Generac GP7500E Consumer Review - The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly 

Thanks for explaining that. I'm no electrician, but I understood it.

Thumbs up from an Electrical Engineer.

Thanks for taking the time to break that down.

How horrible is this machine to use on home backup (genny panel) for things like heat pumps and what not?

Clear and concise. Thank you

+bryanseitz I always use pure 100% gasoline no ethanol and never use and stabilizers. I just rotate the gas that I have on hand between snow blowers and summer equioment

nope

bryanseitz your not the only one. How many people throw away the sta-bil after 2 years?

I've recycled sta-bil gas that I've had over 3 years by using it in my car without any obvious running issues. I use the older military 5 gallon that have a tight seal. I have the 15K version of this generator - 2010 model - that I purchased used. So far no issues with it but I have ordered a propane conversion kit that will allow me to use both propane and gasoline. The issue with gasoline is the increase attention you have to pay to keep the carb from gumming up when you store it away. And I will agree that it loud - I use ear protection around it. But my shop is like 80 feet away - it gets it power off my house AC panel - via 50AMP 220 feed. I back feed from the shop with the shop doors partically closed - barely can hear it in the house...

@SSLFamilyDad unfortunately I can only get non-ethanol with premium fuel. The user manual says not to use premium fuel. I ended up using sta-bil with 10% ethanol fuel.

Is that 10 hour valve adjustment for "just" the first 10 hours ... or AFTER "EVERY" 10 hours of operation ?

New fuel every 30 days?? Wow, that seems a bit much.

@@bradvincet1848 I'm sure it'll last more than 30 days but with the ethanol-based fuels it's not like it used to be. Besides, if I tell people once a month, they'll forget and do it every 6 months.😆.Or just buy rec fuel for $5.50 a gallon.

@@julianfollin7104 The 410 CC generac engines have a pretty crappy valve train and frequent valve adjustment is normal. It's an easy job.

Steve Hastings Overall this is a great generator for the price and powers our home very well. If it is on sale for $850 that is a really good deal so I would jump on it. I don't think you are going to find anything else much cheaper for 7500 watts. I am hopeful that the issue I had has been resolved in new models since mine is now almost 2 years old. Good luck and thanks for checking out the review!

SSLFamilyDad Thanks for the reply. I contemplated and I bought this generator. Let me say this, I immediately went to the "ugly". Friends off loaded it for me and build it. Loaded with the oil, the pull start was gently used to get the oil into the system. Then it was off to the races. It started up fine with the electric start then I shut it down for a while. A few hours later I thought I'd put some time on it. It started great but before it had 2/10s of an hour on it, it started dripping oil where the engine/generator meet. ....there's a metal breather strip right there but this was up inside the unit. I was NOT impressed. I called Generac in Wisconsin and the guy said, "WHAT" !! He told me to take it back where I got it. Anyway I went back, explained the problem and they put in an order for a new GP7500E for me. I went home and after a while I tried again. It immediately started with a few drips but then stopped. Hum ?? After about 4/10s of an hour, I decided to lock up my truck. When I turned around, I discovered the oil had been still dripping but it was blowing out on the floor/driveway without me knowing. I was pretty angry at this time. So tomorrow I'm going back down to where I got it, I'm cancelling out the backorder and they can take that Chinese made piece of crap back. My wife read other reviews about this generator and a few complained about the GP7500E dripping oil too. ...AND a lot of people complained about the inferior quality since these unit are now made in China. I'm DONE with Generac !! I have a pull start 5500XL that runs great AND was made in the United States of America !! Instead of an electric start because of my MD, I'm now getting a list of neighbors who I'll call up and come over to pull start my American made generator for me. I fully intend to let Generac that until they get their act straightened out, they have LOST me as a customer .....and I intend pass that word along to everybody that intends to buy a generator. ......10 minutes and leaking oil !! BS to that.

Steve Hastings Wow, I am sorry to hear that you had that experience and thank you for sharing it hear for others to see as well. I am all for looking for something better made in U.S as well and it is too bad that Generac is settling for lower quality. Good luck with your setup there. If you do decide to buy a different brand (maybe briggs and straten?) let me know what you decide to go with.

Remember, the LL stands for LOW LEAD... Not great to get on the skin, or breath the exhaust.. (but it does smell good)

are you sure about that ? why would that be ? If the generator had a built-in charger the wall-wart would not be required Since there is no internal charger, some charging is required to compensate for the ignition draw. I can't see a problem with just leaving the charger connected all the time... If that were a problem, I would just splice a diode inline with the wallwart

Cool, good to know it has worked well in your home. We run a very similar amount of devices here when the power goes out. Next project for me will be to build a "quiet" house for the generator to sit in:)

SSLFamilyDad That's also a project for the spring. The well is actually a community well that serves seven homes and it's in a concrete vault. While it's ok for now, lugging that thing up and over the four inch lip gets old pretty fast. Since the "vault" is surrounded on three sides will dirt it makes the the concrete top easily accessible and make a great foundation for the shed to be built on top. Much better security and weather protection than leaving it out running.

Glad to hear it! I had to run out and get ours in a hurry as well. It is crazy how hard it is to get these things once something like a tornado happens. Another good reason to prepare, we all learn our lessons don't we! Thanks for watching!

if you're talking about a suicide cord, i just went on amazon and found an adaptor that accepted the 30A twist lock cord that most generators use.

No. A transfer switch itself should not affect THD significantly.

it's actually easy to start, i came from the old school where we used to pull start our 800 cc snowmobiles haha

Last winter in a bad storm. Let friend use it as they got a new one and old one went to her brother to run his rental trl to keep pipes from freezing. New gen pissed gas right out so let her use it. Only have had to "charge" it once when i let it sit for while since not doing welding at that time. Ran friends house real well so she turned on hot water heater

Glad you liked the video Joey. Ok to start with a recommendation, if you are choosing between a Honda and a Generac at the same price I might lean more toward the Honda. In general they are quieter but make sure the specs are the same between the two. Secondly, you should be on city water and so you should not need anything to have water pressure if the power is out since you are getting your water pressure from the city water towers or pumps. Lastly, what can you run; You should be able to run a everything you need in your home. Watts = Amps * Volts so you can calculate things and add it all up. The furnace is not 40 apps for heat unless you have an electric furnace, it is only 40 apps for the air conditioner which you cannot run on the generator anyway. I hope that helps a bit and good luck getting setup! Let me know if I can help with anything else.

Rock sounds like I'll stick with the Honda. What's your take on the adapter kits for propane use as well? I like the option a lot . As we all know when power is down long enough pumps at the staton are out too. Everyone will be running for whatever gasoline they can get. I'm not a huge fan of storage gasoline especially not if I have the option of propane. I'd hate to but the set and add adapter and have something happen voiding the warranty. Are they conversion kits or just adapters? Is there an switch or cut off for when you use gasoline then switch to propane? Is does it become one or the other after the mod? I also checked out a btu to watt conversion online. My water heater is gas, 40 gl. Richmond. The only data on it says Input 36000 btu. I used the chart and it showed the watts at 10505.50277 or something around there. Does that mean it needs 10k plus watts to operate? As for the furnace the data plate shows 115v, 60 cycles, 40 amps. That too is gas..with the list of items I'd like to run, what do think the least size generator in watts (engine size too) would be, is teh 7k Honda just right or can I go lower? The water heater,furnace, average 1985 ge fridge,microwave,50'' Sony flat,cable, some lights and phone chargers? Since the stove is gas also can I just use a match to light the burner? Thanks for help and advice..

Joey Bucks No problem Joey. First, the conversion kits are a great way to be able to run off of nat gas, propane, or gasoline if you get the correct converter. Some of them (cheaper ones) convert it for good to one type of fuel while others will allow you to switch between fuels depending on what you want/have available. I would recommend spending the money and getting the better one. As far as power, I would stick with 7000 running watts to power your whole home and honestly the more you can afford the better. As far as figuring out power consumption of your appliances, if they are gas they do not require much electricity. For instance your water hears probably just has a small fan motor for the power vent and that is it for power, it has noting to do with btu's that is just for heat energy produced by the flame. Your furnace should also be less than 2000 watts if except for when running the AC. Hope that helps!

What do you think about the generac XC 6500 or 800 made in USA. maintenance oil has screw on filter easy drain. Wonder how loud. Says clean power. It’s $1.900

TheCi82 it is most likely a LCT motor aka chonda. From my research 7 years ago the only US made engines were on the expensive XG series.

No its a Loncin engine.

Well I have a used 7500e. It just started back firing on start up . I thought this was due to poor gas I had to put through it because I'm broke. Cold start my smaller generator sometimes needed a bump of starting fluid to get it going and then it was good all day. Well I tried that with the generac and well almost lost it to a fire from the thing backfiring through carb and catching all the starting fluid on fire... Wow ....now I'm in middle of carb tear down and because of being online and researching about this unit I'm going to check valves as well. This machine is monster and love it while it's running.

Thanks Larry! I am looking forward to converting mine to natural gas pretty soon. I will do a video when I get that done as well. Thanks for checking it out!

Hmmm, I think I would still get this generator or maybe a Briggs. If I had more money to spend I would have bought a Honda inverter generator but those are a lot more.

We are going to get a Honda I think, this Generac died on us! Only used it 2 times, had a crack in engine, we had a blizzard last winter, filled it up, and just leaked all the gas out :( had to keep emptying a pan every 2 hours, of course to fix it would be about $800!!!! Not worth fixing, & who knows if we would have problems after that ugh??? They don't make things like they used to!

Might seem basic but I would start at the beginning, pull the fuel line off at the carb and make sure you are getting fuel (no clogs and fuel shutoff is on and not stuck). Maybe fuel is bad (water in it or sat too long)? If you are getting spark you should be good with the plug. Check the run switch, try to take the switch off and jump the leads (maybe the run switch is bad). If that doesn't work it could be something more major, might have to take it to your local Generac repair place. Hope that helps, it sounds like you did the basic troubleshooting already.

With that many hours it may be time to adjust the valves. If the valves are out of adjustment you won't have the correct compression to get the motor to start.

+Bruce Wayne (Batman) yes, most likely but you can't really go too big so if you can spare the change bump up to at least 5000. This will allow you to better run a fridge, microwave, tv, internet, etc. at the same time.

+SSLFamilyDad Thanks for the reply. Yes, I'll go with the 5000. It's never fun to spend more but it might be worth it because she has gone without power for several days.

Thanks Gordon, I am not sure about converting, that is something you could call Generac support about. They have been pretty helpful with answering questions. Good to know about the spark plug as I have not had to change mine yet. Thanks for watching!

It won't hurt it if the screen is pushed down

Absolutely I did earlier this year. Now mine can run on gasoline, propane, or nat gas and it works perfectly. Motorsnorkle dot com

I use battery backups for my network stuff (modem/router) and laptops have an DC converter which cleans the power up a bit. I wouldn't worry too much about modern electronics being damaged by generator power or temporary use

Dave Van Meter the salesman is trying to upsell you ! Computers phones tv will not be a problem but refrigerator and ac units could have a problem over a long period of.

That is good to know. I have not hooked up my oscilloscope to mine yet to test it but I was under the impression (just from the product hype I suppose) that non-inverter generators did not produce a pure sine wave, hence the inverter generators being the better and more expensive choice. Now you have me curious to test mine. Thanks for commenting and the intrigue.

The inverters are better because they are less sensitive to sudden voltage or hertz drops which electronics don't like.Their output is consistent. With inverters the engine is free to throttle at the lowest speed required, saving fuel and reducing noise. A conventional generator needs to keep a constant 3600 RPM regardless of load.

Bullworm562 I did some research after your comment the other day and I found just what you have explained. Standard generators rely on a mechanically formed sine wave that can fluctuate with the speed and load of the generator. Inverter generators can be more consistent since the sine wave is formed using electronics and can smooth out any fluctuations in load and engine speed. Thanks for the great comments!

Yes, that is correct. I'm curious to do more testing on different brands and styles of generators in the future.

You are always welcome to post any finding here, I would be interested to find out

Yes, it's just a small 12v motorcycle type of battery

You may need to readjust the valves, hard starting, ruff idle.

Youuuuuu oooooooppppppeeeeennnn ttthhheee ggggaaaassss,,,, ttttuuuurrrrnnnn oooooonnnnn tttthhhhheeee ccccchhhhhhooookkkkeeee,,,, aaaaannnnnddddd pppppuuuuussssshhhhh ttttthhhheeee ssssstttttaaaaarrrrrttttt bbbbbuuuuutttttttttttttooooonnnnn.....

Looks like you are into many of the same things we are here! Very cool. I have not tried to adjust the valves. I am waiting for some warmer weather and then I will dig into those types of things. The transfer switch is excellent, it will also help as I add renewable energy sources as well. Thanks for the interest!

+Bowhead31 the adapter is included but I just bought a float charger for it

Good idea? Do you recommend a brand of charger?

+Bowhead31 I have a Stanley that is good but I am sure any little maintenance charger would be fine. It is a little cheap battery on it anyway

You could try needle nose pliers, just be careful:)

How is that noise any different than a neighbor running a gasoline powered lawnmower? ICE noise is noise.

Glad you found it useful! Let me know if you have any questions

It depends on whether the generator is bonded or not, reference the user manual for that

I have mine grounded

+Jim Johnson I really can't say with any experience on that. I would compare the specs online.

You really should not make posts when you have no idea what you are talking about. Just because someone told you something does not make it true. A sub panel will not modify and make "clean power". It is just routing the power to where it needs to be and comply with electrical codes and power the chosen circuits. Also you make it sound like you can connect an inverter to a generator. They are two completely different things. A bad inverter style generator can destroy electronics just as bad as a bad AC generator. An inverter generator starts out the same as a regular generator and then the power is changed to direct current and then fed to an inverter that inverts it back to alternating current by an electronic process making it less susceptible to surges cause by equipment in your house turning on and off.

+Mason Coco it is pretty loud. Sitting outside next to the house you van still hear it running inside

got mine on ebay

Yes but you should always run it through a power conditioner or battery backup with audio equipment

SSLFamilyDad like a rack mount power conditioner?

+Emiliano Hernandez I would not recommend this for a food truck. It is too loud and would be hard to hear your customers unless you could put it far away. If you need quiet go with a honda

+6000cs That is too bad, I haven't had that much trouble with it since the original issue but I also have not used it much since then. I am hoping with proper maintenance and good fuel that I can avoid some of the issues others have had. So far I am still impressed with the power for the money but hope to not have mechanical issue in the future. Thanks for sharing your experience!

+SSLFamilyDad My neighbor and I have it running again. This is the 3rd time we've had to drain the tank, disassemble the carb, and clean everything in about 1 year. We did discover that the gas valve seems to be defective, not letting enough gas thru. It has to be turned the opposite direction the instructions show. It also had some orange paint under the rubber washer in there that I'd missed prior. Now that its running, I'll order a new carb, as this one has never worked more than a couple months without cleaning. Good luck with yours.

+Will M I can report back that will some effort, I've had better luck recently. Firstly, I had to completely remove the fuel shutoff valve/tap. Take that off and clean it, dig thru it with a knife or something, and make sure nothing is in there. Mine seemed to have paint chips in it somehow. Then, carefully take apart the carb and spray the daylights out of everything with carb cleaner. Soak it, use it needle, etc, just make sure its clean. Not real difficult if you're careful. Lastly, before re-hooking the fuel line to the shutoff tap, experiment, and see which way you have to turn that valve for max fuel flow. Mine is the opposite of the depiction on the generator. This has greatly helped. Always good to run the fuel out, and keep Seafoam or Stabil in the tank. I'm running mine every week now. Good luck.

We used ours 2 times, had it for 5 yrs. and the engine got a crack in it!!!!! What a pain!! Going to go and maybe look at Hondas

I have owned a number of Extended Life Engine Generac generators 7500 and two 10,000 watts twin cylinder gens. Adjusting the valves is something you should do once the engine is broken in. Also ethanol free gas and run the carb dry will keep it running and starting with ease. The general models are NOT designed to run your house I am sorry to say regardless of what the big box stores tell you. Inverter generators don't need to run at 3600 rpms to get 60 HZs frequency and the voltage is less sensitive to electronics than frequency. Again these are NOT designed to run your whole house for long periods of time. If you try to do that you need to be sure the valves are adjusted because that is what destroys the engine. Of the 3 Extended Life Engine Generac generators none every failed to start or run as long as needed. Generac doesn't make them anylonger because they must have cost too much to build or sell... Good over view.

+Denise Long Shiflett and if we need it to be fixed, where can I find a place that can come get it? I don't have a truck or know anyone, and it's way to heavy to lift. Thanks, as I was watching the video, the leak is coming from the bottom of the part you said blew off..

It is possible that the carborator is broken or something came loose inside. Take off that cover and check things out. Check the fuel line from the shutoff to the carborator. You can call generac to find a local repair place but you might have to get a friend or neighbor to help with transportation good luck!

They're pure crap. You're lucky the fuel pan didn't start leaking all over the place.

I know! Of course it was the engine, it had a crack in it, & would have cost over half of what we paid for!! And only used it twice in 5 yrs!!! We are going to be looking for another one, cause I feel safer having one, it's like when we don't have one, we always need it!! Any suggestions on a good Generator brand? Not over $1200? I would love to get it hooked up to our breaker for certain things, well, the things we would use, it's such a pain dealing with all the cords!!!!!! Thanks!

Oh my gosh, it did leak! Right as we were having that blizzard! We didn't know it was dripping real bad, we tried putting a small pan under it, cause we just filled the whole tank! Then when we woke up, our front porch smelled so bad! If anyone would have lit a match, I bet it would have blown up! That's how bad it was, so we had to dig it out and get to the leak, and every 2 hours we had to shovel out, and empty the dam pan! We are now looking for a new one, we are thinking of looking at Hondas, are they better?

Wow, thanks for sharing your experience Dave. When I had problems with mine I did some research and found I was not the only one as well. I wouldn't completely rule out gas being at least part of the cause. With the current regulations in place the ethanol mix we are using is horrible for small engines but Generac could probably design an engine that at least last longer than 40 hrs:) Thanks for checking out the review!

bummer!

He said it vibrates loose

Won't work,, you need a charger to convert the ac current to dc.

I have a 5500 Generac generator since year 2000. Just ran it this week.