My 24kw Generac was $6000 at Lowes for 24 months no interest and $5000 to install.

Texarkanaag69 said:

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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.

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We went through Lowes as well. The installer was Enertex out of Tyler.

I researched and researched and went with an 80kW for my business. Ran ~ $48,000. It is a Koehler. Probably will never need it but since I'm in NW Houston, figured it was not a matter of if, but when the next 'cane comes thru and we're out of power for 2 weeks. This was 1 year after the big freeze. And similar to comment from Bar X above, Lowe's and Home Depot sell Generac, but go behind their stores and see what they're running…. Koehlers.
At end of the day, probably Ford vs Chevy when you get down to it.

Hi all good info above fellas.

I think another good option to explore is a sound insulated cabinet - look for 55 dba when reading at the street.

I agree with what several you have already said Kohler and Genarac are ford vs Chevy. Cat is great but I don't think they make a small one for the market and their larger industrial systems are pricey. I build gas compressor packages with the same HP class as the CaT gas engines.

Has anybody installed any other OEMs, Yanmar? Waukesha? It seems kohler and generac have the market saturated pretty well

We have a 20kw Cummins whole house. No issues in the first two years. Longest outage so far was about 8 hours when a transformer blew in the area.

skinny2001 said:

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Cat is great but I don't think they make a small one for the market and their larger industrial systems are pricey.

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Just buy used, a lot of bang for the buck.

https://www.equipmenttrader.com/listing/0-CATERPILLAR-D398B-5014719086

Dang, that would be bad arse. Yuge!!

jpb1999 said:

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Dang, that would be bad arse. Yuge!!

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And what would be the fuel consumption??

Lobster Twins said:

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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

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I did this. The tri-fuel is the way to go.

Ran a natural gas line to the detached garage with a shut off valve. Installed a through wall exhaust kit out the back, grounded it and installed a battery tender. Great so far. Key is to put a soft start on the AC. Everything stays in place so nothing to drag out. Just have to flip the breaker and turn the key.

On portables oil and fuel are the weak link. I installed a valve instead of the bolt to make oil changes much easier. No more looking floor tools or making a mess. I just keep a case of oil on hand as well as a couple cans of gas and a few 20# propane bottles to give me plenty of options just incase the NG supply is limited for some reason.

All else fails, I load up the generator and stuff and head north.

All in was about $3,500. Would probably be closer to $2,500 today.

P.H. Dexippus said:

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skinny2001 said:

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Cat is great but I don't think they make a small one for the market and their larger industrial systems are pricey.

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Just buy used, a lot of bang for the buck.

https://www.equipmenttrader.com/listing/0-CATERPILLAR-D398B-5014719086

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Neighbors wouldn't complain about noise when you just power the entire neighborhood

We installed a 24kw on our new build. Only been in use 2 time. Once for about 4 hours when I was out of town and once for 30-45 minutes.

My wife was not as adamant about the install as I was. Until power was out in the winter and I was in Nebraska. She said power was restored via the generator in "less than a minute ". So while others were without HVAC, she was sitting on the couch watching tv and the boys were back playing Xbox.

I can say had it been a drag out the generator situation it likely would not have happened. I do have to do that for my well, but generally speaking it's fairly easy. Roll out generator to my shop (15' from the shop door), attach propane line, plug into switch and fire it up. Many times when we are expecting storms, I'll go ahead and set it up with the remote start on the kitchen counter. A push of the button and we are ready to roll.

500 gallon propane tank dedicated to the generator fuel lines. And propane guy comes by every month to top it and our home tank off. I've got lines running between the tanks to "daisy chain them if needed.