# Portable Duromax dual fuel only hot on one leg.



## shadowmnt (Mar 27, 2021)

Just got my new 5250 generator hooked up. Runs great, electric start, whoohoo! However, my electrician saw that the voltage meter on the unit only showed 124 v. He checked the unit and sure enough....only hot on one leg.. Going to call the sales folk on Monday but thought I better check with someone to see if it's something simple. House panel and manual transfer switch checked out good. It ran the 110 stuff fine, of course. But need that 220 for the well. Any thoughts? thanks


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## Old man here (Nov 5, 2020)

Open the electrical panel up on the generator and check for a disconnected wire. Make sure all of the connections are tight. If nothing is found there, pull the end bell off of the generator head and check the wiring there.


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## shadowmnt (Mar 27, 2021)

Thanks. Will do so if not still in warranty. Should be tho. I don't dare touch it until I talk to the seller.


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## iowagold (Jan 22, 2020)

this gen set is only 120 vac!
good reason to only put out that kinda power!
*click here for the duropower site*
*take it back and exchange it fast!*


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## iowagold (Jan 22, 2020)

swap it for this model
*click here for the duro 220 gen*
*model XP5500EH 
can you get by with 17.5 amps @240vac for the well pump?
make sure before you exchange!
you might need closer to 30 amps for the well pump...
what size breaker is on the well pump power feed in the breaker panel?
i would go at least 20% over that just for the pump run..
plus any thing else that needs to run at the same time.....
pumps suck lot's of start power!*



*GASOLINE*PEAK WATTS5,500RUNNING WATTS4,500PEAK AMPS @ 120V45.83RUNNING AMPS @120V37.50PEAK AMPS @ 240V22.92RUNNING AMPS @ 240V18.75


*PROPANE*PEAK WATTS5,225RUNNING WATTS4,275PEAK AMPS @ 120V43.54RUNNING AMPS @ 120V35.63PEAK AMPS @ 240V21.77RUNNING AMPS @ 240V17.81


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## shadowmnt (Mar 27, 2021)

One of the 120v plugs is hot, the other is not, so obviously something is wrong ? If I understand you correctly, you're saying this unit does NOT produce 240v if selected?
Dedicated circuit is a 30 amp breaker in the main panel.


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## shadowmnt (Mar 27, 2021)

shadowmnt said:


> One of the 120v plugs is hot, the other is not, so obviously something is wrong ? If I understand you correctly, you're saying this unit does NOT produce 240v if selected?
> Dedicated circuit is a 30 amp breaker in the main panel. From several customer reviews/comments there is a 'switch' to change from 120v to 240v??? and several have stated it is capable of 240v. So now am confused and concerned until tomorrow when I can contact the seller. This is my panel. push switches have no resistance to 'on' and 'off' without the unit running apparently. Don't know if my electrician tried this or not. Will have to contact him as well.


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## shadowmnt (Mar 27, 2021)

well pump 30amp double pole


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## Old man here (Nov 5, 2020)

shadowmnt said:


> View attachment 9008


Your generator does not have the 240V option if those are the only plugs on your panel.


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## shadowmnt (Mar 27, 2021)

wow...that's what I was afraid of after reading here. Makes me furious as I specifically told the salesperson I primarily wanted it for my well. And many of the 'reviews' and comments on the page of THIS unit made reference to that it DID have that option. Can't believe this. It's brand new and I bought it last fall and just was able to arrange it to be wired, etc. Thanks all....sigh....


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## shadowmnt (Mar 27, 2021)

Still don't understand why one 120v plug was hot and other not... can the generator be reconfigured to BE capable of 240v?


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## Old man here (Nov 5, 2020)

shadowmnt said:


> Still don't understand why one 120v plug was hot and other not... can the generator be reconfigured to BE capable of 240v?


I do not think so. The only way to find out would to be to finf the wiring diagrams for both models and compare, then you would have to modify the wiring and add the correct outlet.
Best bet is to sell it and get what you need.


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## iowagold (Jan 22, 2020)

to the op yup the socket you show in the pix on the gen set is a 30 amp rv at 125 vac.
ok if you have a little pop up camper and some smaller rv's that are only 125 vac.

and no on converting it to a 240 vac.
there are ways but the power loss is too high.

yup seek out the guy who sold it to you!

we need to know exactly how much power you need!
so what is the breaker size for the well pump?


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## shadowmnt (Mar 27, 2021)

yep...thanks ....dang it.... I've been noodle smacked. Won't exchange . Told me to sell it. They admitted that their website (and their sales rep 'sometimes' ) is sometimes not clear on this unit. Ads state..... 'runs your home a/c' , ETC ETC. Despite specifically telling the rep I wanted it for my deep well pump, never said a word to me about this 120v only status. We've had many generators over the years and this is a first that didn't have both capacities. One place told me that generators 'under 5500 w almost never have 220v'...Right AFTER tell me about a 5000w model they had that DID.
Oh well. Live and learn...thanks for the heads up! We didn't even think about that until it was mentioned, and my electrician called me and said for me to check the panel because he thought it seemed 'odd'....he'd not heard of one like this either...so slow to realize...

pump is a double pole 30 amp


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## tabora (Sep 6, 2018)

shadowmnt said:


> Still don't understand why one 120v plug was hot and other not... can the generator be reconfigured to BE capable of 240v?


Likely one of the two 120V circuit breakers was tripped... That can't be configured for 240V - it's a 120V (small RV) generator.


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## iowagold (Jan 22, 2020)

shadowmnt said:


> yep...thanks ....dang it.... I've been noodle smacked. Won't exchange . Told me to sell it. They admitted that their website (and their sales rep 'sometimes' ) is sometimes not clear on this unit. Ads state..... 'runs your home a/c' , ETC ETC. Despite specifically telling the rep I wanted it for my deep well pump, never said a word to me about this 120v only status. We've had many generators over the years and this is a first that didn't have both capacities. One place told me that generators 'under 5500 w almost never have 220v'...Right AFTER tell me about a 5000w model they had that DID.
> Oh well. Live and learn...thanks for the heads up! We didn't even think about that until it was mentioned, and my electrician called me and said for me to check the panel because he thought it seemed 'odd'....he'd not heard of one like this either...so slow to realize...
> 
> pump is a double pole 30 amp


so what all do you need to run at the same time when on gen set?
i make the 30 amps at 240vac for the pump to be 7200 watts.
plus any other thing you need to run.
i would be looking at the 10,000 watt running gen sets with a 50 amp inlet service.
that pump is going to take a lot on the start power.
or larger depending on any hvac compressors you wish to run.


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## shadowmnt (Mar 27, 2021)

With my manual transfer switch I wouldn't be running anything else at the time I was running the pump. Just to fill the pressure tank. I can choose which circuits with it. And we've run well pumps many times in the past with 5k generators (did alot of living in campers while building a house, lol) so the pump would not be running long. Well guy said it's just the start up on it that would require a good amount of power.....Seems he's right considering how many gens we've had to do that with. We don't usually have long term outages in my neck of the woods, but a few hours without water is annoying at best. And I have a guest cabin and those folks REALLY don't understand 'no water'.. wouldn't be using any HVAC. Burn wood, cook with propane, and sure can stand the summer heat with fans if I have to. It's really to keep us in water in an outage. Have livestock, plus hate using the woods !!


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## somedumbguy (Sep 17, 2020)

shadowmnt said:


> yep...thanks ....dang it.... I've been noodle smacked. Won't exchange . Told me to sell it. They admitted that their website (and their sales rep 'sometimes' ) is sometimes not clear on this unit. Ads state..... 'runs your home a/c' , ETC ETC. Despite specifically telling the rep I wanted it for my deep well pump, never said a word to me about this 120v only status. We've had many generators over the years and this is a first that didn't have both capacities. One place told me that generators 'under 5500 w almost never have 220v'...Right AFTER tell me about a 5000w model they had that DID.
> Oh well. Live and learn...thanks for the heads up! We didn't even think about that until it was mentioned, and my electrician called me and said for me to check the panel because he thought it seemed 'odd'....he'd not heard of one like this either...so slow to realize...
> 
> pump is a double pole 30 amp


please note that in the picture of the outlets you provided, all the outlets are labeled "120V", not 240. My guess is that your electrician mistook the 30amp L5-30 plug on the generator, which is commonly used for 120V RV connection, for a 240V outlet that has two "hots" plus ground and used to connect 240V electric dryers, ranges.


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## shadowmnt (Mar 27, 2021)

Yes, we became aware of that, as yes, did not 'notice' as the focus was just to get it hooked up. It was embarrassing for BOTH of us believe me. Just never ran across a 5k generator that did NOT have both 120 and 240....We both laughed and said geez...it's ALL over the paperwork, on the panel...just never 'saw' it....Not too happy with the seller still. They 'description' is so glowing about how this unit will 'run your household a/c' etc etc. I realize that some folks have 110v window units , but that's not what that statement 'implies'. And when someone tells you they want to run a deep well pump....yea yea....salesman just sell. They are not always technical up on their products.. Hope I can sell it for something close to what I paid. It's really cute!!


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## somedumbguy (Sep 17, 2020)

shadowmnt said:


> Yes, we became aware of that, as yes, did not 'notice' as the focus was just to get it hooked up. It was embarrassing for BOTH of us believe me. Just never ran across a 5k generator that did NOT have both 120 and 240....We both laughed and said geez...it's ALL over the paperwork, on the panel...just never 'saw' it....Not too happy with the seller still. They 'description' is so glowing about how this unit will 'run your household a/c' etc etc. I realize that some folks have 110v window units , but that's not what that statement 'implies'. And when someone tells you they want to run a deep well pump....yea yea....salesman just sell. They are not always technical up on their products.. Hope I can sell it for something close to what I paid. It's really cute!!


 Surprised that store didn't try to sell you another generator just like it so you could wire them together to get 240! (Somewhere on this site is a post that explains why that doesn't work!)


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