I got a brand new 250 this summer, but didn't try to use it until Thanksgiving day. It was hard to start that day, but worked great once I got it going. I had trouble with the oil cap; filled the reservoir and thought the cap was secured, but it fell off and wasted a whole reservoir full of oil. Since then I always double check it and the gas cap to make sure they are securely engaged. If the oil reservoir is overfilled it is impossible to get the cap on. My biggest gripe with the 250 is that the thing is ridiculously hard to start. Look at it the wrong way and the carburettor floods. The other day the only way I managed to get it to run was to take out the plug and dry it off with a hair dryer, and then blow some of the hot air into the engine before replacing the plug. Pull the starter cord more than a couple of times with the choke fully engaged in the cold start position and forget about ever getting it started without removing the plug and drying it off. To-day, I ran out of gas, refilled it and the thing would never start no matter what I did, so I just gave up. Despite the fact that it cuts excellently when it runs I never would have bought that p.o.s. had I known starting it would be such an issue. I have viewed some other forums and this seems to be a common problem with this model. The compression in the engine makes it almost impossible to pull the starter after the first couple of licks. Monday I am going to take the thing back in where I bought it and see if they can find what's wrong with it or else give me my money back. If they won't give me a refund, the thing is going into the dumpster and I'll buy something that works and just chalk that one up as a learning experience.

DISCLAIMER: I am not an employee, seller, or representative of any trade organization, manufacturer or retailer of gas heating appliances. I *am* a concerned consumer who is feverishly trying to educate himself about the pros/cons of direct-vent and vent-free gas fireplaces and their wood-burning counterparts. That said, I am continually amazed and disturbed by the amount of misinformation/disinformation that is disseminated in so many places on the Net as "advice" and "expert opinion." It's frightening how much of it is little more than hearsay or anecdotal in nature. I don't by any means claim to have all the answers, but in my efforts to educate myself, I've at least managed to come across details of some formal studies that have been done about a number of concerns that people may have regarding vent-free gas appliances. If nothing else, it's interesting reading and provides something more than the "my opinion," "I heard,", or "so-and-so says" type of often-misleading advice that emanates from forums like this. For one pretty thorough treatment of the subject, check out http://www.ventfree.org/images/stories/files/vf_guide.pdf. Admittedly, it is published by a potentially biased trade organization, but it at least presents the issues in a relatively objective way. If anyone has sources of equally-rational contrary information, I would love to hear of it...

I am not sure about the "two 12's". I do know that Kohler makes a 12RES (yes - that is the one you want) and a 12RESL (the one they make for Lowe's - PLEASE don't buy that one). I have always taken "standby" to mean ready to go within seconds of a power failure, automatic start and automatic transfer of power. An emergency geneator could be a portable unit - I just don't know. If you can get a Kohler 12RES installed with automatic transfer switch (and I mean complete turnkey install INCLUDING the startup service) for 8 grand then that would be a great deal. I think anything under 9 for the 12RES aith ATS would be reasonable. Make sure they put on those accesories I mentioned as part of the price. The battery warmer is just a fancy heat blanket to keep the battery from freezing. The carb heater is very simple to install - took me 30 minutes and that included reading the instructions. And with Chicago temps you have to have one of these (cost of carb accesory is $130). Buy a good battery like a Sears Die Hard - don't chince on that - they run about 75 bucks. My opinion is that if you buy a great machine - and the Kohler units are high quality - you don't need a service agreement. You must change the oil, oil filter, and air filter once per year but you could pay a local mechanic to do that - takes no more than 1 hour at most. When the machine gets older, maybe then a service agreement would make more sense. These generators are basically a high end lawn mower engine connected to a coil unit. So if you can find a local grease monkey who services lawn mowers, they can do the basic routine maintenance on the engine. Note - do not let this person touch any electrical or electronics issue, let the dealer handle those non routine issues which should be few and far between. My experience is that Kohler makes it hard to do anything on the generators yourself - they really try to push you to the dealers. I think that is not necessarily a bad thing since it is the dealers who sell their machines and they have a great reputation to keep up which Kohler counts heavily on the dealers for that. But it stinks for the DIYer like me. I had to search very hard to find a place that would sell me Kohler generator parts in low quantities and without extra fees. If you need a source for Kohler genny parts let me know. The startup service is a great example. After I bought my machine from Ziller, I got a scare-gram from Kohler that said that I should have a dealer do the Startup Service or it "might void my warranty". In this note, Kohler provided a very long checklist to make me think the startup service was a huge deal. So I fell for the scare and called a dealer to schedule a "Start Up Service" and it was $1000 !!!!! I almost crapped in my pants. So then I carefully read the Startup checklist and discovered it was a joke - most of the items were like "Check For Leaks" - simple. I bought a $25 volt meter at Lowe's and made all the measurements and few adjustments myself. Turns out that when I started up my Kohler for the first time it needed a very slight adjustment in voltage and no adjustment in frequency (these are the 2 key parameters). So I did the entire checklist in about 1.5 hours working very carefully and slowly and saved myself 1000 bucks. So be careful on what you buy. I suggest first agreeing on a price for installing the unit and setting it up. Make sure it includes EVERYTHING (unit, auto transfer switch, concrete pad, wiring, trenching, permits & inspections, accesories and STARTUP) and tell them that you will think about service after that job is done. If they give you a price for $150 to $200 to come out once a year and change oil & filters and check the machine over - then that is up to you (maybe it is worth it to not deal with that chore). But if it is anything above $200 per year, I would not do it - just my opinion - but would not tell them that until after the unit is up and running.

I did remove that pan washer today and things went pretty well. Had some trouble getting it out the door until somebody pointed out that the legs were screwed in and could be removed with a pipe wrench- I thought they were welded and was looking for a sawzall ... Also got a lesson in "looking up": I neglected to removed the ventilation stack and it complained some when I started rolling out the washer on a pallet jack. If it hadn't been for cleaning up the awful mess under the old machine it would have been about an hour's work. New machine is almost identical to the old one- ran us $12,000 and should last until I retire and then some. Thanks again for the advice. It came in very handy. Best regards, Mark