Generator advice-- 26kW Kohler vs 26kW Generac and transfer switches

I will be in the market soon. What were you quoted for each unit?

Most air cooled are going to be a push on reliability. They’re all designed incredibly similarly. I ended up with Generac and I’ve been happy with it outside of it getting hit by lightning. I was happy to have easier access to replacement parts for Generac to get it up and running again.

you really need a 26kW? you might be able to go smaller

I got a 26kW air cooled Generac put in last year right before hurricane season. Haven’t had to run it for an extended period yet, actually didn’t lose power during last hurricane in BR. I do know Generac is coming out with a new air cooled model later this year or early 26. It won’t run the electric heat on the hvac so keep that in mind. I was all in around $13k

I think I may need a 32kw but going to have someone come out and see what my house actually needs. I had a 24 kw Generac on my last house and it did well. Ran for 5 days during the last hurricane in BR;

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I've anecdotally heard of Kohler being a more reliable engine, but one dealer mentioned Kohler is "smarter," as in there is more technology in the generator and transfer switch.

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I own a Honeywell (Generac) and know most of the functionality of my transfer switch. I looked up the datasheet of a typical 200A Kohler auto transfer switch (ATS) and have a few observations. Link below:

LINK

1. The ATS has a small LED display on the front to show error codes for different types of errors. The Generac doesn't have that but may give error codes through the motor screen or on the control board inside the ATS enclosure. Either way, the Generac won't give you error codes unless you open something.

2. The Kohler ATS allows you to exercise your generator with or without load, meaning, rather than just run the motor, it can also transfer to your house and put load on it. The Generac ATS only transfers during an outage unless you wire a separate switch on the "sensing" wire. For me to run my generator loaded, I have to go flip the switch I wired in.

3. The Kohler exercise cycle is 20 minutes instead of 5 minutes for the Generac. I'm not sure how quickly an air-cooled motor gets up to speed but it runs longer.

4. The Kolher ATS allows you to adjust the delay settings with an optional accessory board. I'm not sure how much control is really needed for a residential application but you can have it start the engine and transfer more quickly than a Generac. Standard delay settings on Generac are 5 seconds to start engine after loss of utility, and 5 more seconds to transfer (10 total). According to the datasheet I'm looking at, you can have the Kohler started and transferred in less than 5 seconds but not sure why you'd want to.

5. The Kohler has an optional alarm module and utility surge protector. These aren't standard but I doubt they are add-ons with the Generac ATS.

In my personal experience, I like having a Generac for universality of parts. About 75% of standby generators on houses are Generac and most service companies can work on them and keep spare equipment in their trucks. I would say Kohler is #2, Cummins #3, and Briggs & Stratton #4 (just my personal opinion). But as someone else has stated, if your preference is Kohler I think it's a safe purchase. Doubt you'll ever have issues.

Hope this helps.

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Aint no way. That's a shitload of juice for a house.

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That’s why I’m going to let the professionals tell me what I need. Probably fall somewhere between 26 and 32 if I had to guess.