Customer Reviews

ETQ PG30P11 3,500 Watt 7 HP 208cc 4-Cycle OHV Propane Powered Portable Generator

5 star:		(14)
4 star:		(20)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

The generator arrived with the plastic air cleaner cover severely cracked. This seemed to be due to a somewhat flimsy/unprotected part, but primarily rough shipping. It is unlikely to get damaged during normal use. Anyway, a quick call to Amazon directed me to the manufacturer. The manufacturer Parts Dept offered to send me a replacement for free, and two weeks later it arrived. Fortunately, it was pretty easy to install, because the parts diagram in the owner manual is like a bad copy of a fax, and doesn't depict the air cleaner assembly anyway.

I hooked it up to an LPG tank and followed the instructions for a cold start in the manual, although the language was somewhat confusing (e.g. it took me a while to figure out that the "resistance air valve handle" referred to the choke.) After pulling the start handle multiple times, the best I could do was get it to run for maybe a second. Thinking I might have "flooded" the engine, I endeavored to remove the spark plug (the location of which is nowhere to be found in the user manual, although not hard to find if you are even remotely familiar with small engines,) where I discovered that the plastic plug cap was broken, although the electrical connection seemed to be fine. Using the included spark plug wrench was an adventure, because it requires considerable maneuvering to get it into the small space above the spark plug. The wrench handle was also too short to provide sufficient torque to unscrew the plug, so I resorted to using a long screwdriver through the wrench hole. That worked, but the thing still didn't start.

The next morning I tried again, but this time without going through the cold-start priming procedure, and it started immediately. It has been fine ever since. I tried out a few tools and lights as a load, and they all worked fine. The thing is quite noisy, but that was no surprise.

So, here's my summary:

The BAD:
1. Some parts flimsy
2. Owner's manual incomplete, confusing in places
3. Noisy

The GOOD:
1. Friendly, no-hassle customer service
2. It works, once you figure it out
3. Owner's manual and customer service info available online
4. One heck of a bargain- all it takes is avoiding having the freezer thaw out during one power outage to make it worthwhile
5. Doesn't stink like gas or diesel-powered generators
6. Basic tools included

The NEUTRAL:
1. It really needs wheels if you want to move it easily. I bought a cheap furniture dolly to wheel it around.
2. It would be nice if they had a way of securing an LPG tank to the unit away from the engine heat (on the generator side, maybe)
3. Requires small funnel with flexible and/or long spout to fill oil.

This is a very good value given competitors offerings. I have used it for about 2 hours, mostly to break in the engine, it starts well, runs quietly and smoothly, and seems to be very well designed and built. Two things worth pointing out:

1) this is a single pole generator, that means 120 volt only, no 240 volt capability. This seems to be incorrectly stated in the description as "(1)120/240 volts 14-20R", where in fact this has a "(1) 120 volt L5 30R". If you want things like deep well pumps to work, they probably won't as most are 240 volt. This can be verified by zooming in on the enlarged photo that Amazon provides (click on the photo of the generator, in the new window zoom in on the receptacles and volt meter)

2) this unit weighs about 100 lbs and does not come with a wheel kit (as advertised, a hand truck solves this nicely).

If you want to use this for emergency power backup, check your generator transfer panel to insure it is designed for this amperage at 120 volt. Alternatively, if you have a 240 volt transfer panel, and you only use 120 volt circuits on it, this problem can be solved when making up the patch cord from the generator to the panel: wire the 120 volt generator plug 'hot' wire to both 'hot poles' of the 240 volt transfer panel plug. This will allow all 120 volt circuits to work on the generator transfer panel, but will not give any current to 240 volt circuits (my situation). If unsure, I would recommend consulting with an electrician about your needs before making the purchase, as well as having the electrician make up the patch cord for you.

If you want to use it for power tools (etc.), it also comes with a 120 volt, 20 amp standard outlet, allowing direct plug in capability for most 120 volt devices (no electrician necessary if this is your situation).

Very pleased I made this purchase and would highly recommend this generator to others.


UPDATE: April 2009

Amazon seems to have fixed the description to indicate 120 volt capability only. They also raised the price $30, from $419.99 (what I paid) to $449.99 (both prices included free shipping). I continue to be pleased I made this purchase.

I don't know what inspired me to purchase this generator, other than having shopped for one casually for a while, but my timing was impeccable. We just had a massive ice storm in Kentucky that decimated power lines with fallen tree limbs layered with inches of thick ice. This generator came on the 6th day without electricity. I added oil to the generator, cranked it up and ran it for 4 days (12-14 hours per day). I couldn't be more pleased. Since all the gas stations within a reasonable distance were closed, using propane was an excellent alternative. I did break the plastic choke lever upon initial use, but I found I never had to use it - and if I ever do there is enough left to allow me to choke the engine. Regardless, I didn't buy it for wheels but to provide electricity and it has done so in an admirable manner soldiering on (as I said) for 4 days. I wish I had bought this earlier. It is the best priced and powered LPG/Propane generator that is available. If you need one - and who doesn't at some time - this is it. Powered my freezer, refrigerator, satellite/TV (you must have some comforts), a light or two and other essentials. Luckily I had a ventless LPG fireplace or I would have really tested it with a heavy resistive load. I was very pleased with this generator and would recommend it to anyone.

Living in Florida and working with rentals means we use a portable generator on a regular basis...if the power isn't out due to a thunderstorm, we just need portable power to run a few tools etc while working on a house or doing a repair during vacancies. It saves a lot of time and money not having to turn on the electricity for every small item especially when a house is empty or between tenants so when this portable propane powered generator showed up on my recommended list, I jumped at the opportunity to pick it up at what seemed like a very reasonable price.

Most propane powered generators are huge, whole house systems far more than what we need but really like the ability to use propane rather than gasoline. Propane tends to store much longer and is great to have a generator that we can just plug into the propane from the grill should an outage hit without warning. So, great idea and nice price. Unfortunately, the actual item isn't working as hoped.

Item shipped out quickly and arrived without incident. Box looked fine. Hook-up to propane was simple enough but when turned on...this little bugger packs one heck of a punch! First tested it with a portable compressor - which it would NOT run. Tried a tile saw - same problem. This is supposed to be 3000 continuuous watts with a max/peak of 3,500 which should easily run either of the above items. Neither worked but it did shock the living daylights out of my better half. Nothing serious - but certainly unexpected and quite annoying. It should be noted, this was on a garage floor without any moisture at the time so water was not an issue whatsoever.

Because this is a power engine, Amazon does not accept automatic returns so I'm working with eastern tool company to "fix it". Frankly, I'm not happy to be forced to take a brand new machine in for a repair rather than have a replacement sent out given I've not even had an opportunity to use the machine for more than a few minutes. Straight out of the box this doesn't work...if I had purchased from a regular store it would be returned and a new one provided so I don't understand the rationale of the company to force a new customer to chase around having a repair instead.

The good...it's surprisingly quiet.

The bad...doesnt' work, packs a mean punch that will literally "shock" you, cannot return to Amazon and must now work with company to have it "repaired".

Bottom line...doesn't work and company will not replace it but instead opts to have customers take a defective item for repair instead.

If I had it to do over again...I would not purchase. Problems occassionally arise but the company is not responsive to the needs of clients especially when the item is defective out of the box.

On the other hand, I highly recommend my other portable generator purchase...wonderful little workhorse with zero problems. Sadly, it's not propane powered but for those seeking a solid value take a look at the Honeywell inverter generator [...]
Save your time and trouble. Great idea, great price, defective item and under-whelming service.

UPDATE: After several calls and speaking with different people this company (ETQ) agreed to take back the defective generator and send out a replacement. They supplied a shipping/tracking number and had UPS pick-up the generator from the front door at no cost to me (as compared to having to pay bench fees for the one local provider in their contract and lug a 100 pound plus generator with oil already in it around town).

I was told a new generator would be sent immediately. Two weeks later I was still waiting and finally had Amazon customer service intervene at which point the new generator was sent out the very next day. After standard UPS delivery, it was just over 1 month until I received a working unit.

Now, the good news is the unit does actually work! It's surprisingly quiet and so far, no nasty electric shocks like the first unit. Better yet, it actually is able to run a compressor while the first wasn't. Hook-up is easy and seems to perform as expected with a quieter than expected performance.

Bottom Line - Quality seems to be an issue and customer service could certainly be a lot better. Plan to be persistant if you have a problem...but it will eventually be fixed. I can't comment on the long term durability of the product but will try to post an update some time in the future.

I bought this generator on amazon a couple of weeks ago primarily to use in our toybox trailor while we have had a couple of generators through the years this the first propane unit ive owned. for the money I am extremely satisfied with this genset to date I have only 3 hrs. or so on the unit and am still breaking it in, but so far so good. it powers everything in the trailer, including the 10,500 a/c unit, small refrigerator, battery charger, and small tv at the same time It seems the biggest draw is our microwave oven which you can here bog down the generator when you turn it on It also is clean power which I mean they advertise the harmonics of the electricity is witin limits so that you dont have to worry about damaging your plugged in laptop. Ok the second part of this review if you decide to buy it. This may or may not be a help to you 1. get the wheel kit made for this generator the holes for the wheels and handle are already there and page 9 of your owners manual tells you how to install it ,its pretty easy the wheel kit is overpriced, I bought mine from Northern Tools because amazon didnt have it. 2. When yoou get the generator the translation in the owners manual can be confusing first when you get it out of the box there are 2 red metal L shaped brackets on the bottom that need to be removed, they are bolted on just for shipping to avoid damaging the rubber motor mounts. 3. It needs oil before you start it. it takes about 6/10ths of a quart, I personally am using valvoline duraguard 5w 30w synthetic blend while Its being broke in and will switch to full synthetic after the first oil change. 4. When you start it the first time cold it will refer to moving choke to choke position that is labeled on the genset as closed (full left position) then back to right after it starts and warms a bit mine started on the second pull before that the red buttom on top of the generator needs to be pushed for barely a second you will hear the gas flow when you push it. follow the manual for anything else, I really impressed with this little guy, Noise level for a 4 stroke is about 20% more than a honda inverter generator but about 20% less than its equivelent gas powered generator. For the money I think its a steal, I would give it 5 stars but am bummed about having to get the wheel kit separate, but you are going to want the wheels The part number for the wheel kit is 124-6429

First one I got was severily damaged in shipping. Called Amazon and they sent one out within a week and had the old one picked up.

Afer receiving the replacement the generator would not run unless the choke was on. I called Eastern Tools and they said it was the regulator and sent one out. Took 5 minutes to replace.

The unit runs great so far. It is pretty quiet and doesn't stink like a gas generator.

I bought the unit for our 5th wheel. It runs the Microwave or A/C, TV and charges the battery. Great because I don't have to carry a gas can; I can just plug it into one of the onboard propane bottles.

If you plan on using this for RVing you will need to use the 25 amp outlet. For this you will need to either make or buy an adapter.

I got this for $419 including shipping. It was annoying that it took 3 weeks for me to get one that ran, but Amazon and Eastern tools were good at taking care of the issues.

You cannot beat this for the price anywhere. I highly recommend to anyone needing an inexpensive generator to take RVing, camping, or for any other small generator needs.

If you are also considering the ETQ TG32P12 gas generator, note that this unit lacks 240V, the wheel kit, and all components that allow it to run off gasoline (carb, fuel tank, fuel shutoff). The TG32P12 supports up to 14A on each 120V leg (and 14A of 240V), whereas the PG30P11 supports 25A of 120V through the L5-30 receptacle and 20A of 120V through the GFCI receptacle. More useful if you attach more devices to a single cord, versus running multiple cords. The windings and control panel wiring of the PG30P11 are different to support the higher amperage, and it also comes with an analog voltmeter. What looks like a fuel tank on top is actually a stamped panel with a propane regulator mounted underneath. In place of the carb is a simple throttle body and choke. This would be a more comparable value to the TG32P12 if ETQ included the wheel kit, which doesn't seem separately orderable.

As with the TG32P12, if you remove the 3 bolts holding the pull starter assembly, you can rotate the handle one or two positions counterclockwise to put it in a better position and reduce wear on the pull cord. The manual is vague about when to press the propane priming button, how long, and use of the choke. After trying them, the generator became impossible to start. I removed the air cleaner cover and let it sit for a short while, then pulled again and it started. To make sure it wasn't a fluke, I shut it down and restarted it with the same procedure. Unless you're using it in extreme weather, just open the choke fully and pull, and gradually close the choke as it warms up and the idle stabilizes.

The factory wiring of the control panel is less than ideal. Looking at the schematic in the manual, the 20A and 25A circuit protectors are wired in parallel, meaning that you can connect devices to both the L5-30 and GFCI receptacles and attempt to draw a combined 45A. You can correct this by wiring the generator hot/black to the 25A protector, and the L5-30 and 20A protector on the load side. Wire the GFCI hot/black to the load side of the 20A protector. If the L5-30 receptacle draws more than 25A, the 25A protector trips and both receptacles are shut off. If the GFCI receptacle draws more than 20A, the 20A protector trips shutting off the GFCI receptacle but the L5-30 receptacle is unaffected. You can wire the voltmeter to the two unused upper terminals of the GFCI receptacle. If either protector or the GFCI trips, the voltmeter goes to zero indicating a problem.

Nonetheless, a great little portable generator.

For $419 and free shipping? How can you go wrong? It came faster than what it was supposed to. I put oil in, hooked up the propane and fired it right up. I ran it for an hour to test it under load and had no issues. I went to walmart and bought wheels for it and put them on in a few minutes. I used a piece of metal I had laying around for the other end. I spent $15 to put it on wheels. The description on the amazon site said nothing about wheels but the instructions do. Maybe they have plans to include one at a later time. The frame has brackets for the axle so that was a big plus. I plan on using this for camping and no power at the house. On the box it states that the noise level is 75db. That is loud, but when I ran it, I didn't think it was near that level. The only thing that I would recommend to amazon would be to make the description better. I plan on keeping it and would recommend it to others.

I'm very satisfied so far. It does everything it says it will, and has an hour meter as well. Not too loud, runs what I need to run. Did I mention that it comes with a 30 adapter plug so that I can run my RV trailer off it.

Like most people who purchase this propane generator I was interested in something to keep the essentials going during power outages. While those are infrequent in my part of the Houston area, it only takes one. Propane is a more costly alternative to gasoline generators, but I didn't want to have to worry about gas going bad and carb issues.

After reading the reviews on this generator I was a little nervous about getting damaged goods and poor customer service. That being said, the generator arrived in excellent condition. Seems they have added a couple of red brackets to secure the bottom frame to the generator proper for shipping. These brackets don't allow the generator to wobble on the rubber dampers during shipping, but must be removed prior to use. I actually found the instructions fairly straight forward for Chinese translation. I did call customer service at Northern Tool to make sure I was supposed to remove the red brackets, as that was an add on instruction, less clear than most. Got a live body on the 2nd ring, who passed my call to maintenance. The gentleman had not realized that they were already shipping this item with the extra support brackets, but indicated they had been having problems with shipping damage. I then asked the guy how I could get a wheel kit for this generator, he transferred me right back to the customer service number where I was told one could could be ordered there. I had tried to contact customer service by email, but my message would not go through. The email link may be dead, but over the phone these folk have been pleasant and professional.

Easy to see how the plastic parts could bounce into the box and break during shipping without the new brace. Added oil, a small funnel helps, put the lever on choke, and only a short press on the prime button on top (not up to 2 seconds as instructions say)and generator started on the 3rd pull (don't forget to take it off choke once it gets started).

I've now run it for the 5 hours leading up to the first oil change. I don't anticipate any problems with that. Last week I warned my neighbor to expect noise as I broke in a generator, I let it run about 3 1/2 hours. The thing sounds much like my lawnmower, maybe not quite so loud. Later the neighbor said she had not noticed the noise at all. It starts easy, had my diminutive wife start it on her 3rd pull after showing her what to do. You do need to prime it after disconnecting from the propane source, and be gentle with the plastic choke lever. I can move it around well enough, but at just over 110 lbs., I'll order the wheel kit(a shame it is not part of the deal). That way the wife can handle it, and its easier to deal with when the engine is hot.

Now I just hope I don't need it. I can always take it to the boonies with my trailer.

I purchased this generator specifically for my 30 foot camper and so far I have been pleasantly surprised by it's performance and ease of use. It easily powers my 13,500 BTU AC with room to spare utilizing the 25Amp plug although you will need an adapter. It starts easily and is relatively quite for a generator of it's size although not as quite as some of the fully enclosed generators. The sound of the AC in the camper overpowered the sound of the generator; however, it may not be quite enough for a campground setting.

Utilizing propane vs gasoline is a definite plus when it comes to storage because propane doesn't degrade like gasoline.

One thing I would definitely recommend is following the break in schedule because the engine appears to ship with a small amount of light weight preservative oil. Additionally, I installed some wheels on the unit to make it easier to roll around.

One review mentioned being shocked; however, I have never experienced any shock from the unit. Perhaps the unit that produced the shock was defective in some way. I would definitely recommend grounding the unit so the GFCI can properly function.