Our family bought 1 of these (as well as a few of other sizes) for back-up power after "Snowtober 2011" left us in the dark for 6 days. Our home has 2 heat pumps w/aux heat, and electric hot water. I wanted a unit that would be able to keep us warm, and this fit the bill. This is a BIG unit, upon delivery, 2 people are needed to assemble. We connected to the whole house through an interlock kit in the main panel and monitored load, we just used it for the first time after Sandy roared through- we ran our critical circuits as well as the hot water heater, TV/DVD, lighting and the stove. We ran each heat pump independantly due to load (10000 watt aux)The unit perforfmed flawlessly except for a resonating heat shield I had to creatively rectify. We put 95 hours on during a 5 day blackout. The sound level is tolerable for overnight use, overall very pleased with the quality, performance, ease of use (love the electric start!) and that they are Made in USA. We are electricians so we did all the work ourselves,

I've owned this generator since April 2013 and have used it to its limits with zero issues and 100% satisfaction on my part. We started construction on a new home 2 months (June 2013) after our purchase and due to our utility company's inability to bring power to our rural location until August, we were forced to use the GP17500E to supply power to all of our contractors. We put 200 plus hours on this baby throughout the concrete, framing, electrical and plumbing rough in, and getting about half the shingles installed. Big cost on Gasoline, but kept us on schedule and everyone working. It now serves as a whole home emergency backup power supply for virtually every circuit in my home through the 6380 Manual Transfer Switch. 2000 square foot home with a geothermal heat pump and 4 ton A/C, all lights, power outlets, appliances, hot water, entertainment system, computer. It's easy to operate and switch between Utility power and Generac. We are conservative on power usage during outages, but incredibly comfortable during our Kansas winters and summers!!! I will never be without one of these generators on hand and wouldn't even consider another brand.

I purchased this unit to replace an older smaller unit. It runs quiet for its size, and the large fuel tank means I don't have to fill up in the middle of the night. It is installed in such a way that I can feed the entire 200AMP Panel, and choose which circuits I want to power. I used it during our last snow storm, and put 14 Hrs on it of continuous use other than to shut down to fill it once. I am able to run my furnace, Well pump, Sewer pump, upright freezer, 20Cu ft refrigerator, 1.5 Cu Ft refrigerator, one light in each of the 3 bedrooms, a light in the living room, and a cable box & flat screen TV, and night lights in the bathrooms. If you have children, you understand the need for the TV and night lights! I usually leave about 10 circuits powered on, and monitor what is used on each circuit. Do you homework, figure out your wattage draw, and you will have no problems. Just be sure to balance your load draw. I chose the Generac because of their products are built well, and have a great track record. Best investment by far to keep a "happy family" when the power goes out.

Great looking product, great features, and easy to set up and start first time.. Quiet little generator, as well.. ( And the color, is splendid..matches our Kubota Tractor ! ...Cannot wait for first storm to try it out !~ Great job, Generac ! ! !

Bought this as a replacement for a Coleman 5500 Vertex that quit producing power. Assembly was straight forward for the wheel kit and handle. Started right up and is noticeably quieter than my old unit. I like the pull cord backup if the battery is dead. Its also nice that is has a fuel gauge. My complaints are the non-charging engine so the battery is only charged from the included 120 volt charger. The other complaint is the electric start switch is on the front panel of the unit and the choke which you have to set before starting and then adjust/turn off upon starting is on the end of the unit. Either move the switch near the choke or add a choke adjustment cable pull on the front panel.

Purchased this generator in the fall of 2017 after a 4 day power outage. I haven't actually used it yet during a power outage, but have no doubts that it will meet my needs. ( I actually hope I never need to use it, but time will tell.) the intended use is to provide power to the house loads needed during a prolonged outage. Our last power outage demonstrated that we needed more power to keep one of the electric baseboard heaters powered up, which had not needed to do during previous power outage. The generator was sized to provide power to some of the electric baseboard heaters during a winter ice storm power outage, as well as provide some of the more "desirable" loads, such as the well pump, refrigerator, gas water heater, and basic lights. The build quality of this machine is excellent. Nice welds, paint,source of frame components. It's a nice build. There isn't much to do, other than put the wheels and platform foot on, mount the handle, fill it with gas and turn it on. It does come securely bolted to the pallet and if you can get it up in the air a little bit with a shop crane, or hoist, it will be very easy. Otherwise you'll have to do a little more work to get it off the pallet I have an overhead hoist, so with the supplied lifting eye, I was able to very easily do the work at waist level. I filled it with gas, and it started up per the manual. No problems. Unloaded voltages were 124vac and 244 vac. I ran it for a few hours with a 3500 watt load, and everything seems fine. This is a heavy machine, so don't be surprised at that. The designed method to lift at the handle and tilt forward could be awkward for a shorter person. There is also a lot of weight forward of the wheels, so if you do try to pick it up too much in the back, the weight will want to tip it forward and there is no protection if that happens. The stabilizing foot is to the rear of the wheels. I will probably add a second set of wheels so that it rolls on four wheels and not two, and mount some type of anti tip protection on the front in case the weight does transfer forward. I wouldn't recommend rolling it around full of gas, that would be 85-90lbs of moving weight. There must have been a design change to the front panel. My generator has the 50 amp plug on the panel front face, and not underneath, as some reviews have pointed out as a negative. The manual is okay. Not totally inclusive, but definitely enough to get you up and running. Where the manual is weak, and so is the website info, is that this generator had a "bonded neutral to frame". This is clearly stated on the front of the panel, so Generac isn't trying to hide anything, but the implications of that are not completely covered. What a "bonded neutral to frame" means is that the frame "common", and "neutral", are at the same potential electrically at the generator. This bond ,if carried into your house electrical system, will create a separate, second, neutral to ground bond in your house electrical distribution system. To preclude this, any transfer panel arrangement must "switch neutral" from the street, to the generator or you risk creating a second, parallel path, for current flow on the system ground wires. The bonding of neutral to the generator frame is not unique to Generac. It's an OSHA requirement for standby portable generators. Some manufactures do have neutral switching at the generator. Maybe something for Generac to consider for future changes. This is just something that I think Generac could have covered a little bit more to aid consumers contemplating using this as a portable house backup generator. If I were to change anything, "out of the box", I would source a better fuel petcock and route the fuel hose a little differently to remove the slight loop seal it currently has created. And of course, I would change the mobil wheel design. Overall, I think it's a fine product.

This generator was fairly easy to assemble and is easy to move, thanks to the extended handles. It's reliable and efficient, and has plenty of available outlets. While not quiet, it's not as noisy as others I've heard. We've waited many years to buy a generator, and this model, recommended by our electrician, has performed well in two outages shortly after our purchase.

This generator arrived in perfect condition. Great packaging and easy to unpack. Assembly of the handle, wheels and rear prop are required. Also the battery hook up and adding oil. Caution (I had to drain some because I rushed the fill and by the time it all settled it was over the fill line) Take your time. There is a replacement air filter and pre-filter as well as a new oil filter provided. Break in period of 30 hours. I have yet to run it but it is really well put together and I will write another review after the break in period. The recommendation is to run the unit for one hour every 30 days. This will keep it charged and ready to go. I would recommend this unit to anyone who wants a whole house generator as it is the largest wattage available in a protable and I don't have propane/lp in my neighborhood. The permanent gas or diesel units of this size are much more expensive.

I have been waiting for someone to come out with a generator large enough to have “whole house” capabilities in a portable configuration. I am a self-employed semi-retired electrician and have installed a number of generators, but this one is by far the biggest and best. I bought this one for my own house, replacing a 12,500/9,500 generator that was not quite big enough to run my entire house, especially in the summer with AC. This generator, with 26,500 starting watts and 17,500 continuous duty watts, will run most any normal size house. The only drawback with this is the physical size and weight. It really is too heavy for even 2 people to lift. The saving grace is it's perfectly weight centered lift ring. I picked it up with a tractor and put it in the back of my truck just to fill the very large gas tank the first time. This really is a 5 star product from a well known and quality manufacturer of generators.

I purchase this unit during the recent Polar Freeze that we all experienced. Instructions for the unit was very good and the unit was easy to get up and running starting on the first pull. It was truly a life saver. We were close to being out of firewood for the fireplace, the refrigerator and freezer had been off for 4 days therefore on the verge of everything thawing. Had a space heater running and a couple of lamps. It handled everything with no problems. It ran 15 hours on 5 gallons of gasoline. Certainly recommend this unit.