All Power America APG3202 6,500 Watt 10 HP Silent Diesel Powered Generator with Electric Start & Wheel Kit

Quite Diesel Unit, smooth operation. I use this as a back up for our home when the rural power fails. Runs my 220 pump and provides lights and power for small appliances. We have an all electric home. Of course it won't handle a 20kw furnace or Central A/C, but runs a whole house fans and small fans for the wood stove. Electric start and fuel economy make this unit great for the price.*******One year after owning this generator it only had 10 hours service and we needed it to keep us going after a major storm took out our power. 10 hours into service, the rocker arm bolts broke and the engine shut down. The engine is made in China and the company has been contacted many many times for repair parts. I was willing to pay for the parts but they have not provided any opportunity to get them. I have been trying for 4 months and have not been contacted to order the needed parts. The quality of workmanship is terrible! The customer service is non-existant.*******I am now the proud owner of a $1200.00, 300 lb. Door stop..*******I even tried to contact the engine manufacturer in China, but they have little or no presence in the US. Guess I'm just out of ruck!

Just after the 20 hour break in period the generator failed to start. I immediately contacted All Power America and was promised a warranty repair. But after several follow up calls and faxes, I am still waiting for instructions on where to send it for repair. This has been going on for over two months.

Motor block cracked after about 6 months. If it wasn't when I got it. Scrapet it for junk. Tried to get a new engine but ,always on backorder. 1,500 dollars wasted.

Before 20 hours the starter switch went out and it took over a month to get the part through a Chinese man that I had to call several times who has broken English. Before 100 hours ALL the diesel fuel lines began leaking. They are very hard to replace. I took me 6 hours to replace them. The original fuel lines were cracked and porous, very low quality. I got diesel tubing from a marine supply outlet. Then it would not crank. Northern Tool, where I bought it, gave me the number of the Chinese man who could not help me. The warranty is only a month. A local repair shop refused to take it saying another All Power generator has been in their shop for 4 months. The parts department is often inaccessible and told them the parts come by a slow boat from China every 3 months and that there were 164 others waiting on the same part and if only 100 came he might have to wait another few months for the next boat. Northern Tool service department is not helpful and would only give me the Chinese number to call. They do not officially service All Power equipment. Northern tool service department would not even give me the number for one of their own service centers. When I asked for the supervisor she would not help me find a Northern Tool service center either. I got her name and threatened to call the president of the company and she then gave me the number of a Northern Tool service center about 100 miles away. To my surprise I was told to bring the machine in and they would try to fix it. I am headed that way next week but plan on buying a reliable and serviceable generator to replace this junk pile.

When we first started Allpower America 6500 Watt Silent Diesel the first thing we noticed is that the lights flickered badly. The service department sent a new regulator module, but that didn't resolve the problem. While installing the new voltage regulator a damaged wire and several loose terminations were noted. The new regulator did not stop lights from flickering. After 28 hours the oil-level dropped suddenly and two engine crankcase bolts backed out against the alternator housing. One bolt could actually be loosened by hand. This product typifies "legendary Chinese quality" in spades. Save your money.

I've had this unit since July 2006. I did engine break-in for 10 hours at light loads using rotella 15w40. I change oil at 100 hours and clean the oil filter/screen. It has been used for power in remote locations on some timber acreage, storm back up and as a power unit on my truck and my garage (which has no utility service. It currently has 1030 hours on it with a few failures along the way. I had to replace the voltage regulator. I relocated it outside the alternator so it would be cooler. The low oil shut down circuit board burned up and stopped the unit. The board is not available where I could find one, so I bypassed the oil pressure switch. The ignition switch broke and was replaced with a universal one from the auto part store. I've cleaned the injector at the local diesel pump shop every 500 hours. In three years i've used 3 lawn and garden batteries.With 1030 hours it doesn't smoke or use oil. It does leak a very little bit from the valve cover. Overall the genset has been good. The cabinet is very well made and sturdy; a real surprise. The wheels stink, but they work. The engine and generator head have performed well. The biggest glitch is the cheap electrical components like the sockets, switches, indicator lamp/led. Tie up all the wires with nylon zip ties and replace the cheap parts as they fail and you'll be fine.Most stuff can be found at home depot or an auto store. Great item if you need reliable power and fuel efficiency. It burns 1/3 gallon per hour at half load. I'd buy another one if I did n't have this one.pUpdate May 2011: I have about 1300 hours on my unit and I'm told this is near the service life of a good unit. I recently replaced the voltage meter on the front panel (I got a combined voltage/ Hz meter so I can monitor the 60cycle current from the generator. I also had to replace the engine magneto charging regulator. That's the thing that charges the starter battery. The regulatyor died and it ran until the battery was dead and shut off the fuel. Once replaced it ran great again. I'm still changing oil every 100 hours and cleaning the filter screen. No metal particles in it yet. i know some folks have gotten a bad unit, but mine has been very good except for the cheap electrical components. I'va about replaced them all with better stuff. I'd buy it again if mine quit.Update April 2012: 1500+ hours and still going strong. I have a new oil leak from the injector pump/engine case gasket. It's not a bad leak, just some oil and a drip trail. No oil puddle. I'll get a gasket and fix it later. I'm still changing oil and cleaning the filter at 100 hours. I found an ebay seller that had the oil shutdown circuit and ignition switch, so I replaced the parts on mine that failed years ago. Now my low oil pressure shutdown works again. That makes me feel better. The unit got a good workout in January with the terrible tornados that hit my area in Alabama. It kept my house operating for the 5 days we did not have power. The 220v was enough to power my gas furnace, fridge, lights, TV, coffee maker, stove/oven. It used one gallon of diesel every 2.5 hours with it loaded. I spent about $80.00 for fuel for those 5 days. Not sure how many watts I was using - it varied considerable and I turned it off whenever possible. I have a 2 stroke 1000 watt portable generator and I used that after dinner. I was enough to power a few lights and our TV until bedtime.Update July 2013: This unit is tick-tocking along after 7 years. I had to replace the starter in May because it was dragging and a hot battery would not turn it over. The part was cheap on ebay and fit easily through the rear access panel. I have this connected to my workshop which does not have main electricity and it powers everything in the building including a 12x18 room with a refrigerator and 120v/15amp window a/c unit. I've been burning old transmission fluid and motor oil in it mixed with diesel about 60/40 (60%diesel). The trans fluid seems to keep the injector clean with all the detergent. I filter it with coffee filters (Brass fine screen type) in a funnel. It takes a long time to strain, but it seems to work well and I get free fuel. I have read on Practical Machinist.com about someone with 3000 hours on a unit like this. I hope mine goes that long. I'm shocked mine is till running and I got my $$ worth.Update October 2014: eight years and still running and making electricity. I finally decided to clean the inside of the cabinet and engine surfaces inside the enclosure. To change the oil you pull the drain bolt and let the old oil spill into the cabinet and then it runs out a drain hole in the cabinet. Inelegant at the least, and pretty messy inside the box. My hour meter broke and I replaced it with a new meter that displays volts, cycles, and hours. I've logged 30 hours since installing it. The Hz fluctuates from 59-62 depending on load. I'm still burning used motor oil and trans fluid mixed 50/50 with diesel. I have recently hooked up utility power so I don't use the generator anymore for primary power. It just sits there in the corner... waiting. I start it every month for 30 minute exercise run to keep it ready. I would guess I have logged 1800 hours total. Its hard to tell after the meter broke. The new one works, but I ran it for months without the meter.Update July 2015: Well, I messed up and got my garage power disconnected due to code issues. They decided they want my power lines in conduit instead of romex. This is too expensive for me, so I'm returning to my silent diesel genset for power. I forgot how heavy this thing is. I serviced it real good due to its age and number of hours. No debris or metal in the oil filter, and fresh 15w-40 Dino oil. Also a clean fuel filter from Napa. I keep blowing out the prefilter and paper air filter and they still look good. I replaced both once with parts from an eBay seller, but that was long ago. I don't see the need to replace them again yet. This generator just keeps going, and I have been happy, and pleased to keep updating my review as time goes on. Most of these generators are pretty generic and are made from the same generic parts. I don't think one brand is better than the others. The important thing is to break it in and change oil properly, use it regularly, load it up often with 60% load or greater, and fix things that need repair. Preventative maintenance is king. I have taken the case apart to get to the injector 3-4 times and have the injector pattern checked and the nozzle cleaned at the tractor injection pump store. I run ATF in my fuel and they tell me that has kept my injection pump and injector in great shape. The price on these has doubled since I bought mine in 2006. I couldn't afford a better one back then. I see a bunch of Kohler and Onan gensets of the same vintage with great engines, but with burned out computer boards that are unavailable. No board, no power. I hate that I have a Chinese generator, but with care and servicing, it has been good.I must have a good one, and I take good care of it. It has chugged along with very little trouble for eight years. No indication it will stop either. I certainly got my money's worth when I bought this unit.Update October 2015: I knew today would come. My diesel generator stopped working. It shut down suddenly due to loss of compression. I haven't tried to determine the cause yet, but I fear it may be fatal. The motor turns over with the starter and doesn't make any weirdnoises other than spinning with no compression. Puffs of white unburned diesel out the exhaust as it spins. Unless the decompression is to blame, it has to be a piston failure or something not worth repairing. I'll update if I check it out further.

Upon starting exhaust manifold got cherry red an caught the insulation on fire...Trying to diagnose!!Any ideas appreciated... thanks mikee