A home standby generator is built to sit quietly for months and then carry the house the moment the grid drops. The factory warranty is part of what you paid for, but it only helps if a claim holds up when something fails. In our experience, the claims that go smoothly have three things in common: the unit was registered properly, it was maintained on the schedule in the owner's manual, and there is a record proving both.
Here is what each manufacturer's own documents say, and what to keep on file.
Start with registration and activation
Coverage does not simply begin the day a generator is delivered. It begins when the unit is registered and put into service.
- Generac's five-year limited warranty for air-cooled standby generators states that the warranty begins upon the successful activation of the unit, and that the unit should be registered, with proof of purchase and maintenance available. Generac handles this through its product registration and activation portal.
- Kohler states on its warranty page that every new Kohler home generator includes a 5-year/2,000-hour warranty, and that to qualify, the generator must be registered by a certified installer or dealer.
The practical takeaway is that registration is the installer's job. When we install a Generac or Kohler system, registration and activation are part of commissioning, so the paperwork starts on the right date. If you bought a home with a generator already in place, ask the seller for the registration details and the service history before closing.
Follow the schedule in the owner's manual
Both manufacturers tie coverage to maintenance. Generac's warranty states that scheduled maintenance, as outlined in the owner's manual, is required, and that it should be performed by an authorized or certified Generac service dealer.
Kohler's written warranty is direct about what happens when maintenance is skipped. Among its listed exclusions is damage caused by negligent maintenance, including:
- Failure to provide the specified type and sufficient quantity of lubricating oil.
- Failure to keep the air intake and cooling fin areas clean.
- Failure to service the air cleaner.
- Failure to perform scheduled maintenance as prescribed in the supplied manuals.
- Failure to regularly exercise the generator set under load.
Notice that several of those items are things a generator can quietly fall behind on while it sits in the yard doing nothing visible. A unit that exercises every week and never sees an outage still needs its oil, filters, air cleaner and battery looked after on schedule.
Our generator maintenance page explains what a full service visit covers, and our maintenance checklist breaks down the individual tasks if you want to understand what is being done and why.
Keep a record that would satisfy a stranger
When a claim is reviewed, the person reading it has never seen your generator. They see paperwork. A good service record includes:
- The model and serial number from the data plate.
- The date of each service visit and who performed it.
- What was done, including the oil and filters used.
- Any error codes, alarms or repairs, and how they were resolved.
Keep it somewhere you will find it during an outage, not only in an inbox. If your installer or service company keeps the record for you, ask for a copy after every visit.
Use the right parts and the right people for repairs
Repairs are where warranties most often get complicated. Generac's warranty excludes repairs or diagnostics performed by anyone other than an authorized or certified Generac service dealer unless Generac authorized them in writing. Kohler's warranty states that replacing a failed Kohler part with a non-Kohler part voids the warranty on that part.
So if your generator fails while it is under warranty, the first call should be to a servicer authorized for that brand, before anyone opens the enclosure. We are an authorized Generac dealer and an authorized Kohler dealer, and our generator repair page explains how we diagnose and document warranty work.
What federal law says about service requirements
Homeowners sometimes hear that any outside service automatically voids a warranty. Federal law is more nuanced than that. The Federal Trade Commission has warned companies that conditioning warranty coverage on the use of specified parts or services is prohibited under the Magnuson-Moss Warranty Act, unless those parts or services are provided free of charge or the FTC has granted a waiver.
That does not mean any servicer is as good as any other for a warranty claim. A manufacturer can still deny coverage for damage caused by service or parts it did not provide, and the burden of showing that maintenance was done properly falls on the owner in practice. Read your own warranty document, keep your records, and when in doubt, use a dealer authorized for your brand.
How a maintenance plan helps
The simplest way to stay on schedule is to put the generator on a plan so the visits happen without anyone having to remember them. Every visit we make is documented, which builds the service history a warranty claim relies on. New installations include the first year of our Shield plan, and our maintenance plans page compares what each tier includes.
Talk to Armored Power Systems
Not sure whether your generator is registered, or when it was last serviced? Give us the model and serial number and we will help you find out where it stands.
Call (817) 381-6158 or email info@armoredpowersystems.com.