Briggs & Stratton Home Series 5000 Review

Editor’s Note: This product has been removed from our side-by-side comparison because it has been discontinued.

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Editor’s Note: This product has been removed from our side-by-side comparison because it has been discontinued. You can still read our original review below, but Top Ten Reviews is no longer updating this product’s information.

The portable generators in the Briggs & Stratton Home Series are designed specifically for powering your main home appliances during a power outage. We reviewed the 5,000-watt generator because this is the most common size for families looking to power important systems like refrigerators, lights, water pumps and heaters.

This generator uses the Power Surge alternator, with 25 percent more surge wattage than many other power generators. This means that it has a surge power rating of 6,250 watts, which it can handle for up to 10 seconds. Surge wattage is important for starting appliances with electric motors because the wattage required to start the appliance can be two to four times the amount of wattage it uses.

The engine is a 342 cc Briggs & Stratton 1650 series motor. With a 5-gallon fuel tank, it can last for 10 hours running a 50 percent load. This gives it an efficiency rating of two hours per gallon, which makes it one of the most efficient non-inverting gas generators on the market. Fuel efficiency is critical during an outage, especially when fuel becomes difficult to acquire.

The biggest flaw is the lack of low-oil shutdown protection – a sensor that shuts off the engine when the oil levels are dangerously low, saving the pistons and other parts from damage. All the best portable generators have one. Without the sensor, you have to keep track of the oil levels before and after each use. The hour meter on the control panel keeps track of how many hours it operates so that you know when to change the oil and have it serviced.

One of the best aspects of the Briggs & Stratton Home Series of portable generators is the customer support. Every generator in the series comes with an industry-leading three-year warranty. In addition, you can access extensive resources to help you get the most out of your generator. You can watch tutorials for maintenance and operations. You can reference a FAQs page and calculate how much wattage you expect to use. You can also download manuals for operation and parts.

The Briggs & Stratton Home Series 5,000-watt generator has a fuel-efficient engine and 25 percent more surge power than the average alternator. However, the lack of low-oil protection means it requires more attention and maintenance than the best generators.

J.D. Chadwick
Contributor

J.D. Chadwick started writing articles for Top Ten Reviews 2008 and, after filling the role of Multimedia Editor, the keen video creator and expert in software was one of the most prolific members of the TTR team, authoring articles on things like antivirus software, video editing apps, and more.