Written by people who install these
Generator guides
Everything below is written from doing the work in DFW, not from a content brief. If you are early in the process, start with cost or sizing — those are the two questions that determine everything else.
Start with cost or sizing
How to choose a generator installer
Ten questions that separate an installer worth hiring from one that is not, each with the failure it prevents. Written to be run on any contractor, including us.
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Natural gas, propane or diesel?
Real consumption figures, why 20kW units make less power on natural gas, and the gas meter problem nobody warns you about.
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Propane tank sizing for a generator
How long each tank size actually runs, and the vaporization limit that can leave a tank full of fuel and a generator that will not hold load in a freeze.
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Will a generator run my air conditioner?
The load that decides everything in Texas. Compressor startup surge, what the ratings mean, and why load management is the cheap answer.
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Is a standby generator worth it in Texas?
An honest look, including the cases where the answer is no. Real installed costs against what the grid has actually done.
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What a whole house generator really costs in DFW
Equipment versus installation, broken out line by line, with the real bands we quote against.
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13kW, 17kW or 20kW?
The three air-cooled capacities compared on what actually decides it in Texas: air conditioning, not floor area. Prices published, and the case for stepping up.
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What size generator do I need?
Why air conditioning tonnage matters more than square footage in Texas, plus a calculator that gives you a range in two minutes.
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Gas line sizing for a generator
The line that moves a quote more than anything else on the job. Real BTU demand by model, the pressure the unit needs under load, and when the meter has to be upsized.
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Service-entrance transfer switches
Two letters on a spec sheet that change the main disconnect, the meter work and sometimes the total price. When SE rating is the cleaner path.
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Adding a generator to a solar home
Where grid-tied solar has to connect when a standby generator goes in, why the inverters can backfeed the generator if it is wrong, and what Oncor allows at the meter.
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How installation actually works
Survey, quote, permits, install, inspection and commissioning — every step, including what drives the price.
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Every Cummins model, 13kW to 200kW
The full lineup in one table — ratings, footprints, voltages and the warranty difference between air-cooled and liquid-cooled.
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What your generator makes at 100°F
Nameplate kW is quoted at a reference condition, and for the 20kW units that reference is 60°F at sea level. What each model actually delivers in a DFW summer, and why it compresses the gap between sizes.
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How loud is a standby generator?
Published dB for every model at 23 feet, what that becomes at the fence line, and why exercise timing causes more complaints than the machine does.
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Load management or a bigger generator?
Most homes quoted a large unit have a simultaneity problem, not a capacity problem. The two are priced very differently.
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Remote monitoring, and why it pays
What Cummins ConnectCloud reports, why the dealer alert matters more than the app, and what it still cannot tell you.
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Roll it into a mortgage or construction loan?
Construction loans, renovation mortgages, HELOCs and installment loans compared — plus the pre-wire option and the route to avoid.
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Cummins vs Generac
An honest comparison from a Cummins dealer, including the places Generac genuinely wins.
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Cold-weather generator operation
What a hard freeze actually breaks — battery, propane vaporization, and whether the cold weather package is fitted. Which models already include it, and what it costs on the ones that do not.
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Generator battery maintenance
The single most common reason a standby generator does nothing when the lights go out. Why Texas is hard on batteries from both directions, and why the weekly exercise does not prove what people think.
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Cummins generator fault codes
The light inside the enclosure is blinking a number at you. How to read it, what each of the twenty documented codes means, and the five with something you can safely check before calling anyone.
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Maintenance and service plans
What a service visit covers, how often a standby unit needs one, and why skipped maintenance is the top cause of an outage-night no-start.
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Warranty and service
The difference between the manufacturer warranty and the installer warranty, and why it matters when something breaks.
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Every question we get asked
Fuel, noise, run time, permits, air conditioning, resale value — answered without hedging.
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Still just researching?
That is fine — nobody buys a $4,419.04-and-up system on a first visit. All 35 models have their prices published, so you can do the arithmetic without talking to anyone.