# Recommendations for the best brand?



## Mkal (6 mo ago)

If money was not a factor, which brand generator are you buying for your residence?


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## sledman8002002 (Jan 28, 2021)

Yamaha or Honda. Cant afford either but I like 'em both.


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## Dutchy491 (Sep 18, 2019)

…and it depends if you want a stationary unit or portable….🤷


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## OrlyP (Oct 19, 2021)

I'll get a pair of EU7000is and name them Luke and Leia.


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## Browse Deweb (Jan 16, 2021)

Honda EU7000is is my portable unit for the house, converted to run on natural gas.
I considered a Cummins RS25 whole house unit, but the Honda will meet my needs and I can take it with me when I move.


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## j.boudreaux88 (Oct 25, 2021)

Browse Deweb said:


> Honda EU7000is is my portable unit for the house, converted to run on natural gas.
> I considered a Cummins RS25 whole house unit, but the Honda will meet my needs and I can take it with me when I move.


Probably similar in price eh?


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## Browse Deweb (Jan 16, 2021)

j.boudreaux88 said:


> Probably similar in price eh?


No, the Cummins would have been about $20k installed.


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## pipe (Jun 27, 2021)

Buyrun yapın!


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## email4eric (Dec 23, 2018)

Honda or Yamaha. I use a EU6500is for whole home off of propane. I brought it with me from my last home where I used it with NG. It's a super reliable, efficient, quiet powerhouse.


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## iowagold (Jan 22, 2020)

Honda inverter gen for me.
they work well for us.


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## Matt88-8 (Dec 27, 2018)

Small/portable unit? a yamaha. 
Big unit? A kubota lowboy.
A real big unit? CAT and Cummins make some fine stuff.

Sent from my SM-G973W using Tapatalk


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## zz28zz (Nov 24, 2021)

Small= Honda or Yamaha if money is no object. On a budget, Champion..
Larger diesel= CAT, Cummins or Kohler (John Deere eng) all good.


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## Colt Carson (6 mo ago)

What’s recommended for permanent whole home in the 18-20KW range, running on natural gas? Seems like most people in my area go with Generac, but are there better options where noise and reliability are concerned?


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## tabora (Sep 6, 2018)

Colt Carson said:


> What’s recommended for permanent whole home in the 18-20KW range, running on natural gas?


Cummins/Onan or Kohler


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## charles g (7 mo ago)

home a generac, boat cummins , camping honda , construction work honda ,


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## Browse Deweb (Jan 16, 2021)

Colt Carson said:


> What’s recommended for permanent whole home in the 18-20KW range, running on natural gas? Seems like most people in my area go with Generac, but are there better options where noise and reliability are concerned?


Go with the Cummins RS25 if you can afford it. Quiet, 1800 RPM, water cooled.


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## Colt Carson (6 mo ago)

Browse Deweb said:


> Go with the Cummins RS25 if you can afford it. Quiet, 1800 RPM, water cooled.


The only time I lose power is due to hurricanes, so I wouldn’t want to spend that much. I would like to keep the entire installation under $10K, if that’s possible.


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## Dutchy491 (Sep 18, 2019)

Remember that this thread was “ if money wasn’t a factor”…😉


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## OrlyP (Oct 19, 2021)

Dutchy491 said:


> Remember that this thread was “ if money wasn’t a factor”…😉


Money to outright purchase just the generator or are we also factoring in the TCO (ie. fuel, maintenance, etc.)?

Because I could hope for a 50kW unit that would power the compound maybe twice over, but I'd still have to spend a fortune for fuel and upkeep. lol


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## Dutchy491 (Sep 18, 2019)

Haha, yep it’s quite broad “ money not a factor,” and the OP probably should have asked “what’s the best bang for my buck?” The answer then might be the popular air cooled generators/inverters from Honda, Yamaha etc., especially good condition used ones. See…now there’s my opinion 😉


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## Colt Carson (6 mo ago)

If money is no consideration, I would think that would make the question much easier to answer. Seems like the primary consideration then would be what type of fuel you’d like to use. I’ve always wondered what the storage life of diesel fuel is.


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## Dutchy491 (Sep 18, 2019)

Maybe, but in reality not too many of us live the life where “money is no consideration.” Even then, in an emergency, snapping your fingers for a fill up might just end in an echo…


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## exmar (Jun 29, 2015)

Talk about "how high is up?" We keep seeing this question, asked in various convoluted ways which does boil down to "best bang for the buck." as Duchy said. That is the easy part, Honda, Yamaha, etc. in this section of the market, home generation, they're the most expensive and also the best in terms of parts availability, service down the road, etc.

The hard part is how much are you willing to spend, factored into the frequency and duration of outages in your area. Spend $5,000 for a Honda and then notice it in a back corner of your garage unused months after purchase-but you got the best and it's ready to rock and roll. Or spend <$1,000 for a noisy (audio and electrical) open frame machine to get you through the occasional outage. I only need about 3KW steady state with an occasional "surge" when the frig or freezer starts. Reading other posts here that's about what most folks use unless they're down south or out west and AC is critical. "Disposable income" is an interesting expression.

I had an interesting experience recently, I was always very careful to make sure any generator I considered could comfortably handle the frig and freezer thinking that with all the meat we buy on sale and then repackage with a vac sealer would be a major $$ loss. The other day my wife called me from the utility room and said the freezer is thawed!! Yep. It died, no power failures or anything, just 18 years of use. What she ID'd as thawed was frozen veggies. The meat was not completely thawed and I quickly moved that to the freezer on the side by side, disposing of some misc. stuff which was much cheaper to replace. So, my worst case, OMG scenario was $80 in loss. Yes, there are freezer alarms, inexpensive too, going to get one and periodically replace it-"Cheap too." Nope,.If I'd lost all the meat as well, the total cost would probably be less than $500 or the cost of an inexpensive generator. Something else to try to factor into "Best Brand", or "Best Brand for me, in my location?"


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## Colt Carson (6 mo ago)

I keep a thermometer in my fridge and freezers that I can easily glance at when I go in there for something. I was lucky when my last freezer went bad, it did it slowly. So I started noticing the temperature trending up, and it was running all the time. With the advance warning I didn’t lose any food.


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## exmar (Jun 29, 2015)

Colt Carson said:


> I keep a thermometer in my fridge and freezers that I can easily glance at when I go in there for something. I was lucky when my last freezer went bad, it did it slowly. So I started noticing the temperature trending up, and it was running all the time. With the advance warning I didn’t lose any food.


Yep. Have those in appliances, this time, we evidently weren't in there in time. Have them hanging where it becomes automatic to note temp when door is opened


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## Texag0842 (6 mo ago)

I'm having a local Houston shop quote installation on either a Cummings RS25/RS30 unit.


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## AndrewL (Jul 24, 2017)

Texag0842 said:


> I'm having a local Houston shop quote installation on either a Cummings RS25/RS30 unit.


both very nice units.


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## AndrewL (Jul 24, 2017)

The loss in confidence of the Texas utility infrastructure has clearly been a bonanza for the local generator industry.


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## OrlyP (Oct 19, 2021)

Y'all wanted an excuse to buy a generator... Win-win? lol


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## Browse Deweb (Jan 16, 2021)

Texag0842 said:


> I'm having a local Houston shop quote installation on either a Cummings RS25/RS30 unit.


Great generator. Here are a few Youtube videos of the RS25 which I found to be helpful:

This guy installed his own:










This guy had a company install his:


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