Buy the best, a Kohler, get a service contract and you're in business. Now if there's a possibility that you may be moving in the next 10 years, get a portable rig that you can slip the tires on and tow it on up the road to the new house.
The rest of you guys, how much do you have tied up in guns, boats, private aircraft or whatever your hobby is? I'll bet $10K is on the short side. Making life as easy as possible for my Mrs. has always been a major priority with me and it sure has paid off. Think about it.
Look Buddy,
It was an upgrade over the 5 Kw Gas Generator, while using a manual transfer switch.
Yes the Kohler is better, but, was not within our price range.
I also have a service contract with the Guardian Service Installers, so that is taken care of. Also, like I mentioned the Guardian Generator will turn on every Sunday at a specified time for 15 minutes. If it does not, I can get it looked at. It basically tests itself every week, to make sure, it is in working order when the power goes down.
Have had the Guardian, 15 Kw for 5 years, with not one problem. It has worked well.
More important than even the type of Generator, is the “Automatic Transfer Switch”. This is from commentary of another page.
“Wanted to mention something about the new Guardian line. The 20K model now comes with a really slick transfer swtich/load panel. The call it PowerManager LTS transfer switch. The cool part is the transfer switch/load panel actually goes in between the service and the main load panel. The generator will power both the transfer switch panel and the main panel for the house till the load is too much for the generator to handle. It will then cut power to the main panel and only supply power to the transfer switch’s load center which is where you hookup all your critical loads. The important part is the LTS panel will run BOTH the transfer switch load center and the main until the frequency drops below a predetermined limit, when it will cut the main load center.”
That is the best part of my generator.