DuroMax XP12000EH 12,000-Watt Dual Fuel Portable Generator – Gas & Propane, Electric Start, Whole Home Backup Power, Transfer Switch Ready, RV & Emergency Ready

It's October 1st, 2022. Hurricane Ian tore through Florida three days ago. Our whole town is without power. The streets are dark. The houses around us are dark. Except ours. It's lit up like a Christmas tree. Every light on. My son is playing on the PS4. My wife has the oven set to 450 degrees and is cooking a pizza for my daughter. I'm watching a movie. And the AC is holding steady at 72 degrees. It may be October, but it's Florida, so its still hot and humid outside. However inside the himidity is now at a comfortable 45%. To achieve this, we purchased a Duromax 12000eh generator.Does it work? Absolutely. You can use gas or propane, but use gas. The 20lb propane tank couldn't keep the AC on.Pay the $200 or so it costs to have an electrician add the transfer switch to your house. And then purchase the expensive cable that let's you run from the generator to your power box. Without it, you won't be powering your whole house, and you might as well have settled for a cheaper generator.The gas tank holds around 8.5 gallons. On a full tank, running the AC at 72 degrees F overnight in a 3000 sqft house we are at 12 hours and counting. Meaning you'll get a full night's rest and still have time to make a full breakfast before you need to get up and add more fuel.Oil should be checked when you refuel. It took 1.5 bottles of 10w30 at the start. Three days now and I've only added about a 1/4 cup and even that was likely unnecessary. Have a few extra bottles on hand and you'll be fine.Noise level is totally acceptable considering you're powering the whole house. I can hear it, but to be fair I can hear the other generators running on our street and they're just keeping people's fridges running.Things I didn't think of but wish I had:Get a generator tent. They sell them on Amazon. It will let you run the generator safely when it's somewhat rainy. I didn't buy one, so had to create a makeshift one using plastic tarps and folding chairs. It want pretty but it let us get power once the major wind had subsided and it was just drizzling for a few hours.Read the directions. Watch all the YouTube videos. Don't run this uncovered in the rain. Don't run it indoors or in your garage unless you want to win a Darwin award.A few notes. The orange shipping brackets are red. When you set the generator up for the first time, it says to remove these. I didn't see any orange brackets. Yeah. They're red. Remove any orange or red metal bars on the bottom of the unit. They're bolted on.If you want to run on propane you need to buy a separate cable. I did. But now knowing that propane can't handle the AC, I can say it was a waste. Stick to gas, even though the manual says it's cleaner to use liquid propane. There's a gas gauge on the generator so you know when you're running out. You don't get that with propane. And a spare 5 gallon container of gas is going to get you 8 to 10 hours of run time and costs about the same as liquid propane. But it's far easier to find and refill a gas can. We have 6 gas cans holding 5 gallons each (30 gallons total) and that's enough to run 3 days. Enough time for utility crews to come through, remove debris and secure downed power lines. We couldn't travel for at least a day due to fallen trees and power lines, so having the 30 gallons of gas meant we were in good shape.Be smart about what you run. Yes, I can power the whole house. I can turn all the lights on. I can have the hot water heater going, the well pump, pool pump running, etc. But everything you turn on makes your fuel burn faster, so if you don't need the hot water heater, turn it off. Pro tip. We turned ours off and still had warm/hot water in the shower 2 days later. So I plan to run the hot water heater every 3rd day.This is basically a whole home generator. Only thing it's missing is the ability to automatically switch on when the main power goes off. But this costs 1/10th the price and is portable, so you can use it camping, etc.To buy or not to buy? BUY. Absolutely. You pay about $600 more than you would for a generator that can only power your refrigerator. And you can go back to living a normal lifestyle.I'm off to make another espresso. Cheers!

It arrived on time by truck. The delivery couple had trouble with their lift gate and dropped it- almost slowly- over the side of the back of the truck. No apparent harm though. Some of the welding of the frame is a bit substandard.- The tool kit that it comes with isn't enough to set it up. You'll need other metric tools or adjustable wrenches.- The hardware list of nut and bolt sizes they enclose isn't accurate. I used 8, 10, 13, 15 mm and larger wrenches for the job. Attaching the axle stubs involved a 3/4 in for the nut and an 11/16 wrench to hold tight against.- The tires are hard foam. Pneumatic would be better. I found them at Harbor Freight on sale at $4 each. There is no wear washer, so they rub on the cotter pin. You need one with a 5/8th in center hole. The axles are 5/8 inch diameter.- The manual says to flip the unit over to work on the base. Use the piece of foam in the box to flip the top of the generator onto it. You do not have to, you could put it on blocks and do the work. Getting it out of the box by turning it over is easy if you are strong enough.- Remove the wood block that's cable tied on one end of the frame. There were two red/orange metal braces to remove also near the motor mounts on the other end.- Turn it back over before you put on the carry handles, then install them. It rolls pretty easily with the handles on.- Remove the plate over the battery location below the controls. The battery on mine was all but fully charged. Getting the negative terminal on is tricky. It BARELY reaches the post. You have to undo the bolt fully and then position the locking nut in the terminal post, holding it up to the bolt as you try to catch the threading. Use the tool kit screwdriver for this- it flips from flat to Phillips- slide it under the locking nut and push up.- They tell you to ground the generator with a 12 awg piece of wire ( not supplied ). They show you where to hook up the ground on the control panel, but give no clues as to how much of a ground pole you need to use for it. I'm going to use a spare hunk of copper pipe.- You add 1 and 1/4 quarts of oil to the engine. The oil funnel provided does help some but the hose on it is a bit short. Pour slowly.- With the switch OFF, I pulled the manual starter cord 5 or 6 times to lubricate the motor up so it was not dry.- Main breaker OFF, nothing connected to power plugs. Make sure the gasoline line is OFF to run on propane. This generator can't change fuel supply while running, you have to shut it down to switch fuels. I'm not fond of all that gasoline directly above the hot unit, so I will be running propane as the normal source of fuel which can be kept -away- from the exhaust end of the generator and out of the heat. A remotely tanked gasoline option, like used on an outboard motor, would be a nice alteration to this system especially if you want it in an enclosure as I intend to do.- I hooked up the propane. A regular 20 pound tank worked fine. I went and bought a 40 pounder to run as the supply. Others have talked about setting the choke at about 1/2 way to start on propane. Yes, that works but there is no fixed half choke position, you do this by feel. It will take a few turns of the motor to start as it needs to purge the air out of the line before it gets propane. Once it starts, set the choke to OFF and it runs smoothly. Let it run a couple minutes, then switch the breaker on, then you plug in based on largest load you need first. READ the manual!!!- The motor started up nicely and ran smoothly. It's not that noisy. The muffler is pretty good sized, and it's not too bad even directly below a bedroom window.- The manual is pretty good. But I saved other tips I got from reviews of this unit for operation. Breaker OFF, then Shut off your propane tank valve and let the engine die before you switch the key off.- They supply you with power plugs, no cables, and no instructions on how to use them or make your own cables. I bought pre made with multi outlets for the 30 and 40 amp outlets. They do not provide the 50 amp plug. I'll use the 50 amp outlet to tie into my home later on.- The manual does not provide any instructions about connection to a home for a main power supply backup, nor does it tell you what you need to have to do so. One of the reviews here gives you a part list of items to make a home connection.Last words: I have not put mine into real time use yet, but it is ready for it after buying the extra supplies you need to make use of it. It should be fine for the needs I want it to meet in an emergency, although I am sure it isn't as powerful as the stand alones you can buy - but is is a lot cheaper.