Age is catching up to my aunt, she just turned 88 in October and has decided to sell her house and move with her daughter to Colorado. She offered to sell her generator to my dad before she moves. Its a Generac 22kw natural gas, all aluminum enclosure, 35hp Mitsubishi 4 cyl, that was built in February 2010, so almost 8 years old. It has 198 hours. She offered it to my dad for $3,000. With that he would get the unit, the custom built stand it sits on, and all the boxes and electrical panels to hook it up to the house, hed just have to plumb the natural gas. Its in excellent shape, and runs great. Its one that turns on automatically in the event of a power loss. So, with the low hours on the unit and the price, is this a good buy? I talked to Generac and parts are still readily available.
good buy?
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I would buy talk her down to $2K. It has 200 hours and it's already 7 almost 8 years old. But it's still not a bad deal at that price.
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Too big and thirsty for normal home use.
Would this be for a 4 unit apartment complex?
You need a house over 3,000 square feet on average to need that size generator. I have an 11 year old Generac 16 kw standby unit (propane) that can serve my entire house, including two out of three heat pumps. But it's on its last leg with its exposure to seaside conditions. Major rusting throughout. Your aunt's sounds like a nice unit. New ones would be $8,000 plus. But I still think $2,500 would be a max price, considering age.
200 hours on a gen set is not much IF it's been taken care of ... Oil changes?
I'd like $2,500 better, but it ain't bad 
A little high considering you can buy them brand new for $4800 at lowes with the transfer switch.
https://www.lowes.com/pd/Generac-Guardia...itch/1000039489
How much is an 8 year old car or lawnmower worth.
If it was me I'd pass, new I could get one for around
4800+tax= $5150
-18%(gift card/CC cashback) -11% menards pricematch from home depot
=under $3700
even if they wont menards pricematch at your home depot
its still $4225 to me
You might not even want to offer so you dont insult her..
but I'd say $2000 is fair.. since you might not have such good deals by you.
I agree with Rand, looking at several of the Generac units available online, I am seeing new ones in the $4000 range, I would not pay 75% of retail for a 8 year old unit regardless of maintenance history. Since its your aunt, I think the best option would be say "thank you but I will pass, I don't want to insult you with my offer". When she is unable to sell it, she may decide on considering your offer, if not, have your father look at a new one with discounts for a bit more.
Yeah, I'd pass as well unless it was a really good deal.
Are you sure it's a 35hp 4cyl?
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Might be a good selling feature for the house. Instead of ripping it out of there.
To big, that thing will take a 1.5 inch pipe to feed it NG, depending on the length of the run then you can only have certain things on auto backup. Black iron pipe is expensive. If you don't care about the "automatic" backup portion, you can buy a regular gen set of smaller size, then buy a tri-fuel carb for it from US carburation, that way it'll run on NG, propane or gasoline.
Originally Posted By: thastinger
To big, that thing will take a 1.5 inch pipe to feed it NG, depending on the length of the run then you can only have certain things on auto backup. Black iron pipe is expensive. If you don't care about the "automatic" backup portion, you can buy a regular gen set of smaller size, then buy a tri-fuel carb for it from US carburation, that way it'll run on NG, propane or gasoline.
Originally Posted By: ARCOgraphite
Too big and thirsty for normal home use.
Would this be for a 4 unit apartment complex?
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For those posting here about the less than $5,000 Generac at Lowe's. That's apples and oranges. The OP describes a 34 HP, 4 cylinder, water cooled Mitsubishi engine. Far different than an air cooled twin cylinder, that engine is not what you see at Lowe's and Home Depot.
My feeling is if you need a big generator, go with a Kohler or an Onan, not a Generac.
Originally Posted By: kschachn
Originally Posted By: thastinger
To big, that thing will take a 1.5 inch pipe to feed it NG, depending on the length of the run then you can only have certain things on auto backup. Black iron pipe is expensive. If you don't care about the "automatic" backup portion, you can buy a regular gen set of smaller size, then buy a tri-fuel carb for it from US carburation, that way it'll run on NG, propane or gasoline.
Originally Posted By: thastinger
Is this on propane? If not how did you get the gas company to increase pressure to the whole neighborhood just to feed you? Does everyone in your neighborhood now require pressure regulators?
Originally Posted By: kschachn
Originally Posted By: thastinger
Is this on propane? If not how did you get the gas company to increase pressure to the whole neighborhood just to feed you? Does everyone in your neighborhood now require pressure regulators?
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