Midwest Electric & Generator — Local services in Elk River

UPDATE #2: After your 2nd attempt at fixing the problem, and being charged each time, even though you didn't fix the problem, my aunt decided to not have you come back. The things "your expert" Marshall was saying didn't make sense either. My aunt was having health problems and wasn't able to afford your misdiagnosis anymore. Since your visit my aunt was no longer able to stay in her home. She decided to see what could be done with the generator before she sold her home, that was the reason for the delay in having it fixed. You say the ant infestation wasn't happening when your expert was there. Why then was the problem solved by someone else without using the excuses your expert used? Someone who actually found the problem without replacing the unit, which your expert suggested was the only cure. Two trips and you didn't fix the problem but charged for each time. Mechanical Energy fixed it the first time. You also stated that the generator wasn't installed by or maintained by you regularly. It's funny that she wasn't told that you couldn't fix it because of that. Do you only work on generators you install, and regularly maintain? Maybe you should post this on your website. Mechanical Energy didn't install it or regularly maintain it either, but they fixed it. BTW, in your first response you said you were going to "make it right". We are still waiting. So far it's been just excuses. UPDATE #1: After receiving the reply from Midwest I called as instructed. I talked to a service person and she didn't have a clue what I was talking about or why I was calling even though I explained things to her. She was however happy that the problem was resolved even though it was resolved with another company fixing the problem, within an hour. Midwest had two opportunities and gave two false diagnosis which my aunt had to pay for. I guess they feel they "made things right" by saying it as a reply. They weren't thinking about me doing an update so why not say they would "make things right" and have people think they did. I don't believe their intentions were honorable from the start. ORIGINAL POST: My aunt was having problems with her generator starting then shutting down after a few seconds. I called Midwest. They sent their expert Marshall out. He added a couple teaspoons of oil, changed the spark plugs, installed a new battery, and changed the air filter. The next time the generator was scheduled to start, it didn't. I again called Midwest, and again their expert Marshall came out. He told me it was the starter. It obviously wasn't the starter because it started. He also told me it was the compression. It obviously wasn't the compression because it started. After more bad excuses he left without fixing the generator, but he did recommend buying a new generator. My aunt was of course charged again for the service call and time spent. I called Mechanical Energy Systems. They came out and found an ant nest in the control board area. It was cleaned out and has worked ever since. Not impressed with Midwest. We had a generator installed at our house by Mechanical Energy and our son did also. I was comfortable with them because they fixed the problem with my aunt's generator and I feel that we will be taken care of if we have problems. Oh, they never recommended that my aunt should get a new generator. They said everything...

John was our sales person, and he was great! He knew the electric generator product line, and knew what questions to ask to ensure we got what we wanted. Cassandra called to setup an appointment and arrange payment. She was delightful to work with. They were both thoughtful and professional. Kyle just came by to assess the site, and mark the generator location in advance. When Kyle and Ryan came out to install the generator, they were courteous, prompt, and efficient. They leveled a space for the concrete pad, placed the generator and hooked it up to the gas line, and did a bunch of complicated electrician stuff that works like magic. They demonstrated it in operation and showed me how it would behave. Ryan also explained to me how to get signed up, how to get the mobile app for my phone, and all that. Overall this was a great experience. I'm in awe of having such a nice piece of equipment to protect us when power outages happen. And so grateful to have such a good company to stand behind it and provide maintenance and care to ensure its continued smooth operation. Awesome team! 2021 update We discovered that the generator was not properly provisioned with natural gas to operate under significant load. So I worked with Minnegasco to install a high-pressure gas line to our home and appropriate regulators as necessary. At the time, Minnegasco also used the opportunity to move my meter to the outside of the house because the fire departments want your gas meter on the outside so they can shut it off in an emergency. Anyway, I’m telling you all this in the review because if you’re reading it, you need to make sure when you set up a new generator that your natural gas supply will be adequate under heavy load. With the new high-pressure gas line and the new high capacity, gas meter, we are able to run our entire house on the generator with everything turned on all at once. That includes the air conditioner two furnace fans, and the electric ovens, which use an obscene amount of electricity.

This is one area where I think the planning an installation process could improve. They should do a more thorough assessment of the natural gas supply for generators that are going to use it, and they should test the generator under load before they leave and call out good. The lead service technician, Phil, was very helpful in helping me to diagnose the insufficiency of the gas supply. I learned a lot about natural gas, pressures, and regulators and all of that during the process.

2022 update Tony is the new technician who came out to do the annual preventive maintenance. He is such a nice person. And he’s so clearly explain the purpose of the annual maintenance. He gave me an opportunity to ask any questions I might have. He inquired about how the generator had performed in the past. The team at this company continues...

2020 and I have more time to fix this issue. I have already closed off the window that the exhaust was pointing at with the fresh air intake to our furnace. Now I have added an exhaust pipe to take the exhaust away from the house and out to the driveway. It took all of an hour and Midwest Electric & Generator could have done that years ago rather than first deny they installed the generator facing a vent to our basement and that the window in the 100 + year old house was not there when they installed it (until we sent them pictures showing them installing it). If you don't get to my original review here is the short version. After it was installed we lost power for over a week in the hottest part of summer. Neighbours used our refrigerator and we had kids over for a movie in our finished basement with AC on. It was at this time that are carbon monoxide alarms went off. We rushed the kids out and shut off the generator. At that time we had no idea that they had installed it with the exhaust less than 2 feet from our fresh air intake into the basement. Thankful the alarms worked and kids were not harmed.

Original Review: Midwest installed the generator with the exhaust facing our fresh air intake to the basement. When the power went off and the generator started and carbon monoxide started filling the basement. Alarms saved the lives of our children. So glad we had the alarm and it worked. We have seen this mistake on other homes - please check if you have one.

Update:

Thank you for your response, we did not see it on this thread until now and did not receive messages from you on our phones. We have photographs of the install and we posted them with our original review. Please notice them. Though we have remodeled our house the intake to the furnace has always been there and is clearly visible in the install photos with your workmen present. Your first response to avoid responsibilities when your client was in danger baffles us. I have reached out in text and email and hope you can respond and reinstall or remove the generator with a refund. Our contractor maintains that the generator installed as it is poses a significant risk. Can you fix this mistake? I look forward to hearing from you with the contact information...