Portable Generator

[OhioGuy]

Hi Inspector,

It does mean it's a warranty repair, but that was never in question. The question is, a device that failed the only two times it was needed in the first year would instill how much confidence.

And the fact no extended warranty can be purchased doesn't say much for the product?

Maybe I'm just looking at it wrong but to me, that's poor to no service. I was wanting to exchange it for any other model or at least get a 6 month extension on the warranty.

And now I'm told by Generac if Home Depot had done exchange paperwork, I would have had three months of additional warranty.

Curt

 

[glalonde]

I presently have an eye on this exact model (Generac 7000 EXL) because HD offers no down payment, no interest for a year on their generators using their credit card (valid until Sept. 6). What I like about this generator is its specification i.e. 7000 W with 12250 W surge. This should be plenty to switch the whole house on it.
But now, hearing the problems you're having.... I'm not so sure what to do.

 

[KiotiJohn]

</font><font color="blue" class="small">( This should be plenty to switch the whole house on it.But now, hearing the problems you're having.... I'm not so sure what to do. )</font>
I think I would find something with a Honda on it! John

 

[OhioGuy]

Hi Glalonde,
Well, I'm a pretty tolerant person, but HD and Generac didn't get one part of this debacle right.

Poor reliability, two units generated power for less than two hours, two power outages at my house, two generator failures.

I'll give HD credit for the exchange on the first one, I was just outside the 90 day window on their return policy, they exchanged it anyway, but didn't update my receipt, at least they tried. When the second one failed, they made some calls for me but ultimately said I'd have to deal with Generac.

The best I got from them was an extension on the warranty the length of time it's in the shop. Well maybe that will have value, it's been there one week, they haven't looked at it yet.

No extended warranty, no lemon clause. I'd talk to the HD folks and ask about a warranty after the factory warranty. See if any of there other products offer that, Coleman, whoever.

I bought this unit for the same reasons you're looking at it, 7Kw and 12.5 peak. Those numbers only help if it makes power! /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif


One good thing about the warranty, it's a full one year and second year parts only. You can bet this unit wi

Good luck to you whatever you decide!

Curt

 

[stuart]

Do not try running your whole house on a 7000 watt generator. It is not enough. 10k is a minimum to run most of a home. Cannot operate heat pump/ air conditioner w/o more power.

 

[shvl73]

I can run most of my house on a 5000 watt unit w/ 7250 surge. You do need to calculate the draw for the circuits you hook into your transfer switch, so you don't overload the unit. Ours is only for back-up use in an emergency. It'll run the well pump, boiler, freezer, fridge, phones, & some lights. All have been tested & works great. We don't have a/c so, no problem there. Calculating the load before the purchase is important.

 

[EdwardB]

I too have been looking for a whole house generator and these models seemed to be a good choice. I wanted something that would run on propane so i could hook it up to my domestic fuel supply.

I'd consider other models, though. Do you know of anyone else who has a comparable house unit - ie. Honda, etc?

 

[glalonde]

7000 W should be OK for my house. I will not use the dryer and stove during power outage. I do not have A/C. The risk of having all appliances starting at the same time (the surge) is small.

One thing confuses me though. Honda has a 6000 W generator with 6500 W surge. How can Generac have a 7000 W generator with a 12500 W surge ? That's 5500 W more for surge (~78% more).

 

[LarryRB]

I don't really understand the set up. I know I have a Coleman industrial, 12,500 with 14,400 surge.. More in line with the Honda numbers.

 

[Soundguy]

My take on the surge numbers is a hedged bet against the component strenght and tolerance. Also.. they don't specify what effect that 12k surge does to the voltage and cycle. On equipment that is freq dependent, and voltage sensitive.. the extra surge capacity may be of no use. For instance.. we tried to power a water pump on a job with a portable genny.. the one we had was rated for the runtime load, as well as had surge capacity that would handle the startup load on the pump.. except that the freq was way off, and the volts dropped to 205 during surge... and the pump wouldn't kick in.. just far enough off for the sart and run caps I guess.

Kinda like a car charger. I've seen some units with pretty big claims.. like 2/10/100 amp.. trickle, charge, start boost.

That 100a start boost is from between 8-10v depending on the severity of the load.. but luckilly enough.. it gets the job done as it sources some current your battery couldn't.. and keeps the volts up a tad depending on load.. etc.

Soundguy