New portable generator

[4wd]

Hurricane season: Not like I didn’t have a few gens already ... but after all the typical bad gas, cracked fuel lines etc ... came to grips that my wife can’t pull start any gens even when serviced.
Bought an electric start dual fuel and started messing with it today. Got one big enough to offset efficiency loss on propane. Started/ran it and dumped Chonda oil for Quaker State Ultimate Durability 10w30.
I don’t want all the gasoline related issues. Any reason I can’t start with propane and never put gasoline in that new gen ?

 

[OilReport99]

Congrats! And switch to xW-40. Texas' Hot.

 

[Chris142]

Steves Small engine Saloon just tested that same one I think.

 

[krismoriah72]

" I don’t want all the gasoline related issues."

Thanks for reminding me..need to get some more Stabil 360.

 

[spasm3]

Can you connect it to a large inground tank?

Small BBQ grill tanks , will require so many during a day or two outage.
I'm thinking you will get about 4-5 hours on a grill tank, with that size generator.

 

[benjy]

NICE! its good to be prepared. a word of caution as generators that are NOT inverter style make DIRTY power + dont do well with computer + computer type stuff. i recently bought similar without dual fuel, as inverter gennys of any size are $$$$$$

 

[4wd]

Congrats! And switch to xW-40. Texas' Hot.

My other gens have Delvac 1 5w40 … will do that later. I only ran the China oil for an hour … and sure enough saw the break-in glitter in the sunlight …

 

[Astro_Guy]

Hurricane season: Not like I didn’t have a few gens already ... but after all the typical bad gas, cracked fuel lines etc ... came to grips that my wife can’t pull start any gens even when serviced.
Bought an electric start dual fuel and started messing with it today. Got one big enough to offset efficiency loss on propane. Started/ran it and dumped Chonda oil for Quaker State Ultimate Durability 10w30.
I don’t want all the gasoline related issues. Any reason I can’t start with propane and never put gasoline in that new gen ?

I can't think of a reason why you couldn't just run it on propane and forget about gasoline altogether. As for the oil, I have run both Mobil 1 10w30 and Rotella T6 5w-40 in my generators up here in PA. Most of my generator run time has been in the bottom half of hurricane season when the temperatures are 80 or below. I've had one run in below freezing temperatures. If I had to run them continuously above 90 F then I might favor a 15w40, but that hasn't been a problem for me this far.

 

[Eddie]

I think propane is quite a bit more expensive than gasoline unless you have 1,000 lb tank. Ed

 

[skyactiv]

Get one of these and go to a place that fills them. U-Haul's near me charge $3.19 a gallon.
And KEEP THE TANK UPRIGHT or they will NOT fill it.
https://www.ruralking.com/worthington-cylinders-100-lb-propane-tank-282154

 

[meadows]

Get two of them! It will run out in the middle of the night.

 

[chainblu]

Propane only is fine. Just be sure to have an extra tank(s) on hand. A few years ago I lost power for several days after a hurricane. After a few days my supply of gasoline was running low, but there was no gas to be had due to evacuee traffic passing through the area. Propane filling stations (Ace Hardware, etc) were easy enough to find and had plenty. My next genny will be dual fuel.

 

[wpod]

"I don’t want all the gasoline related issues. Any reason I can’t start with propane and never put gasoline in that new gen ?"

you will get propane related issues.

 

[Ride_Red]

Propane is great because it is a gas (not a liquid) and therefore doesn't leave any residue in the carburetor. There should be no technical problems running only on propane. The issue will be supply after a hurricane event. There are many more gasoline stations than there are propane filling stations.

Gasoline can be just fine so long as you run the engine dry and drain the carb. I recommend using some TCW-3 marine 2-cycle oil mixed 1oz per 5gal. This is a very light mix and does not smoke. After you run the engine and carburetor dry of gasoline, it will leave a light film of oil that prevents corrosion. I've been doing this in my generator, lawnmower and boat for years now and have had good luck.

I have a small Honda EU2000i inverter generator. These generators are notorious for having a rough idle after being in storage for more than a few months because the tiny jets in the carburetor get clogged. Mine would always 'stumble' at low idle whenever I ran it in the spring (before camping season). I would have to use some Seafoam in the gas and run it for a few hours to clean it up. Ever since I started using TCW-3 mixed in the gas, I no longer have this problem. When I'm done with the generator, I drain the gas, run it dry, then drain the carb. Last weekend I lost power so I pulled the little Honda out of storage. It hadn't been run for 8 months. I gassed it up, closed the choke, and it fired up and ran great on the second pull.

 

[Kamele0N]

I had the same carburetor related issues with my Chonda eu1000 clone....fixed them with that fuel...
https://aspenfuel.co.uk/

Regarding prophane use.....does valves whitstand that? Or they get burnt after a few seasons?

 

[Ride_Red]

Another thing about electric start generators... The battery can be dead when you need the generator.

One options is to get a 'Battery Tender' to keep the battery charged. Motorcycle and boat owners use these to keep the battery charged while in storage over the winter months.
Another option is to check how hard it is to jump start it with jumper cables from your vehicle. Being prepared to jump start it before a hurricane hits could save a lot of grief.

 

[Ride_Red]

I had the same carburetor related issues with my Chonda eu1000 clone....fixed them with that fuel...
https://aspenfuel.co.uk/

Regarding prophane use.....does valves whitstand that? Or they get burnt after a few seasons?

That Aspen Fuel is ethanol free. Looks like good stuff (similar to TruFuel here in the US). I have to drive 30miles to the nearest station that sells ethonol free gasoline, so I just use the E-10 gasoline from the station nearby.

Yes, there can be an issue of propane engines burning valves. The liquid gasoline has a cooling effect on the intake valve and cylinder as it enters the engine and vaporizes. Propane, already being in gaseous form, does not cool the engine. Therefore, propane can be damaging to engines that are not designed for it because of the higher temperatures. How much does propane reduce engine life? I don't know. My guess is most engines will live long, happy lives and most likely outlive the equipment they are bolted to. Others may not. YMMV.