Questions about buying a standby electrical generator

Yes, unless there was an A or B after the number. I did not check that close.

Exectally the same mower. I asked the JD dealer if he could cut his price and he said no as Lowes sells the same model. The mower I bought from the dealer would run about 50 feet and stop. That was when it was brand new. They came and got it, replaced the seat and brought it back. If I had gotten it at Lowes, I would have had to taken it to some place to get it fixed uner the warrenty.

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Saw it on other parts of the internet. Wallmart is big enough they give a company a price for a product and the company has to come up with a way to make the product for that price.

Reply to
Ralph Mowery
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I've bought a few of them and looked at many more in stores. None, at least from the same year, looked any different.

Completely irrelevant.

Wow! Now there's proof!

Sears does the same. So? They do *NOT* put the same model numbers on them if they're not the same.

Reply to
krw

The original poster already has a portable, gasoline powered emergency generator, and wants to switch to a permanently plumbed, hard wired, standby generator.

The Honda products which Stormin Norman and you are suggesting are not the right type. He asked about the differences between the Big Box - Home Depot units which Guardian / Generac sells versus the Generac / Guardian units sold through distributors to dealers, and asks whether the Guardian or Kohler brand is better.

To my knowledge, the units sold by Big Box and distributors are exactly the same, and none of these are made buy Honda.

The generators we are talking about are typically sized up to 16KW for the home units, with 8, 10, and 12KW units being sold also for those who only want to feed a portion of their total home capacity.

These units by Honda are not at all what is being asked for.

Reply to
Smarty

In fact, the generator efficiency is very highly correlated to how close the load demand equals the supply capacity. A 16KW generator supplying

6KW will do so at much greater operating cost for fuel compared to the same 6KW being delivered by the 7KW model.

When I did the sizing for my own unit, in 2006, the difference between cost of a KW-Hr between the Generac 7KW unit and the 16KW unit when supplying 6KW was over 2 to 1. The difference is very substantial since a KW-Hr of electricity costs nearly a dollar at today's fuel cost with my more efficient generator, versus $2 for the same KW-Hr produced by the 16KW generator when both are asked to supply 6KW per hour to a load. The savings of $24 a day in fuel is not insignificant.

The cost of the equipment also nearly doubles also, in my case $1600 versus $3000 for the Generac itself.

So, the suggestion to get the "right-sized" generator is a good one, both considering first cost and then recurring cost.

On the flip side, the smaller engines used in the 7KW unit (versus the

16KW) apparently wear out sooner, but this data is much less available and is very hard to find / quantify.

Smarty

Reply to
Smarty

different lines of generators, one for sale at Big Box stores, the other sold via distributors. According to the author of the post, there is supposedly "a world of difference" between the two.

I totally agree! The original poster should NOT consider the distributor version as being any different because it isn't any different when it comes to these Generac / Guardian models.

Reply to
Smarty

A couple of years ago, the local JD dealer was selling the same exact tractor as Lowes and he would do their warranty work.. He also offered better start up service and free delivery. There may be other models involved now, but at that time they were identical.

The guy selling the higher priced batteries told him, of course.

Reply to
Ed Pawlowski

Unfortunately there is no good answer. The big box version could be the same or it could be the "special walmart version". Places like walmart buy enough stuff that often it may represent a production run that is tuned to compensate for the price walmart names. And certainly "I looked at it " is the most meaningless way to judge if say bearings are different, a cheaper motor was used or batteries are not made as well.

Reply to
George

Except that they are different.

Reply to
George

So what does it mean? It certainly is standard verbage used in contracts.

Reply to
George

Here's an idea- has anybody called the manufacturer to ask? I'd think that = if it has the same model number it's the same unit, although with cars you = might find the same model made in different factories, even in different co= untries.

I bought a nice HD video camera last year, then saw a very similar unit at = Costco, with a slightly different model number and different color. I calle= d Canon and they said that the only difference is that the Costco model lac= ked one feature- you can't plug the camera directly into a Canon DVD burner= and directly make a DVD, you have to use a computer. Not wanting to buy a = special Canon DVD burner anyway (obviously I have a computer...) I bought t= he Costco model as well (wanted two cameras).

You'd be amazed what you can learn by asking.

Reply to
missingchild

Me either. That is standard verbage in a contract written by a lawyer that means what I noted and wouldn't influence me.

Yes

Reply to
George

Nonsense, here is a chart of two multiquip single phase generators: Note that the 20KW unit uses less fuel running at half load, than the 10KW uses at full load

10KW: Fuel Consumption: Full load 0.97 gph 3.7 lph 3/4 load 0.75 gph 2.8 lph 1/2 load 0.58 gph 2.2 lph 1/4 load 0.44 gph 1.7 lph 20KW:

Fuel Consumption: Full load 1.66 gph 6.3 lph 3/4 load 1.21 gph 4.6 lph 1/2 load 0.85 gph 3.2 lph 1/4 load 0.58 gph 2.2 lph

Reply to
RBM

Yes, I know that was not the ORIGINAL question. I merely answered someone who did not know what Honda's available maximum unit was. The information was handy since I had just researched generator's alsol

Reply to
Robert Macy

Interestingly the same at 5kW

Reply to
Robert Macy

Yeah, definitely an efficiency curve going on. For a person who needs

5KW minimum and occasionally wants to use higher amperage stuff like electric range, clothes dryer, etc, something like a 12KW, would probably be the most efficient choice
Reply to
RBM

So you just make the accusation because you don't like WalMart. It doesn't matter if it's true.

Reply to
krw

...and the same at 1/4 load (20kW) and 1/2 load(10kW). I certainly wouldn't have expected that. Seems the 10kW is junk.

Reply to
krw

If the part number is the same at Wal-Mart as it is from a factory dealer then the unit is the same. If any manufacturer were to make a unit "cheaper" for the big box stores then the model number is required to be different. Underwriters Laboratories will not list two different makes that have the same part number. There cannot be two different schematics for the exact same part number. If the big retailers are selling the units at a lower price than a factory dealer it is typically because the chain buys a shitload of units where as a local dealer buys on an as needed basis.

Example: As a dealer I can buy Signalink products direct from the factory. But I can buy the same product through a local wholesaler for less than I can buy it as a dealer. If I were to buy as much bulk as the wholesaler then I would get the same lower price as they do. But I don't need 1000 units at a time nor do I have the warehouse space to store that amount. So I buy as needed per job which is typically 30 or 40 units so I pay around $30 more per unit if I buy direct.

Another Example: You can purchase System Sensor products from Federal Signal cheaper than you can directly from System Sensor. Federal Signal buys a truckload at a time so they get a really low price by volume. And they pass that savings on to their customers.

Regarding Generac or other such products, authorized dealers may charge more than Lowes or Wal-Mart because they have trained technicians on staff and they take care of warranty repairs themselves instead of shipping anything back to the factory. That additional liability assumed by them does get figured into the asking price. The average mark up from a dealer's standpoint is typically between

30% and 40% (that percentage is how much of the list price is actually mark up). Big retail chains typically only mark up their products by 10% to 20% due to volume.

My own experience has been that you get better service and response from the factory authorized dealers than you do from retailers. Thus "you get what you pay for" pretty much applies.

Reply to
FirstPost

What evidence to you have to prove this? When I made my selection and purchase, the model numbers, weights, and specifications were identical from both Home Depot and the distributor model (which I personally purchased since I avoided sales tax and also saved a couple hundred more bucks compared to Home Depot pricing).

What proof do you have that there actually is some difference?

Reply to
Smarty

It's a Kubota D1503, possibly the most widely used industrial engine in its HP range. Hardly junk

Reply to
RBM

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