At the bottom of this page there are several different types of generators to choose from, and a brief description of each follows.

You should now know, from the previous pages of this site, what size or capacity generator you need. If not, go to our Choosing the Right Emergency Generator page and follow the directions until you are lead back to this page.

The second part of choosing the right emergency generator is to decide what type of generator is best for your particular situation.

There are basically two types of home or emergency generators available today. One is a portable generator, which as its name suggests is portable and can be moved from place to place. The other type is a standby generator which is permanently installed outside of your home, usually on a cement pad of some type.

A portable generator is most frequently used as a power source away from the home such as at construction sites, camp sites or in other areas where you need power and running an extension cord is impossible or impractical.

Portable generators, combined with the appropriate equipment, can also be used as “emergency generators” when temporarily connected to your house electrical system. When used this way the portable generator is connected through a manually operated transfer switch and is manually started when a power failure occurs. A capacity of 6,000 watts is most common for this type of application.

The second type is a standby generator. The standby generator is permanently installed outside and is connected to the house electrical system through an automatically operated transfer switch.

This system is always connected and ready for immediate use (on standby) should a power interruption occur. Upon sensing a power failure, this system will automatically start the generator and transfer your electrical system to generator power and then will automatically transfer back to utility power and shut off the generator when utility power returns, even if you are not at home.

Our Winco DYNA Series Consumer Portable Generators are designed and well suited for the average homeowner, and come in sizes from 3,000 watts to 9,000 watts.

We also have 3 DYNA generators, 6,000, 9,000, and 12,000 watts, that of the tri-fuel type. One is a 6,000 watt standby package that comes with all the accessories needed to use as an emergency generator. The tri-fuel will run on gasoline, propane or natural gas.

Our Winco Industrial Portable Generators are specifically designed for contractors who need powerful generators capable of withstanding extra hard usage at construction sites or for those who provide daily generator rental service. This series come in sizes from 3,000 watts to a whopping 18,000 watts, including a 6,000 watt portable diesel generator!

Another type of portable generator is the PTO Generator or Power Take Off Generator. This generator is designed to be run (rotated) by a tractor engine. Winco offers PTO Generators in sizes ranging from 7kW to 150kW.

The Winco Packaged Standby Systems are of the permanently installed standby type as explained above and are recommended for the most worry free operation.