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Whole House Nat Gas Generators

Shovelrick

Shovelrick

Veteran Member
Senior Member
After this years hurricane 30 hr. power outage I've decided it's time for an Auto start Gen that'll also run our central A/C, my ac dist. where I'm a dealer (Comfortmaker, Heil, Tempstar) sells Honeywell gens, a 22KW is $7,400 and auto transfer switch is another $1,096 plus tax, 18/19KW were less $ but I want to be sure to have plenty of Juice when needed, I changed the main service in the mid 2000's from the power line drop from the pole, new 200 amp meter base, 200 amp breaker panel then rewired the house, also I use to be a lic. elec. cont. and pulled a Home Owner permit so I don't have to worry if there's a fire and Ins. tries to deny any claims due to Non Permitted work causing problems, anyway I'm thinking Generac might be better than Honeywell as far as durability, longevity and parts availability, like anyone I want the best Bang for the Buck but also hope it to outlast me, anyone know about these Nat Gas Gens?
 

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The only thing I can recommend is to size the Genset properly. Natural and propane gas yield less power, so getting a larger Genset is a better idea. Lower RPM gensets will last longer as there is less wear at lower RPMs.
 
Ive always been told that the problem with NAT GAS is it takes a more gas and larger engine to produce the same power as a diesel. Ive been going back and forth on Solar or whole house. Im not a fan of Generac. One of our neighbors is a Generac dealer. He has stated many times that Generac does NOT produce the same items for years 'in their smaller models'. Kinda like a car company changing engines and body styles every two years. Its great when you buy it, but in several years, parts start or finding someone to work on them start to become a problem because a unit was only made for a few years and so its not supported in the long run. Talking to the same guy, if you do buy one, get a model that uses the V6 or V8 Chevy or Ford engines in NAT GAS. That way parts are more readily available and can be purchased at auto parts stores.

Another friend down the street is a local CAT Dealer Mechanic for 30yrs. He services all the local CAT Generators. If it was me, Id go for a large used diesel generator mad my Cat or Cummins. They cost more but there is a reason for their reliability and long term support. And they are more easily maintained.
 
Mine is definitely older so I may not be a good resource but even though propane is expensive it does not have a shelf life and it is clean burning in the engine. I think over the 16 years (I think) we have had our Honda powered unit I have replaced the spark plugs, changed the lawn mower battery out a few times and changed the oil.

I hear other generators in the area misfiring but my propane unit is running smooth.

I do not have an automatic transfer switch, I do it manually so I can control what gets the power.
 
I was planning to install one also, but decided instead to do battery backup with my solar panels.
 
Derek69SS said:
I was planning to install one also, but decided instead to do battery backup with my solar panels.
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Wise choice. Very wise. I know it's a larger capital outlay from my own experience, but when you can't get propane (for those living rural), it's the only logical way to go.
 
kmakar said:
Wise choice. Very wise. I know it's a larger capital outlay from my own experience, but when you can't get propane (for those living rural), it's the only logical way to go.
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and it also freed up my 2nd 500gal LP tank to have more storage to get through a whole heating season on one fill if needed.
 
When I pulled the solar out of the house I just sold, my electric bill skyrocketed to over $250 (and we weren't even living there and had the A/C set to 80) when I had been paying around $75 (cloudy days when I had to switch back to line power).
 
Shovelrick said:
After this years hurricane 30 hr. power outage I've decided it's time for an Auto start Gen that'll also run our central A/C, my ac dist. where I'm a dealer (Comfortmaker, Heil, Tempstar) sells Honeywell gens, a 22KW is $7,400 and auto transfer switch is another $1,096 plus tax, 18/19KW were less $ but I want to be sure to have plenty of Juice when needed, I changed the main service in the mid 2000's from the power line drop from the pole, new 200 amp meter base, 200 amp breaker panel then rewired the house, also I use to be a lic. elec. cont. and pulled a Home Owner permit so I don't have to worry if there's a fire and Ins. tries to deny any claims due to Non Permitted work causing problems, anyway I'm thinking Generac might be better than Honeywell as far as durability, longevity and parts availability, like anyone I want the best Bang for the Buck but also hope it to outlast me, anyone know about these Nat Gas Gens?
Click to expand...
I would go with a natural gas genset. Diesel would cost twice as much and an engine should last forever running on nat gas.
Like Mike said, go with the biggest most popular engine so parts are available. (y)
And you could add solar to that in the future.
 
Shovelrick said:
I'm going to look a little more into that Honeywell, if it's actually made by Generac it might be a good deal
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Made in China, everything is made in China. I bought my Bendpak 4 post lift and it pissed me off to find out is was "Designed in USA, built in China". It was on a tag on the lift, but no where on the site or ads did it say that.
 
Trying to get my wife onboard with the Gen idea, she's against it, Im getting more info on this one like where's it actually made
 

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That comes with the Transfer switch so that's an $1,100 savings if it's an Auto switch, Tx. meaning there's going to be shipping and if I have a problem under warranty I hope I could get it handled locally, Cummins seem like a quality Gen and a Damn good price I'll have to look into this model, seems like most of these can be mounted 18" from the house and I have the perfect spot in an inside corner right at the NG meter that's 3'-4' away from the 200 amp breaker panel, Thanks for posting that Mike (y) :)
 
I'm looking into all that this afternoon when it warms up outside, going to Peck away on my VA install while it's cool at the garage, I'd think they'd make their own Gen engine, I noticed the Generac 18KW & 20KW are V-Twins
 
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