Wen GN400i Open Frame Inverter Generator

Chalt said:
Pic of DF402iX carb on the GN400i. And 3-port fuel valve to make draining fuel tank easy.
The clear vinyl hose is plugged and temporary. Will have a good rubber hose when tri-fuel is setup.

View attachment 237664
Click to expand...
My SIL has the same generator - gas only model.

After draining the tank I took the fuel pet cock off and about 3 tablespoons full of gas came out.

If I am storing a generator, for maybe several years - I want the tank to be bone dry.

The other thing - when I removed the fuel pet cock it had been over tightened and the rubber gasket was crushed.

I had a spare -
 
z71bill said:
My SIL has the same generator - gas only model.

After draining the tank I took the fuel pet cock off and about 3 tablespoons full of gas came out.

If I am storing a generator, for maybe several years - I want the tank to be bone dry.

The other thing - when I removed the fuel pet cock it had been over tightened and the rubber gasket was crushed.

I had a spare -
Click to expand...
Was this after you ran it dry?
 
georgemiller said:
The DF402iX carb is such a ingenious work around.
Click to expand...
I didn't know if it would work but for $30 it was worth a shot. I am really happy I tried since it is OEM and the stepper motor and pigtail are the same. Before I went this route I was looking at drilling into the original carb and putting a spud/nipple in the side of the carb, and that would have worked, but this was so much easier.

BTW, if you are wanting to go propane instead of NG, they sell the secondary propane regulator for the DF402iX generator for $30 something dollars. And they sell those for several of their dual fuel generators and any would work. But I am not going that route since my house has natural gas. Here is what they look like:

secondary regulator DF402iX.jpg



Here is a different secondary LPG regulator that functions the same, is cheaper, and isn't currently sold out.

secondary regulator DF250i.webp
 
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z71bill said:
My SIL has the same generator - gas only model.

After draining the tank I took the fuel pet cock off and about 3 tablespoons full of gas came out.

If I am storing a generator, for maybe several years - I want the tank to be bone dry.

The other thing - when I removed the fuel pet cock it had been over tightened and the rubber gasket was crushed.

I had a spare -
Click to expand...
Did you find a workaround besides removing the petcock to get all the gas out of the tank?
 
Chalt said:
Did you find a workaround besides removing the petcock to get all the gas out of the tank?
Click to expand...
No - don’t see any way to do it.

Removing the pet cock is sort of hard to do.

The filter sticking out of the top of the pet cock makes it too tall to be removed without bending the filter.

I had a spare gasket and filter from my spare parts for another generator but the pet cock itself is a different size.

I ordered 2 from Wen jic I need them.
 
I posted this in another thread, but I wanted to post it here too to keep all the info in this thread

I attached one of these block heaters to it: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0DF2CXR92

SupremePossum said:
Alright well, the 50w stick on block heater works better than expected. Its not super cold out, but I think this is still a good test. When it gets cold, I will test again for sure. Outside temp was right around 52 the entire time per my weather station.

Some notes

* Stick well, may use some high temp glue/epoxy if I'm happy with the install just to make sure
* It cycles on and off, so it seems the thermal transfer is not super great. Of course the front of the pad gets hot too, so a bit of wasted heat. I think anything more than 50w would be overkill for this size engine.
* Do I trust it powered on in my garage? Unsure. I may put in a small 2a inline fuse


On my cheap WEN GN400iM which is pull start, there is a nice smooth area right near the dipstick, and it just happens to be a perfect size. I cleaned the area with soap and water, and then some alcohol, and slapped it on there, and it seemed to stick really really well.

View attachment 252969

Starting temp, 54.8. This generator lives in my garage, so I was surprised to see how close to ambient it was. I thought it would be warmer! It did get much lower at night, so possibly its still recovering. Note that after reading temp, I put the dipstick back in

View attachment 252965

Plugged into my Ecoflow River 2 Pro

View attachment 252967

As you can see, it draws more than 50w, its actually 77w

View attachment 252968

After 10 mins, the oil is reading 70.8 degrees. The dip stick was now warm to the touch, and the entire side and the bottom of the generator was warm.

View attachment 252970

Of course the reading is right near the heat pad, however I did move the engine around a bit and even pull the cord a little just to try and move the oil in the pan, and it stayed the same. This is a very small engine, so I think the oil is probably a fairly even temp. You can see its quite narrow

View attachment 252973

After another 10 mins, so 20 min total, its at 82!

View attachment 252974

Did some cable management

View attachment 252975

And fired it up (Started first pull) and charged the Ecoflow back up

View attachment 252976

View attachment 252977

I let the generator run for around 30 mins and it seemed to stay stuck on just fine
Click to expand...
 
SupremePossum said:
Alright well, the 50w stick on block heater works better than expected. Its not super cold out, but I think this is still a good test. When it gets cold, I will test again for sure. Outside temp was right around 52 the entire time per my weather station.

Some notes

* Stick well, may use some high temp glue/epoxy if I'm happy with the install just to make sure
* It cycles on and off, so it seems the thermal transfer is not super great. Of course the front of the pad gets hot too, so a bit of wasted heat. I think anything more than 50w would be overkill for this size engine.
* Do I trust it powered on in my garage? Unsure. I may put in a small 2a inline fuse


On my cheap WEN GN400iM which is pull start, there is a nice smooth area right near the dipstick, and it just happens to be a perfect size. I cleaned the area with soap and water, and then some alcohol, and slapped it on there, and it seemed to stick really really well.

View attachment 252969

Starting temp, 54.8. This generator lives in my garage, so I was surprised to see how close to ambient it was. I thought it would be warmer! It did get much lower at night, so possibly its still recovering. Note that after reading temp, I put the dipstick back in

View attachment 252965

Plugged into my Ecoflow River 2 Pro

View attachment 252967

As you can see, it draws more than 50w, its actually 77w

View attachment 252968

After 10 mins, the oil is reading 70.8 degrees. The dip stick was now warm to the touch, and the entire side and the bottom of the generator was warm.

View attachment 252970

Of course the reading is right near the heat pad, however I did move the engine around a bit and even pull the cord a little just to try and move the oil in the pan, and it stayed the same. This is a very small engine, so I think the oil is probably a fairly even temp. You can see its quite narrow

View attachment 252973

After another 10 mins, so 20 min total, its at 82!

View attachment 252974

Did some cable management

View attachment 252975

And fired it up (Started first pull) and charged the Ecoflow back up

View attachment 252976

View attachment 252977

I let the generator run for around 30 mins and it seemed to stay stuck on just fine
Click to expand...
 
Chalt said:
Pic of DF402iX carb on the GN400i. And 3-port fuel valve to make draining fuel tank easy.
The clear vinyl hose is plugged and temporary. Will have a good rubber hose when tri-fuel is setup.

View attachment 237664
Click to expand...
Hi Chalt, I have ordered the carburetor, thanks for sharing, it's a great idea. What hose did you use to connect the natural gas regulator to the carburetor?
 
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