Generators Reviews

This 16,000 kW generator works as advertised, handling the full load of starting a 3.5 ton A/C, hot water heater (heating), electric range top (2 burners on) , electric oven (on at 350 degrees), microwave and all lights in a good sized home, when fully broken in.

This is more load than I need it to do, in actual usage, and it handles it just fine.

This is for light home/small business generating work, perhaps running 10-14 hours a day with full load for several weeks a year, longer hours with 1/2 load, and changing oil and filter more often than yearly to be real safe...Obviously your mileage will vary, and ask the manufacturer if another larger one is for you if you meed more steady high loads. It's rated to last 3,000 hours.

It isn't a heavy duty commercial grade water cooled or diesel one made to run 24/7 with full load for months...and nor is it that price!

May you and I never need it, however I and others recommend this brand highly.

Pour a roughly 5 x 3 foot slab and/or a 5 x 5.5 foot cleared pea gravel bed on high ground 3 feet from your home, near the power distribution box and not too far from your gas source. Hope your bedroom wall isn't there, cuz even this quiet one,can be moderately noisy when running at it's full load mode when it's right next to you!

Be aware that it does need a ~$60 battery, 8 foot grounding rod, two quarts of synthetic oil, and a replacement generac oil filter to get you started and through the 4 hour break in period. Caution: the maximum ambient temperature is 104 degrees...do not operate it in temperatures higher than this!

The generator cost is only the start of your entire costs..definitely shop for electricians, propane tank installation and hookup, cost of pouring a slab,etc. There can be a wiiide range in quoted prices! Make sure someone gets you through the break in stage if you are not electrically/mehcanically minded, and someone can adjust the valve clearance of the engine after 6 months of use.

If you are looking to use it for home use after a hurricane or similar long power outage, this is good for you. My neighbors had the earlier 15,000 watt versions tested during the weeks without regular power after hurricanes in Florida, and the generators performed without problems.

purchased a 12 k generator model #4456-3 from amazon on 09/20/05in which I received it in sometime in early October 05 I had done the install myself in mid to late November 05 everything was working fine until mid to late march I notice that the generator was not doing it's self test I did a manual restart in which it started for about 2 seconds and cut out the over speed light came on and it shut down so I called Gen tech . They came out to check the problem and they found out it was the governor gear went bad.so they said they were going to replace it with a new one .To find out that They exchanged it for a remanufactured one. I was a little mad to find this out after all I thought I purchased a new not a remanufactured one for $2,600 dollars it was only used for 2 months and it had only about 1 hours run time. Your warranty does not state in the back of your book that they will exchange it for a remanufactured one not a new one.this is very deceiving to the public it should be stated to let people know what to expect .I thought it would be exchange for a NEW one. So now that they exchange my generator with this remanufactured one on 6/2/06 model # 4456r-3 this one is popping out the carburetor so I called 0n 6/02/06 gentech to find out if this was normal they said no.so I also called Generac to find out that if the popping was normal and two people said it was not.so your department told me to write a
letter to exchange this for a new one. also when I got this remanufactured generator generac say's how they go through them but this one was missing an air filter. as for there warrenty there is none. i spoke with generac on 6 different times they do not call you bacK.

Got it last year & installed professionally. Directions are good enough you can do it yourself on the elect.. If you don't already have gas you'll pay alot extra for install-you'll have to buy tanks (propane) or get nat. gas lines run. Unit comes on weekly to charge its battery. Had a power outage & it came on automatically after 10 sec.- whole house (3 ton AC & all)was running fine. Shut itself down when power came on. Has done this a few times during storms without delay or problems. I'm pleased so far & don't seem to have any problems.

Just to add a few things to the above reviews....This generator is NOT built to be used 24/7 - 365 days a year. But if your power goes out once or twice a year it should save your [...], or in my case about $50K in home theater equipment and maybe another $15K in tools. Like a lot of people, quite often there's no one home at my house when everyone is at work and at school. What do you do if the power goes out? You could have a basement full of water in a matter of minutes during a heavy downpour if your sump and ejector lose power. Sure you have insurance, but do you really want to go throught the hassel of replacing everything in a flooded basement? If you have a decent level of experience you should be able to install this unit yourself. If you're going to use NG (I did) you'll have to run a supply pipe with shut-off out to within a foot of the unit. This, of couse, could involve drilling through the brick on the outside of your house along with some 2" by. Everything is provided to hook the transfer switch to your breaker box but, once again, you will have to mount the box and possibly move the whip etc. All easy enought to do, but you do have to know what you're doing - and it will take the better part of a Saturday. A few more things - you'll have to buy a car battery to start the unit ($60 - $80 depending on the size of your generator), all of the pipe and shut-offs etc. to supply the NG, some sort of gravel/river rock to set the pad on and a breaker for your electrical box. I have the 15K unit so I needed a 70 amp Homeline breaker from Square D to fit my breaker box. Not a very easy size/model to find, but I was able to get one online for about $15. A good Fluke meter will tell you if the voltage and Hertz are within specs.I haven't had to use it, but it does work fine - it 'exercises' every week at 11:30 am - and it is supplying the correct voltage to all of the appliances hooked to it. I consider it cheap insurance for a basement full of 'stuff'.