WEN 56352, 3000 Running Watts/3500 Starting Watts, Gas Powered Portable Generator

I really liked this unit at first, It still starts great and seems well built. That being said, I only used it three times with a total run time of 2 hours. The last three times I tried to use it the engine started very easily but no electricity. So after researching the problem I found others who had the same issue. I took their advice and did the drill test to energizer the generator portion and it worked no problem. Put the unit away and pulled it out again about a month later and no electricity. This time I can not get it to generate no matter what I do.Had it looked at and am told the brushes are bad. After 2 to 3 hours the brushes should not have gone bad. Would not buy again,

Did a lot of research on 3000-4000 watt generators before purchasing this one. The 2-year warranty was a huge selling point as well as the positive reviews I read online. Also, being able to call Wen right here in the states for troubleshooting or parts was another big plus.It doesn't state an initial break-in period in the pretty decent owner's manual, but general consensus online concerning portable generators seems to be to run it for 2-4 hours under varying load, then change the oil. I initially put Penzoil 5W-30 oil in and broke it in. I noted that it was on the noisy side. Louder than a lawnmower for sure.Did the oil change and put in Mobil-1 full synthetic and it lowered the noise level appreciably.Just spent a weekend at the beach with this genny. Pulled various loads out of it from about 100 to 1,200 watts. It ran for 8 hours in the sun/100-degree heat and used about 2/3rds of a tank. No issues whatsoever.One thing to note that I learned the hard way. Do not transport the genny with a full tank of gas. On the top left-hand corner of the tank you'll see a little metal box and a tube that runs from it to the airbox. This is the fuel overflow tube. If the gas expands due to heat or you overfill the tank OR you transport the genny with a full tank sloshing around, the tube will do it's job and vent the gas into the airbox. The airbox has a hole in the bottom specifically to vent the "overflow" gas.When I got to the beach, the bed of my truck was full of gas and I saw gas dripping out of the genny. I freaked out as the thing ran fine during break in. After a few minutes of checking things out, I understood that the generator was doing exactly what it was designed to do. NO STARS taken off for my mistake.I bought this to run the fridge/freezer/window AC should the power go out. I have every confidence it will. Highly recommended. BTW, Wen 56406 universal generator cover, small, fits this unit like a glove.

I bought this generator because it was the smallest one I could find that had a 220 volt output. We have a well at our home and water is always a priority during an emergency. This is just large enough to run the well by itself (Huge surge on the well) or it will easily run a fridge, freezer, and a whole house of LED lights. It would also easily run the furnace fan and control unit so we could have heat in a winter storm.I bought this generator on a lightning deal roughly 5 years ago. Since the nature of emergencies demands you have it before you need it I bought it just in case. It stayed in the basement under the stairs for all that time. A derecho blew from Iowa to Ohio a little over a week ago now (8-10-2020) and we were smack dab in the middle of the path. We lost power for 8 days in total. A couple hours after the storm I pulled this dood out of the basement to our generator box that I had installed (just in case!) and attempted to fuel it up. My wife tells me she smells gas, and to my dismay I can hear it leaking out! There was a small hole in the bottom of the tank just above the gasoline engine. It is well protected under there so there is NO way it could have happened at my home or during shipping. I was able to clean it up and apply some loc-tite brand stick epoxy. It now has a couple oil changes done already and something like 100 hours on it. It kept our food and the food of 2 neighbors cold. It also kept all of our toilets flushed and some chickens hydrated. All in all I would recommend it, but with a good inspection at time of purchase rather than 5 years later. I will say this beast starts first pull every time. If not for that hole it would easily be a 5-star product. Generators are often disaster items and not everyone would have been able to fix that so it's a big reduction down to 1 star.UPDATE 8-26-2020: WEN did get back to me about my very late warranty inquiry. Somewhat as expected they said they were happy to ship me a part if I paid for it. I promptly and politely declined. If I wished to pay hard earned money for a thing two times I would go to the casino and give my money to the slots or something. I have re-evaluated and I simply cannot recommend WEN as a brand. A hole in the tank is more than just a flaw that makes the generator useless, it's downright dangerous. If it had been smaller so just drips came out I or my wife might not have noticed it and could have gotten the engine started and burned down the house!

The media could not be loaded.  This generator started on the first gentle pull, after a very easy setup. I bought it a while back, but hadn’t unboxed it until after the hurricane. Kudos to whoever packaged this gem because the parts were carefully arranged, including a set of nice wrenches in a vinyl pouch. I attached the legs, wheels, and handles. I added the oil, and gas. Then attached a grounding wire (not included in packaging). I opened the fuel valve, set the choke, flipped the engine switch to on. Then, to my astonishment, on the very first pull it began to purr. I’m very pleased.