I know that the outdoors board knows stuff...

Looking to get a whole home generator that runs off natural gas. An installer is coming tomorrow to meet with me and discuss pricing/options/etc. I asked what brands he carried and he said Generac, Briggs & Stratton, and Kohler. He said he highly suggests going with Briggs & Stratton as they have a better product, warranty, and easier access to spare parts.

What brand generator have you had the best luck with? Just wanted to get some input before I pull the trigger.

TIA!

Generac seems to be the most common. An installer told me that he recommends Cummins over Generac due to quality and (at the time) back orders/availability of Generac.

after I started looking into whole home generators, I instead ended up buying about 100 acres over 70 miles away from home with a barndominium already built and utilities connected. I'll probably add solar panels and powerwall out there for further/eventual off-grid independence

sure, it cost over a million dollars more than a generator, but it accomplishes a lot of other things for me:

-place to escape to when a category 1 storm hits galveston and knocks my power out 90 miles away in the woodlands for 6 days
-hedge some investment risk by taking some of it out of capital markets and putting in real property that should appreciate in value over time. markets have been way overvalued for so long -not sure when or if it may crash.
-weekend recreation spot for atvs, hunting, shooting, fishing, planting/gardening, and other projects with the family
-close to B/CS so i can go the night before and be at the tailgates earlier and not have to drive all the way home after football games
-beautiful spot to build a nice forever house in about 10-15 years when i get closer to being able to quit my day job
-in case of complete economic collapse - currency devaluation/hyperinflation, hot war, radiation, etc. and the cities turn into chaos, mass looting, death, etc., I've already (kinda) started prepping. ...at least hopefully growing some sustainable nourishment crops and taught the kids how to harvest and process our own meat

Built new house last year. Have a 26kw Generac (propane). No issues thus far. It has kept the power on several times in the past year.

you can also buy a Ford Lightning or Tesla Cybertruck and get a switch installed at your box for nearly all of the circuits in your home (except maybe HVAC and pool equipment?) to be powered by your truck battery for days.

We have a 28 KW Generac. Looked at both Kohler and Generac before buying. Decided on Generac due to warranty and availability of service in our area. We have been very happy with it. Has always worked in time of need and have had nothing go wrong with it.

Generac 28kw on natural gas…runs like a champ.

during hurricane Beryl, every one i know or talked to that had a home unit that failed to come on, had generac. That great warranty they all bought it for didnt do em much good when it took 5-7 days to get it serviced.

I cant speak to the reliability of Kohler, but ive noticed they are much quieter than generac.

I've had 3 Nat Gas Generacs Air Cooled

First one I bought about 20 years ago and it had an issue with the stator. Generac repaired 100% covered parts and labor. I left it at the house when I sold it.

Second one I bought at second house. Ran on it for 2 weeks during and after hurricane Ike. The electromagent in the transfer switch did melt and not go back to utility power when it came back on. I replaced my self with no problem. Parts were easy to get from Waukesha Pierce near my house. I moved that generator to my third house and only needed it a hand full of times for short periods.

At fourth house now and I have my latest one for about 10 years. Ran on it for a few hours here and there during storms but nothing longer than a day. My power doesn't stay out for long because I live next top the animal shelter and a water tower. I have replaced an oil level sensor that was really easy. Bought part off of Amazon.

I recommend Generac. Generally, change the oil and filters maybe every year or after a long run time. Change the battery ever few years like a car.

If I ever buy a new one I am going to look hard at a liquid cooled. My next door neighbor has a liquid cooled kohler and it is very quiet.

oh no said:

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after I started looking into whole home generators, I instead ended up buying about 100 acres over 70 miles away from home with a barndominium already built and utilities connected. I'll probably add solar panels and powerwall out there for further/eventual off-grid independence

sure, it cost over a million dollars more than a generator, but it accomplishes a lot of other things for me:

-place to escape to when a category 1 storm hits galveston and knocks my power out 90 miles away in the woodlands for 6 days
-hedge some investment risk by taking some of it out of capital markets and putting in real property that should appreciate in value over time. markets have been way overvalued for so long -not sure when or if it may crash.
-weekend recreation spot for atvs, hunting, shooting, fishing, planting/gardening, and other projects with the family
-close to B/CS so i can go the night before and be at the tailgates earlier and not have to drive all the way home after football games
-beautiful spot to build a nice forever house in about 10-15 years when i get closer to being able to quit my day job
-in case of complete economic collapse - currency devaluation/hyperinflation, hot war, radiation, etc. and the cities turn into chaos, mass looting, death, etc., I've already (kinda) started prepping. ...at least hopefully growing some sustainable nourishment crops and taught the kids how to harvest and process our own meat

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This it it folks, the most OB "budget too low" post of all time. Guy asks what kind of generator to buy and you reply with a literal million dollar response. Now I'm crying laughing in my office.

I'm not trying to rain on your parade btw, truly happy for you. That sounds awesome. Just funny

We install generac and Kohler on our commercial jobs with great success.

We use Briggs as well, but that's for the weed eaters we buy to keep the site weeds knocked down.


I kid. I am sure the Briggs is quality. I've got zero experience with them.

MrWonderful said:

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the most OB "budget too low" post of all time. Guy asks what kind of generator to buy and you reply with a literal million dollar response.

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that was the intent.

i no longer feel like I need a whole home generator tho.

Had good luck with Generac. Keeping it maintained and then making sure it does it exercise runs helps know it'll come of when the power goes off.

Generac used to be THE brand. I believe they expanded too quickly in the home consumer market and there are some issues because of it. Put one in last year on new construction. Had a wire in the charging system that was completely left off followed by another issue with the control panel.

Both have been fixed and it works well now.

If I had it to do over I would probably go with another brand.

Generac 26kw on propane. Flawlessly for about 4 yrs and all the recent hurricanes. Our house is the end of the electrical line so any issue at all along the run knocks us out. That Gen has been perfect EXCEPT when the battery got low voltage. That caused a few problems that I easily diagnosed and fixed myself ... replaced battery and good as new. Now I have it set up with my home wifi so I can monitor battery.

I will say back up gen is great! As long as you have full tank when it comes on..... i had an ohchit moment when it came on then I checked my 250 gallon tank and it was at 40%.... luckily lasted fine for that outage but I immediately added a second 250 gallon tank. When ever one gets empty I valve to the second one and call for a refill. So I always always have 250 gallons.

Secondly keep several oil change kits in stock. Needs an oil change every 100 hours.... so basically if you get a bad storm and power is out you will need an oil change every four days.... so i keep 4 oil change kits on hand.

Lastly there is no savings going smaller. Essentially 16kw, 20kw, 22kw, 24kw, 26kw all burn very very close to the same fuel per hour. The install is the same. So uprising is an easy decision. (For the Generac anyway).

Good call on the second tank and maintenance kit. Mine acted up when the battery got old too. Found a replacement at Walmart.

If yall don't mind me asking....what did yall pay?

I just had an installer out of Shreveport quote me a PowerProtect DX26kW Briggs & Stratton but I was $18,500. Sounds kinda high to me.

My neighbor's generac with installation was around $20k

I've heard you can save money hiring a plumber and electrician seperately than going with a turnkey company. No experience or idea how much less.

In Florida our neighborhood just about every other or every third home had nat gas whole home generators -- most got installed after Hurricane Irma knocked out the power to our community for 14 days. This was about a 50/50 split Generac and Cummins

After Hurricane Ian and the 10-15' of storm surge none of them kicked on because of the water. Not sure who their local service providers were but to their credit both companies had techs out there the next morning and got everyone's up and running by mid day. The point of that is to say one factor in deciding who to go with might be the level of local tech support that is around in your area.

Two years ago my 28 Kw, new 500 gal propane tank, 400 watt over sized transfer switch, all plumbing, wiring, pads, and an extended warranty cost me $17,880.00. Propane guys did the plumbing. Generac guys did the electrical.

Wild to think just a decade ago or so that these generators were an absolute rare luxury.
Now they are almost a necessity....

oh no said:

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My neighbor's generac with installation was around $20k

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Dang. I went the redneck route with a larger portable generator and had and electrician install a box with a suicide cord outside.

Yeah, I gotta flip a few switches and crank 'er up, but that's a lot of ammo money.

I didn't want my wife to have to mess with all of that of i wasn't around.
Plus usually generator need equates nasty weather. Fo dayum sure don't want me or the wife dealing with all of that especially the suicide cord in windy rainy conditions standing in water.

I've done the suicide cord before. They have safer options that are worth it to hook up a portable gen. Don't cheap out here. In fact I would say that staying with the suicide cord as the long term solution is absolutely foolishness given the options and safe permanent solutions for exactly this type of hook up to a portable gen.

If you're gonna spend 25k on a generator and propane tank for power backup use only, and then service the system and refill the tank..

You owe it to yourself to consider spending $40k on a solar roof and powerwall setup that will cut your normal bill to close to 0 and provide for power in a backup situation.

Or like previous poster said, buy a Ford and get a truck out of the deal.

Bought my 24kw Generac with auto transfer switch at Lowes for $6,000 with 18months no interest.
Install crew installed for $5800.
Already had one 250gallon propane tank. Second 250gallon tank came available as a trade opportunity for $100 in trade. I picked it up and refinished it and put it in place myself etc.

GeorgiAg said:

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oh no said:

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My neighbor's generac with installation was around $20k

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Dang. I went the redneck route with a larger portable generator and had and electrician install a box with a suicide cord outside.

Yeah, I gotta flip a few switches and crank 'er up, but that's a lot of ammo money.

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Had I stayed in Florida, I was going to go more this route this year. Buy a larger tri-fuel generator (with a push button start because my old one was wearing my shoulder out!) and have an interlock put into the breaker box to run the home essentials off of that. The $20K price tag was just too much to swallow for me.

On the other hand my parents had a whole home propane generator put in, had an extra tank installed at the house, have the regular service contract set up with Generac and I think for them that is 100% the way to go. They are not in a place in life they need to be trying to get things switched over and started up, especially in bad conditions.

I did this with my Ford Powerboost. Will run the whole house (need a soft start for the A/C however).

I wanted to do the Generac/whole home route but this was way too hard to turn down:

Westinghouse Tri-fuel 13,500 - $1200
Power Inlet Box - $30
50 amp extension cord - $60
Interlock Kit - $16

Installation + pipe (for gas line) and electrical - $1000

Still need the Soft Start ($300-350 each)

Sure I have to drag my generator and manually hook it up and then flip switches but it saved me at least $12k if not more. I can kill some cool animals for $12k...

Bump for some more questions on fuel type:
Diesel vs propane
I'm weighing going with a backup type generator for remote deer camp. Plan is to have a 100 amp service for the bunkhouse and eventually a cooler for storage.

Would be run a few days each weekend and then just periodically.

Any observations on diesel fuel tank capacity / run time?

How best to supply the fuel? I have access to an old overhead fuel tank which I can get filled by a service company.

Propane burns clean. "Never" have any problems.

I just cant get onboard with the $ required for the whole home, vs doing a portable with transfer switch.