B & S vs. Generac

[jmellc]

Last guy I worked for installed a lot of B & S generators at a retirement home. He thought they were much better than Generac, less confusion on parts, etc. That's been a while. I'm going to talk to some people Tue about getting units from them, as they are good about backing contractors up w/good service, etc. They can get both but they think Generac is a better product. They once said B & S is having quality issues lately.

What is the experience of any of you who do lots of generators?

 

[Ragin Cajun]

I have seen a lot of Generac units installed on projects I designed. Look to be a solid unit. By B&S, is that Briggs and Stratton? I didn't know they were into larger generators.

RC

 

[brantmacga]

parts can be a nightmare on generac.

they're solid, but if they go down, prepare to wait awhile for the factory to figure out what the 'new' part number is.

and it seems same-model # generators can have different parts. so what works for one gen set may not work on the next, even though their model #'s are identical.

 

[hillbilly1]

Don't know if it's true or not, but I heard B&S bought out Generac, at least their small units. I didn't know they made big units either.

 

[Mgraw]

Briggs and Stratton bought Generac's portable generator products in 2001. They no longer make portables under the Generac name. Generac now makes portables under their own name.

 

[S'mise]

B & S consumes less Natural Gas than Generac

 

[brian john]

B & S consumes less Natural Gas than Generac

UMMMM wouldn't that depend on size and load?

What size units are you talking?

I know our generator techs refer to Generac's as Genercrap's, But I think in small sizes most of the manufactures are rushing to the bottom line over quality, with exception of Honda and maybe one or two others.

 

[S'mise]

Of couce it varies. I've looked at spec's from about 8 to 18KW and BS is more effecient. Generac does not list all spec's either, so it's hard to compare.

 

[sparky=t]

check out kohler!

 

[ceb58]

From what I have seen the air cooled Generac units are crap. The larger liquid cooled units are not that bad. I spoke with someone Thursday from Cuttler-Hammer. Generac is now making there units under the C-H name. He said they were having supper problems with tech. support from Generac. He said they went to Generac to build there units instead of B&S because of cost. He said and I agree the customer doesn't understand the difference in quality it is the price that is the deciding factor despite quality.

 

[jmellc]

Briggs units we installed were 15 KW, was a little over 2 years ago. I liked that they seemed to have better hardware, connections were easy, etc. We had to add "hard start" kits to HVAC units, so they wouldn't overload the generators. I think Briggs now has power shedding features to compensate for that.

I had noticed with most Generac units before, that they used a lot of odd size hardware, both metric and std. I had to keep my full set of all the in between size sockets that no one else uses. I think some of the bolts were odd threads too, & would have been hard to replace if 1 got lost.

Briggs did have sort of junky snap fasteners for the vent hoods on both ends. The rep told us they were fixing that with their next new lots. That was my only dislike of them at the time.

When I talked with them before, the generator dealer said Generac had improved their product & that Briggs was having quality issues. That was about a year ago.

 

[bill j]

A few items on air cooled only:

Generac: electronic governor ( stepper motor ) approx 59.8 - 60.2 HZ
B&S - mechanical governor 58 - 62.5 HZ

Generac - 18" clearance
B&S - 5' clearance

Generac - Quiet Test on exercise
B&S - full speed exercise

 

[tufts46argled]

We've been a Genrac Dealer for over 10 years and our generator techs are factory trained. Yes there has been quality problems over the years. But I believe the newest line and the Nexus Smart Switch has addressed a lot of the problems. Plus the tech support from Generac has gotten much better. The biggest problem we run into is a call from a new costumer who bought and had someone install the generator but has a problem and we discover a $500 install that isn't close to being correct or code compliant. Then they become upset at the price to correct and the warranty is voided on the incorrect install.