Westinghouse WGen5500 Portable Generator – 5500 Rated Watts & 6850 Peak Watts – Gas Powered – CARB Compliant – Transfer Switch Ready

After over a year of research and nit-picking over all the important stuff: run time, clean continuous voltage delivery, wattage, ruggedness, and manufacture support, Westinghouse always made it onto the short list. The WH7500E meets all of these requirements in spades. And although my first understanding was that it was made in the USA, which it is not, it is supported by a very robust and helpful service team with centers located across the country. Not a single regret.

UPDATE: And having spent the time running the engine through an adequate break-in period (about 15 hours), luckily just prior to a series of heavy wet snow storms in MA which pulled down trees and power lines, i was simply giddy with excitement when we lost utility power and it was time to fire up the generator and see how well it worked. i was able to provide power to two refrigerators, the furnace, TV, DVD player, lights in the kitchen, bathroom living room and each bedroom, microwave and it never surpassed 50% load. this thing is awesome.

2-year UPDATE: Here we are almost two years since owning my WH7500E and I am still extremely pleased. I’ve been dedicated to running it for 20-30 minutes every 3 months and siphoning out any gas older than 9 months and only using gas treated with Stab-L whether it’s summer or winter; i simply use the siphoned gas for my lawn tractor or car. The engine still runs smooth and I’ve also conducted a handful of test runs to ensure the generator is still performing as expected. Never any issues, i am very confident heading into this coming winter — i’m almost looking forward to a power outage or two. And to answer someone’s comment about if i had considered the Generac GP7500E — yes, I had but I have a few neighbors and friends who own Generacs (various models) and they all report developing leaky fuel tanks which was basically enough for me to stop researching them any further. I might also add that I recommended my father purchase a Westinghouse WH7500E himself. He has owned his for just over one year and has had the same good experience with his generator as i have had with mine.

I’ve had my WH7500E generator for only a few months, and have already needed to use it during a 5 hour power-outage. I’m using it as a manual-transfer whole-house backup generator, and it has done that job very well. The generator starts easily, delivers the power that’s expected, and has low enough distortion that everything in my house runs well. The build quality is excellent, and I had no problems getting it running. Despite its 200 pound weight, the wheels and handles allow it to be moved around pretty easily. I’m running 240V into my main circuit panel via a 30A circuit breaker with a mechanical-transfer main-breaker interlock.

The generator is not what I’d call quiet, although it doesn’t produce any more noise than my old 3000 Watt unit that it replaced. Most of the noise is mechanical noise and not exhaust noise, so the sound can be reduced pretty easily with simple wooden acoustic barricades. This wouldn’t be a unit that would make you any friends at a campground, but during a blackout and with a little care it won’t keep you or your neighbors awake either. More quiet than my lawnmower.

Many people believe that the harmonic distortion of a generator prevents it from running variable speed furnaces and certain computer UPS devices. I think the bigger problem they’re having is with the absolute frequency of the AC produced by the generator. The WH7500E has a speed adjustment screw on its mechanical governor (near the pull-start cord) that allows the generator speed to be adjusted, which also adjusts the line-frequency of the output. Using a reliable frequency meter, adjusting this speed so the output voltage is exactly 60 Hz when under load will help those more finicky devices run properly. My line frequency was adjusted to about 62Hz with a 1500 Watt load when I received the unit, and it was easily adjusted to exactly 60Hz.

Overall, this is exactly what I wanted in a whole-house generator. It’s not enough power to run my central air-conditioning, but if I’m careful I can run almost everything else in my house. This includes two refrigerators, a freezer, gas-heater, two sump pumps, lights, phones, a router, a computer, and TV. It ran most of that equipment just a few weeks ago for 4.5 hours without complaining once. (I waited a half-hour before hooking it up to see if the power was coming back quickly… It wasn’t.) Fuel economy during that run was excellent, it didn’t use enough gas to move the fuel gauge at all. (Probably lightly loaded most of the time.)

Tips:
1 – Turn on the load circuit breakers one at a time. Big surges will cause the line-frequency to change which can damage some appliances.
2 – NEVER let the generator run out of gas while running. Engine speed and line-frequency become uncontrollable as it runs out of gas. It’s not a small engine, and it lurches kind of violently as it starves for fuel.
3 – Let the generator and motor cool-off by running it with no electrical load before turning off the engine.
4 – Close the fuel valve after the motor stops, and use fuel stabilizer in the gas. (This keeps the carburetor clean.)
5 – Start it once a month, and run it with a load. (An electric heater works.)

Also, my hat is off to Amazon for their excellent customer service that I used during this purchase. If you’re going to buy something like this there is no better place to buy than Amazon.

While I was shopping for this generator I looked at many others for about 6 months, some of which were much more expensive. Stop looking, this is the right one… I can highly recommend this generator without reservation… I’ll also be posting pictures of the unpacking process later.

*** Update 04-Aug-2014 ***
I’ve had this generator for only about four months and I’ve already used it during three power outages. I never counted them before, but this year we seem to be having a lot of power outages longer than 3 or 4 hours. The Westinghouse WH7500e is holding up very well, and continues to give us reliable service. One of our outages was about 24 hours, so at the first oil change I switched to Mobile-One 5W-30 synthetic oil. I haven’t needed to do my test runs lately because I’m having real outages too often.

I am still very pleased with this purchase, and I don’t have even one shred of buyer’s remorse. I have run my furnace with this unit but I can’t start my central air-conditioning system, the start-up surge is too large. Even with nothing else connected, the A/C start-up throws the breaker on the generator.

I’ve had a couple of questions for Westpower, and their customer service staff have been superb. They always get me the the answers that I need. Between the reliable start-ups, the trouble-free operation, and the quick responses from customer support, this unit still deserves the 5 stars that I gave it when I bought it.

*** Update 12-Oct-2016 ***
Still very happy with this generator. I start it once every few months, and I haven’t had as many power outages as I did during the first year, but it was still a worthwhile investment. I’ve added some photos of my transfer interlock and a Reliance Controls PowerBack monitor that I also use. These were added by someone who replied to this review. Still a 5-star purchase…