Backup generator opinions.

[muddstopper]

Needing some advice about a backup generator. I current have a 8000w/7000w gas portable I drag out when the power goes off. I have found that it is just a little to small to pull everything in my house. It will pull the heat and the well pump, but not at the same time. I recently purchased a Generlink transfer switch from my electric company. It hasnt arrived yet, but they install it. It is a simple design in that it goes between the meter and meter base, so you dont have to have a electrician to install, no permits or inspection to pay for, and you dont have to rewire your house. I was going to put in a generac system, but the guy that sells them never came out to give me a estimate and it gave me time to think about the other option. Knowing what I already know about the generator I already have I decided to just upsize a little and stick with the portable. Cost being a big deciding factor. The other factor is I can get a generator that runs on dual fuel, I can suck gas out of my truck it it become necessary. The generac runs on propane, we dont have natural gas here, and means I would have to get a big tank to set somewhere around the house.
Anyways, I am looking at the duramax 12000/9500w or the duramax 13000/10500w models. The generlink transfer switch is rated for 10,000w. My concerns are the duramax engine. The china engine I just havent heard anything good or bad about them. Any opinions.

 

[grizz55chev]

Needing some advice about a backup generator. I current have a 8000w/7000w gas portable I drag out when the power goes off. I have found that it is just a little to small to pull everything in my house. It will pull the heat and the well pump, but not at the same time. I recently purchased a Generlink transfer switch from my electric company. It hasnt arrived yet, but they install it. It is a simple design in that it goes between the meter and meter base, so you dont have to have a electrician to install, no permits or inspection to pay for, and you dont have to rewire your house. I was going to put in a generac system, but the guy that sells them never came out to give me a estimate and it gave me time to think about the other option. Knowing what I already know about the generator I already have I decided to just upsize a little and stick with the portable. Cost being a big deciding factor. The other factor is I can get a generator that runs on dual fuel, I can suck gas out of my truck it it become necessary. The generac runs on propane, we dont have natural gas here, and means I would have to get a big tank to set somewhere around the house.
Anyways, I am looking at the duramax 12000/9500w or the duramax 13000/10500w models. The generlink transfer switch is rated for 10,000w. My concerns are the duramax engine. The china engine I just havent heard anything good or bad about them. Any opinions.

Propane will be a tough choice if your power is out for a week or longer, particularly if you use it to full capacity. Might consider looking a diesel genset, YMMV. Our power goes out often and I learned to survive outages that can be weeks at a time. I have both gas and diesel portable generators, running the diesel for powering the well.

 

[Sawyer Rob]

A gas generator won't put out full rated power on propane and even less on nat. gas.

For short outages I use a smaller Honda "inverter" generator and for a long outage I run a 15kw PTO generator, powering it with my smaller diesel tractor.

That works out great for me.

SR

 

[grizz55chev]

A gas generator won't put out full rated power on propane and even less on nat. gas.

For short outages I use a smaller Honda "inverter" generator and for a long outage I run a 15kw PTO generator, powering it with my smaller tractor.

That works out great for me.

SR

My home is set up to run most appliances on propane, such as hot water, dryer, cook stove-oven, propane heat as well as wood heat. My gas gen runs everything but the well pump, so while on gas, we conserve water. The diesel gen is 5kw and handles the water situation quite well at a much more efficient rate than the gas , the only " downside " is the noise that is inherent to a diesel unit. I try not to run it when we use it in the summer with the doors open, but with winter use, it's not an issue. I got the gas unit free for fixing my neighbors pressure washer, and have done very little to it but put on a new low pressure cut off sensor, new carb, and regular oil changes. Generators are a necessity here as we lose power both in winter and summer at least 5 or 6 times a yr, longest outage was 2020 with heavier than normal snowfall which lasted 15 days!

 

[muddstopper]

Wont run as long on propane as it will on gas either. My other generator will run all night on a tank of fuel, about 1 gal per hour. I want the dual fuel because I keep a few 30lb bottles of propane on hand and it dont go bad like gas will. I also keep about 20gal of gas on hand mixed with stabil. Worst outage I have lived thru was 9days back in 93. Most recent was 3 days. Usually about a day and they have the power back on.

 

[grizz55chev]

Wont run as long on propane as it will on gas either. My other generator will run all night on a tank of fuel, about 1 gal per hour. I want the dual fuel because I keep a few 30lb bottles of propane on hand and it dont go bad like gas will. I also keep about 20gal of gas on hand mixed with stabil. Worst outage I have lived thru was 9days back in 93. Most recent was 3 days. Usually about a day and they have the power back on.

Not sure what gas runs in your neck of the woods, but let's say $4.25 a gal x 12 hr x 3 days= $153 ! It can get expensive to keep the power on! Propane is even worse!

 

[Bill G]

Needing some advice about a backup generator. I current have a 8000w/7000w gas portable I drag out when the power goes off. I have found that it is just a little to small to pull everything in my house. It will pull the heat and the well pump, but not at the same time. I recently purchased a Generlink transfer switch from my electric company. It hasnt arrived yet, but they install it. It is a simple design in that it goes between the meter and meter base, so you dont have to have a electrician to install, no permits or inspection to pay for, and you dont have to rewire your house. I was going to put in a generac system, but the guy that sells them never came out to give me a estimate and it gave me time to think about the other option. Knowing what I already know about the generator I already have I decided to just upsize a little and stick with the portable. Cost being a big deciding factor. The other factor is I can get a generator that runs on dual fuel, I can suck gas out of my truck it it become necessary. The generac runs on propane, we dont have natural gas here, and means I would have to get a big tank to set somewhere around the house.
Anyways, I am looking at the duramax 12000/9500w or the duramax 13000/10500w models. The generlink transfer switch is rated for 10,000w. My concerns are the duramax engine. The china engine I just havent heard anything good or bad about them. Any opinions.

I cannot imagine living without LP.

 

[Sawyer Rob]

Wont run as long on propane as it will on gas either. My other generator will run all night on a tank of fuel, about 1 gal per hour. I want the dual fuel because I keep a few 30lb bottles of propane on hand and it dont go bad like gas will. I also keep about 20gal of gas on hand mixed with stabil. Worst outage I have lived thru was 9days back in 93. Most recent was 3 days. Usually about a day and they have the power back on.

Depending on load, a 30 pound bottle won't last long, and it's much worse in the winter, unless it doesn't get cold there.

SR

 

[grizz55chev]

Depending on load, a 30 pound bottle won't last long, and it's much worse in the winter, unless it doesn't get cold there.

SR

North Carolina, I believe.

 

[northmanlogging]

gas/propane/nat gas all have issues, partly to do with maintenance, but also they tend to run higher RPMS and have a nasty habbit of shaking themselves apart, not to mention longevity of gas engines in general

Diesel gensets are generally bullet proof, and Generac does sell them, as well as multiple other companies. and you could always run biodiesel in a prolonged outage
I have a 10kw gas genset I got free and resurrected, and recently purchased a gov auction diesel 3phase genset... haven't gone through the trouble of having the switch installed, as I'm not the guy that absolutely needs power NOW when the power runs out, fridge is good for at least 24hrs, and we run wood heat... be nice to have running hot water after 12 hours though. Otherwise I'll lite the alladin lamps and find another book.

 

[Bill G]

gas/propane/nat gas all have issues, partly to do with maintenance, but also they tend to run higher RPMS and have a nasty habbit of shaking themselves apart, not to mention longevity of gas engines in general

20 years and running good but heck your milege will vary

 

[Husky Man]

We went with a Honeywell 20 KW standby unit that runs on propane, 2 years ago. Propane isn’t the cheapest fuel option, but for us it was the Best overall option.

Our PGE (Portland General Electric) took note of Californicated’s PG&E’s experience with the Paradise Fire, and “De-energized” us 3 years ago for over a week, for fire safety reasons, the following winter, we were without power for 5 days

When they shut us off, I was working away from home, and the Wife was with me that trip, so there was no one home to set up the 4 KW portable generator. We lost 2 refrigerator/freezer a 2 large upright freezers of food. When the power was restored, the surge fried our dishwasher, 2 microwaves and some smaller appliances, we estimated the total losses at over $4,500. Thaf was when we decided to get the standby generator

We did pretty well price wise on our setup, Costco had the 20 KW Honeywell, with the automatic transfer switch for $4,200, the contractor we use a lot, installed everything on a “work in basis” between jobs, and charged us $3,800, which we have heard is well below the standard charge around here

We are using the 120 gallon/420# tanks, because of the siting requirements of larger tanks. Here the 120 gallon tanks can be placed next to the house, you still have to be, IIRC, 10’ from any opening doors, windows, foundation vents or “ignition sources “ such as your electrical meter, and the generator itself.

By the time that I got serious about getting the tanks, they had gone from $800 each to over $1,500 locally, and that was if you could even find them.

With some online searching, I found that Menard’s still had them for $800. The problem was, Menard’s closest stores are in Casper, and Cheyenne WY. We live about 45 miles East of the Cesspool known as Portland. We decided to make a vacation road trip out of it, and ordered 8 tanks. It took several months for Menard’s to get the tanks, and in July, we were off on an adventure to get them

We originally planned on keeping two tanks, and the first 3 extra tanks sold pretty quickly, the next two tanks took about a month to sell. I started thinking about it some more, and decided to keep a third tank, at half load, our generator burns about 2 gallons an hour, so two tanks would give us about 4 days run time. I am often away from home for work 5 days at a time, so I decided to keep the third tank.

After having Covid two years ago, my Wife’s lungs still haven’t recovered, at this point we’re not sure they ever will , and she is dependent on an oxygen concentrator, so now, the generator isn’t just a Luxury, and that third tank should give enough run time for me to get home regardless of when the power goes out. Our setup is completely automatic, so we don’t have to worry about the Wife waking up in the middle of the night to start the generator, if she is sleeping, she may not even realize that the power went out at all. That is a HUGE load off my back.

We were able to sell the five extra tanks for $1,500 each, delivered, which only 3 customers had us deliver them, the other two came out to pick them up. After calculating our fuel, and an oil change, we came out a bit ahead, and weren’t out any out of pocket expenses for the three tanks that we kept. We had a couple calls on the last tank, after I decided to keep it, even though we had dropped our online ads, but I decided that the Peace of Mind that it provided, was worth way more than the $1,500 I would have gotten selling it

In the end, our setup cost us right at $8,000, which was about half of the price of people we talked to that just called a contractor, and had them do a write a check, sign the papers installation, which was running $14-16,000. And we had a Fun road trip to Cheyenne, the scenic route through Moab UT, with a 3 day stop there

There are a lot of different options, it is a matter of deciding where the balance point is for you, based on Price, Performance (how much power you need) and Convenience

We have been Very Happy with our setup, the Honeywell uses Generac components, and has so far been very reliable


Doug

 

[JRM]

I just tie my Ranger 9 into the house when needed. We have to watch how we run things but It handles most everything but the heat pump which I don't care about, we don't hardly use that meter spinning pig anyhow. My outdoor wood stove uses around 1000 watts, max, very little electrical requirement.
If I buy anything larger it will be a pto driven unit i can run off my tractor. Your buying a generator only - not paying for an engine that will sit for months on end, need maintenance regardless of how much or little it gets used, and unless you have Nat gas or LPG piped to it will always have to worry about fuel going bad or getting contaminated. Ethanol sitting in a tank in the hot sun for months on end = bad juju. Diesel fuel also has a shelf life and can get bitten by the bug (algae) which is a nightmare. You probably wont know you have a problem until you need the equipment....
Unless one has a medical condition it is hard to justify the cost of a stand by unit, and this is coming from a guy that loses power a handful of times a year. We very recently had a 4 day outage from a....thunderstorm
Such is country life.

 

[capetrees]

Needing some advice about a backup generator. I current have a 8000w/7000w gas portable I drag out when the power goes off. I have found that it is just a little to small to pull everything in my house. It will pull the heat and the well pump, but not at the same time. I recently purchased a Generlink transfer switch from my electric company. It hasnt arrived yet, but they install it. It is a simple design in that it goes between the meter and meter base, so you dont have to have a electrician to install, no permits or inspection to pay for, and you dont have to rewire your house. I was going to put in a generac system, but the guy that sells them never came out to give me a estimate and it gave me time to think about the other option. Knowing what I already know about the generator I already have I decided to just upsize a little and stick with the portable. Cost being a big deciding factor. The other factor is I can get a generator that runs on dual fuel, I can suck gas out of my truck it it become necessary. The generac runs on propane, we dont have natural gas here, and means I would have to get a big tank to set somewhere around the house.
Anyways, I am looking at the duramax 12000/9500w or the duramax 13000/10500w models. The generlink transfer switch is rated for 10,000w. My concerns are the duramax engine. The china engine I just havent heard anything good or bad about them. Any opinions.

The china engine thing has always been a concern for me based on getting parts and maintenance done on any china engine. That being said, it looks like most of them are assembled over there but are engineered and designed here. I looked at your desired specs and looked around quickly and short timed and found the Westinghouse with the same specs for maybe cheaper money with three times the reviews, mostly great reviews (15K of the reviews out of 17K are 5 star.)
Good luck

 

[nedsim]

A gas generator won't put out full rated power on propane and even less on nat. gas.

For short outages I use a smaller Honda "inverter" generator and for a long outage I run a 15kw PTO generator, powering it with my smaller diesel tractor.

That works out great for me.

SR

About the same setup here. Our 3000W Honda inverter will run all the 120V loads we need in the house, shop, and wife's studio to be comfortable for a day or two. After that the PTO generator comes out to power the well pump and hot water heater. At moderate load the Honda uses about 1/6 the fuel that the tractor burns. The smaller inverters use even less.

 

[capetrees]

Needing some advice about a backup generator. I current have a 8000w/7000w gas portable I drag out when the power goes off. I have found that it is just a little to small to pull everything in my house. It will pull the heat and the well pump, but not at the same time. I recently purchased a Generlink transfer switch from my electric company. It hasnt arrived yet, but they install it. It is a simple design in that it goes between the meter and meter base, so you dont have to have a electrician to install, no permits or inspection to pay for, and you dont have to rewire your house. I was going to put in a generac system, but the guy that sells them never came out to give me a estimate and it gave me time to think about the other option. Knowing what I already know about the generator I already have I decided to just upsize a little and stick with the portable. Cost being a big deciding factor. The other factor is I can get a generator that runs on dual fuel, I can suck gas out of my truck it it become necessary. The generac runs on propane, we dont have natural gas here, and means I would have to get a big tank to set somewhere around the house.
Anyways, I am looking at the duramax 12000/9500w or the duramax 13000/10500w models. The generlink transfer switch is rated for 10,000w. My concerns are the duramax engine. The china engine I just havent heard anything good or bad about them. Any opinions.

or you could just buy a Ford Lightning. The advertisements on TV show them plugging the house feed line directly into the truck!!

 

[sean donato]

20 years and running good but heck your milege will vary

My experience personally and professionally pretty much align with this statement.

 

[northmanlogging]

or you could just buy a Ford Lightning. The advertisements on TV show them plugging the house feed line directly into the truck!!

buddy of mine owns one, you can in fact run 110v or 220v direct, he uses his to run his RV, and the occasional field tig welding When the battery hits a certain discharge, the motor automatically kicks on and recharges. But I've mentioned this very thing in other threads, and you still don't believe it so?

 

[sean donato]

In the last few years as a heavy duty diesel mechanic, we got a bunch of contracts for servicing and repairing stand by generators. I've seen about the same amount of small gas and diesel generators blown up. Moat of it boils down to maintenance and how they are loaded. I actually got my diesel mosa generator because of someone's stupidity. It sat for a long time and the guy decided to use starter fluid on it. Cracked the piston in the little air cooled yanmar that runs it. Conversely we had a 10kw generator with a 18hp opposed Briggs and Stratton engine come in for low power that had 6k hours on the meter. It was used to power a food stand. The owners were pretty religious about keeping up with it.
I've seen zero correlation between the long-term reliability of 3600 rpm generators or 1800 rpm generators. When you get to the common household size most will be 3600 rpm irregardless of fuel type.
Of my personal generators I've only ever had issues once and that was during a long power outtage. One of the capacitors in the gen end went out. I lost one leg of the 220v feed. Fortunately I had a friend with a big welder that let me run the house on it. Shortly after farmer steve gave me his old Coleman generator. It's a tad smaller and runs on gas vs diesel, but it works well.
As to the cheap generators, my younger brother has some for cheap 10kw unit he bought off Amazon a few years ago. It's a duel fuel model. He speaks favorably about it, but it doesn't have much run time on it. It has a Honda clone engine on it, so I doubt parts will be hard to find.

 

[grizz55chev]

There's a YouTube guy I like to watch that is all about generators, his name is James Condon and from watching his channel, I've learned enough about the electrical end of most common generators to trouble shoot and maintain what used to be a complete mystery to me. They're really quite simple, and easy to fix in most cases. Looking on FB marketplace you can pickup some low cost low hr units that don't make power anymore. It's not unusual to find a good used gen for under $100 that need very little to bring them back to a dependable unit. The China -honda clones have flooded the market for 20 yrs or so and companies like Generac are of this design. Honeywell, GE, Coleman, Predator are all now made in China, using copper plated aluminum wire instead of copper which doesn't hold up to vibration as well as copper. My diesel gen is a Yanmar clone made by ETQ, it has over 10,000 hrs on the meter and still works! Picked it up 15 yrs ago for $300, and just last yr got its sister given to me with a few issues that were easily and cheaply resolved, and the bonus is, it only shows 1,000 hrs on it. Having a backup unit means a lot! I don't have uch experience with Onan gens like you find in most otorhomes, but their low rpm ( 1800htz vs 3600htz) seems like they run quieter and would not shake themselves apart like their higher rpm counterparts. The downside to them is cost and power output, most are not setup to produce the power needed , 240 volts, to run a typical home.