Chris
can you see what presents some confusion here, on the one hand you state you are unhappy with the amount of gen run time you are experiencing, and on the other you state it is an integral part of your power generation design?
looks like if it is to be seen as part of the design, then run time is of no real concern, rather is should be seen as an indicator of how well the balance of your system design is at providing for your loads?
now to address some of your points
" reliable starting (I have Kubota diesels in my Bobcat skid steer loaders and am very familiar with them)"
can't find fault here, seems reasonable to use what you are comfortable with as far as the engine choice.
" more fuel efficient than our EcoGen"
will take your word for that, i have no experience with an ecogen.
" it is diesel and I contract 30,000 gallons of off-road diesel fuel per year so I get a very good price on it compared to propane"
no problem here, either, if you are going to burn fuel you might as well avail yourself to the best value
" it is a very quiet running unit - this is for our house and when it starts I don't want to know about it"
Quiet is cool, and i can understand the desirable nature, can you put a value on that part of the cummins genset? if all else was equal, then how much of the extra cost would you attribute to noise reduction?
"super clean power output (my wife's range is all electronic and does fine on the inverters but error codes sometimes on genset power)"
agree'd, but shouldn't any inverter generator have similar qualities of power generated?
" world class service and support from a company I trust and worked for for 19 years"
i guess that has a value, but if the unit is all that and a bag of chips, then presumably you won't be needing much of that world class service and support? the 19 years notwithstanding.
what i am drilling down to is this,
from my perspective and based on what i know of gensets in this class
14 grand is a butt load of money, at as you say twice the cost of the average genset in this class, so... naturally one would want to know what the extra expense is buying him. most especially given the efficiency of the unit is nothing to write home about. if you are running significant hours, as you say, then i am left to wonder what the calculus you used to consider this cummins unit.
so far it would appear that for the extra 7 grand it is assumed to be quieter than the average unit (taking your word for it, or rather cummins word for it), and cummins service quality which is only really if you expect the unit to be problematic.
"Unlike most people who live off-grid and consider it a "sin" to run the generator - we run ours all the time. I already bought one generator that I've grown increasingly unhappy with as time goes on. I won't make that mistake twice in a row."
that seems reasonable to me, no sense in repeating mistakes.
refresh my memory, what generator are you using that you are unhappy with? what fuel does it burn? what kwatt output is it? is it an inverter generator? what was its first costs? and what problems that required service have you had with it, that having a company like cummins might have avoided?
just trying to see what the comparisons are here, to see if it is apples to apples or nearly so, rather than crab apples to pineapples. in other words its hardly a comparison if one is comparing a propane fired aircooled single cylinder engine driven capacitor regulated chinese unit with a 3 cylinder water cooled diesel driven pm alternator driving a pure sine wave inverter that is assembled here in the states by a local company.
what it comes down to is trying to quantify exactly what you the user see's as value in a genset?
don't get me wrong, i am a strong proponent of the use of a genset, i think one has to assume a genset is going to be a reality for the vast majority of offgrid applications and as such ought to be as well designed and matched to the application as is humanly possible. the goal being its operation in an environmentally responsible and fuel efficient manner as is possible also. to me the issue relating to noise abatement and quality of service provided by the manufacture are of secondary importance, mainly because the former is something that can be addressed by placement and secondary enclosures such as a generator room, and as far as the latter one would assume that a quality built unit that is maintained properly ought not have issues that one would need factory support for in significant amounts.
its these last two factors that i find interesting, where you are clearly capable of providing for both noise abatement and service for a genset, i am left to wonder why you would pay a premium to avoid both? and also have a unit that burns about 20-25% more fuel than is necessary?
again, please don't take offense with my questioning, i am just trying to get an appreciation for your viewpoint, and your experience living as you are living, where you are living, given your abilities and resources.
just trying to determine if the difference's are perceived or real, if that makes sense.
thanks
bob g