Generac 70422 22/19.5,000-watt aluminum wi-fi air-cooled standby generator $3517

The base price seems to be standard across multiple vendors but of course rakuten has the coupon. This runs on LP or LNG. I was curious as to consumption so I checked some other sites and at 50% load it's about 10.7 lb per hour. That's probably in line with other generators but man it chews through propane! What do people typically do to change out tanks without disrupting service?

Good price but wish it had transfer switch

Quote from Dr. J : The base price seems to be standard across multiple vendors but of course rakuten has the coupon. This runs on LP or LNG. I was curious as to consumption so I checked some other sites and at 50% load it's about 10.7 lb per hour. That's probably in line with other generators but man it chews through propane! What do people typically do to change out tanks without disrupting service?

You don't hook this up to a 20lb bbq propane tanks. You hook it up to a 400 gallon tank.

I think this is an awesome deal and definitely frontpage worthy. Cheapest I have ever seen this unit.

I also bought the transfer switch [rakuten.com] off Rakuten since this model does not come with it. You can use the 25% coupon on the switch too, making it another very slick deal.

Great deal on a unit this size.

Great price but Factory Authorized Outlet's return policy scares me away. Might not be worth the headache if problems arise.

For example, once you add oil or gas, it's non-returnable.

Even if it's still in new condition in the box, and you have buyer's remorse and change your mind or find out you cannot install it as planned, there is a 20% restocking fee plus cost of shipping it back to Ontario CA.

I would just pony up and buy something like this locally. Good luck to you brave souls that decide to jump on this.

Quote from xtrabad : Great price but Factory Authorized Outlet's return policy scares me away. Might not be worth the headache if problems arise. For example, once you add oil or gas, it's non-returnable. Even if it's still in new condition in the box, and you have buyer's remorse and change your mind or find out you cannot install it as planned, there is a 20% restocking fee plus cost of shipping it back to Ontario CA. I would just pony up and buy something like this locally. Good luck to you brave souls that decide to jump on this.

I'm pretty sure most people don't buy things like this on a whim.

Man this is just so tempting. I am assuming this could handle my house but I know install is gonna be another 2-3k. Not sure its worth it for the one time a year we lose power for more than an hour.

Quote from Evann89581 : I'm pretty sure most people don't buy things like this on a whUgh,

Quote from Evann89581 : I'm pretty sure most people don't buy things like this on a whim.

I never said they did. Don't be so defensive.

I was pointing out the shortcomings of the return policy of this vendor for this item, which is a big deal and a huge factor in deciding whether to purchase an item like this. Policies which you should have stated in your original post if you want to get technical about it, especially since this isn't your typical vendor like Home Depot or Lowe's.

We had a whole home generator installed this past March. Our home is in a semi-rural, heavily wooded area and we decided when we bought the home last year that a generator was going to be one of the first projects we were going to tackle. A few things that I would point out...

- We were told by multiple dealers (that sell both Generac and Kohler) that Kohler made the better product and it was worth a few extra hundred bucks to get their generator over Generac's. Generac has gotten better over the years, but they have fewer service calls overall on the Kohler units.

- Don't install this yourself and do your research to find a competent electrician. Perhaps our installation was more complicated in that we added load-shedding and have multiple sub-panels in our home, but our electrician had to have the electric company remove the meter for a period of time while he re-wired how the main was hooked up to the power company's supply.

- Make sure your gas meter is big enough for this. Ours wasn't, and a prerequisite of this project was getting the gas company to upsize the meter. This was a lot harder/longer than it should have taken - they overestimated our demand and were telling us we needed to size up to a ridiculously large meter that required repiping the supply line from the main line on the street - something that was estimated to cost $5,000. When we provided them the correct BTU numbers from each appliance, we were under the cut and they just upsized our meter for $61.50. This process took nearly two months.

- Trench the gas and electric lines underground. We paid a little extra for this... and the end result looks great.

Quote from xtrabad : I never said they did. Don't be so defensive. I was pointing out the shortcomings of the return policy of this vendor for this item, which is a big deal and a huge factor in deciding whether to purchase an item like this. Policies which you should have stated in your original post if you want to get technical about it.

Defensive? I was simply pointing out how incredibly unlikely it would be that someone purchase and then return this item.

Quote from Evann89581 : Defensive? I was simply pointing out how incredibly unlikely it would be that someone purchase and then return this item.

Incredibly unlikely? LOL. Have you even had one of these installed at your home? If you have, then you know that a vast array of issues can arise that an average homeowner has no idea even exists when buying one of these units.

Sometimes this requires a homeowner to return and buy a different unit. Sometimes they decide to scrap the entire project due to unforeseen costs and issues. Read sullim4's post above for one example of a homeowner who experienced some of these issues.

Also, sometimes like with a new car, people can get a lemon. What then? This vendor won't let you return it once you put oil in it. So now you're stuck with it and at the mercy of the repair gods.

Sheesh.

Quote from MachAF : You don't hook this up to a 20lb bbq propane tanks. You hook it up to a 400 gallon tank.

Most people have 500 or 1000 gallon tanks up here but yeah you hook them up to a houses big tank.

I just use my little Generac 2000/2200 inverter generator that I keep on a pad on the side of my house. I can hook it into my panel and it'll power everything except my well but I have a oversized tank on my well that'll hold a good supply of water if used sparingly especially if I know a storm is coming and I manually trip the pressure switch to fill the tank before the power goes out. Total cost for the generator and some wiring, $360... but I have a small house and I know it wouldn't be for everyone and I have to start my generator myself and shut it down too... and fill it with gas too but the a 1 gallon fill lasts 12 hours.