We sell Generac. Make a distinction between standby & manual. Most people here have portable generators we haul out to power our homes in a utility outage.
Tractor owners like PTO driven three point hitch machines. These work best if you have indoor storage where you can back up to hitch up.
Some want standby machines fully automatic. Those we sell most often are 14 killowatt air cooled, 3600 RPM twin cylinders. I can't remember an engine failure from normal wear.
We have seen engine fails because screws loosen up somewhere. One; a screw that holds plastic shroud in place 1/2" long screw fell out, rattled around inside the hollow flywheel till it punched a hole in the crankcase. It was extended warranty work, cost the owner nothing. He works for LOCKTITE. He remarked $0.01 in Locktite would have prevented an engine fail.
Another; machine installed by a non servicing dealer, screws holding a magneto coil loosened up, flywheel hit the coil. Ruined flywheel, both coils, caused it to backfire, blew up the muffler. We repaired it under warranty. Homeowner called Generac a year later, claimed it never did run again. Dead of winter, installer chose the lowest point on the property to install the generator. It was glass ice, with 4" of fluffy snow on top, bitter cold & windy. We could barely stand up. Found the same screws that loosened before had worked loose despite Locktite. I declared the threaded holes in the engine to be wallowed out enough to prevent a secure screw hold. wasn't enough metal there to use a helicoil, new engine.
