Im seriously considering a Generac 7000 EXL model which will be tied into my electrical panel. I just want it mainly for critical loads in case of a power outage...like : the Furnace Motor (1/3 h.p.) , the fridge, t.v., and some lights.
What is your opinion of the Generac brand ?? I can buy this model, new, for $1318.00 delivered.
Thanks much.
I suggest asking that question on one of my other newsgroups, alt.energy.homepower
Sounds high. Check
Lowes often has deals on Generac, a free transfer panel kit valued at
3-400. I bought a 7500 EXL at Lowes for 1200 with free Panel. A 7000 is alot of power for a furnace and tv. A 7000 exl will power 2-3 houses. Generac is noisy. The 7000 will weigh 260 lb. For quiet power look at Honda or Yamaha or Kawasaki, Clean power on Inverter models, 1% distortion, Generac Exl 6-7%, unregulated crap is 35% distortion. Generac EXL are good for the money, get a free Transfer panel kit. Honda are 2-2.5 x more in costHi Dave,
Bought that exact same model in August. Brought it home, set it up and ran it for about an hour with various power tools attached as loads. During this testing it ran fine. Had a three pole disconnect panel installed to connect to the house. Made up a 50 foot 10-4 cord set to connect to the outside receptacle to feed the disconnect panel.
After checking everything twice, started it up, hooked it up, turned off all the breakers on the disconnect panel, switched the disconnect panel to the generator side and brought the circuits back on one at a time. Everything was looking good. Fridge and freezer were running fine, kicked in the oil fired furnace, no problems, cycled the 1 hp well pump a couple of times and everything was working great. Shut off the furnace which left only the fridge running at that point. Got out the volt meter and checked the voltages on each leg while the fridge load was on it. Had 122 volts on each. Looking good! After letting it run under load for about 45 minutes the engine pitch suddenly changed. At first I thought the fridge load had dropped out so I checked the output voltage again to see what it was with no load on it. This time, the reading was 0 volts
- both legs.
Shut down everything and took he generator over my workshop and carried out further tests. Everything was dead. Opened it up and looked for obvious signs and smells of overheating/burning, loose connections, etc. and found nothing.
A couple of days later, loaded it into the van and took it in to the nearest Generac repair depot. Got it back a week and a half later. Turns out that the stator had failed for no readily apparent reason. The repair shop said that this occasionally happened on new sets and not to be overly concerned. When I got it home, I fueled it up again, started it up and ran the same tests as described above. This time I ran it for
2 1/2 hours under constant load and cycling various loads in and out. The thing ran like a champ. Have had absolutely no problems with it since. I run it every two weeks for about a half hour with my big shop vac attached as a load (the only time my shop gets vacuumed out :) ). Haven't had to use it under a real power loss condition yet but have used it a few times for odd lobs around the property.Basically, I'm quite happy with it. I especially like the 12 1/2 kw surge capability. It is heavy (240 lbs) and is not all that easy to push around on a soft surface such as grass. Also, I leave the idle-down switch on the off position. When hooked into the house circuits it seems to cause the engine to surge up and down continuously when there is only a light load on it. It is also quite noisy but I suspect the noise will be somewhat comforting especially during the winter when it's 30 below and the grid power is down again. Just got to remember to keep a couple of jerry-cans of gasoline around.
Waldo
Dave > Im seriously considering a Generac 7000 EXL model which will be tied
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