By size
7.5kVA Generators
A useful standby size for a family house without electric water heating, and the clearest example in the Kenyan market of brand mattering more than rating.
Suits
- A family house, excluding electric showers
- Small guest house or clinic
- Office with a server and lighting
- Salon with a limited number of dryers
Where 7.5kVA sits
7.5 kVA covers a family house properly: lighting, refrigeration, entertainment, networking, a pressure pump, and enough headroom that the set is not running at its limit every evening. A generator run permanently near its rating wears faster and regulates worse than one with margin.
It is also the size where an automatic transfer switch starts to be worth having as standard rather than as an upgrade, because a set covering a whole house is a set you want to pick up the load without somebody going outside in the rain.
The brand-over-rating lesson
This size band demonstrates something worth knowing before you shop on price per kVA. A 7.5 kVA silent diesel set with ATS lists around KES 150,000. A 6 kVA silent diesel set with ATS from a different importer lists around KES 165,000.
The smaller set costs more. Neither figure is a mistake, and neither tells you which machine will still be running in eight years. In the imported band, price tracks the importer’s positioning at least as much as it tracks the engineering, which is why we would rather talk about parts availability and alternator quality than about the cheapest shilling per kVA.
FAQ
▸Why is a 7.5kVA cheaper than some 6kVA generators?
Because brand matters more than rating in this band. A 7.5kVA silent diesel with an ATS lists around KES 150,000 while a 6kVA silent diesel with an ATS from another importer lists around KES 165,000. Both are imported budget-brand machines, and the 15,000 difference says nothing about which is better built.
▸Is 7.5kVA enough for a whole house?
For most Kenyan family homes without electric water heating and without a submersible borehole pump, yes. Add either of those and the answer changes.