Converting Generator To Propane

[s78wingrider]

Thinking of doing it and would welcome any advice. Is propane hard on a gas engine? Thank You Aaron

 

[BukitCase]

Here ya go -

http://www.tractorbynet.com/forums/...onvert-gas-generator-propane.html#post3190370

HTH... Steve

 

[lutt]

Thinking of doing it and would welcome any advice. Is propane hard on a gas engine? Thank You Aaron

Not hard on a the engine at all. Another source is your local propane dealer, ours sells conversion kits for about every small engine you can think of. LUTT

 

[Wolfy]

I think gasoline is far easier to obtain than propane. But, propane runs cleaner. I have heard that when you change the engine oil in a propane fueled engine, the oil often is still new looking.

 

[Gunny]

Some advantages/disadvantages with either one. LP stores better, but in very cold weather, it won't liquify from a small tank. Some claim that LP causes some HP loss on their generator or they get less running time from a 5 gal LP tank than they do with 5 gal of gasoline (I haven't noticed either of those, they seem the same on both counts)
I don't usually keep more than 10 gallons of gasoline on hand through the winter (but I do keep both vehicles topped off, just in case), but I do keep 4 20# and 2 30# LP tanks on hand and topped off prior to the winter season.

A few years ago, we had a freak windstorm roll through here and knocked out the electricity county wide, we had no electricity for 7 days, other parts of the county got theirs back after 3/4 days. None of the gas stations here had generators at that time, so they couldn't pump gas or even use debit or credit cards, but if you had cash or check, they'd unlock the cage and go the LP tank exchange route, but that's fairly expensive.

If you do buy one of the LP kits, make sure you get a dual fuel kit so you can run on either LP or gasoline.

 

[BHD]

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,

for a "stationary" generator I think it is about the only way to go,

my larger generator starts so much easer when cold, and the fuel is more than 10 years old and as good as the day it was filled, and I still have the gasoline option,
I do have 1000 gallon tank, for the generators,

the small generator I have used a 5 gallon BBQ tank on it for portagle use, in the past,

 

[s78wingrider]

Thanks Everyone for all the info! Aaron

 

[Bird]

Many years ago (1989) when we became full time RVers, I had the dealer install a 4.5 KW Kohler generator in our fifth-wheel, and they converted it to LPG. I had read in RV magazines that you lost 11% of your generator capacity with LPG compared to gasoline. At that time, the dealer would have installed the 4.5 KW Kohler or the 4 KW Onan for the same price, so I figured the Kohler would give me more electrical capacity. I don't know that I needed the extra capacity, but at least we never lacked for sufficient electrical power.

 

[PILOON]

Propane, LP, (liquified propane) is stored under pressure and when it gets real cold (cold contracts while heat causes expansion) the tank loses its pressure.
That being the case at -30 (or so) you can't get more than 1/2 a tank of usage.
LP dealers love it as in the winter they exchange you a full (and charge for) a 1/2 full 'empty'. In effect they get to sell 1/2 a tank twice.

Also the higher the consumption the bigger the delivery line needs to be as freezing will occur.

We got around that 'scam' by not swapping but merely adding tanks. LOL, come spring we'd have a dozen 1/2 full tanks accumulated and do the swapping in the fall. Back then there were no deposits required on tanks and being inaccessible during winter we'd sled them ourselves. The dealer trusted us to return the empties at later date.

Tidbit of info: propane is about 120,000 BTU's per pound.
A propane engine at high mileage will be as clean and sludge free as the day it was made.

 

[bigtiller]

Tidbit of info: propane is about 120,000 BTU's per pound.

That's a little high. It is closer to 91,500 btu's per gallon. And weighs about 4.2 pounds when the ambient temp is 60 degrees F.

 

[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.