Not my experience. One of the most reliable products that I have every had. There are generator forums where these are discussed and Generac is by far the dominant player in the residential whole house market. Honda is good with the small generators and Kohler for big mansions and businesses.
I was going by the 4 people that I know that have them. Of the 4 only 2 are still current. The 2 that are not were replaced with CAT. The other 2 had work. But mine is a limited sample. Knowing their experiences I personally would not buy them.
I saw a bunch stacked in Home Depot Generac 6500 for $689. I think the output was a running 5000 watts. FYI
There aren't many brands that do whole house generators. About four providers have 98% of the market.
You have to specify if you mean natural gas or propane. I have had both. For propane you need a tank. Turnkey for both is probably $8,000 to $10,000. That's a 23 KW generator with automatic transfer switch, smaller house may use an 18KW.
Yes, this generator will typically run a single A/C unit and most other stuff in the house. This is a good budget setup for a DIY person. I have a similar set up at my house.
$10k plus. It depends on your gas source as well. LP Gas or natural gas. You will spend from a grand to a few grand to get gas connected and then there is the LP Gas tank costs and size.
Generators are at least 6 months out right now, and that doesn't include getting it installed. I would wait another year if you can. The ice storms in the Midwest last year and still causing aftershocks in the industry. It will take at least another year or two for things to return to normal.
Look closely at that box, I saw them too. I almost bought one because I helped an elderly friend purchase and set up a Yamaha she bought online (got a good deal on it, very happy) and I was shocked at the price. After reading the fine print, it's a Yamaha engine powering a generator made in China by another company. This is what you saw, it has a Yamaha engine, NOT a Yamaha generator. BUT, they do get great reviews, so it's probably a VERY good value for the price. That Yamaha engine is the cream of the crop.
Simply answer is no. Surge protectors are trying to clip a peak (surge) that comes through. When the electronics see a sudden rise in the Sine wave, they try to tamp it down. Your power company provides a very clean sine wave that has a 60 hertz cycle (up/down 60 times per second) with an amplitude of 120 volts (the distance from zero). A generator tries to do this, but it is NOT as precise as what the power company gives you.
They are both "Portable". One is just a generator; that is a motor spinning an armature in a stator and you get out of it what comes out. An inverter generator is the same as the "portable" generator in the previous sentence, but it has an inverter installed (read, electronics) that cleans up the raw sine wave being produced by the generator (motor/armature/stator). In other words, an inverter generator is just a standard generator with some electronics to clean up the sine wave being sent to the outlet for your use.
Thanks pablo for the info. Really good stuff here. Thanks for taking the time to type all that out.
Sorry Bud, going on 5 years and running 💪 !!! Replace battery at 5 years on my whole house 22 kw Generac generator. Also, did an oil change once a year for 🖐 years!!!
I’m glad you have had good success with it. Just not where my hard earned money will go with the numerous people that have told me otherwise. Not to mention a couple in here that seem very knowledgeable on the subject and the many horror story on the internet about them.
