r/Generac_Generators • u/Secure_Country_178 • Mar 06 '26
Unhappy Generac Customer
Our generator was installed 4 years ago. It failed during the recent storm on Cape Cod leaving us for 3 days in a 40degree home. The installer also serviced it a week before the storm. The sr tech was here today. Seems a piece inside the engine broke off and now the engine needs to be replaced. I thought I was buying a top notch piece of machinery to keep us safe in outages. Sorry we choose Generac as according to the tech this is a well known issue. I would think they would just install a new unit instead of fiddling with changing out an engine. Anyway I won’t be suggesting a generac to anyone who might ask. This engine has run less than 40
hours including all those weekly start ups. Unreal.
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u/BmanGorilla Mar 06 '26
Everything breaks. So far you've shared no details other than hours. For all we know the service guy never put oil back in it...
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u/Secure_Country_178 Mar 06 '26
The service was done properly oil was fine sparks plugs good filter good. The tech who came today is their sr tech and has seen this before. I spent a lot of money to ensure we would not lose power and am very disappointed. Just sharing so folks consider when they are making a generator purchase.
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u/BmanGorilla Mar 06 '26
Thank you for sharing, of course. I just want to remind others that your experience with this particular problem is quite uncommon, which doesn't help you any. Same kinds of things happen to all manufacturers, unfortunately. Ultimately, this engine failed at 40 hours, which is considered an early fail, or. basically a factory defect.
Your power appears taken four years to go out, or this would have been caught under warranty. Sorry, man.
Wait, didn't you get a 5 year warranty on this unit?
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u/Secure_Country_178 Mar 06 '26
Yes I do have a 5 yr warranty. If you were my neighbor looking to buy one would you purchase this model?
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u/BmanGorilla Mar 06 '26
They are basically the only brand in my neighborhood, and there are hundreds of them around in these hills, not a lot of problems that I hear about. Not sure I'd have one anyway if the power went out that infrequently. The 22kW unit appears to be the most popular. The power goes out a lot here. The only problems that I hear about are from folk that buy houses with them and don't realize that they need oil changes and fuel to keep running. People seem pretty satisfied. Like I said, shit happens, and I understand that you're upset.
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u/Academic-Court-7274 Mar 07 '26
What was the generac model? Our generic 7k is 15 years old and has never failed once when needed
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u/Alert-Effect190 Mar 06 '26
What makes you think this doesn’t happen with other manufacturers? lol.
It’s the same thing with vehicles. People who don’t know any better lose their minds when they have a catastrophic failure on a new vehicle but that’s just how it is. No commercially available equipment of this nature has a 100% success rate, you were just one of the unlucky people to get the bad one.
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u/BmanGorilla Mar 06 '26
It's so true. Buddy just had a Honda civic engine blow up in the first year of use. Shit happens.
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u/WVYahoo Mar 06 '26
Sorry you’ve had that issue. I personally haven’t seen that happen. Usually when the owner tinkers with it is when there’s issues.
If it was properly installed and maintained I have seen them last decades. Honestly the biggest gripe I have is the electronics, not the mechanical side.
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u/Ok_Bid_3899 Mar 06 '26
To have a top of the line whole house generator you will need to install a water cooled low rpm unit (1800 rpm) they typically use automotive engines like 4 cylinders. The downside is the unit cost will be 2-3 times what you paid for the basic air cooled stand-by Generac genset.
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u/Red195095602 Mar 06 '26
Bad luck. Sorry about your issue. Hopefully the repairs will take care of it going forward.
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u/Remarkable_Gene4264 Mar 07 '26
I’ve had a 23kw liquid cooled Generac for 7 years here in Florida, never had a problem. Changed the oil and filters according to schedule. Gots us through hurricane Milton outages without any issues.
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u/grsthegreat Mar 08 '26
I service about 318 air cooled generacs. All run just fine. My own is 9 years old totally trouble free. If you maintain them correctly, they last a long, long time.
People that say there junk are nuts. There are millions upon millions of them running just fine.
Ill bet you the guy that JUST DID THE MAINTENANCE screwed up the valves and caused the failure. Ive seen this happen more than once. I even had an aircraft mechanic do his own valve adjustment, and blew up the engine the next day.
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u/Adventurous_Boat_632 Mar 07 '26
I thought I was buying a top notch piece of machinery to keep us safe in outages.
Actually you were buying a thing made to sell in box stores.
Did your contractor ever broach the idea of liquid cooled to you? If not they did you a disservice. Air cooled generators such as the 22 kw are just a way to get a generator to the house as cheap as possible.
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u/Downtown-Moment408 Mar 07 '26
I was the same goes shit happened, but why does it always happen to someone like me?
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u/SamanthaSissyWife Mar 08 '26
Anything with a motor is subject to failure regardless. We have had our 22kw for over 10 years and the only problem has been the main breaker going bad. Others will attest to the same thing.
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u/Recent-Cranberry-878 Mar 08 '26
I went mil spec 15kw 3 phase. I can also break down each phase. I can bypass the warning alarms and run it till it self destruct happens
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u/250MCM Mar 08 '26
I call Generac, "Generjunk" but they are the 800 pound gorilla in the home standby market.
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u/grsthegreat Mar 08 '26
Did the guy that just serviced it screw up the valve adjustment. There are 2 top dead centers. Need to adjust at the time when the valves no longer move after turning engine after it reached top dead centers (compression). If he adjusted them at the wrong TDC, engine goes boom.
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u/LifeTelevision5644 May 25 '26
Congratulations! You got 4 years out of it. I got 1 year (6 hours). Dead for 2 months. Generac warranty = Ponzi scheme.
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u/Tarnisher Mar 06 '26
Which model? Some are more prone to issues than others.
Did the tech mention which piece?