- Automatic transfer switch with built-in emergency load center included
- System supplies back up power within 30 seconds, so you won't have to lift a finger when utility power fails
- All components are fully factory pre-wired to make installation easier than ever & save you time and money
- Powerful OHVI (overhead valve industrial) engine with pressurized lubrication and oil filter for long life
- Non-CARB Compliant/Not For Sale In California
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Product Description
From the Manufacturer
No home should be without protection from electrical power outages. Guardian monitors the utility line voltage around the clock to ensure that you always have the electricity you need. The Guardian responds within 30 seconds of utility failure and will power the circuits you choose to be the most critical needs in your home. When utility power is restored the Guardian returns your critical circuits to utility power and stands ready for the next outage. Sizing is simple. You match circuits supplied in the Guardian's emergency load center to those in your main electrical distribution panel. The Guardian's load center supplies 8 circuits (7kW-AC), 10 circuits (12kW-AC) or 12 circuits (15kW-AC). Be sure to select the number of circuits you would like to cover before choosing your generator. Note: A 240 volt circuit breaker (twice as wide, takes up two spots in your main panel and toggles are connected) is equal to 2 circuits.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
26 of 27 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Generac Guardian 04389,
By
This review is from: Guardian 04389 7,000 Watt Emergency Automatic Home Standby Generator (Lawn & Patio)
I recently installed a Generac Guardian Plus 6kW/7kW dual fuel generator. The unit comes neatly packaged on a pallet and was delivered via truck with a lift gate, so no heavy lifting during delivery.This unit is a Guardian 04389-3. The most significant difference from the previous model is this unit will run on 5-7 inches W.C. of natural gas; standard delivery pressure. Earlier models required 11-14 inches W.C. natural gas and a 45 day design/review process with the gas company. It still requires 11-14 inches W.C. LP. The DYI instructions supplied were clear and complete. Most everything needed for installation is supplied. Some additional items required: Battery, ground rod/clamp, & 40A breaker to feed Guardian load center along with stone, mounting bolts, pipe, and tools to get the job done The Guardian load center supplied is pre-wired and includes the transfer switch. The Guardian load center gets it's utility power from a breaker in the homes main electrical panel. Wiring instructions are clear and easy to do. The pre-wired flex can be easily moved to either side of the load center to accommodate mounting requirements. Where's the work? Once I had the stone base in place, four football players carried the unit to the pad for me, no work there. The gas line was a different story. I tapped in at the meter and continued the 1" line for about 15' to the generator where it steps down to 3/4" into the vibration isolator. This was a fair amount of work and I had a Rigid portable hand threader/vise. Mounting the Guardian load center and wiring it in was easy. I had to drill the floor joists to get the 30' pre-wired BX control conduit over to an external wall for connection to the generator's pre-wired external connection box. Most of the work was determining what each wire in the main electrical panel provided power to, so you could decide what circuits you wanted to connect to the generator's load center. The load center includes one 30A, 220V breaker, one 20A, 120V breaker and five 15A, 120V breakers. This generator won't run the whole house but it will cover the important circuits with no problems. It's louder than the air conditioner but not so much that it will disturb my neighbors. The enclosure is well made and insulated. I'm extremely satisfied with the generator's performance, quality and the installation instructions.
34 of 41 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Great unit, learn its limitations.,
Amazon Verified Purchase(What's this?)
This review is from: Guardian 04389 7,000 Watt Emergency Automatic Home Standby Generator (Lawn & Patio)
The unit is great and works as advertized. A previous reviewer advises professional installation; I would like to propose the opposite, provided you have the requisite knowledge.Basically, if you want to do the electrical work, you have to know the NEC (if you don't know what it is, hire an electrician). Not just have a passing knoledge, KNOW it and the way your jurisdiction implemented it. And you have to own the tools and know how to use them (miscellaneous electrical hand tools, a voltage meter, a frequency meter, and an oscilloscope is real nice for seeing how clean your power is -- before you think about running those sensitive electronics on it) Second, you have to know the mechanical sections of the applicable building code. If you don't, hire a licensed plumber. I did not know it (although I own it -- owning is different than knowing!), so I hired a mechanical company to calculate my gas load, contract with the gas company to install a split meter to run all the gas appliances in my house, and hook up the generator. Cost me $525 and I think they did a good job (I did look up on the code book to sanity-check their work). But if you can, do the work yourself. Why? Because: 1. As you go through your existing electrical panel to decide what to back-up, you'll catch the errors the "professional" electrician committed and previous code inspectors missed (can't blame the guys -- they see thousands of these every day and assume, incorrectly, that professional electricians don't cut corners). I caught 3 miswired circuits (wrong sized breakers). 2. You will really know how your unit works and its limits. You want to be able to repair things if they go awry, right? I mean, you think that when the next hurricane hits (we had one last year) you'll be able to get a serviceman over if something should break? Good luck. 3. Installation is worth it if for no other reason than to run the the break-in cycle Generac recommends on your own; it is enlightening. As you load the generator 25%, 50%, 75%, 100% you can track the voltage and frequency being delivered, you can measure how clean the power generated is (mine is a very clean 61Hz until about 90% of power output). 4. I guarantee you that you'll change your mind about what circuits to back-up once you've seen the performance. I have my sump pump (non-negotiable -- if it fails my house floods), my gas-fired furnace (non negotiable -- if it fails I could get frozen pipes in winter), my refrigerator and freezer (obvious reasons :-)) backed up. This leaves 2 15A circuits and the 2 30A circuits. I rapidly learned that my 30A circuits are useless. Initially, I thought having my electric dryer running would be sweet in an emergency (dry those wet clothes from the bad weather). Well, it will run off the generator. And not much else. I can't take the chance that my furnace, freezer, refrigerator, and sump pump might all run at the same time overload the generator, trip the source breaker at night (when I would not notice) and cause my house to flood. No good. So what do you do with 2 30A circuits that you can't really run at 100% at any time, but will provide nice occasional power? Run lights and sockets. I used them to power a subpanel where I split them into 4 15A circuits and it works beautifully. And yes, it is code compliant (go back to my comment about the NEC). All else is pretty routine. Oil changes are messy and sad because you have to drive to your haz-mat collection place to give up your used oil; the service companies charge too much (unlike cars -- since Jiffy Lube came to town I don't bother touching my cars' oil at all). Oh, and local repair companies don't stock parts, but you can just order them directly from Generac. Don't use 3rd party parts (including oil filters). The warranty says this voids it! A Generac oil filter costs around $6 so don't bother with offbrand stuff. You will need permits. My electrical permit and my gas permit set me back $120 (Fairfax County, Virginia). The inspectors were curteous, and professional. I've built a lot of additions in my house and I always get the same ones -- they give good suggestions and I've never failed an inspection (I apprecaite the tips and suggestions for improvement though. One final note: some people had told me horror stories, when I began building additions and doing work around the house, about homeowner insurance companies failing to pay for damage cused by homoenwer improvements. This may or may not be true with your company; in some jurisdictions, you have to be licensed to do certain kinds of work, and in those I can see that it could raise problems. I checked with my company and they don't care who does the work but they absolutely care that the work be done legally (permits pulled and inspections passed). But, really, you should do that anyway. Still, check. You want to make sure you have no nasty surprises.
4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Guardian 7kw standby generator,
By
Amazon Verified Purchase(What's this?)
This review is from: Guardian 04389 7,000 Watt Emergency Automatic Home Standby Generator (Lawn & Patio)
As a standby generator for our community water system wells, I have purchased three of these units from Amazon over the past three years (one in 2004, 2005, & 2006). These units weigh over 600lbs and must be delivered by common carrier. Although our community roads are narrow, it was no problem getting them delivered to the sites. The generator comes on a wood skid with a cardboard carton attached. It was easy for two people to slide it off the skid onto a gravel prepared site. The unit has its own heavy plastic base.The generator comes setup to run on natural gas. In our case we needed to convert it to run on propane. This is done by unscrewing the intake hose from one port and screwing it into another. For propane you will need a minimum of 3 - 100 gal tanks in order to have enough evaporation to run the units. The electrical installation was easy. The transfer box is pre-wired with color coded circuits. If you are not competent with electricity call a licensed electrician; the charge should not be that great because of the ease of setup. You will need to buy a group 26 - 12v automotive battery to start the generator. I would also recommend ordering the optional maintenance kit: you should change the brake-in oil and filter after 100 hours. All of these units have run flawlessly. They all started immediately after installation. They are relatively quiet. They run automatically for 15 minutes once per week to check the system and charge the battery. To me the cost to run them is immaterial; you will appreciate this investment when the power goes out, in our case we had water during the last outage. This review covers the 7 kw model; if you need a larger size I would assume the 10, 15, & 20 kw models would perform similarly. While Amazon frequently lists this product as "currently not available" check with them, as this is not always the case.
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