Outdoor Power Equipment (Lawn Mowers, Snow Blowers, Chain Saws and more) Discussions

In Massachusetts right now, I'm without power. I have a Craftsman (relabeled Generac) 4.2 kW (5.2kW surge) generator. But it struggles to run my house. Even being careful with power, it sags badly (some home electronics shut off or restart) when my 240V 1/2HP well pump starts. UPSs constantly cycle between battery and AC. I have tested the voltage (116-117V per line). It's just not enough. I'll make it through this outage (projected to last 5-7 days overall). But the Wife and I have decided that a better/bigger generator is needed for the future. I'm looking in the 8kW-15kW continuous output range. Wheeled to allow its movement and runs on Gasoline. I'd still like it to be at least semi-portable.

I've looked at the Generac GP8000 and GP15000s and they look good. But what other good reliable brands are out there? Honda's big one is only 6500W.
Is Northern Tool's house brand (NorthStar) any good?

mikiewest wrote:

I found out yesterday that most of the" manufacturers are really "assemblers". As we know they are using engines of other manufacturer except for Honda, Briggs , Yamaha etc. Those manufacturers use their engines but generator heads provided by other manufacturers. An example of a generator head supplier is Mecc Alte , an Italian company that provides the generator heads for the stand by units made by Briggs and some of the portable units made by Winco. Other offerings in the Winco line use generator heads that Winco winds in the U.S. I haven't as yet verified it but I would think that Briggs is using heads made by another supplier as electric is not their business. With regard to reliability there is certainly a difference between units from the same manufacturer much less different manufacturers. Look at the spec sheets for units of the same output and often the same engine and then look at the difference in over all weight. The weight differential can be accounted for by the difference in magnets and the difference in how they are wound. My cheapy unit has bearings and brushes rated according to the manual for 1000 hours. The specs for the commercial grade by the same manufacturer are much higher. Your question concerning the Honda vs the Briggs is an interesting one. Watts are watts. The 5000 Honda will not do well with a continuous load of 6000 watts and will probably trip the breaker on the unit in order to protect the generator and the load. The 6500 Briggs would handle the 6000 watt load as that is what it is designed for. There is one thing to be aware of according to the tech i spoke to yesterday at Winco. I was curious about the difference between their Industrial grade units and their home owner units of comparable capacity. One difference in the industrial grade units is a heavy winding that enables the easy start of electric motors that are normally hard starting(refrigeration,air conditioners etc.). For that application he said the industrial grade units are more durable and better suited. He also said you should only buy a brushless unit if you intend on running anything with electronic controls like computers or modern appliances. Lastly I was at my local OPE dealer getting an air filter when a delivery of Briggs Generators was in progress . The boxes were marked made in China. You get what you pay for! Marc

Thanks, Marc. I'm glad to see someone finally looked at the generator part of a generator and not only the motor.

Now Gillette claims they use larger capcitors than other brands and diodes.How would one know if their claim is true?My manual for a ridgid generator does not list any of those specs.Neither does their website.

I purchased the eu6500is and this thing is quiet. Had a transfer switch installed. tried it out and it runs my entire house. Like car insurence you hope you never need to use it. But if I do I am ready.   Expensive yes. But looks and smells real nice

I've narrowed it down to 2 Generacs. The XG10000E or the GP15000E. Expensive $2000 & $2300 respectively, but hopefully I'll only ever have to buy one of them.

JimmyM wrote:

I was looking at both of these as well as the 7K generac home depot sells thats a stand alone unit and its only 1700......not sure what is the "rite way"??

It's been a while since Irene and after a tremendous # of phone calls and hours upon hours of research I bought a Gillette Power Pro7500 Watt unit. It was new old stock and bought off Ebay. It arrived in absolutely pristine condition and the seller was a perfect gentleman. Honda 390GX power,brushless design,low oil shut down and the wheel kit was included. The Power Pro line of Gillette is now only made up to 6500 Watts. If you need more you have to buy their Gen Pro line which includes a voltmeter ,hour clock and GFI circuit breakers (the Power Pro line comes with regular breakers).Other than those options the Power Pro and Gen Pro are identical. Normally I would have bought the Gen Pro for the extra $100 but I found this NOS unit on ebay with the factory wheel kit for $1449 plus $300 shipping which turned out to be $850 less than I could get the Gen Pro 7500. Two gages and GFI breakers weren't worth $850 to me. A word about the GFI breakers-In my research I found that even if a generator has GFI breakers they are only on the 120 volt receptacles. The full power 240 volt receptacle on all manufacturers units is not equipped with a GFI breaker. If you are going to use the 240 volt receptacle to power your home through a transfer switch the GFI breakers are I think superfluous. A comment about Gillette- The units are made in America (Indiana) using all American made parts with the exception of the Honda engine. It is an old style American owned and run business and you can get to speak to the owner by just calling on the phone! He is a busy guy so his conversation tends to be a little "short" but he always takes your call. Not being an electrical engineer I can only report what I read from my research but it appears that the Gillette power heads are a unique design that produce power that has a sine wave with less or equal distortion than that from your local power company. This was pretty much a deciding factor for me as the quality of the current is important in not "blowing up" any appliances with electronic controls or computers.I already own a generator which is an old brushed design and found I had problems with my computer and the electronic controls on my stand up freezer when using it during Irene. Gillette power heads also have the heavy hard start winding which allows for easy starting of refrigeration units or other compressor type equipment.This winding that I referenced comes on the commercial grade units of some manufacturers (Winco for example) but not all. In closing a special thanks to fellow member MikieWest for his comments about Gillette. It was these comments that started me researching this brand. Marc

I have a Yamaha EF6600DE and have been very pleased with its performance. The thing is quiet and runs anything I want it too including computers which I had heard needed "clean" power like an inverter type unit has. I have two sumps to run and sometimes they both kick on at the same time but the Yanaha does not flinch. I also have electric hot water that takes 4,000 watts. I have a seperate plug for the hot water and  then move the cord back to the 10 breaker transfer switch when the water is done. While not big enough to run the whole house all at once it handles the basics and then some. I do not run the stove or microwave but I can live without those for a few days or even longer as long as I have heat, my basement is not flooding, my fridge contents are not spoiling, and my grill is working!.

A couple of years ago, I bought an ETQ 4k generator via Amazon for less than 4 hundred bucks delivered... biggest deciding criteria was this unit had a 240V outlet.  I have no doubt it's a Chinese product.  Bought a transfer switch and installed it. Transfer switch, wire, exterior box etc cost almost as much as the generator.  Have had to use it a few times since installed and took me through Irene.  During Irene it was going for three days. Uses 4 gallons in 10+ hours. and runs flawlesly so far! I run all sorts of electronic equipment on it, ref. lights, tv and some microwave thrown in.  I leave the Water Pump breakers off.  When I run the 220V water pump, I do unload most of the other draws, pump up the water tank, WP breakers off, all others back on.

Real Happy with the generator and the setup...  Have heard a few good things about ETQ generators from a few people.  I would think a 6.5K generator would be fine for running a whole house... just realize your working off a generator and use your head!

I had a look at the Gillette generatos web site. WOW those things are built well. I really like how they go into the design details of their generator section. Windings, diodes, etc.
They're quite expensive, but perhaps instead of a 12-15kW Generac, I can use a 9-10kW Gillette.

Thanks for the info.