Generator Starting: Manual, Electric, Automatic or Remote

Manual starting: cheap, and without surprises#

A recoil starter is the simplest option and it is underrated. Fewer components mean fewer things to fail, and above all it does not depend on a battery — which is the single most common reason generators of every other type refuse to start. The price difference is real. So are the drawbacks: it takes physical effort, and below −10 °C pull-starting a diesel becomes genuine work. For a generator up to 5–7 kW that runs a few times a year and always with someone present, manual starting remains a sensible choice. For a set that a grain dryer or a milking parlour depends on, it is not. There is a middle option that is rarely mentioned: many machines carry both, with the recoil retained as a backup for a dead battery. Where it is on the spec sheet, it is the cheapest possible insurance against the principal failure mode.

Electric start: convenience that runs on a battery#

Electric start means a starter motor and a 12 V battery: press a button, the set runs. The difference from pull-starting is felt daily and especially in winter. But the convenience comes with an obligation — the battery has to be charged at the moment the power goes out. A generator that has stood for three months self-discharges its battery and fails to start exactly when it is needed. So a maintenance charger holding the battery on float is effectively part of the kit, and a monthly test run under load is part of the schedule. Without those two, electric start gives the impression of readiness rather than readiness. Winter adds one more factor: a lead-acid battery loses roughly a third of its capacity at −15 °C, so a battery that had margin to spare in summer may fail to turn the starter in January.

Automatic operation (ATS) is a system, not a start type#

Most articles conflate these, and the confusion costs money. ATS is an automatic transfer switch — a separate device in the distribution panel, not a generator option. It watches the mains, commands a start 5–20 seconds after voltage disappears, transfers the load to the generator, and on the mains returning transfers back and stops the set after a cooldown delay. Three things have to be true at once for that to work: a generator that accepts an external start command, the transfer switch itself, and qualified installation in the panel. The last is not optional — a wrongly wired switch can energise the incoming line and kill a repair crew.

Remote start: when it genuinely earns its place#

Remote starting comes in two forms and the difference matters. A radio key fob works over tens of metres — convenience rather than capability, letting you start the set without going outside. A GSM module works from anywhere with coverage, and that is the one that makes sense on a farm: start the dryer from town, check fuel level and running hours, receive an alert on an emergency shutdown. For a site without permanent staff that is not a luxury but a way of learning about a problem before it becomes a loss. Note only that a GSM module needs stable coverage and its own power — which means, again, a healthy battery. And check that the module can stop the set as well as start it: being able to shut a generator down remotely saves fuel on the occasions when the mains returned and nobody was on site.

The real point: it is the battery that fails, not the start type#

The practice is identical whichever type you chose: the most common reason a standby generator did not start is a flat or dead battery. It self-discharges over months of standing, loses capacity in the cold, and ages even without running. Three habits cover almost the whole risk. Keep a maintenance charger connected permanently. Once a month start the set and let it run under load for 20–30 minutes — idling does not count, it never warms the engine properly. And replace the battery by age rather than on failure: three to four years is a sensible horizon.