Kubota Generators.

Lawngevity

New member

Equipment
N/A.
Jul 13, 2022
25
0
1
Connecticut
Happy Friday!

Does anyone have a Kubota diesel generator? I'm thinking about getting the GL7000 as a home backup. What are your thoughts and opinions about them?

Thanks!
 

The Evil Twin

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L2501, LA526,
Jul 19, 2022
2,330
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Virginia
My only reservation would be the run time without an external tank. Looks to be about 10 hours on the internal, depending on load. As much as I love diesel power, the cost per kw is high. Granted, it's a liquid cooled diesel. It just seems pricy for a temporary standby. Looks more suited for the belly of a motorhome or a yacht.
 
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fried1765

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Equipment
Kubota L48 TLB, Ford 1920 FEL, Ford 8N, SCAG Liberty Z, Gravely Pro.
Nov 14, 2019
6,311
4,001
113
Eastham, Ma
Happy Friday!

Does anyone have a Kubota diesel generator? I'm thinking about getting the GL7000 as a home backup. What are your thoughts and opinions about them?

Thanks!
If natural gas is available in your area, I would suggest going wih that instead.
 

JWool

Member

Equipment
B2650HSDC FEL & Front Snow Blower, ZT-Z421, GL11000 Generator
Dec 29, 2013
97
17
8
Northern MI
I have the GL1100 and really like it, cant say that i had to run it much for power outages.
Ever since I got it about 3 years ago i havent had to deal with power outages, before I bough it I had a 6500 gas and the power would go out at least once a year for a day or longer.
 
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mcmxi

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Lifetime Member

Equipment
***Current*** M6060HDC, MX6000HSTC & GL7000 ***Sold*** MX6000HST & BX25TLB
Feb 9, 2021
4,067
4,622
113
NW Montana
Happy Friday!

Does anyone have a Kubota diesel generator? I'm thinking about getting the GL7000 as a home backup. What are your thoughts and opinions about them?

Thanks!
I bought a GL7000 for home backup about 18 months ago since I'd wanted one for years. Not specifically a Kubota, but a good quality diesel generator. I didn't want anything that was permanently wired into the house so that I'd have the option to use it around the property if needed or load it up in the truck and use it elsewhere. I bought a nice switching unit to connect it to the electrical panel in the house but have yet to hook it up. I made a heavy duty cart for it to move it around the garage, or from the garage to the house.

It provides around 20 hours of run time at 50% load, and around 10 hours of runtime at 100% load. It's not excessively noisy, it's smooth running and is certainly a very well made, quality generator.

Is it good value for money? I don't know. Are there much better options? I don't know.

I made a short video when I first bought it to show the noise and vibration that can be expected. It doesn't have a governor so runs at constant rpm.


gl7000_cart_15.jpg


gl7000_cart_12.jpg
 
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mcmxi

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Equipment
***Current*** M6060HDC, MX6000HSTC & GL7000 ***Sold*** MX6000HST & BX25TLB
Feb 9, 2021
4,067
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NW Montana
My only reservation would be the run time without an external tank. Looks to be about 10 hours on the internal, depending on load. As much as I love diesel power, the cost per kw is high. Granted, it's a liquid cooled diesel. It just seems pricy for a temporary standby. Looks more suited for the belly of a motorhome or a yacht.
I have yet to use the GL7000 during a power outage, mostly because they tend to be very short up here. However, in the event of an extended power outage I'm fairly sure that I'd be able to make it 24 hours on one tank of fuel in the middle of winter. I heat the house with a wood burning stove, and wouldn't run high amp appliances like the hot tub, A/C, oven, dryer etc., during an outage.

I have a 106 gallon Jon Dow fuel tank, and the LMTV that'll be here in a couple of weeks has close to a 60 gallon fuel tank so I'll have lots of diesel on hand if needed. One of the appealing aspects for me re the GL7000 is that it's a diesel unit since I have a common fuel requirement for two tractors and two trucks which means more fuel available for the generator.
 

The Evil Twin

Well-known member

Equipment
L2501, LA526,
Jul 19, 2022
2,330
2,206
113
Virginia
I have yet to use the GL7000 during a power outage, mostly because they tend to be very short up here. However, in the event of an extended power outage I'm fairly sure that I'd be able to make it 24 hours on one tank of fuel in the middle of winter. I heat the house with a wood burning stove, and wouldn't run high amp appliances like the hot tub, A/C, oven, dryer etc., during an outage.

I have a 106 gallon Jon Dow fuel tank, and the LMTV that'll be here in a couple of weeks has close to a 60 gallon fuel tank so I'll have lots of diesel on hand if needed. One of the appealing aspects for me re the GL7000 is that it's a diesel unit since I have a common fuel requirement for two tractors and two trucks which means more fuel available for the generator.
Maybe. At 25% load it's rated to run 20 hours. Any gen set is going to eat the same fuel (roughly) just to keep running from 0-25% load.
Though, I didn't buy a generator to be miserly on the use. I went all in. If I'm on emergency power I want to go on about my daily life like it never happened. If we want cookies....we bake em. AC in the garage? Yep! Hot bath? Check! Otherwise I could get by on the ol 5kw portable. Been there.
For $4000 more than the GL7000, I got a Cummins LP that does the whole house. Since we already have a large tank it'll run for near a week without having to think about what's being used.
 
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rc51stierhoff

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Equipment
B2650, MX6000, (BX sold)
Sep 13, 2021
1,899
2,044
113
Ohio
I bought a GL7000 for home backup about 18 months ago since I'd wanted one for years. Not specifically a Kubota, but a good quality diesel generator. I didn't want anything that was permanently wired into the house so that I'd have the option to use it around the property if needed or load it up in the truck and use it elsewhere. I bought a nice switching unit to connect it to the electrical panel in the house but have yet to hook it up. I made a heavy duty cart for it to move it around the garage, or from the garage to the house.

It provides around 20 hours of run time at 50% load, and around 10 hours of runtime at 100% load. It's not excessively noisy, it's smooth running and is certainly a very well made, quality generator.

Is it good value for money? I don't know. Are there much better options? I don't know.

I made a short video when I first bought it to show the noise and vibration that can be expected. It doesn't have a governor so runs at constant rpm.


View attachment 86820

View attachment 86822
That’s a peach…are the feet meant to be able to slip forks in to pick up and move? Can’t really tell by the picture.
 
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mcmxi

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Lifetime Member

Equipment
***Current*** M6060HDC, MX6000HSTC & GL7000 ***Sold*** MX6000HST & BX25TLB
Feb 9, 2021
4,067
4,622
113
NW Montana
Maybe. At 25% load it's rated to run 20 hours. Any gen set is going to eat the same fuel (roughly) just to keep running from 0-25% load.
Though, I didn't buy a generator to be miserly on the use. I went all in. If I'm on emergency power I want to go on about my daily life like it never happened. If we want cookies....we bake em. AC in the garage? Yep! Hot bath? Check! Otherwise I could get by on the ol 5kw portable. Been there.
For $4000 more than the GL7000, I got a Cummins LP that does the whole house. Since we already have a large tank it'll run for near a week without having to think about what's being used.
I had to Google the GL7000 to find information on fuel consumption since Kubota only provides 100% load data in the owner's manual. I was working off memory but here are the supposed rates of fuel consumption for the 7.4 gallon tank.

25% load > 19.5 hours
50% load > 16.4 hours
75% load > 13.5 hours
100% load > 10.7 hours


I paid $5,400 for the GL7000 and another $4,000 is not exactly an incremental change. I've been at this house for a little over 8 years and lose power for just a few minutes a couple of times a year. Earlier this year I lost power for maybe 3 hours due to a windstorm, but that's the longest outage I've experienced here. I didn't feel that a $10k generator was a good investment for me and feel very fortunate to have the GL7000 which is a luxury for sure given how little use it sees.

I'd have to go through a list such as the one shown here and do the math to figure out what I could run on a 7kw generator. As it is, I'm ok with what I have.
 

mcmxi

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Lifetime Member

Equipment
***Current*** M6060HDC, MX6000HSTC & GL7000 ***Sold*** MX6000HST & BX25TLB
Feb 9, 2021
4,067
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NW Montana
That’s a peach…are the feet meant to be able to slip forks in to pick up and move? Can’t really tell by the picture.
Yes. There are "skids" under the generator for pallet forks. I have it bolted to the cart and would pick up the whole thing if I needed to load it into a trailer. It's a heavy unit at a little over 500lb.
 
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rc51stierhoff

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B2650, MX6000, (BX sold)
Sep 13, 2021
1,899
2,044
113
Ohio
Yes. There are "skids" under the generator for pallet forks. I have it bolted to the cart and would pick up the whole thing if I needed to load it into a trailer. It's a heavy unit at a little over 500lb.
I think that cart was a wise idea. I cant imagine trying to thread the needle on a MX and poor visibility(at least mine has poor visibility to forks)…imagine doing that in a storm rain out dark after working over a glass of thinkin juice….I bet that would be more fun to watch than townies at the public boat ramp. Good call on the cart. That’s a nice set up for sure.
 
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The Evil Twin

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Equipment
L2501, LA526,
Jul 19, 2022
2,330
2,206
113
Virginia
I had to Google the GL7000 to find information on fuel consumption since Kubota only provides 100% load data in the owner's manual. I was working off memory but here are the supposed rates of fuel consumption for the 7.4 gallon tank.

25% load > 19.5 hours
50% load > 16.4 hours
75% load > 13.5 hours
100% load > 10.7 hours


I paid $5,400 for the GL7000 and another $4,000 is not exactly an incremental change. I've been at this house for a little over 8 years and lose power for just a few minutes a couple of times a year. Earlier this year I lost power for maybe 3 hours due to a windstorm, but that's the longest outage I've experienced here. I didn't feel that a $10k generator was a good investment for me and feel very fortunate to have the GL7000 which is a luxury for sure given how little use it sees.

I'd have to go through a list such as the one shown here and do the math to figure out what I could run on a 7kw generator. As it is, I'm ok with what I have.
You are absolutely right that another $4k is not peanuts. But it's also 3 times the power output. That's also with an auto transfer switch and load management. None the less, if your power losses are momentary and short in duration then a permanent model probably isn't the right way. Our old house lost power very very rarely. In 15 years, only once for more than 4 hours. 99% of the time it was only long enough to think "should I roll the gene out?". That is why we used a 5kw that was dual purpose for the house and camper.
Last winter our area lost power for 5 days. I'm not doing that on a 5kw with a 6 gallon tank!
 
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DustyRusty

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Equipment
BX23S
Nov 8, 2015
4,953
3,694
113
North East CT
............................................................................................
Last winter our area lost power for 5 days. I'm not doing that on a 5kw with a 6 gallon tank!
Once you spend the money on a whole house generator you will never have another prolonged outage. I know because after 2 outages both lasting almost 2 weeks each, I installed a whole house generator 10 years ago. It hasn't happened ever since.
 
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The Evil Twin

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Equipment
L2501, LA526,
Jul 19, 2022
2,330
2,206
113
Virginia
Once you spend the money on a whole house generator you will never have another prolonged outage. I know because after 2 outages both lasting almost 2 weeks each, I installed a whole house generator 10 years ago. It hasn't happened ever since.
Yessir! Just like having an umbrella!
 

mcmxi

Well-known member
Lifetime Member

Equipment
***Current*** M6060HDC, MX6000HSTC & GL7000 ***Sold*** MX6000HST & BX25TLB
Feb 9, 2021
4,067
4,622
113
NW Montana
it was only long enough to think "should I roll the gene out?"
:ROFLMAO: That's funny! I've been there a couple of times and my rule of thumb is that I'm not going to bother until I become uncomfortable so I've yet to run the house off it. Power generation up here is 100% hydroelectric, and the lack of humidity, chlorides, hurricanes, tornadoes and people makes for a reliable and stable power grid.
 
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mcmxi

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Lifetime Member

Equipment
***Current*** M6060HDC, MX6000HSTC & GL7000 ***Sold*** MX6000HST & BX25TLB
Feb 9, 2021
4,067
4,622
113
NW Montana
Once you spend the money on a whole house generator you will never have another prolonged outage. I know because after 2 outages both lasting almost 2 weeks each, I installed a whole house generator 10 years ago. It hasn't happened ever since.
If I lived in an area where multi day outages were "the norm" I would have gone that route. Since I live in an area where an outage lasting more than 10 minutes is rare, and more than 8 hours is unheard of, I'm ok with what I have. The GL7000 could and would carry me through a multi-day event albeit I'd be filling up the 7 gallon fuel tank twice a day at most. Big deal .... I could use the exercise! :D
 

William1

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Lifetime Member

Equipment
BX25D
Jul 28, 2015
1,080
263
83
Richmond, Virginia
Here in Central VA, we lose it for 8 hours or more at least once a year. Trees grow like weeds and are just as stable in a breeze.
I have a 22KW Generac 'portable'. Two manual transfer switches as I have two, 200 amp panels, one supplies the first floor, the other the second. The Generac will suck up 15 gallons of fuel in 16 hours at 1/2 load (guesstimate). Stinks. But.. we do not have natural gas and the genset was very inexpensive (I am cheap) at $1999.99 after tax, delivered. So I have drag it out, cable and fire it up. We were without power for a week last winter, totally suxed. I had to go out and buy gas every day and the house was quite cold, as the genset could not power the aux electric heat strips in the heat pumps. I now have bypass switches on them so the heat pump will make some heat, even if they have to run non-stop.
In 22 years, we have lost power for a week or more twice. The first time, no generator. Now, we can make do OK. Another 15 years, I'll be in the retirement home and it will be someone elses problem.
 
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mcmxi

Well-known member
Lifetime Member

Equipment
***Current*** M6060HDC, MX6000HSTC & GL7000 ***Sold*** MX6000HST & BX25TLB
Feb 9, 2021
4,067
4,622
113
NW Montana
I'm in the middle of modifying an old tow bar so that I can pull the Jeep behind the LMTV next week. I've been running the Hypertherm Powermax 380 plasma, Lincoln Square Wave TIG 200 and Millermatic 185 off the GL7000. I'm adding some sections of 3/8" thick angle to the part of the tow bar that interfaces with the Jeep in addition to some other plates and such, and tacked them in place with MIG, then ran a 7018 pass with the Lincoln. I'm really pleased with the GL7000 and can see why they're a popular job site generator. Both welders and the plasma run on 220V.

I'm still getting a bit of smoke (blow by) at startup but the exhaust cleans up in a minute or two. I'm thinking that the low hours maybe partly to blame. First oil change is at 50 hours so I've a ways to go yet.


tow_bar_mod_1.jpg


tow_bar_mod_2.jpg
 
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mcmxi

Well-known member
Lifetime Member

Equipment
***Current*** M6060HDC, MX6000HSTC & GL7000 ***Sold*** MX6000HST & BX25TLB
Feb 9, 2021
4,067
4,622
113
NW Montana
MCMXI, that new rod you have looks like it does a fine job! ;);)
Oops, corrected! :ROFLMAO: I really enjoy working with steel and of course welding. I used to be an excellent welder in a previous life but would need more than a few hours of practice to pass all of the welding certifications I once passed with ease. I have a 5G pipe welding certification (fixed pipe, 1/8" root gap, no backer plate) but there's no way I'd pass that test today.
 
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