Customer Reviews

Generac Guardian Series 5873 17,000 Watt Air-Cooled Liquid Propane/Natural Gas Powered Standby Generator With Transfer Switch (CARB Compliant)

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(4)

 

 

I am the proud owner of a well-maintained dead generac 16Kw generator with a whopping 72 hours of use, mostly exercise cycle time. The generac we originally purchased was unable to hold oil upon delivery, and was eventually replaced under warranty. Four years later during a brief power outage a couple of weeks ago our generac failed. The local dealer determined the rotor, the most expensive component to replace, had failed. If you do some research, you will find that this is a fairly common problem. We approached the manufacturer with a warranty claim, but, since their warranty was only two years, the best they were willing to do is sell us the replacement part at their cost, about $565 and leave me to eat the labor to install (including diagnostics to determine problem), another

$300. So, let's see, they are only willing to forgo their profit on a part that was engineered to last for 20 years and failed at about 20% of life expectancy, and is well-known to do so. Not wanting to throw good money after bad, we'll be buying a new, better, generator from another manufacturer.

I think it's likely you will be disappointed if you buy a Generac product as a long term investment, because as a company they are quite unconcerned with providing you with a product that will perform at all beyond the brief factory warranty. There are many better alternatives out there.

I've had my Generac generator for 5 years and the two times I've needed it, it's failed within 1 hour of use. It "excercised" fine weekly and was regularly maintained by a Generac Service Provider but still didn't work when needed. Over the course of five years we've had to replace an electrical board, the rotor, the stator, the brushes and the last straw was one morning while excercising, the engine blew blowing a hole in the side of the block. Generac's "resolution team" was absolutely no help, simply repeating that the warranty expired after three years. Avoid these things like the plague and get yourself a good portable generator.

I had one of these installed a few years ago after Hurricane Rita knocked out my power; my neighbors and my ex thought I was nuts and was waisting my money. I make sure that I hear it excercise every week and I have it serviced at the beginning of hurricane season every year. The one problem I did have with it was a blown fuse that had to be replaced by a local service provider. The diligence paid off two years ago in Hurricane Ike. The unit ran for 3 days without interuption. We were the only house with lights and power in the neighborhood; that alone was worth the initial ridicule but the icing on the cake was hearing the second-hand comments about how I was right all along. I will never own another house without a generator

Update January 18, 2012

To date I've only had one minor problem with the generator which was handled under warranty; during one test cycle the generator cut off after about one minute of operation rather than running the full cycle time of 12 minutes. We called the contractor and a service man came out and replaced an electrical control panel at no charge. The technician told me the generator would have operated normally in case of a power loss; it was only the test runtime where the problem was involved.

For the record, the technician did indeed check the valve clearances at the six-month checkup and they were OK. Since it was installed there have been several times when our power went out for no more than a few hours and the generator came on after 8 seconds and did its job. I am very thankful for the level of confidence this has provided.

Original review

Living in a hurricane prone area, I finally decided to get a standby generator. I've had mine now for almost five months and it has come to my rescue around 4 time so far in addition to its weekly exercise. I have lived most of my life in the Houston, Texas area and have over that time experienced many power outages due to the forces of nature. Our neighborhood is covered with huge oak trees and tall pine trees which have the bad habit of losing limbs in high wind; this, unfortunately, results in power outages.

During Hurricane Ike, we lost power for 8 days which means we lost everything in the freezer and refrigerator; in addition we have electric cooking so we lost that too. Ike was probably the catalyst for my decision to purchase a standby generator.

So far there has been no problems with the generator; it exercises once a week and has come on 8 seconds after a loss of power on the outages we've experienced to date. It has been very comforting to know that our power outages will only last 8 seconds.

The installation was a rather involved process, especially if you live in a city with codes and permitting requirements. The company that installed mine took around 2 weeks from start to finish to complete the process. It started with getting approval from the home owner association and once that was done a poured-in-place steel reinforced concrete pad was placed that is around 6 inches thick. The generator was set in place on the pad after the pad had set up for several days. A plumber came out and hooked up the natural gas and because the generator is just a few feet from the gas meter no upsizing on the gas meter was required. After that an inspection was called for a city inspector to inspect all of the gas lines and give it a passing green tag.

This was completed on the first inspection and the electrician was scheduled to tie it into the house wiring and set all of the controls. Another inspection had to be called for the electrical this time and it also passed at the first inspection. One of the encouraging factors in all of this was a remark from the electrical inspector that the company I was using always did good work the first time.

Once the final electrical inspection was made a crew from the installer came out, bolted the generator to the pad, did the start up and got the activation code from Generac. Apparently every Generac generator has to be activated with a unique code number from Generac. That wrapped up a rather fascinating process and I was in business.

Last week, as the outside temperature was on its way down to 21 degrees (very cold for Houston), our power went out which means we would have lost our heating even though we have natural gas as the blower is electric. It was very comforting to hear the generator start and all of the lights and power restored after the 8 second wait!

As the new owner of a Generac the reviews citing problems got my attention. One caution I noticed in the owner's manual is a reference to the importance of a valve clearance adjustment after 6 months operation. The manual says on page 26, "This is a very important step to ensure longest life for the engine." Needless to say I will follow up on that with the company who installed the generator.

My installation was handled by a local company that has a good reputation with the Better Business Bureau and has been in business since 1989. That gives me a certain level of confidence that they will stand behind their work. I will update this review if anything of interest develops.

For the time being, I'm delighted with the reassurance having a standby generator provides. I see it as insurance, one hopes to not have to use it but is comforted by the fact that it's there if one does need it!

I purchased and installed a Generac Guardian 16KW air cooled standby generater about three years ago. Being in a wooded area, power goes off frequently when strong wind blows trees onto the power lines. We had high winds during a storm the week of October 25, 2010. Power was out for over three days and the generator performed very well supplying power to the boiler and all vital appliances. I even ran a cord over a neighbor to run their refrigerator. The oil was down about 1/2 quart after the power went back on, so I would recommending periodically checking the oil level. The unit does have a low oil and high tempurature shutoff feature, so the oil was still sufficient for the unit to continue running. If you live in a cold region you will have to use 5-30 weight synthetic oil which has a tendancy to burn off in smaller engines. A great bargain with free shipping. A local electical contractor installed the unit for about $1,700.

I bought a Generac 13KW about 6 years ago.It runs great,I've never had a problem and got free shipping at the time.I do take care of it,service it when it needs it and make sure it exercises every week.The best thing about this generator is that my sister in law ( the,ahem,smart one) came to visit on my birthday several years ago and informed me I was a wasteful idiot for buying an automatic generator as "the power never goes out".That day,the power went out while she and my wife were preparing dinner and stayed out for nearly 10 hours.I must say,that was the best birthday present I could have recieved!Thank you Amazon and Generac.

After dealing with a small gas generator during 11 days without power with ISABEL, we put in a 16 kW propane unit with the auto switch. While several short duration outages have occured in the interim, the big test began last Friday night. First of all, this 16 kW unit will run the WHOLE HOUSE! Thus, my wife was not even aware that the main power had gone off Friday night until she saw my FaceBook posting on Saturday morning. So......for right at 6 DAYS.......without me lifting a finger.......this unit ran our house, kept the lights, refrigerator, 2 freezers, and heat pumps running without a hickup. Now it does bog down a bit when the starting amp draw of one of the heat pumps kicks in, but that is the be expected unless you put in a huge unit with a great deal of reserve power.

AND, when the grid power came back on........it shut itself down automatically.

We could not be more pleased........and I think that several of our neighbors will be installing one soon......I know that one of them has his on order already. This is a great investment! Thanks PAT! (that's a family thing....)

Coming up on three years old, my Generac 17 Kw has been properly maintained and goes through its test cycle weekly. (Still does, for what little it's worth to me.) It had some 31 hours on the meter from the weekly tests and no problems appeared UNTIL I had my first power outage. Then it ran well for 10 to 15 hours and promptly died. The code that showed was "RPM Sense Loss."

Generac will not talk to me except to tell me that if it has a Good Housekeeping Seal of Approval, it may be covered by warranty. (As Murphy would have it, the sticker is nowhere to be found.) However, all service and service information has to go through local repairmen. Sadly, those repairmen either didn't return my calls OR they themselves have no idea what the failure code meant. Repair is still a large question mark.

I politely asked Generac Customer Relations for a tech support person to troubleshoot the issue with me (i.e., maybe I'd order the necessary part or parts and fix it myself) but the CR person played the part of the huffy gate-keeper. "They don't talk to end-users."

Apparently, my $10,000 layout for purchase and installation of their product doesn't figure at all. And, I have a useless piece of equipment that failed on first use. One would expect Generac to jump at the chance to make this right.

When I junk my Generac, I'll buy a Honda ... only wish I had done so the first time around.

I purchased a 15KW gnerator in 2003. With less than a month after having it installed by a Generac installer, the case that houses the unit began to rust badly. After another month I contacted the installer and he advised me that he no longer worked for Generac because they didn't stand behin their products. I called Generac customer servce and told them about the rust and her reply was: " what do you expect it to do.....it sits outside in the weather all the time?" They absolutely would not stand behind their product. Buy a good generator and not this junk, unless of course, you enjoy getting hosed.

I love this generator. I can run 2 five ton a/c units and my whole house. It turns on and off automatically and runs on natural gas. When was the last time the gas service was interrupted? I don't have to think about it. Just remember, "chance flavors the prepared."