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Anyone here have any recs for generator brands like Yamaha, Honda, Generac or the Chinese companies or whether I should be concerned about the evolution of inverter generator technology? My use is mainly due to occasional power outages that might occur 1-2 times per year. The worst power outage in my area has been 5 days in length. (in addition to Hurricanes, NC is on the rain/snow line have terrible ice storms). I do have a 50 amp inlet that is connected to my house subpanel with an interlock switch.
At first I wanted a 12,000 watt generator (the CAT or DeWalt), but I guess I'm being too "high maintenance" and just want lots of power in case I needed it during an outage. In addition, my friend bought the DeWalt DXGN14000 and they said it sound like a screaming train. I think an "inverter generator" is probably better, they are much more quiet and full efficient. Those 12k watt generators use a lot of fuel, equal to or more than a gallon per hour. I suppose a 5000 watt generator would do well and still run essentials, and even a portable ceramic heater or portable A/C unit if I watch the loads. Quiet, long-lasting and “toughness” are important to me.
Also, an inverter generator has more even sine waves and THD (total harmonic distortion) will be <5%, and even <3% for Honda units.
My dream machine is the Honda eu7000is - super quiet at 60db, fuel efficienct and prolly lasts forever. But that's at $3999! Does inverter technology not useful for loads above 7000 Watts or just too expensive to make? An advantage of the eu7000is is that it can handle more Watts than it’s rated for- Honda and YouTube indicate also that the 7000 surge Watts are okay for up to 30 min.
A 2000w unit can run your fridge, lights, tv, certain types of heat (some nat gas/oil, but not electric), and many other comforts. Even your sump pump. Need more power? Get a second one. There are tons of 2000w inverter units on the market that are quite cheap- I personally have a Ryobi that I picked up for about $350 and it's perfect.
Briggs & Stratton makes a great 3kw inverter unit that puts out 220v so you can use it with transfer switches and it's roughly $1k.
I heavily prefer inverter units due to their EXTREMELY low noise- they are in a whole different league than non-inverter generators. I also like their ability to scale engine use to load, so if you only have about 500w at a given time then you're only using a quarter of the fuel per hour. This is a big deal during a 5 day power outage- you don't want to have to fight through the gas lines every day just to keep your fridge running (which is actually a pretty low load).
The contractor-screamer style of generator that runs at the same rpm regardless of load will drink roughly the same fuel no matter what you plug in.
I've had a Kohler 12 RES since 2005. It has seen me through hurricanes, snow, ice, and vicious T-Storms (Maryland). I do have a maintenance service contract, twice a year for "tuneups."
At the time Kohler was considered superior to the Generacs that the guy also sold but he says that the latter has improved considerably.
One thing I also want to point out is that many people, especially in NC/SC/FL and TX, recently found out that their whole house generator was not what they wanted. Make sure you are above any floodplain. Once you mount large generators outside on a concrete slab they do not move; or could you move them quickly in an emergency. Of course there are many people that will never experience a flood; but many people thought that and the hurricanes the last two years proved they were wrong.
With the smaller (portable) generators you can move them when needed. You could even drag them up to the second floor until the waters receded so that you could again take them outside to use.
i recently installed a generac guardian 22kw generator. its been used for 7.5 hours in the last month. it cost me about $12,500 total so its a luxury.
my old house i had a manual transfer switch installed with an inlet box outside my house and bought a 8kw portable generator. honestly, that is a solution that i probably never would have used. if i had to do it over with that type of setup, id probably go for one of those very expensive inverter generators with less power, less noise and better fuel efficiency. i remember in sandy how hard it was to get gas so fuel efficiency will matter. then you just choose your necessities to power up.
im very happy with my standby generator but its expensive so not for everyone.
We have a 16K Generac. It was nice - power went out then it came back on within 8 seconds. Power used to go out a lot.
My daughter backed into it and it no longer runs. Waiting for me to have time to fix it. Not a high priority since the power goes out very rarely anymore.
It is a nice luxury item. Is it "worth it"? Not as a necessity. You can probably do other things with that amount of money that will do more to improve your life.
Ours is a super quiet model (extra insulation), runs on NG. Not much noise, sometimes I have had to step outside to figure out whether the generator is running or the power is back on. But then our household tends to be pretty noisy. In a quiet household, it might be more noticeable.
We have a 16K Generac. It was nice - power went out then it came back on within 8 seconds. Power used to go out a lot.
My daughter backed into it and it no longer runs. Waiting for me to have time to fix it. Not a high priority since the power goes out very rarely anymore.
It is a nice luxury item. Is it "worth it"? Not as a necessity. You can probably do other things with that amount of money that will do more to improve your life.
Ours is a super quiet model (extra insulation), runs on NG. Not much noise, sometimes I have had to step outside to figure out whether the generator is running or the power is back on. But then our household tends to be pretty noisy. In a quiet household, it might be more noticeable.
ouch, that sucks.
i moved to this house about a year and a half ago. power is lost here substantially more than my previous house but its not terrible. life kind of stands still when it does go out and that sucks. there was a 3-4 day power outage last year and that was really annoying. the first time my generator was used about a month ago, power went out and it kicked in about 8 seconds later. i have the whole house going so life went back to normal. my neighbors across the street were sitting around with candles doing nothing and we were enjoying our normal life. she said that she looked across the street and we were lit up like christmas (just normal lighting but im sure it looks more when everything else is black). im very happy to have it.
as far as noise, it is right by my bedroom. its a substantially loud humming sound but i feel confident i could sleep just fine with it on. its not overly loud. my wife walked to the street last power outage and said you could barely hear it (about 100 feet away). my daughter's rooms are on the other side of the house and you cant hear it in their rooms.
i moved to this house about a year and a half ago. power is lost here substantially more than my previous house but its not terrible. life kind of stands still when it does go out and that sucks. there was a 3-4 day power outage last year and that was really annoying. the first time my generator was used about a month ago, power went out and it kicked in about 8 seconds later. i have the whole house going so life went back to normal. my neighbors across the street were sitting around with candles doing nothing and we were enjoying our normal life. she said that she looked across the street and we were lit up like christmas (just normal lighting but im sure it looks more when everything else is black). im very happy to have it.
as far as noise, it is right by my bedroom. its a substantially loud humming sound but i feel confident i could sleep just fine with it on. its not overly loud. my wife walked to the street last power outage and said you could barely hear it (about 100 feet away). my daughter's rooms are on the other side of the house and you cant hear it in their rooms.
We live in a cluster of islands. the cable under the water that brings power to our community and the connecting gadgets on either end of the cable were really old and we would sometimes lose power four times in a week. Usually for a short time but sometimes for a day or two. Then we would be good for several months and it would go out again. We would have power out five or so times every year The generator was definitely worthwhile then
They finally replaced that cable and equipment and now it only goes out maybe once every couple of years. Thus, fixing the generator is not a priority. Besides if I wait long enough maybe my daughter will start making a lot of money and i can make her pay for it. So far that is not quite working out.
We have a bedroom with two windows directly above the generator. It was usually a guest bedroom so there have not been too many times it was in use when the generator was on. When my daughter lived in the bedroom for a few years she did say the noise sometimes woke her up at night and it took her a while to adjust to the sound to go back to sleep (maybe that is why she backed into it, but it would just be spite, she lives in one of the basement bedrooms now and no sound gets down there). however the library which is on the first floor immediately adjacent to the generator - we do not hear it, but the library is insulated with iCYNENE foam and has no windows on the wall that is near the generator.
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