We are getting an estimate to upgrade the generator on our new home. It currently has a 22kw Generac. The home is very large and it is a very small generator for the size of the house.

We started with the company that the previous owner used to service the generator. They are moving away from Generac and installing Briggs and Stratton generators. Do any of you have a Briggs and Stratton generator or have any opinion about them?

I know that Kohler is also in the whole-home generator market. Are there any others?

I know Generac has the lions share of the market, but it seems to me that they have grown very quickly and when my two year-old Generac experienced problems during barrel, I decided to explore other brands.

Does it not adequately supply the house?

If you want to move brands then go with Kohler. They're well respected.

The fact that crappy small engine equipment run off B&S motors is enough for me to not consider those as a whole home generator.

So your electrical demand exceeds 91amps simultaneously, and you've got soft starts installed on your HVAC equipment?

You may have other reasons to replace your generator but lack of capacity, if intelligently managed, is probably not it (unless you are using multiple electric heaters I suppose...I made an assumption about gas heat that I should not have).

UnderoosAg said:

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Does it not adequately supply the house?

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It does not. It doesn't even have load shedding where you prioritize what drops if there's too much drawing on it.

P.H. Dexippus said:

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So your electrical demand exceeds 91amps simultaneously, and you've got soft starts installed on your HVAC equipment?

You may have other reasons to replace your generator but lack of capacity, if intelligently managed, is probably not it (unless you are using multiple electric heaters is suppose...I made an assumption about gas heat that I should not have).

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Well, I don't know. We have THREE ac units but one is for the garage. Who pays to cook a garage. We don't really run that. But I do need to run two units. I just had soft starts installed on those yesterday.

I need to be able to run the oven, two fridge/freezers, one freezer, pool pump, washer and dryer (gas). Because during extended outages my kids still need clean clothes for school. Heaters are gas, cooktop is gas. Water heaters are gas.

Our home is in an area that experiences frequent power outages. Most for shorter periods of time but after the derecho we lost power for 3 days, I believe. We lost power for almost a whole week after Beryl. We have had numerous power outages greater than a two hours but less than 24.

In our last home was smaller but has comparable electric needs except for the pool. We had a 32kw. We were able to run everything during an outage.

Two generator guys have tried to sell me 48kw.

What size are your ac units? We have the same 22kW Generac with 3 ac units (3,4, and 5 ton) and not even close to maxing out. Your oven is your only other large load. Seems like at most put the ac units on load shedding and sacrifice the garage first.

Just for reference, we have 3 A/C units, an outdoor ice maker, 3 refrigerators, 2 freezers, 5 pool pumps + a pool cooler and electric double ovens. And of course all the other standard electrical appliances. We have gas heat, gas dryer, and gas cooktop.

All of this runs fine on our 22kw Generac and we give no thought to what we are using simultaneously. We do have a load management module, I think all it really does is make sure two A/Cs don't start at the exact same time. It would probably be cheaper and easier to just add load management. The starting amps for our AC units do seem to be a lot lower than what I see some people post.

What year was the existing generator manufactured? I have read a lot of horror stories about post mid-2020 generacs.

The only reason I've thought of upgrading is to go to a liquid cooled generator so it's quieter and can run longer without hitting a service interval.

If I ever need another generator, I will get a liquid cooled model. My 22kW oil cooled only has like two quarts of oil. I've heard when it runs steady you need to shut it down and check/top off oil frequently (maybe every day)?

combat wombat said:

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P.H. Dexippus said:

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So your electrical demand exceeds 91amps simultaneously, and you've got soft starts installed on your HVAC equipment?

You may have other reasons to replace your generator but lack of capacity, if intelligently managed, is probably not it (unless you are using multiple electric heaters is suppose...I made an assumption about gas heat that I should not have).

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I need to be able to run the oven, two fridge/freezers, one freezer, pool pump, washer and dryer (gas). Because during extended outages my kids still need clean clothes for school. Heaters are gas, cooktop is gas. Water heaters are gas.

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Since you have gas appliances and soft starts, I stand by my original comment. I don't think you're exceeding your amp budget. Your running amps on the HVAC is probably in the neighborhood of 20-30a X 2. If you got Micro-Air soft starts installed, you can check your starting and running amps in the ap.

If your oven is electric and running it at the same time as both HVAC is the reason you're looking to get a new generator, I'd look at switching over to gas before dropping $15k on a new generator.

I don't see how 22 kW isn't enough.

I've had all three ac units running and then started up electric dryer and electric oven to test without issue.

If you have a digital electric meter, what does it show when displaying kW?

HVAC tech showed me before and after start amps. After the soft starts were installed the ACs were using about 27 amps at startup.

Wow. We'll see how we run when power goes out.

It was mfg before 2016.

combat wombat said:

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HVAC tech showed me before and after start amps. After the soft starts were installed the ACs were using about 27 amps at startup.

Wow. We'll see how we run when power goes out.

It was mfg before 2016.

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If you are at 27a at start up, you're likely running at less than half that. For example, my Trane 3 ton with soft start is 27a at start up, but runs at 11a the rest of the time. No need for more generator.

Well, this is all good to know. Any idea what an oven runs?

If you get the make and model information off the unit, you can probably find an owners manual online that will give the exact number.

Single or double oven ? Or like a range ?

It depends on how many elements you run at the same time but with all on prob 35-40 amps

Dryer is usually around 20-22

Is the hvac gas heat ?

I've had a generac 22 and currently running a kohler 38kw liquid cooled. The kohler runs at low rpm and is hardly audible from inside the house. Comparable to a car idling when at full throttle (1800rpm).

I had the same thoughts as you regarding b&s, but my generator installer said that he is very impressed with b&s build quality. He said next one he gets for himself will be b&s.

Sam Williams said:

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I've had a generac 22 and currently running a kohler 38kw liquid cooled. The kohler runs at low rpm and is hardly audible from inside the house. Comparable to a car idling when at full throttle (1800rpm).

I had the same thoughts as you regarding b&s, but my generator installer said that he is very impressed with b&s build quality. He said next one he gets for himself will be b&s.

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My liquid cooled 32kw General runs at low rpm's and it is very quiet. I hear my neighbor's more than my own. His is a little air cooled Generac.

combat wombat said:

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Sam Williams said:

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I've had a generac 22 and currently running a kohler 38kw liquid cooled. The kohler runs at low rpm and is hardly audible from inside the house. Comparable to a car idling when at full throttle (1800rpm).

I had the same thoughts as you regarding b&s, but my generator installer said that he is very impressed with b&s build quality. He said next one he gets for himself will be b&s.

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My liquid cooled 32kw General runs at low rpm's and it is very quiet. I hear my neighbor's more than my own. His is a little air cooled Generac.

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So do you have a 32 kw liquid cooled generac or a 22 kw generac? The original post says you are wanting to upgrade a 22kw generac

She had a 32kW in previous house.

Still no details provided other than current 22kW does not have load shedding. Did it fail during use?

rme said:

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She had a 32kW in previous house.

Still no details provided other than current 22kW does not have load shedding. Did it fail during use?

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I haven't run the 22kW yet because we haven't had an outage yet. I have been told by two "professionals" that a 22kW is absurdly small for our house.

You've been told by two salesmen?

It's hot, test it.

Turn off the utility power
Turn on all three AC units
Then try the dryer or oven and see how it does.
Others can likely give you a better testing plan.

If the power goes out, you can always decide how you run oven and/or dryer.

If you just want to buy a bigger generator, have at it. Nothing wrong with buying something just because you want it.

combat wombat said:

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rme said:

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She had a 32kW in previous house.

Still no details provided other than current 22kW does not have load shedding. Did it fail during use?

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I haven't run the 22kW yet because we haven't had an outage yet. I have been told by two "professionals" that a 22kW is absurdly small for our house.

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Reading the details of your house, it sure seems like you're being upsold. I'm sure your zip code is a factor. You can put your system to the test easily enough now that the soft start is installed.

ETA - same thing as above poster.

I don't have soft start, but I'd like to add that to my AC units. I know there are other threads on that.

Sorry - I just meant OP should follow your suggested steps to test it. But especially now that OP has soft-start, they should definitely test to see how their baseline has changed before spending money on anything.

I understand and was only adding a comment on soft start. Thanks!