Propane generator recommendations?

[oilburner]

Yes those old onan gennys sure are nice, I would love to have one of the CCK standby sets from the 1960's with the streamlined fan housing. I think they were around 5 Kilowatts. they sure looked cool.

 

[Bill Stockard]

I am a former Onan/Cummins tech and am partial to Onan/Cummins products. I serviced all makes but by far the best were Onan/cummins units. Generacs I found were prone to failure. Kohlers are OK but not as relaible as Onan. The 13 Kw 3600 Rpm Onan uses a very dependable Robin Subaru engine as said earlier with an oil cooler. The 20 Kw air cooled 3600 Rpm Onan uses a Briggs also with an oil cooler. For the occasional outages they are excellent choices. For extended outage Liquid cooled 1800 Rpm is the way to go. The Onans are more expensive but quality is never cheap. They are also equipped with isochronous digital governors for excellent power quality, which is very important. Also most critical infrastructure projects I have seen use Onan/Cummins for good reason. I have seen 30 to 50 year old Onans running perfectly.

You are correct! I was mistaken and was "reading between the lines" and thinking it was an Onan engine. The Briggs & Stratton Vanguard big block V-twin 30+ HP engine matches the specs in the Cummins Onan 20kw air cooled generator spec sheet.



Bill

 

[oilburner]

I think the Vanguard is or used to be built in Japan.

 

[Bill Stockard]

I think the Vanguard is or used to be built in Japan.

I don't have a problem with that. The Japanese have a lot of design/engineering experience with and manufacture some very good small engines. However, I would not consider one if they were manufactured in that other large highly populated country on the Asian mainland.



Bill

 

[rscurtis]

I had many Vanguard engines when I had my rental business, from 6-16 HP. Best small engine made, better than a Honda. The Robin that Onan is using is a very good choice, much better than the trash that Kohler is pushing these days. Today's Kohler is not "your father's Kohler" by any stretch of the imagination. Neither are their plumbing fixtures, I found that out the hard way about 20 years ago.

 

[oilburner]

I was not knocking the Vanguard. I was stating the fact that being made in Japan means high quality. Up here in Canada everybody assumes thats what is meant when you make that statement.

 

[oilburner]

I think Honda and Yamaha makes alot of their engines in China (GX & YZ series), but I have not heard of any complaints. Izuzu makes excellent diesels. You can build anywhere as long as the materials and quality control are top rate and still have a high quailty product. In the beginning even Japanese goods were rediculed but that did not last long as they kicked the big 3's butt. The same goes for Hyundai but nobody in North America is laughing now.