Backup Generator

[RoyKing]

I've read so many terrible complaints about Generac, how many are happy?

 

[shooterdon]

Agree Toyboy!!! My sump pump runs every 3 minutes in the spring and I have a finished basement and it is where my gun safes are. I have a battery back up sump pump but that will not last long. Like in most things we all have different needs and wants.

I see guys with more than three tractors and wonder...why? I currently have three generators and most would wonder...why? Pretty sure I will add another generator and sell one of the back ups. To me, it does not make sense to spend a lot of money on a diesel generator that only works if I am there and then may run 5 days a year.

Being in my late sixties, the last thing I want to do is get a generator running at night when it is below zero. And I have had a generator that refused to start one time...thus the backups.

 

[Industrial Toys]

Building a house in a swamp is as bad as building one on an Ocean baach. You see it around here all the time. Houses built with sewage and sump pumps in the basment and if those don't work, instant disaster. How stupid. People often don't know what kind of crap they have bought into. Build on high well drained land! As long as it has laminate flooring, granite counter tops and is open concept, the important stuff doesn't matter.

 

[grsthegreat]

I've read so many terrible complaints about Generac, how many are happy?

yup, so have i. Then again they sell millions of them and i see a few hundred complaints. You never see any complaints about fords, or chevys or dodge ,.........

 

[RoyKing]

generac video

Generac Product Review - YouTube

 

[buickanddeere]

Well everyone is entitled to there opinion,
I would expect that the 1800 rpm units are in the whole better built, with better componets,
most of them will be liquid cooled and have greater oil capacity then an air cooled disposable screamer.
I would expect that the generator heads would be built better, I also expect that the output will be cleaner
on majority of the slower speed units then the 2 pole high winders.
Heck I wouldn't be adverse to 1200 rpm gensets,
I really enjoyed the 900 rpm direct coupled natural gas units that I used to do control work on,
they would be a tad to big for a homeowner or even most farms.
They had inline 6's 8's 10's some V8's and 10's.

In my mind and my opinion a decent built 1800 rpm genset will out perform
and outlast while running quieter then any 3600 rpm unit will.
I wish my system didn't have as much gearing as it does,
my tractor in 540E is turning about 1750 engine rpm gearing down to 540 pto,
which in turn is geared back up to 1800 for the generator head.

And my money will be spent on lower rpm turning systems.

A lot of people mix up thier light duty standby by equipment with electrical utility base load power generation installations to supply a national power grid .
There is not a person here who will ever wear out an air cooler screamer with high hours while the utility grid is down. . How exactly is the generator head better quality on a water cooled gen set?

 

[CobyRupert]

Building a house in a swamp is as bad as building one on an Ocean baach. You see it around here all the time. Houses built with sewage and sump pumps in the basment and if those don't work, instant disaster. How stupid. People often don't know what kind of crap they have bought into. Build on high well drained land! As long as it has laminate flooring, granite counter tops and is open concept, the important stuff doesn't matter.

Ha ha! Have you seen car & trunk commercials? Obviously it's the important stuff that sells cars too. Ohh! It has extra cup holders! A seat that folds! Bluetooth! Sound system! A truck tailgate that has extra* hinges that create steps! (-Warning: sarcasm)

"Featuring 50% more moveable items to rust and fail than a normal tailgate!"

 

[buickanddeere]

Two big questions do you think you will be able to drive after the storm to get gas, my situation from experience is no, roads took 3/4 days to open gasoline ran out before the storm even got here from people leaving and hoarding. The lawn mower screamer experience worked fine first time, put away winterized it, years later started right up failed two hours later, leaked capacitor. How big of load do you want to run, if just refrigerator and lights anything will do. If you want well and AC and hot water need much bigger. For me in Florida storms come in hot weather, so I need the 3 big ones

. A filter capacitor can fail on a diesel gen set too.

 

[RoyKing]

Even the commercial diesels
Generac warranty fine print, 5 years limited or 2000 hours which ever comes first , parts and labor 2 years, year 3 parts only, 4&5 short block rotor stator, must have proof of maintenance. Now here the line that bothers me

"The following will not be covered by this warranty: 5. Failure due to normal wear and tear, or used for prime power. So 84 days and warranty is gone. So you've got to stay under a maintenance contract. So three years and your on your own.

Sounds like you should lease them.

 

[buickanddeere]

To me, the only thing worse than the noise of a little screaming gasser would be messing around with gas cans. Knowing how many you might need. Trips into town to get them. In bad weather, I stay put.

How much use do people actually get from those HUGE decks, gazibos or golf clubs (Even club memberships) ? Or that Bass boat! Talk about poor ROI. Yet it's funny, becaue often people in those higher socioeconomic classes are the last to want to spend money on an ugly diesel generator.

. I just keep half a dozen 5 gallon Jerry cans in a flammable cabinet. Haven稚 used more than the tank on the generator and one gas can on the longest outage .

 

[buickanddeere]

Get an amp meter, overloading a generator, especially a small cheap one could cost you in electronics getting fried.

A liquid cooled generator will outperform any air cooled unit. Period. Even generacs website states that their air cooled units are not designed for off grid use. There BACK UP UNITS.

GENERAC DOES HAVE AN OFF GRID AIR COOLED VERSION, but it has a 5 quart oil bath instead of the usual 1.7 quart version.

A 4 pole rotor is so large and heavy an air cooled motor just cant handle it. Generacs liquid cooled 22 generator has a huge rotor. I question weather a 4 pole is any better than a 2 pole as far as output goes. My 22 air cooled keeps its output very steady. The lights dont even flicker.

The number of poles in the generator does not stall an air cooled generator .
Why are you Promoting base load generation sets for intermittent use ?

 

[RoyKing]

. A filter capacitor can fail on a diesel gen set too.

Less likely the AVR Is encapsulated, but as somebody said need more than one, I intended on fixing my screamer and the new cap will be a sealed metal one.

 

[buickanddeere]

Get an amp meter, overloading a generator, especially a small cheap one could cost you in electronics getting fried.

Yes, two bearing alternator bearings generally have a longer life. Single bearing alternators in the 15-1500kw range are typically 20-30k hours and are the cheapest and easiest thing to change to prevent total destruction.

Most small generators under 15kw don稚 even give rating to this but if there痴 a recommendation, follow it, particularly on grease type if it痴 a greasable bearing.

The best way to ensure long generator life is to avoid loading them continuously above 80% of thier nameplate amperage .
Fastest way to ruin a genset is having some amateur boob adding up wattage for example 5300watts . Then the cheap boob purchases a 5500watt generator . Then the boob whines and moans the genset won稚 start and run all the loads .

 

[buickanddeere]

Get an amp meter, overloading a generator, especially a small cheap one could cost you in electronics getting fried.

I hope you guys running large generators at night can justify the fuel usage. Check out this this graph from my home:

View attachment 591025

The 4 spikes are from running the clothes dryer. The rest of the day and night I can get by with a 1600 watt inverter generator that is quiet and runs 6 hours on a gallon of gas.

My electricity usage this day included:
Oil Fired Boiler for heat and hot water
Full Sized Fridge w/freezer
LED Lighting
240V well pump
PC Laptop
Clothes Washer
Coffee Maker
Non-Energy-Star Compliant Clothes Dryer
Woodstove fan
I probably did some light cooking with the electric range, but don't remember.

I am now shopping for an energy star compliant clothes dryer....and my point is: you don't need to run large generators 24x7. Switch over to a smaller/cheaper unit when you can and save your fuel reserves.

Energy star clothes dryer 都aves money by using a lower wattage heating element . Coat per hour is less but the cost per load of laundry is the same .
Just keep your old dryer and turn the heat level down.

 

[buickanddeere]

Get an amp meter, overloading a generator, especially a small cheap one could cost you in electronics getting fried.

Yes its called AC, pretty hard to live without in Florida during the summer. Florida inland isn't livable without it.

Wasn稚 that long ago no houses on Florida had AC . A few whole house AC installations in the 1970痴 for the wealthy. A Window shaker in the bedroom was/is the norm. Whole house AC is more of a 1990痴 and later norm.

 

[LouNY]

Well buickanddeere I'm glad you have an opinion I'm also glad that i don't have to agree with it,
I will continue to advocate for low speed generators as I believe that they will in general
provide a much longer service life with a higher quality power.
I have been thru several power outages in excess of a couple of days, a couple in excessive of 6 days.
During the last extended outage I had 5 daughters and my mother depending on me to maintain heat lights
water and an O2 machine. I did run the generator continuously for 9 days, I have to wonder how many of
the little air cooled 3600 rpm machines could do that repeatedly, my generator is well over 20 years old
and it's still ready to go.

 

[LittleBill21]

Well buickanddeere I'm glad you have an opinion I'm also glad that i don't have to agree with it,
I will continue to advocate for low speed generators as I believe that they will in general
provide a much longer service life with a higher quality power.
I have been thru several power outages in excess of a couple of days, a couple in excessive of 6 days.
During the last extended outage I had 5 daughters and my mother depending on me to maintain heat lights
water and an O2 machine. I did run the generator continuously for 9 days, I have to wonder how many of
the little air cooled 3600 rpm machines could do that repeatedly, my generator is well over 20 years old
and it's still ready to go.

Eu generators which are air cooled routinely go into the thousands of hours. food cart guys run them 8 hours a day every day.

onan RV generators are air cooled. seen multiple machines in the 6k-10k range. all are 3600rpm or higher.

How many hours on your EU2000

 

[buickanddeere]

Get an amp meter, overloading a generator, especially a small cheap one could cost you in electronics getting fried.

Well buickanddeere I'm glad you have an opinion I'm also glad that i don't have to agree with it,
I will continue to advocate for low speed generators as I believe that they will in general
provide a much longer service life with a higher quality power.
I have been thru several power outages in excess of a couple of days, a couple in excessive of 6 days.
During the last extended outage I had 5 daughters and my mother depending on me to maintain heat lights
water and an O2 machine. I did run the generator continuously for 9 days, I have to wonder how many of
the little air cooled 3600 rpm machines could do that repeatedly, my generator is well over 20 years old
and it's still ready to go.

7 days at 24 hours would be 168 hours which is less than 1% of a low end air cooled gen set’s service life.
I have an old Yamaha 1000 inverter generator that was prime power spring, summer and fall for
My neighbour’s camper . A conservative estimate would be 5000+ clock hours and 6000+ would be more accurate.
While worn it will still make it through a tank of fuel without tripping the low oil sensor .
Most people here could keep their house , hobby farm and even some small farms viable for a couple of weeks with one if these and a proper transfer switch .
92-Watt Generator - Champion Power Equipment

Square D Manual Transfer Switches | Generator InterLock Kit

TWB212DR Panel/Link - Reliance Controls Corporation

 

[Chilliwack Murray]

As others have said, most people could get by fairly well with a small portable if you keep your expectations in check.

I’m not interested in arguing and not going to get in to a debate, everyone has their point of view and that’s fine. There are good and bad units out there, on the commercial side, Generac are the bottom. Ask anyone in the industry who does’t work for them and you’ll get the same answer.

I haven’t worked on their small stuff in over 10 years but they entered the home market by flooding it with ultra low cost units that were essentially unrepairable and went against every industry standard of good design. They are often referred to in the industry as a marketing company that happens to make generators. On their commercial units, they flooded the market with units using grey market engines and removed all identification from them so parts can only be bought from them at their prices. Parts have typically been priced 4 or even 6x more than other companies already very high prices for similar parts. Difference is there is nowhere else to go.

But I will go back to my previous point, for a lot of people, these will often run for the expected number of hours, make coffee and result in a low initial outlay. Same goes for all the cheap portables that have flooded the market - they start and run your coffee maker, cost 1/3 of a ‘good’ unit, even if they have 25% of the life of the other, people who won’t hit that run time are still ahead. The major manufacturers have started selling similar units to compete so no one is all that different any more.

When you run into problems with one of these cheap imports there is no one to back it up and explain why some things work and some don’t. Don’t buy a Yugo and expect Rolls Royce and 90% of the time you’ll be fine. If, eventually you can’t run your fancier electronics and heat pump VFDs you may have to pony up and get a better unit from someone who can back it up with good advice. For everyone else, just be safe and heed the warnings about grounding and proper isolation of sources.

 

[grsthegreat]

As others have said, most people could get by fairly well with a small portable if you keep your expectations in check.

I’m not interested in arguing and not going to get in to a debate, everyone has their point of view and that’s fine. There are good and bad units out there, on the commercial side, Generac are the bottom. Ask anyone in the industry who does’t work for them and you’ll get the same answer.

I haven’t worked on their small stuff in over 10 years but they entered the home market by flooding it with ultra low cost units that were essentially unrepairable and went against every industry standard of good design. They are often referred to in the industry as a marketing company that happens to make generators. On their commercial units, they flooded the market with units using grey market engines and removed all identification from them so parts can only be bought from them at their prices. Parts have typically been priced 4 or even 6x more than other companies already very high prices for similar parts. Difference is there is nowhere else to go.

But I will go back to my previous point, for a lot of people, these will often run for the expected number of hours, make coffee and result in a low initial outlay. Same goes for all the cheap portables that have flooded the market - they start and run your coffee maker, cost 1/3 of a ‘good’ unit, even if they have 25% of the life of the other, people who won’t hit that run time are still ahead. The major manufacturers have started selling similar units to compete so no one is all that different any more.

When you run into problems with one of these cheap imports there is no one to back it up and explain why some things work and some don’t. Don’t buy a Yugo and expect Rolls Royce and 90% of the time you’ll be fine. If, eventually you can’t run your fancier electronics and heat pump VFDs you may have to pony up and get a better unit from someone who can back it up with good advice. For everyone else, just be safe and heed the warnings about grounding and proper isolation of sources.

what the heck are you talking about..... generac has 75 % market share of generators... ive repaired old and new units. They offer parts on every unit they have ever made. The liquid cooled commercial units use isuzu, ford and other NON GREY MARKET engines. THE MAKES ARE STAMPED ON THE BLOCK.