A-iPower SUA12000ED 12000 Watt Portable Generator Heavy Duty Gas & Propane Powered with Electric Start for Jobsite, RV, ED, Whole House Backup Emergency

I replaced an essentially new, GENERAC generator, with this beast. I found that I had miscalculated on what the GNERAC generator could handle, and I needed a generator with more power handling. I also was thrilled when I saw that this had an electric start, as I was not fond of having to pull the cord to start the GENERAC generator.I had made several calls to the manufacturer, asking questions, and they were more than happy to answer my questions. Thery were always there when I called. For some of my questions, they went out of their way to answer me, which I appreciated. I have faith in their product, and their effort to help customers. When I received this unit, and got it set-up for running, my first question was would it start immediately, from just pressing the 'run' button. Yep, it started running, with no issue. I was thrilled. I gave the GENERAC to the Red Cross. I am following the procedure that was recommended years ago, by several mechanics, and by GENERAC, which calls for the generator to be ran at least 30 minutes, once per month. This keeps the engine parts properly lubricated, and for this particular model, it keeps the battery charged. The battery would otherwise lose its' charge, over time. Simply put, you cannot just buy the generator and park it, to be forgotten, until you need it. It is not even recommended to do that with an automobile. You need to run that engine. I am very happy with the looks, the build quality, and the operational ease of this generator.One that to mention. Use 'fresh gasoline'. A mistake would be to just fill a container with gasoline, and keep using it all year, just to start your engine for a 30 min. run.Gasoline can go bad. The following is a typical comment about old gasoline:"Properly stored gasoline can last up to half a year.Though it naturally degrades and loses combustibility over time due to oxidation (exposure to oxygen) and evaporation of its volatile compounds, gasoline usually lasts three to six months when properly stored in a labeled, tightly sealed plastic container or metal tank of the capacity recommended by your fire department (usually no more than five gallons). The purity of the gas and the use of fuel stabilizers can shorten or lengthen its life, however.".You can extend the life of your gasoline by pouring a fuel additive, such as STP fuel stabilizer ( sold on Amazon ) into FRESH gasoline. This will extend the life from one to three years. Remember, use this with FRESH gasoline, and devise a method of keeping track of when you added the additive, so that you know when to dump 'old' gasoline. For myself, with the additive, I shoot for the one year mark. I also use premium gas, for better quality control.

I bought this unit for the occasional power outage and have used it for 3 hours of outage on two occasions plus about 20 short runs for testing and wiring it to the house. I don't have long term usage but when I needed it, it worked perfectly. I did use it to power a 36000 BTU (3.5 ton) central air conditioner along with a 2 HP deep well pump. I started the central air first and then added the pump load along with some miscellaneous small loads. The operating load of all this was about 6kW, well within the generator's limits but my original question was whether the generator could handle the starting load of the air conditioner and the pump starting load with the air conditioner running. Those brief starting loads can be 3 to 5 times the running load. The generator slowed down for a second or two but then handled the load easily.Other observations: The manual is clear and has full diagrams of the electrical system. The unit appears to be well constructed with a solid frame and a solid fold out handle. It started on the first pull and starts quickly with the electric starter. Voltage was 121 Volts with no load and 119 under half load. Light load frequency is 60.5 Hz. It is fairly loud with a combination of mechanical, air intake and well muffled exhaust noise but I thought it was reasonable for the size. It not going to be in your living room anyway. The only thing it is missing is load metering but that comes with higher priced units.In sum, a good quality unit for a very reasonable price.I measured the frequency with a more accurate meter and found the unit was running at 62.5 Hz with almost no variation from a 200 Watt load to a 4000 Watt load. This small error (4%) was the reason an  APC Back-UPS 550VA UPS Battery Backup & Surge Protector (BE550G)  would not steadily pass the load to the generator but would cycle every 10 seconds back and forth between generator power and its internal battery power, eventually running its battery down. A replacement tripp lite unit bought from Amazon works well and passes to load to the generator.

I ordered this generator back in 2020 and had used it only a very few times, it had a total of 5 hours worth of run time on it. I keep ethanol free gas in it, start and test it every few months, and keep the battery charged.Last week we had a storm come through that wreaked havoc on the electrical system and down went the power. I got the generator out, expecting to maybe need it for a few hours....... 74 hours later our power was restored and this generator never missed a beat. It is strong enough to run my water heater, my stove, and even the clothes dryer if needed (one at a time of course). It does this while keeping the lights, refrigerator, and freezers running. Truly this generator turned a major problem into a minor inconvenience.The only "complaint" is that it is really loud. There are definitely quieter generators on the market but none can touch the price.