Converting Generator To Propane

[orangeandgreen]

Engines, from a particular manufacturer, that are built to run on propane, have a different intake valve material than their gasoline counterparts. The gasoline "droplets" coming in the intake stream have more of a cooling effect than the propane so the intake valve has to be made from a material that can stand more heat.
An opinion expressed by one of their engineers was that "unless the engine was ran at max load for extended periods of time, a gasoline engine should do fine on propane". He went on to say he had seen damaged intake valves during endurance testing which lead to the material change for the valve.

 

[BHD]

the engine internal differences are the harden valves and seats, when leaded fuel was the normal, there was a thin layer of lead product that would coat the valves and seats, that would help minimize wear, and on these old engines when used with LP/propane, the lead was not present and they would wear faster then with the leaded gas,

now that most all engines to day are constructed to operate on unleaded gas, the valves are hardened and the seats are hardened, and will function fine on LP/Propane. (that is my understanding). there was a company that did propane conversions around here, and that was the explanation they gave me.

 

[BHD]

the engine internal differences are the harden valves and seats, when leaded fuel was the normal, there was a thin layer of lead product that would coat the valves and seats, that would help minimize wear, and on these old engines when used with LP/propane, the lead was not present and they would wear faster then with the leaded gas,

now that most all engines to day are constructed to operate on unleaded gas, the valves are hardened and the seats are hardened, and will function fine on LP/Propane. (that is my understanding). there was a company that did propane conversions around here, and that was the explanation they gave me.

 

[Jay4200]

If your wanting to store fuel for a long period of time, go propane,
no road tax on propane (normally), and in our area much of the time the gallon of propane is 1/2 the cost per gallon than gasoline, yes there is about 10% less BTU per gallon,

Actually, propane has roughly 25% less energy than gas (91.5kBTU vs 125kBTU). Filling the little bottles (20 pounders), I find the price similar to gas, however you'd probably do much better with a bigger tank like a 100#, which is the least you'd want for a generator anyway, IMHO.

 

[Bird]

Wouldn't the quantity of LPG (tank size) partially depend on how big the generator is, and how much trouble it is to refill the tank or bottles? In our RV, we had two 30# bottles with the automatic changeover regulator and never ran out of LPG due to the generator. Of course there were always plenty of places to get a bottle refilled.