SaferProducts incident

Failure type

Electrical shock / short

Incident narrative

SaferProducts.gov consumer incident report 20170412-3A54D-2147404481. Severity: Incident, No Injury. Product: Generac 0057360 (Generac GP5500 portable home generator, model # 0057360, orange & black in color). Incident: In 2011, I purchased the Generac GP5500 portable generator (model# 0057360). I had purchased the generator to provide power back-up to my house whenever there is a power outage. I didn't even wind up using the generator the first 2 years that I had it because we were fortunate those years not to have severe enough weather that knocked out our power. Once I did use it, I only used it 2-3 times. There are only a few hours actually on the generator. Fast forward to 2016 when I go out to my garage only to smell strong fuel odors. I was shocked to find the gasoline in my generator leaking all over my garage floor. There wasn't that much gas in the tank because of the simple fact that I don't use it that much. I always tried to make sure I only had enough fuel in the generator to run it for each situation. At the end of each summer/fall season, if there was any fuel left I would either drain it out or actually just let the generator run until the remaining fuel was used up. In 2016 when the fuel was leaking all over, it was fuel that had only been in the tank a short time - it was not old gas. Once I was able to clean up the gas, I checked my shut-off valves & all my connections. Everything appeared to be okay - I couldn't see any visible damage but not being a mechanic, I couldn't tell if things were okay internally. Being on a fixed income, I didn't have the money to take it in to have it serviced because, naturally, it was out of warranty. Now this spring 2017 season, we got our first storm of the year where we lost power. I went to get the generator started & I got NOTHING. A