from 1987(!) that has a tough time starting on the generator, I bought a soft start kit to put in it this week.

Concerning the post on portable generators, I can see how that could be a good cost effective setup. I bought a Generac because I work 200 miles from home and can be gone 20+ days at a time. The peace of mind knowing my wife and kids have to do nothing and have the generator kick on is great. Even if I was home all the time, dragging the generator out at 2 am during a thunderstorm would get old.

How much LP will a generac burn through in an extended power outage situation? No idea on kW size for our home, but big enough to power hvac and important electrics for a 3000 or so sq ft home. Is a 500 gal tank sufficient to keep it running for days at a time?

"dragging the generator out at 2 am during a thunderstorm would get old."

Yes that's definitely crossed my mind but for the most part I can't imagine doing that until I was certain power was going to stay off. We slept last week one night with no power and to be honest it was pretty miserable. If you think a tempurpedic is hot normally during an outrage it's a nightmare. We don't really have a good place to put it either but I guess there's alway a trade off for saving money. Hooking it up to natural gas would be so nice. We also don't know how long we'll be in this house so it seems like a safer bet.

dr_boogs said:

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How much LP will a generac burn through in an extended power outage situation? No idea on kW size for our home, but big enough to power hvac and important electrics for a 3000 or so sq ft home. Is a 500 gal tank sufficient to keep it running for days at a time?

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Yes. Assume your 500 gallon tank is full that's 400 gallons, more than enough for a week.
Just make sure you refill it in July before summer load peak in August and again in December before Jan-Feb freezes. Ideally stay on a "keep full" propane service.

I have a Kohler 22 KW I installed in 2010. I wanted a Generac but they were hard to get back then.

We live in a remote area in a coastal county, went through Hurricane Harvey, Hurricane Nicholas, and the big freeze. I maintain the Generator myself, it ran flawlessly.

Burned about 200 to 250 gallons in the week long big freeze and in Hurricane Harvey. . Although we had a wood stove keeping home warm in the freeze

You can always raise the thermostat and minimize energy use.

New house in Brazos County has a 24KW Generac.

To me dealer availability for parts and service is more important than brand.

I like the idea of a second tank. My tank was fairly low when the storms came thru NE TX last week. I was sweating running out. Fortunately our supplier filled it up and the power came back on.

We love our generac. Hope to never be without one.

22kW Kohler installed about 6 years ago. Has ran flawlessly with basic maintenance done thus far (oil/filters).
Was not impressed with the local Generac dealer for my area and a local company out of Danbury (close to me) was the Kohler rep. Super informative, and super responsive.

I believe both are outstanding products (all depends on service). As for Kohler quality look around at all large base generators on hospitals, large commercial, oilfield etc are mostly Kohler. The quality is there with both no doubt.

I have experience with both generac and kohler and both have worked as advertised. The generac was loud in use at full throttle but worked well. I installed a 38kw kohler less than a year ago and it is very quiet. It runs at lower rpm than the generac did. The Kohler is as as loud as a car idling when under a load.

nactownag said:

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I have a large liquid cooler generac and have been very pleased with it.
It's nice because when it kicks on it's so quiet it's like a cat purring.

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Same. But my neighbor's little, air-cooled Generac makes sure I know the generators are running!!

Texarkanaag69 said:

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Texarkanaag69 said:

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Just this week had a 26kw Generac put in. I noticed that several people in the area we live in had generators and when I checked with those I knew they had the Generac brand. Plus there was an earlier forum here that most of the posters there had the Generac. We didn't get hit with the last statewide blackout/brownout but with the looming threat of high temps I decided to go ahead and pull the trigger.

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Not sure mine's gonna purr like a cat and the possible noise bothering my neighbor is a concern. Mine's so new I'll find out on that weekly check. Not sure there's a solution though.

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We live in a neighborhood where the houses are pretty close, and after Hurricane Ian we had many people in the area with whole home generators running for days. You could hear them when youre outside but it wasnt disruptive unless you were close to them

Liquid cooled, quieter, but more expensive

Air cooled, louder, but less expensive.

I wouldn't worry about it. If they don't have a generator, you can be neighborly and help them out. If they do, they won't hear yours over their own. Unless you have a quiet generator (me) and your neighbor has a loud one (my neighbor). But when you need the generator the extra noise isn't a big deal.

CAT and GE build most of the large back up generators for Airports and Hospitals. Most being diesel powered. Bet they are pricey.

What is the cost to get a whole home generator setup? We have 4800sq ft.

aggielax11 said:

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What is the cost to get a whole home generator setup? We have 4800sq ft.

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We bought ours 4 years ago it is a 22kw Generac and it was $10,000. We have 3300 sq ft and it will run everything.

My 26kw Generac installed ran $15.5. Then I bought an annual maintenance agreement.

Texarkanaag69 said:

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My 26kw Generac installed ran $15.5. Then I bought an annual maintenance agreement.

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About 3400sf

Texarkanaag69 said:

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Texarkanaag69 said:

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My 26kw Generac installed ran $15.5. Then I bought an annual maintenance agreement.

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About 3400sf

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I lied mine was $12.5 not 15.5. I'm not awake yet.