Westinghouse 13500 Peak Watt Tri-Fuel Home Backup Portable Generator, Remote Electric Start, Transfer Switch Ready, Gas, Propane, and Natural Gas Powered

Purchased this generator to use as a whole house backup after having dealt with several recent outages thanks to the oh-so-reliable Texas grid. Got a great price from Amazon and ordered over labor day weekend but was not expecting to see it for at least a month or two due to it being back ordered. Surprisingly I received a shipping notification from Amazon after only about two weeks. While this was great, the delivery company took almost two weeks to deliver and required three resets of the delivery appointment time which was a bit frustrating. Upon delivery the box had some tears and bruises so i wanted to check it out before accepting. The delivery guys were very patient while I opened the box and unpacked enough to determine that the generator was in pristine condition and had suffered no damage during shipment. Documentation is good and assembly to make run was very easy. Since hurricane season is winding down and the unit will hopefully go immediately into storage I used propane to test and do the break-in. The battery was pretty much fully charged and the unit started up on the first try. I am using a 50 amp inlet box and a interlock device on my breaker panel. The unit so far has run the majority of my house without showing any sign of strain or stress. Pending installation of a soft start device i have not tried to run a 3 ton central A/C unit, but with what I have seen so far I believe this generator should be able to handle it without a problem. The generator comes with pretty much every accessory needed. Although it weighs 230 lbs. the wheel kit and handle make it easy to move around. It comes with a propane hose with regulator in addition to a natural gas hose. Everything needed (except fuel obviously) to get this unit running was included in the box! So far I am very pleased with everything about this generator. It looks great, runs great, and comes equipped with every option I think I will ever need. Post testing update: During break-in and further testing I noticed that based on the on-board meter the no-load frequency was running about 63.5 Hz and with about 50% load only dropped to 62.8 Hz. This seems a bit high to me. I have battery back-ups on all of my computer equipment and all of them alarmed and kicked over to battery power whenever the frequency got above 62.9 Hz (The back-ups are all spec'd. at 60 +/- 3 Hz). I contacted Westinghouse support and asked if there was a way to reduce the generator rpm which would reduce the frequency. They advised that there was not a way to reduce the rpm's and furthermore that this unit was not designed to power "sensitive" electronics and that I should upgrade to a unit with lower total harmonic distortion or an inverter generator (both more expensive). I am very disappointed in this resolution. As this unit is advertised to be used as a home emergency back-up generator I think hey should be more upfront about its limitation to power electronics (almost every appliance in a modern household has electronic controls now). Also I cannot believe that they would produce a motor that does not have some way of adjusting rpm which would directly control the output frequency and voltage. While I do still believe that this is a powerful and quality generator, I am not comfortable that I am getting correct information from Customer Service and if I am, I am not sure this is a generator that should be used to power a home without risking damage to appliances.

A huge ice and snow storm was forecast for the weekend. Our whole house generator quit working. I ordered this generator on a Tuesday and it was sitting on my sidewalk by Friday afternoon. That was impressive. In the meantime, I ordered a 50 amp plug/ box and 50' of cable sufficient to handle the generator output. That was on my porch by Thursday afternoon. I ordered a metal shed large enough to hold a generator and a shed ventilation kit. They were on my porch by Saturday. I ordered a dual propane tank holder and an automatic valve kit and hoses to allow switching between two tanks without interrupting power. The Valve kit also required a Qcc1 nut propane gas fitting. All arrived before Saturday. I realized I would need an addition 25' of power cord so I ordered that on Friday and received it on Saturday. I had everything I needed before the storm except 12' of #4 AWG wire so I bought that from a box store. I wired the box through my current generator to take advantage of the transfer switch. The box worked great. I ordered the 10,500 watt Westinghouse generator and in retrospect I wish I has spent a little more to get the 14,500. There were multiple reasons for ordering this make and model: - price/power output. - trifuel capable (propane, natural gas, gasoline) - company reputation - warranty - 50 amp capable, 10500 watt peak power - battery/starter vs just a pull cord - remote start - included wheels (some don't) and a handle to move it around - the number of hours you get from a 20 or 30 pound propane tank. My first reaction was to be impressed. It was delivered by Amazon as projected and placed on my sidewalk. This unit is heavy. I was impressed with the few things I had to do to get the unit ready and the packaging was very organized - put the front legs on, back wheels on, connected the battery and added oil. I hooked up the propane tank with the included hose. The tools, oil and funnel were included as well as easy to follow directions. To start it, all that was required was to turn on the battery switch, turn on the starter switch and then press start. It started right up. This was one of the easiest pieces of equipment I've ever used. After hooking up the power cords and restarting it, I tested the output at the plug box and at the transfer switch. I read 241 volts at the transfer switch. I could not ask for more for the money. Only time will tell how it holds up but I'm optimistic. We didn't need to use it this past weekend, but we're ready for future outages. I would recommend this unit for someone needing power during utility outages. It doesn't take the place of a whole house generator, but that was not it's purpose. It is mobile, but it is heavy. It might not be the option for daily moving on and off of a job site, but if you choose to do so, it'll handle a lot of your needs. I unboxed and set up this unit by myself in less than 1/2 hour. All of the other things I had to do took a bit more time so it was refreshing for it to be so easy to use. For someone needing emergency power, this is an impressive generator.

The generator was delivered very professionally. We followed the easy set-up instructions to prepare the machine for its first use. I suggest you have two people to help lift the machine onto blocks to install the wheels and stabilizing feet. The battery was charged and the remote already paired. Oil and a funnel were conveniently included in the supplies. Also included were hoses for both a propane tank and to connect to a natural gas supply. The machine started on the first try. It ran well. It has a large 9.5 gallon gas tank. It was easy to move with the folding handle.

This is a great unit! Easy assembly and easy start. Fairly light and easy to move around and store in the garage. Great variety of plugs and the remote start is a true bonus.

Great product for the price and solid build! Runs great on natural gas and runs my 1300 sf home.

In general, the construction is solid and it was easy to assemble. It turned on the first time without any problems. For my break in test, I ran it for 4 hours on gasoline before turning it off. Then I tried on LPG for another 2 hours. Then 1 hour on natural gas. I was very happy with how it ran on each fuel source. One negative is that it doesn't have the feature of turning on without the battery when gasoline is used. I understand this is a safety feature, but I don't see this as good design since it's meant for emergencies.