My neighbor bought a new 10KW Generac Guardian at Home Depot. It crapped out before it was a year old, and NO warranty. Some kind of circuit-board problem that never got fixed. This wasn't a portable rig. It was a fixed-mount, home standy-unit. Ends up, if you read the small print, all warranty is VOID if installed at a non-grid location. Basically, they are saying if you're going to use it too much, no warranty! In this case, the people have solar elecric power, and keep a generator around for those times when the sun doesn't shine for a week. Generator is basically used to charge up the battery bank. After that fiasco, they bought a much better Kubota-powered, water-cooled genset and love it. Been using it three years now and it's never skipped a beat. Another nice benefit was the Generac made inferior AC power and his battery charger only ran at 2/3 capacity when hooked to the Generac. With the new rig, it works perfect.
People living on solar panel can tell you more about generator quality then probably anyone else. That because they have to really use them a bit when the sun isn't shining.
http://www.backwoodssolar.com/ has a lot of good info. Prices aren't cheap, but lots of good information. Here's some of what they say about gensets. Just ignore the stuff about solar panels that does not relate to your situation.
"GENERATORS: It's important to have a GOOD engine driven generator— and then use it as little as possible.
LOW INITIAL COST: During dark snowy winters of some northern areas, you could not meet 100% power needs with solar even with 10 times more solar and batteries. There we design for 80 to 90 percent annual power from solar generation, and use other generation sources to make up the seasonal shortfall. Wind power, and seasonal flow water power can help, but most often folks use an engine generator and a fast battery charger.
Fuel, limited engine life, and maintenance, along with pollution and noise make a generator the highest cost of all energy sources. So we want to shorten the hours the generator is used. Larger battery banks accept charge faster than a small one; so with a large battery and a high rate battery charger you store more energy in less generator time. Do most generator charging in evening hours of highest power need. Wash clothes, vacuum, etc while the generator runs to charge the batteries.
ALL THE EXTRA POWER YOU WANT, when you want it: There will be times when you want to use more power than your system is designed for. You sized the solar panels conservatively, knowing you can add more or trade to a larger inverter. Meanwhile, high power demands for guest’s extra lights and laundry, for building projects, or pumping a deep well can be met by a generator.
PROPANE fuel fits residential use better than gasoline or diesel. Propane is connected from the same tank at the same pressure that supplies the home stove and water heater. No more running out of gas, handling fuel, or dirt or water getting in the fuel. Propane keeps longer than gasoline or diesel. The engine runs clean, oil stays cleaner. Exhaust is clean - no odor. Propane starts easily even in winter cold without a choke, so can be started and stopped from inside the house year round. Likewise, propane is easiest to connect to automatic start systems.
DIESEL fuel generators are preferred by some folks for durability. Kohler diesel generators have factory estimated 15,000 hours between rebuilds. These models are 1800 rpm, water-cooled, with a cast iron engine block. Absolutely top quality. If diesel fuel is a part of your current homestead's operation, consider one of these generators.
A generator dedicated to a home need not be portable and should last a decade or two, run quietly and start easily from inside the house. When Backwoods Solar operated from the Willey's home, where the sun shines only a few days each winter month, our generator ran about 250 hours a year, all in the winter months, to guarantee sufficient power.
QUALITY, STATIONARY GENERATORS: Call for recommendations.
PORTABLE GENERATORS are designed to run power tools, and are not intended for electronic chargers or extensive running. Small low cost generators usually produce only a fraction of the expected battery charging amperes with most battery chargers and some standby inverters.
EXCEPTION: We recommend Electronic Inverter-based variable speed generators like the Honda EU6500i as well as the Yamaha 2800I or 3000iSE which can be purchased locally or on the internet. The engines are variable speed depending on the amount of load on the generator, extending engine life. The AC power is electronically created and is high quality true sine wave, so battery chargers typically deliver up to 100 amps, 12 volts (50 amps, 24 volts) with 3000 watt models and even more current with the 5000 and 7000 series by Honda.
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