Genie fuel tank condensation ?

schmism · Feb 22, 2010

sailorman said:
I fail to see how running monthly is gonna stop the process of condensation. I do run it about once a month and always have water in tank before purging process.

because if you run it once a month, then you can keep it full (or nearly full) of fuel. with little to no air space there is little to no empty surface area inside of the tank that can collect condensation.

is the fuel tank metal? perhaps switching to a plastic one that?

sailorman · Feb 22, 2010

schmism said:
because if you run it once a month, then you can keep it full (or nearly full) of fuel. with little to no air space there is little to no empty surface area inside of the tank that can collect condensation.

is the fuel tank metal? perhaps switching to a plastic one that?

I agree about the full tank. For reasons only worth anything to me, I prefer not to have a full tank. The tank is plastic.

I think I may install an additional inline T stopcock ( that 's what I call it ) near the carb end of fuel line for draining water. That way I can drain water and small amount of fuel to harmlessly drain away from unit without removing line . There is a screw drain on carb bowl if I screw up and allow water into carb bowl. What do ya think ?

Best would be an enclosed storage shed with some controlled environment. That 's in the works, but the $ 's ain 't there yet. I need the shed anyway for tractor implements that magically appear in yard. That 's how I tell SWMBO they appear anyway.. magic . Somethin' tells me she doesn' t believe me.

Highbeam · Feb 23, 2010

My answer as I read the thread was of course, to fill the dang tank so that you won't get air in the tank which means you won't get condensation. That's what you do to prevent water in fuel. I'm curious about your reason for not wanting to keep fuel in your genset, hopefully it is not some fear of the fuel spoiling which has been highly exaggerated.

Once you have water you can then add any of the various cheap gas dryers to bond up with the water.

There are too many things that you can do to prevent this problem but if you insist, it is very possible to add a tee to the fuel line and a diverter valve to dump as much fuel as you want before filling the carb.

You could even add a proper water seperator/fuel filter to collect the water automatically. These things have little dumps on the bottom to drain off the collected water.

sailorman · Feb 23, 2010

Highbeam, safety is my only reason. I do not keep large quantities of fuel stored no matter what the container is. My location, environment, and other factors too numerous to mention makes safety an issue and a full fuel tank a non-option. I do not fear fuel spoilage as I never buy or store it for any imaginable period of time in which that could happen.

I do have a question about valves as I have limited knowlege about them. I invision a T valve in fuel line between tank and carb. Turn handle one way and fuel is cut off from carb and sent to drain outlet. Reverse the action and fuel is cut off from drain outlet and sent to carb. Does such a valve exist and what is it called ?

Thanks for the suggestions and advice.