PREP Test Run Your Generator

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Firedave

Senior Member
For the last week or so I've been working on gaps in my preps. I'm glad the generator post came up. Last year I had ordered a LP conversion Kit for my Honda EU 2000 It came with everything you need. IT took about 45 min to install, hooked up to one of my tanks, fired up on 2 pulls. Put as much of a load on it as I could without running a bunch of cords. So now I can run on gasoline or LP It also comes with the orifice to convert over to natural gas. So now I'm working on adding another muffler to my bigger much louder 9500 gen. It also is duel fuel and can be converted to tri-fuel. My solar gen is still my go to first power with gas generators for back up and too run fridge and freezer twice a day. During the big Texas freeze I ran 12-14 hours on solar.
 
Milkweed Host

Milkweed Host

Veteran Member
Many thanks for the reminder. I have a Honda EU 1000i and I don't think I've run it
for two years? For whatever reason I forgot all about it and didn't need it.

Anyway, it won't run, just start and immediately stop.

I drained the fuel and put fresh non-ethanol gas in, still didn't run.

Had to remove the carb and clean out the two fuel jets, which are located
inside the fuel bowl mount. The longer of the two jets has 27 tiny holes that I
used a wire from a bread sack tie to clean out.

That took a couple of hours to repair, but it works again....
 
S

seagull

Veteran Member
kytom said:
thanks for the reminder. i have mine filled with avgas so i dont have to worry about it gumming up. small planes can sit for years with no worrying about fuel quality.
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where can a person buy av gas? Maybe boat gas is the answer??
 
Hfcomms

Hfcomms

EN66iq
seagull said:
where can a person buy av gas? Maybe boat gas is the answer??
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Just buy premium autogas for the small engines. They have stickers right on the pump that says there is no ethanol in premium. Avgas is 100 octane and over $7 a gallon available at your local airport FBO and its overkill for our purposes.
 
kytom

kytom

escapee from reality
Hfcomms said:
Just buy premium autogas for the small engines. They have stickers right on the pump that says there is no ethanol in premium. Avgas is 100 octane and over $7 a gallon available at your local airport FBO and its overkill for our purposes.
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i am a licensed airframe and powerplant tech. ive been around this for 30+ years. auto premium(mogas) still goes stale quickly. it has gums, varnish and resins that avgas doesnt have. my generators have set for over 10 years with no problems. if youre going to run you gens frequently you dont need avgas but if they sit for a long period i highly recommend storing them with avgas!
 
amazon

amazon

Veteran Member
Does anyone have Ecoflow generator? I have the delta maybe? Wondering about their generator.
 
W

winston

Contributing Member
day late said:
I bought my genny before 2001. I have used it very little. In 2005 hurricane Francis did a lot of damage and it was needed. It worked just fine. I must admit I ignored it for a few years. The next time I tried to start it, there were problems. First of all, the last time it ran my Father was here and when it wasn't needed anymore, he shut it down. Dad didn't tell me that he shut off the gas flow with the valve under the tank. The next time I tried to run it to keep it working, it didn't matter how many times I pulled that rope. The thing just wouldn't start. It was only after I talked with my brother (Dad had passed at that time) that he told me about the cut off valve under the tank. Once I opened that, the genny ran just fine. Gee, thanks Dad.
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very smart, don't shut off gen - shut off gas 'til gen stops - all gas is out of line/carb at this point
 
R

Raffy

Veteran Member
Well, today the power went out at my home for about 3 hours. I was at working at home today and all of a sudden heard a loud boom followed immediately by a loss of power. It scared two ladies who were out walking together nearly to death, LOL. At any rate, I figured the power might be out for a while so I pulled out my Honda EU-1000 generator (which probably hadn't been run in about 10 years), took it into the backyard, fueled it and fired it up in about 7 or 8 pulls of the cord. I had put perhaps a bit more than a quart of 100% gas (87 octane) into it and it's been running for more than 3 hours now. I decided to use it to run my Internet router and computer so I can keep working while the power is out. The power has come back on now, but I will just let the genny run itself out of fuel and reconnect to "the grid" afterwards.

I stored this generator for many years without fuel and with synthetic oil (Amsoil 5W-30, I think) in its sump. After that time, it fired right up as if it were brand new. Just another data point here for those who are wondering. I'd say it's best to store the generator without fuel and to be sure to drain the fuel out of the carburetor before storing. At least with a Honda EU series generator, you can then pretty much expect it to be there for you when you need it.
 
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ShadowMan

ShadowMan

Designated Grumpy Old Fart
We have a whole house Generac system that automatically runs a self tests once a month. We also have a multi-fuel back up portable gennie. Went through our first winter here on the mountain without a generator....not doing that again.
 
S

Safetydude

Senior Member
Raffy said:
Well, today the power went out at my home for about 3 hours. I was at working at home today and all of a sudden heard a loud boom followed immediately by a loss of power. It scared two ladies who were out walking together nearly to death, LOL. At any rate, I figured the power might be out for a while so I pulled out my Honda EU-1000 generator (which probably hadn't been run in about 10 years), took it into the backyard, fueled it and fired it up in about 7 or 8 pulls of the cord. I had put perhaps a bit more than a quart of 100% gas (87 octane) into it and it's been running for more than 3 hours now. I decided to use it to run my Internet router and computer so I can keep working while the power is out. The power has come back on now, but I will just let the genny run itself out of fuel and reconnect to "the grid" afterwards.

I stored this generator for many years without fuel and with synthetic oil (Amsoil 5W-30, I think) in its sump. After that time, it fired right up as if it were brand new. Just another data point here for those who are wondering. I'd say it's best to store the generator without fuel and to be sure to drain the fuel out of the carburetor before storing. At least with a Honda EU series generator, you can then pretty much expect it to be there for you when you need it.
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I had a Generac 4000XL (no longer made :( it had a fully pressurized oil lubrication system). During "Hurricane Elvis" in 2003 (Memphis) I ran for 8 days straight nearly 24/7. I used Stabil in all my fuel cans...double dose for storage. After the last fueling and power was restored, I shut off the fuel and ran the carb dry until it stopped running, I did not drain the remaining 4 gallons of fuel in the tank. I do the same with my high pressure fire pump on my fire trailer. At LEAST once a year I'd pull the genset out to run for 30 minutes it to keep things lubricated and electricals exercised. Open the fuel petcock, wait a minute for fuel to refill carb, 1/2 choke, yank the starter rope, usually by the 2nd pull the engine fired right up and ran smoothly up the running speed. I only would put a fresh dose of Stabil in annually and slosh it around. I did that for 8 years...SAME gas in tank...same results every year. PRI-G is even better than Stabil and what currently use in all my gas powered engines. Also run synthetic oils change every couple years regardless if running hours are up to oil change times. I also found Fluoramic Tufoil to be a good additive to reduce wear on splash lubricated engines. That additive was developed for the high-speed turbo-pumps on rocket engines!
 
A

anna43

Veteran Member
I believe that whole house generators are one of the items that are on a several months backorder, So, if you are planning on buying one, you might not want to delay getting it ordered.

My Generac runs every Monday to recharge the battery. It was a major expense, but I consider it a major blessing. A very expensive purchase and expensive to have bi-annual maintenance, but worth every cent in peace of mind.
 
DFENZ

DFENZ

Contributing Member
anna43 said:
I believe that whole house generators are one of the items that are on a several months backorder, So, if you are planning on buying one, you might not want to delay getting it ordered.

My Generac runs every Monday to recharge the battery. It was a major expense, but I consider it a major blessing. A very expensive purchase and expensive to have bi-annual maintenance, but worth every cent in peace of mind.
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There's a lot to be said for keeping a generator exercised, but starting an engine and immediately running it balls-out on a cold start is one of the worst things one can do for any engine, especially in cold temperatures. Generators will generally start and run at full operating speed immediately on startup. If you have the aptitude to start it manually, override the governor and run it at an idle for a few minutes to warm it up before revving to full operating RPMs (just like you would do for your car), you will vastly improve the lifespan of your engine.

Another option you may want to consider is cutting the automatic exercises to once-a-month rather than weekly. It should be sufficient for most applications, and it would cut the cold starts by 75%.

I have a friend that travels around the country doing emergency generator replacements for a major telecom. Sometimes they haul the 'old' ones to a local scrap yard, others they haul back to their own yard to be cannibalized for parts. The usual problems with them are blown head gaskets and thrown rods. And most of those have under 500 hours on the clock, virtually all of them exercise hours.
 
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