Eight Common Pitfalls to Avoid When Buying Diesel Generator Sets.
Confusing KVA with KW. Sellers exaggerate power by equating KVA directly to KW. In fact, KVA stands for apparent power while KW is active power, with the conversion formula: 1 KVA = 0.8 KW. Imported units usually adopt KVA as the power unit, whereas domestic electrical equipment uses KW. Always convert KVA to KW by multiplying by 0.8 for accurate power calculation.
Mixing prime power and standby power. Merchants only state a single power value and sell standby power as prime power. Actually, Standby Power = 1.1 × Prime Power. Besides, standby power is only allowed to operate for 1 hour within 12 consecutive working hours.
Unreasonable power matching between diesel engine and generator to cut costs. Industry standards require the diesel engine power to be at least 10% higher than the generator power to offset mechanical loss. Some vendors even misstate engine horsepower as kilowatts, or match undersized diesel engines with large generators. This “small horse pulling big cart” configuration shortens unit service life, leads to frequent breakdowns and high operating costs.
Selling refurbished second-hand units as brand-new products. Some assemble refurbished diesel engines with brand-new generators and control cabinets, making it hard for ordinary buyers to distinguish new units from used ones.
Only mentioning brand names without specifying origins and complete unit brands, such as US Cummins, Swedish Volvo and UK Stanford. No single manufacturer can produce a full diesel generator set independently. Buyers need to confirm the brands and manufacturers of diesel engines, generators and control cabinets to judge the overall grade of the unit.
Selling generators without complete protection functions as fully protected models. Some even promote units incomplete meters and without air switches. Industry rules stipulate that generators above 10KW must be equipped with full sets of meters and air switches; large-sized and automatic generator sets are mandatory to be fitted with four major automatic protection functions.
Focusing merely on price and delivery time while ignoring brand grade, control system configuration and after-sales service. Some also improperly apply marine or vehicle diesel engines to generator sets, which fails to guarantee stable voltage and frequency of output power. Low-priced units always come with hidden flaws.
Omitting details of standard accessories, including silencer, fuel tank, oil pipeline, battery grade, capacity and quantity. These accessories are essential and must be clearly specified in the purchase contract. Some units are even sold without water tank fans, forcing buyers to build open cooling pools additionally.
As vital standby power supply equipment, diesel generator sets require careful selection to ensure stable and smooth operation in daily use.
For more questions about the generator set, please call the Beidou Power team. More than ten years of professional production and sales of power generation equipment experience, more professional engineer team to serve you, choose Beidou power is to choose rest assured, welcome on-site factory inspection.
Post time: May-20-2026