I, too, bought this generator in response to a long term loss of power during Hurricane Irene. After spending so much money for a couple of days on dry ice for the refrigerator/freezer, I realized I could spend the same money on gasoline for a generator and have the additional benefit of lights and television, and not to mention being ready for future power losses. The generator was very easy to set up and it started right up with its electric starter. I ran the refrigerator, television, numerous lights, and the washing machine. It has enough power to run the critical circuits in the house and I plan to have an Auto-transfer switch installed in the near future. With some judicious planning, I think I can even start/run the smaller of the two air conditioners serving our house for short periods of time. Complaints (so to speak) - I wish it came with a ground wire for use. For safety reasons, the NEC requires the generator to be properly grounded but I imagine many people ignore this because they are only running the generator for a "short" time. Including a ground wire could serve to place extra emphasis on the safety requirement. Also, I wish Generac was more helpful with information regarding sheltering the generator during operations in inclement weather, and information on noise abatement. I imagine it is mainly due to legal liability concerns, but there are some responsible grown-ups out here using the generator.

My wife and I live in a very rural, small town in Middle Tennessee, and, as the nature of the beast when you live in a setting such as this, we often lose power. We have been "thinking" about getting a generator for some time now because we often have ice storms during the winter that can knock out our power for several days at a time. However . . . It was a recent wind storm that finally "pushed us over the edge", and we took the plunge and purchased our Generac 8000E. Our entire county sustained major damage to the electric infrastructure due to 40 to 60 mile per hour winds, knocking out some peoples power for as much as two weeks. When I went to a local Generac distributor, the staff asked me questions about what I would want to power in my home, and if I wanted a generator that would be easier for me to use. Looking at the three models they had on display, my wife and I decided to get their 8000E, and we were not disappointed. It took us about 45 minutes to set it up, put in the oil and gas, check it out, and when I hit the start button it cranked right up with no problems. Right out of the box, we ran that thing for three days, providing power for two refrigerators, a freezer, lights, and even our TV and DVD player. Not to mention we were able to charge up our laptops and cell phones, too. It was a purchase that was a long time in coming, but it was well, well worth it!

This looks like a good unit. Easy to assemble and started up with no problems but ran very rough and stalled. Needed to call for service to come tune it up. Im sure its something minor like bad gaps in the plugs or something like that but a brand new unit should run for a few years before giving you problems. Don't know what this means for long term reliability.

I already had to use my generator, because the local substation near us was shut down for about eight hours. had it up and running in about 15 minutes and ran 80-90% of the house without interuptions. Very pleased with this generator! I would highly recommend this generator!

[This review was collected as part of a promotion.] The 3600 is perfect for supplying power to our 32' RV on those trips where electrical hookups are not available. This is also a great addition to any home workshop and a nice item to have for any short or long-term power outage. Here in NC foothills we have a week 2 hurricanes drop 5 or more inches of rain in a short period. We fortunate that our power did not got out but others close by had outages that lasted several days.

I've only had this generator for a little while now. It seems to be performing very well. I bought it mainly for the 240v. feature to run our well pump during power outages. I ran the pump on it to make sure it works and it did indeed work fine. We'll never be without water now!!

Took unit right out of the box, added gas and oil and one pull, started right up. Had plenty of power to power up what I needed. Ran it for six hours straight. Saved my contents in fridge, freezer and keep my sump pump running. Wife asked if it could run the coffee maker. Yep it did. Well worth the purchase price!

I purchased this during a snowstorm that knocked out our power for a couple of days. We have a newborn and therefore a lot of breastmilk in our freezer that we needed to keep frozen. This was EXTREMELY easy to start and run and then hook up not just the freezer, but also our fridge. It ran for the stated 11+ hours with an upright fridge and freezer and saved everything we needed. The power this specific model provides is more than enough for us and I will hook it up to our furnace down the road if it happens again as well as electrical. In a residential area, it is a little loud, but I presume with snow and nothing else on or running around the neighborhood, it was only maximized because of the circumstances. I will certainly take this with us camping or tailgating down the road as well.

Purchased for house backup. Needed portablity with power for my situation. Unit performs as advertised when tested at 12kw , no-load to full load and v-v <3% voltage or freq variation w/ <5%thd. Runs my 4ton ground source heat pump ( has soft start) and 2 refrigrators plus rest of house minus range and dryer easly using the 50 A. connector. Power is clean and well regulated for sensitive electronics in house. Portablity is good since i lift it with tractor loader to move from house use to other areas. Thanks.

I owned a Generac 5500 for 15 years so I decided to buy a new, larger one. Great product Except for the Electrical Cord that was included in the carton. It is a cord for contractors to use on a job site. If it were used as a cord for home use, one would have to snake it through the door and attach 3 additional cords to it to operate 3 devices. MY HOME is wired to accept my Generac through my main service panel. Now I have no acceptable cord.