DuroMax XP4850EH, A Multi-Fuel Generator good for years
Selection Criteria, Usage and Conclusion
Summary: I was focused on a generator with more than 4000 starting watts and 3000 running watts. Basically, I wanted to cover our furnace for our small house, the refrigerator, a couple of lights and charging our phones and laptops. In the summer, the furnace drops off the equation, but maybe add on some fans.
The specification I added that limited the number of possible choices was the desire to be able to use gasoline or propane to generate the power. I didn’t want to be reliant on one fuel source, and if I was trying to have something ready to run at a moment’s notice, I prefer having an extra propane tank on hand than having gasoline of some age.
After a few years of having storm related power outages, I wanted to decrease the impacts of the outage by having a generator available. I didn’t feel it necessary to get a whole house generator and I liked the idea of it being portable in case other folks wanted to borrow it.
That turned out to be a good decision, because the utility company replaced all of the lines for our street the next year and we have hardly had an outage since, but we have loaned the generator out a few times. This review is based on 7 years of ownership, but only 3 times using it myself and another 4 or 5 times of loaning it out.
Review of use: Turn-key starter and easy to fire up using either fuel. The initial time I used it, I ran it on propane, and we had fans, lights and refrigerators going in two houses with extension cords running through the backyard. It worked great and saved both households from having to re-stock when the power came back on.
The next time it was loaned out was a few years later. The battery was charged up and the folks who borrowed it used gasoline they had in their garage. It ran for a few days powering their fridge a few other items to keep their home going. The returned it with a full tank of gas. I syphoned that off into my snow blower for that winter and stored it dry.
There were a few years without any use. The battery was found to be dead in early 2020. I haven’t replaced it yet but found that it still fires up easily with just the pull cord. The last time it was loaned out it was only running for 45 minutes to an hour after each start. Thankfully my friend who borrowed it was mechanically inclined and identified that some of the vacuum hoses were rotted. He swapped them out with what he could find, but their power went out before he could really get more use out of it.
Our power went out a few months later and we needed to test out the replaced vacuum lines. I ran it on a normal 20-pound propane tank overnight. It only had the load of 2 cell phone chargers, a laptop, our cable modem and WIFI router, the fridge and 1 fan. It ran more than 12 hours on the one tank with a minimal draw. We swapped the tank out in the morning just in case and let it run another 5 hours on the second tank. That was almost exactly 7 years after I had purchased it.
Conclusion: This generator provides the power that we and our friends required during a power outage. Gives the benefit of being able to run on 2 different fuels and are generally available. Reliably starting when needed for over 7 years and only required basic maintenance to continue running reliably.
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If this generator sounds like the right one for you:
If you would like something with a little less power but still dual fuel:
If you remember the show Home Improvement and just want (or need) more power:
Overall
User Review
( votes)Pros
Can be run on 2 different fuels Can handle the basic requirements of powering a small house in summer or winter
Can start with just the turn of the key (if the starter battery is in good shape)
Cons
After a while of not being used, the wheels developed a flat spot, which makes wheeling it around a little difficult.
Not as quiet or easy to move as some other generators (thinking of Honda here)