Fuel additives

fractal · Jul 27, 2004

( Ok, hindsight is 20/20. 18 months ago I purchsed a 7-12kW portable gasoline fueled generator to power the house when the powere goes out. I have 4 6-gal cans of gas that I rotate through generator/lawn tractor/lawn mowers/chainsaws/whatever. I've filled up my gas cans with "staybil" fuel stabilizer to keep the fuel from varnishing "for up to 12 months."

Problem - my small engine mechanic says nothing prevents varnishing.

Self - should've bought propane backup generator...stupid, stupid, stupid.)

1 - I keep two 5-gallon gas cans in the shed > 100 ft from house that I keep for my generator. I do not add any additive. I take em to the gas station every 6-18 months, dump what is in em in the gas tank and refill em. My 2.5 kw generator gets started every 6-18 months with fuel from my lawn mower can, a 2.5 galon which gets treated with stabil or equivalent. Never had any problems.

2 - you can convert most if not all gasoline generators to propane with a carb kit.

KiotiJohn · Jul 27, 2004

( KiotiJohn - can you show me a pic of a cut-off valve or give me a website that you use for your generator fuel cut-off? that sounds like an easy fix.)
I bought mine at a local lawnmower shop. You just cut the line supplying the generator and put it inline. turn it for flow/no flow. I didn't really need one in my RV as I run the generator, under load, at least every two weeks. That's not really a long time and doesn't cause the problems of varnishing. I put them in my small gas engines that may not get run often enough. I turn off the valve with the engine running until it uses up the residual in the carb.
Here's a website that has a cut off valve for an example: Cutoff Valve
John

IrTxRx · Jul 28, 2004

Bird - I guess I'll start running the house for an hour once a week. It is kind of a pain to reset all the clocks though.

KiotiJohn - Thanks for the website. that looks like a mechanical fix that even I can do /forums/images/graemlins/laugh.gif

fractal - there is no way I can do a gas propane conversion. I contacted generac portable and there answer is a recorded "would void the warranty." Any suggestions as to what type of professional would do this (local propane company???)

Again,
thanks everyone

Bird · Jul 28, 2004

I'm a little surprised that Generac says a propane conversion would void the warranty. Of course there's much I don't know about generators. When I bought my 5th wheel trailer, the dealer installed a Kohler 4.5 kw generator. It was a new gasoline generator, but it was my understanding that Kohler provided the conversion kit for them to change it to propane. Of course, what I've read is that converting to propane reduces its output 11% (and my information is 15 years old, so some things may have changed).

KubotaBling · Jul 28, 2004

all manufacuters say that about it.. if u add propane and it melts the piston explodes whatever due to the propane conversion and no fault of the engine the warranty doesn't apply.. what they ment

IrTxRx · Jul 28, 2004

Bird and KB - a clarification, mine is a "Genrac portable" which is a completely different company or headquarters than "Generac," which makes real standby auto-switching generators. As far as the warranty, mine has been out of warranty for a while, so I don't care. I just wanted some advice, but for liability reasons, none was offered by the "Generac portable" company.

Bird · Jul 28, 2004

Yep, that makes a difference. I'm not sure how hard it would be to convert that generator, although I would certainly think it could be done.

rmonio · Aug 25, 2004

I would agree, Dave - I think you've been lucky. I've made it a regular effort now to treat my cars, trucks, chainsaws, weed whips, blowers, tractors (most of all) with SeaFoam treatment products. I have used Sta-Bil, but don't know what PR-I is.. SeaFoam is by far the most used brand up here (it's a local company in MN) and it consistently gets the best ratings from everyone I know... I toss some in to each and it's done a fantastic job for me. Here is a URL to check out (Bird, do you get this down in TX?):
http://www.seafoamsales.com/motorTuneUpTechDiesel.htm

Good luck!

-Bob

Bird · Aug 25, 2004

Bob, I don't know whether it's sold in Texas; don't recall ever seeing it, but that doesn't mean it isn't in the stores.

rmonio · Aug 25, 2004

That's unfortunate - if you get a chance, try it. Even Paul Brand (the local newspaper and radio car talk show host) promotes it heavily. I think it's interesting that they encourage you to keep one in your car because if you run out of gas, that can will probably be enough to get you where you need to go... /forums/images/graemlins/cool.gif

-Bob