# Well Duromax is a no go for me as a company...



## crabjoe (Apr 20, 2020)

While researching the new HF Predator 9500, I saw this post from Tabora about the Duromax XP9000iH.









Harbor Freight 9500 Watt Inverter Generator.


There’s a new kid in town. Looks promising, certainly priced competitively. Unfortunately does not appear to be parallel-able. https://www.harborfreight.com/9500-watt-super-quiet-inverter-generator-with-co-secure-57080.html




www.powerequipmentforum.com





Basically looked the same as the Predator 9500 but dual fuel and a 3 year warranty... so I wanted to know more about it..

I go to there site and submitted some questions... "*What is the THD? Is the Neutral floating or Bonded? What parts are available for this unit?* ".

Guess what the answer was? I can't believe this.. but they wouldn't answer any of my question.. Here's their email response to me: "*Our staff has read your question and values your contribution even though it did not meet all our website guidelines. Thanks for sharing, and we hope to publish next time! *"

I'm like what kind of company can't answer a few simple questions? If they can't answer these questions what kind of product are they selling and is their warranty even worth the paper it's printed on? So unless I see something positive from them, my plan is to run from Duromax..


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## sportplumber (Nov 16, 2019)

Duromax like many other brands simply re-sell products made in China. Usually to their specs, but these are low end affordable (cheap) products. They are all the same. But if you are offended by their inability to answer your question, move on to the same device under another brand. It's a good question. Try their phone support. I have had luck with them but who knows where the actual truth lies? It's China...


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## LaSwamp (Mar 16, 2021)

That's a very odd reaction from them. That information is public, so it's not like you are asking them highly guarded trade secrets. THD is listed at < 5% which is a bit higher for an inverter, and the neutral is bonded to the frame. Not sure about parts availability. It's got an electric start with remote. The HF does not have a remote start. 

Sounds like you received an auto-generated response. Maybe they are self-conscience about their higher THD?


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## motormonkey (Jul 10, 2016)

"...I go to there site and submitted some questions... "

To whom did you submit the questions? Sounds like you tried to submit questions through the customer reviews link instead of customer service.


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## tabora (Sep 6, 2018)

crabjoe said:


> I saw this post from Tabora about the Duromax XP9000iH.


If you want answers, I usually find it best to ask those questions on a retail website rather than a vendor website. I see you've asked on the Home Depot site. Lowes, factorypure, generatorbible, Amazon and other sites are additional places to try. You may have to wait a week or so for responses.



crabjoe said:


> I go to there site and submitted some questions... "*What is the THD? Is the Neutral floating or Bonded?*


And the THD is less than 5%, neutral is bonded to frame by default - as listed in the specs on every site. For example: DuroMax XP9000iH 9000W Dual Fuel Inverter Generator: Spec Review & Deals


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## iowagold (Jan 22, 2020)

hey crabjoe take a look at northern tool
*click here for the northern tool gen section*
*we have had ok luck with the customer service over there..
and they have a good tech team.

if it was honda i could bury you in good hard specs...
other brands...
well...
not so much....*


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## Robh (Aug 19, 2019)

Has anybody EVER bought parts for a Chinese generator after the warranty was over? I don't exactly see them for sale.


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## LaSwamp (Mar 16, 2021)

Robh said:


> Has anybody EVER bought parts for a Chinese generator after the warranty was over? I don't exactly see them for sale.


Engine parts can be found since most seem to be Honda clones. The electrical stuff seems harder to come by.


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## drmerdp (Apr 10, 2018)

Robh said:


> Has anybody EVER bought parts for a Chinese generator after the warranty was over? I don't exactly see them for sale.


Some stuff is easy to find. AVR, carbs, fuel tanks... internals are another story.


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## iowagold (Jan 22, 2020)

it all depends on the mfg plant...
some are almost direct honda parts...

a real honda carb is its own thing...
most honda engines will run on clone parts..
just the afr will be off a bit...
most run a bit on the rich side.

the heck of it is the china gens you just replace the whole unit!
way cheaper than shop time to tear one down these days even at cheap 60/ hour small shops...
some shops now are at 120/ hour for good tech's

if it is under $1k usd just buy another if it has real hours on it... (over 1000 hours)
that works out to 60k miles if it was a car...
with no oil filter and no oil magnet...
maybe 2500 to 4000 hours max if the oil was changed right...

and if you do run the oil magnets and the better oil and alt fuel like LP or NG
10k hours or more! 
or a year and a half if it is ran 24/7 365 days

just some food for thought!


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## tabora (Sep 6, 2018)

I've swapped Honda parts onto a Generac and an LCT successfully, but every different situation requires assessment.


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## Airstreamer67 (Oct 3, 2020)

iowagold said:


> it all depends on the mfg plant...
> some are almost direct honda parts...
> 
> a real honda carb is its own thing...
> ...


Good points here. One observation:

I live in a hurricane-prone area, and I haven't run my home generators for an aggregate of a thousand hours in the past 25 years. 

I think most home gensets become defunct not by the number of operating hours they have on the clock, but by their existent years and the terrible effects of atrophy over time. 

Worrying about 10K hour longevity makes sense for a commercial application that needs their generators to operate for many thousands of hours a year. 

But it doesn't make sense for home service that depends 99.99% on their utility service and so might average 90 hours a year of home generator usage. Actually in my case, I believe my generator usage indicates closer to 40 hours a year due to utility outages, and most of those are concentrated in the several years we've had hurricanes or the rare ice storm.


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## iowagold (Jan 22, 2020)

cool that you have not had to run much...
the folks here in cedar rapids iowa got the wake up call last fall
with the BIG dechero 08/10/2020 search that on youtube.

lots of folks were out for more than a month...
and it was still warm temps...
they were low on food and fresh water and gasoline up that way after 3 days.
natural gas was shut off due to tree roots in the gas lines with up rooted trees.

a few up there had good plans.... but most did not.
now a few months later they are making good plans even on the hospitals and fire stations.
tri fuel and bi fuel options..


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## 50ShadesOfDirt (Oct 23, 2021)

Late to the party, but I run duromax xp12000eh gens on propane ... use them about 4 hours/day, and with reasonable maintenance (oil changes, spark plugs, filters, valve adjustment), they last me about two years.

Don't use the website email, just call the service/parts line direct, and you should get what you need. Warranty is 3 years on parts. I just call and describe a part failure, and they send a replacement to me. This works for misc items on up to a whole engine, although some items might take some back and forth with pics to document a failure.

The strategy I've adopted for reliability is to initially buy two of these, same make/model ... at $1k each, it's a sweet spot for me. If one is down for maintenance or repair, I flip to the other. If one dies a horrible death (usually engine or gen head), I strip every single part off of it and apply them to the others; this is also a reasonable way to recycle a generator, as they aren't good for much else if you only have a one-off. Every two years, add one to the mix ...

Hope this helps ...


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## 50ShadesOfDirt (Oct 23, 2021)

I unboxed a replacement engine that Duromax sent, for warranty on a 4-month-old crankcase that threw a part through the top; I was expecting a new crankcase with some internal components, and possibly OHV components ... with lots of re-assembly required to move things back onto the engine side.

What I got instead was an entire engine assembly, missing only the muffler! Carb attached, starter attached, various sensors and such, air filter, etc. Spark plug in place. Even the gen-head shroud is bolted in place ...

Wow ... all I have to do is reattach the gen-head side, and get it mounted in the open-frame ...

Duromax is indeed a (open-frame generator) company to consider, given their 3-year warranty, and this warranty servicing report. Having dis-assembled one of their open frame models completely, I can also report that they are easy to repair and work on ... 

I have never owned an inverter/generator model, so I have no idea how easy those would be to repair/work on ... they seem engineered to utilize every bit of a small amount of cubic space.


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## drmerdp (Apr 10, 2018)

50ShadesOfDirt said:


> I unboxed a replacement engine that Duromax sent, for warranty on a 4-month-old crankcase that threw a part through the top; I was expecting a new crankcase with some internal components, and possibly OHV components ... with lots of re-assembly required to move things back onto the engine side.
> 
> What I got instead was an entire engine assembly, missing only the muffler! Carb attached, starter attached, various sensors and such, air filter, etc. Spark plug in place. Even the gen-head shroud is bolted in place ...
> 
> ...


While obviously it would have been better to have not had an engine failure, at least it’s a straightforward swap for the replacement engine. Pics??


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## 50ShadesOfDirt (Oct 23, 2021)

Picture ...










Looks shiny at the moment ... once I bring a tool anywhere near it, oil and such will be everywhere ...


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## iowagold (Jan 22, 2020)

lol on the oil!
it needs a bit of dirt to look at home!
grin!


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## ajnuzzi (12 mo ago)

honestly that sounds like an automated response - try emailing them at [email protected] 
I've emailed them a few times and they've been pretty helpful


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