Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

Here is my review of the DuroMax XP4400EH. Summary: According to reviews, the generator itself is hit or miss on quality. In my case it was a miss - twice. The customer service from Duromax is not very good, and you can expect to have to chase them down for follow-ups. The technical support is excellent, and they seem very responsive and helpful. Now, for the full details - the good, the bad and the ugly: I bought this generator to power a 30'X40' barn with a 12'X30' air-conditioned shop. I was very surprised and happy to find a reasonably priced portable generator that can run on propane. I wanted to run propane because gas (especially the ethanol variety) goes bad quickly, and ethanol is bad for small engines. So, I bought the Duromax XP4400EH. I read other reviews and heard of some issues, but thought I would take a chance. I received the generator and put it together using the provided instructions. The installation was easy, and the directions were straight forward. Mine came with run-flat tires, and I had no issues with fit or damage to any of the parts I received. Also, everything was there, so no missing parts for me. I will note here that they stick a bag of parts, bolts and the manual INSIDE the frame of the engine. They stick the loose wheel axle inside the frame, also. So, look around all the spaces inside the frame if you are missing parts and trying to find them. Remember to remove the orange metal brace and wooden block before you put everything else together. These are on there for support for transportation only, and must be removed prior to running your generator. I put everything together while I charged up the battery, and added 20oz of Mobil 1 Synthetic oil. They don't send you any oil with this generator; you have to provide your own. I prefer to use Mobil 1 Synthetic because there is no oil filter on this generator. It took me approximately 45 minutes for the full assembly. Remember that if you are using the propane you have to turn the fuel lever to the "off" position, and you have to "prime" the propane with 2-3 bursts of propane. The plunger for this is located under (and to the right) of where the propane hose attaches to the motor of the generator. Also, I didn't have to use the choke at all to get it to start. I left the choke all the way open. I fired the generator up and it started on the 2nd turn of the key. The engine seemed to be running perfectly, and smoothly. I was very happy, and everything seemed like it was going too easy. This is when Murphy raised his ugly little head and I ran into issue #1. I looked at the voltage meter and it showed 0 watts of power output. I plugged the 30 amp twist lock cord into the generator and my generator transfer box, and I could not get the generator to power anything in the barn - no lights, no wall sockets, nothing. I then plugged in a couple of power tools in the 3-prong slots on the generator and still could not get any power. I double checked all the wires and fittings to make sure there were no loose wires, and everything seemed to be assembled properly. Then came issue #2. I looked on the DuroMax website, and could not locate a customer service number or way to contact them via phone. They had a customer support email address, and so I wrote them an email asking for assistance. I waited several days and got no response from anyone from DuroMax. I then went digging around on the internet and found a number for their PARTS Department (800-629-3325), which was buried in some comments under the FAQ section of their website (http://www.duromaxgenerators.org/find_answers.html). I called the number, and they directed me to one of the service techs who had me run through a few tests on the generator. The tech told me it could be one of two issues - either the AVR (automatic voltage regulator) was bad or I had a bad copper coil. The AVR is a quick fix - they mail you the part and you fix it on your own. The coil is not an easy fix, and requires you to return the generator back to the factory in California for repair or replacement. He had me remove the cover and look at the copper coil, and see if there was any melted or burned plastic or discoloration of the copper wiring. There was. So, I then ran in to issue #3. I was told a customer service person would be in contact with me about the issue, and about returning the generator. After waiting another day or two, I finally called the Parts telephone number back and asked to speak to someone. I then spoke with a person from customer service who told me that, because the date of my purchase was over 30 days ago, I would have to pay the shipping cost to have the generator shipped back to CA. I explained to them that the generator was BRAND NEW and never worked, and it was defective from the factory. They would not waive the return shipping fee no matter that it was clearly defective from the factory, and that it never ran properly. I live on the East Coast, so this equated to me having to spend $78 to ship the generator back. SO, if you want to avoid the $78 return charge, the lesson here is that you have a short window to make sure the generator is working correctly once you take out the processing/shipping time it takes for you to receive your generator. For me it was almost 3 weeks to receive the generator. If you don't have time to immediately set up and test the generator once you get it, you can expect to pay to return it or pay to have parts shipped to you to repair it yourself. In my case, they said it was an issue I could not fix and I HAD to return it to the factory in CA at my expense. That brought me to issue #4. I was told that I would have to drain the oil and repackage the generator exactly as I received it. I had to take everything apart, and I discovered that draining the oil can be a bit tricky if you want to avoid a mess. The drain bolt for the oil is directly under one of the cross members of the generator frame, and you don't have much room to work with. So, when you take the drain bolt out, the oil pours out onto this cross-member and spills all over the place. A normal funnel will not fit in this space, so I fashioned one out of tinfoil. I wish they designed this a bit better. After the oil was drained, I then boxed everything up and sent the generator back to the factory. I left a voicemail and sent an email asking my customer service rep about a time-frame I could expect to receive my replacement. Neither the email or phone call were returned. So much for customer service. After a few weeks I received the replacement generator. Issue #5. I put that generator together and noticed that it has dirt or sand inside the gas tank. I could hear it shifting every time I moved the generator on it's side to put the wheel/handle kit on. There is no way to get this dirt out unless you find a way to get a hose down inside the bottom of the tank to vacuum it out. I do not plan on using gas in this generator (only propane), so right now this is not a big issue for me. I will try to cut a garden hose and duct tape it to my shop vac to see if I can get the dirt out (the shop vac hose is too big to fit in the gas tank hole). Again, this is a quality control issue and I now have to find a way to fix an issue they created at the factory if I ever want to run gas in this generator. I got everything together, and it fired up on propane and worked perfectly....for 15 minutes. Then the generator died and would not restart. So, I called the Parts telephone number again and spoke to a service tech. Issue #6. The tech asked me how much oil I put in (20oz per the instructions), and if I was sure there was enough oil in there. Once he confirmed I had the right amount of oil in there, he had me disable the low-oil sensor on the motor. He told me that sometimes, because the generator is new, it gets stuck and you have to leave the low-oil sensor disabled until after your first oil change. He told me it should be fine then. (I hope so, because I do not plan on spending another $78 to send this one back because it will be beyond the 30 day mark!) I unplugged the sensor wires as directed, and sure enough the generator fired right up and ran perfectly. I ran it for 3 hours without a hitch, and it powered everything perfectly. I even ran all the interior and exterior lights, plus the 12,000 BTU air-conditioner on full high, and the generator never showed any signs it was under stress. I saw (or heard) no fluctuations in power, and it ran very smoothly. I was also happy with how quiet this generator is. It's no Honda, but for the money this generator is very quiet. I have it stationed on a pad outside of the barn and I can barely hear it inside the shop with all of the doors closed. This generator reportedly gets 20 hours of run time on a 20lb propane tank. I will test this and update the review with my results. So, I know this review was long but I thought it was important to share my experience. I like the little generator, and really like the ability to use propane. Having said that, I wish the quality control and customer service at DuroMax were as good as their technical support. Only time (and use) will tell if this generator lasts. It would be a pleasant surprise if it does considering the quality issues I have seen so far.