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write your own review of the Generac 4000EXL 4KW Generator.
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N0GV
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Rating: 5/5
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Oct 21, 2005 12:17
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Good Unit
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Time owned: months
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I have an earlier and larger unit -- the 5500 XL --- It has been run well in excess of 400 hours and has proven reliable, rugged and dependable. There are many brands of generators out there and some are better than others. Some are "quiet" and very expensive, some are cheap and flimsy and shake themselves apart in a few hours and some are just plain rip-offs.
This generator is now over a decade old, still runs great (just checked it out before Wilma gets here) ran about 100 hours after Katrina and I would buy another Generac product in a heartbeat!
As for Oil filter and so on not in the box.... Reading the instructions is always a good idea before buying. ;-) Filters are available at the Home Depot (seen plenty of them even when there are no more generators available ;-) ).
Just remember -- a 15 kW Genset with a surge rating of 25 kW will likely start the central air unit but it will gobble ~25 gallons of gas per hour! The 5500 slurps about 1/2 a gallon per hour depending on the load....
Grover Larkins
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W6LBV
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Rating: 5/5
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Jul 30, 2005 17:18
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"Power for the People!"
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Time owned: more than 12 months
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This product review is for a slightly earlier version of the generator, the Generac 4000XL. I picked up the unit in June, 1997, directly from a Caterpillar/Generac dealer during the days when they were still one big happy family.
While the 4000XL appears to share the same engine, alternator, and controller components with the current 4000EXL, this earlier model was intended to sell for a somewhat lower cost, probably to building contractors needing auxiliary job-site power. Consequently the basic 4000XL uses rope-pull starting and has a plastic rather than metal fuel tank. The Wheel and Oil Filter Kits were extra cost and I did not buy them. Otherwise, the specifications for the two units appear to be identical.
The earlier XL has two 120 volt, fifteen Amp outlets, each with a circuit breaker. There is a separate 120 volt, thirty Amp outlet (NEMA L5-30P) with circuit breaker, a 120/240 volt, twenty Amp outlet (NEMA L14-30P) with circuit breaker, and a 12 volt d.c. outlet of unknown capacity.
The rope-pull starting has always been easy; the back-tension on the rope drive is not excessive and the generator usually turns over and runs on the first or second pull. The output appears (by a.c. voltmeter) to be stable, kept so by an internal engine speed governor (switch selectable). No household electrical products have been damaged while the house has been running on generator. If I ever needed to replace the generator, I would have no hesitation about buying a similar Generac unit.
Here in California the major threat to our commercial electrical power is not from hurricanes (which are unknown) or tornadoes (which are very rare), but rather from load-shedding blackouts caused by capacity shortfalls originating with rigged wholesale electrical power trading markets. Nevertheless, I don't start-up the generator and switch until an outage has exceeded 10 - 15 minutes; rolling blackouts can be anticipated and many unexpected local outages are of short duration and are quickly fixed by utility-company distribution feeder switching.
Thus the 4000XL isn't often used for its primary purpose (house and ham station power back-up), but the few times it saw service it performed for as long as several hours at a time without fault. One dark and stormy February night it even made the local television news, when my house was a shining oasis of light in a sea of neighborhood darkness....and a roaming TV news crew knocked on my door.
So the 4000XL continues to sit in reserve, awaiting the day when the San Andreas Fault decides to make its long-expected move and The Big One arrives. Then we'll fire it off, make some hot buttered popcorn, and invite the neighbors over.
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KD4ULW
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Rating: 5/5
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Jul 29, 2005 09:45
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Works Great!
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Time owned: 0 to 3 months
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After reading the forums and comparing the different pro’s and con’s, I decided on the 4000EXL. There are higher wattage units, but I wanted a cleaner waveform system, and this one has a built-in regulator which provides a more stable platform for sensitive electronics.
Just got to test the system due to a 90 minute outage on a clear day!! No problems encountered at all with the gen.
Not much more to add than others have posted, but this generator came with an oil filter and oil, so I guess that is a recent addition from the non-filtered ones. You can now run ‘out of the box’.
Also, with the idle system on and not under any load, the unit will be show less voltage until there is a load present… then the unit automatically revs up and output is normal.
Plus, take the time to install a manual switch and keep yourself and others safe, sure makes hooking up the house a lot easier!!!
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BILLYBOY
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Rating: 5/5
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Oct 2, 2004 05:59
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The one to buy
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Time owned: 0 to 3 months
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I've been a design engineer for 31 years and all that time I have worked for a company that makes electrical generation equipment. I live in central Florida very near the intersection of Hurricanes Charlie, Frances, and Jeanne. I purchased this unit right after Charlie (8-13-04) and it was the only one I could find available anywhere. Since then, I have looked at a lot of other units of all sizes and makes. I used this generator after Frances and after Jeanne. Here is my conclusion: If I had been given all the time in the world to shop for a back-up generator for my home, this is the one I would have purchased anyway. The combination of continuous power rating, surge capacity, and demonstrated fuel efficiency of this unit,for this price is unmatched. My hurricane power kit now includes this generator, a 6000 BTU Maytag window air conditioner, two 50 foot 12 guage wire extension cords, oil, $3 oil filter (same as on my 95 corolla), and a bottle of fuel stabilizer. The reason you can get all the power of the generator thru those two extension cords is that each socket of the 120V duplex outlet is protected by an 18 AMP breaker which would allow 120 X 18 X 2 = 4320 watts. These breakers don't pop during short term surges when the AC or fridge are starting up. Buy this one, your wife can start it easily while you are at work.
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THINK7
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Rating: 0/5
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Sep 29, 2004 16:44
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Save Your Money - Buy Something Real
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Time owned: 0 to 3 months
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I don't share the other reviewer's opinion on this piece of junk. Right out of the box the DC voltage was in the 8-9 range. Had it for service twice already with less than 30 hours on it. Totally responsible for blowing our 1hp well pump when it was the only load on the genset.
Output intermittently crashes under load.
Difficult to procure oil filter that you don't even know you need until you open the box (which by then with a hurricane on the way was low on my list of essentials). This company doesn't impress me nor does Home Depot for selling this crap can.
You would think (the "you" in this case is me) that a company selling literally tens of thousands of generators to Florida consumers in the last few weeks would have the common courtesy, the decency and the foresight to man the phones on the weekend that a hurricane was blowing through - on the off chance that a few of those tens of thousands of customers might have some questions. Not these self centered dimwits.
I am going whole house genset (probably SDMO 60KVH diesel) and strongly suggest that anyone who can afford more than this Generac/Guardian junk buy a real genset that will last.
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KG5PT
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Rating: 5/5
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Jan 24, 2004 17:47
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Unbeatable Value!
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Time owned: more than 12 months
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Lots of features for the money – Electric start is almost unheard of in this size class, let alone in a model that costs less than $750. The engine is very high-quality: Aluminum overhead-valve, with full-pressure lubrication, automatic low oil pressure shutoff, and an automotive-style spin-on replaceable oil filter. Interestingly, this "Nagano" engine is actually designed and built by Generac, unlike most of the other brands that use Honda or Briggs engines. (The Generac Portable Power division that produces this model was recently bought by Briggs & Stratton, so parts and service now also available from B&S dealers.).
The alternator produces a clean waveform and has very good voltage regulation. The surge capacity is 6.6 KW - pretty amazing for a 4 KW model. The 4.5 gallon fuel tank is claimed to run the generator for 14 hours at half of rated power (haven't verified that, but it seems very frugual).
Up to 10 amps of 12VDC power is also available for charging an external battery; the internal battery is charged via a separate circuit. Both 120VAC and 240VAC outlets are included – Unlike many cheaper models, the 120VAC side is fully capable of supplying the generator's full 4KW rated power through a single circuit.
The generator includes some nice no-cost extras – Wheel kit with pneumatic tires, an AC-powered battery trickle-charger for the 10AH Gell-Cell starting battery (also included), twist-lock plugs that mate with the 30 amp 120VAC and 20 amp 120/240VAC outlets, a battery charger cable with alligator clips, and a small package of fuel stabilizer. I get the feeling that Generac did'nt cut costs with this model, in spite of the fact that it's priced hundreds less than comparable products.
About the only down side of this model is the noise level, which I'd describe as in the "medium" category – not nearly as noisy as the entry-level cheapies, but not nearly as quiet as some of the high-end Hondas, either. The muffler is decent-sized, but the lack of engine shouding or noise insulation materials means that there is still plenty of mechanical and fan noise.
I've put about 160 hours on mine so far, with absolutely no problems. It starts on the first couple of engine revolutions, as long as you rememer to flip the choke first to prime it on cold mornings. Generac recommends oil changes every 50 hours, which I consider to be excessive. I'm running synthetic 10W-30 in mine, and will be changing the oil every 100 hours. Oil consumption is nil. The pricey $8 "Generac" oil filter cross-references to much cheaper automotive filters – just ask for a filter for a 1988-2002 Toyota Corolla/Celica 1.5/1.8L (Fram PH4967 or equivalent).
Note that this exact Generac-branded model is only currently sold at Home Depot ($729), although Sears also sells a Craftsman-branded similar model without electric start.
If you're looking for a higher-power generator, Generac also makes the 7000EXL, which is a 7KW version with a larger version of the "Nagano" engine and essentially identical features. Hard to go wrong with either model, IMO.
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