Gas Generator Tip

[3930dave]

I've gone with ethanol free gas for all my small engines, and my street motorcycle.

Costco here has their Premium at typically 8 cents/litre more than Regular - essentially a wash, price wise, once you consider the lower energy content of E10.

I always have used a fuel stabilizer for storage, and continue to do so even with pure gas. Currently using Startron.

After having good success winterizing and storing my motorcycle with a full fuel tank, I'm changing my approach to storing my generator and lawn mower. Partly this is because of having to change the float and seal (due to crud deposits, not debris/dirt from the tank) on my old Briggs generator this past Spring. That generator had always been run dry of gas.

So.... my approach now is to store seasonal or lightly used gas motors with treated fuel, and definitely with a full gas tank. Generators will get run at least every 3 months.

Unless you have small engines in commercial use, AND are using them nearly every day, you likely can't get away long term with storing untreated Ethanol contaminated gas in them. Just my .

Rgds, D.

[edlegault]

Avgas is 100LL; the LL stands for low LEAD. Bad for your engine unless it is 50 years old. Even then, the lead will foul the plugs. Even E10/E15 ethanol blended gasoline will store fine with a stabilizer in it. All standby/emergency generators should be started every 4-6 weeks, let them warmup and then apply a moderate load and run for an hour (I like using an air compressor with the air lightly leaking out -- cycles on and off). Change the oil at manufacturer's intervals. Doing these things and having enough fuel (safely stored -- not in your garage, and rotate into your car/truck) will get you through those emergencies when they arrive. oh ya .... using avgas 100LL in a non-aircraft engine is probably a federal & state EPA violation (LOL).

[TimberXX]

If you have marinas close by they with have non-ethanol gas at a premium of course.

I filled up at the marina a month ago, and was shocked that Valvetech marine fuel is now E10, they held out for a long time, but they fell. You pay a premium for their fuel, now I don't see the difference between them and land stations with some additives.

[MFRED]

We use the VP 94 Octane SEF. Comes in 50:1 premixed and straight. Usually just run it the last tank full on stuff we use more like a generator. Trimmers, chainsaws and such don't get used enough to use regular fuel. It costs more for fuel but much less in no starts, and really, its worth more than the extra hundred bucks a year to me for less aggrevation. I usually don't get to pull things too many times with a no start and they go for a ride.

[MyJoBota]

Avgas is 100LL; the LL stands for low LEAD. Bad for your engine unless it is 50 years old. Even then, the lead will foul the plugs. Even E10/E15 ethanol blended gasoline will store fine with a stabilizer in it. All standby/emergency generators should be started every 4-6 weeks, let them warmup and then apply a moderate load and run for an hour (I like using an air compressor with the air lightly leaking out -- cycles on and off). Change the oil at manufacturer's intervals. Doing these things and having enough fuel (safely stored -- not in your garage, and rotate into your car/truck) will get you through those emergencies when they arrive. oh ya .... using avgas 100LL in a non-aircraft engine is probably a federal & state EPA violation (LOL).

The lead in av gas has more positive than negative affects on a simple gasoline engine. The lead in av gas and our enviroment is a whole seperate issue.

[3930dave]

Interesting about the VP, Red.

If anybody needed convincing (I don't) about the headaches created by ethanol, the fact that there is a boutique gas supplier in business (and, seemingly doing well by what I've just read on engine forums) should convince them !

Also seems that VP is not the only supplier in this specialty market either.

Thanks for mentioning it. Esp. for those folks in places like California, this might make a great Xmas present.

Rgds, D.

[Chilly807]

For those in Atlantic Canada, only premium fuel is guaranteed to not have ethanol, the regular and mid-grade might or might not.

Sean

[Wyobuckaroo]

I am right in the middle of lake cabin, lake resort country.
Virtually every station has E0 gas.
The closer to the lake the higher price......
Go figure............
I still use additave for long term storage.
And when it is time to replace gas, I recycle the old gas
in my old pickup at about 10 - 20 %

Enjoy

[sargex595]

I recently bought a generator and after running it, I shut the fuel off and run it until it starts to spit and sputter and then shut if off. I'm afraid that if I let it run until to finally dies, it might cause damage. I do use stabilizer but my main concern is if I'm leaving too much gas left in the carburetor. Is it safe to run it until it stops on it's own or should I continue doing it the way I have. I do let it spit and sputter for 20-30 seconds before I shut it off. By spit and sputter I mean when the motor starts to die but then picks back up. I'm not sure how long this would contiune.

Thanks,
Curt.

[3930dave]

Sarge - you will get many opinions on this, here's mine:

Assuming you are not trying to put your generator away for something like 3+ years, I'd leave the carb full of properly stabilized fuel. Without pulling the float bowl off the carb, you likely won't get all the gas out. For an extended layup, you are left with a small amount of fuel sitting in the float bowl and lots of air in the carb. You will end up with sludge deposited in the float bowl, at least that has been my experience. (See post #11).

Many generator Manuf suggest running their generators every month. I'm targeting running mine at least every 3 months. Run a hedge trimmer, shop vac a car, or warm up a block heater on a vehicle as an exercise is how I will use mine.

To answer your question - I've run Briggs engines completely dry many times, I did not hurt anything. Think of it this way, any responsible engine manufacturer should be safely designing their engines for totally running out of fuel. The problem I found was that some fuel remained in the carb, which created long term storage problems.

Rgds, D.