Similar to your situation, I couldn’t afford a whole house generator 22 years ago, so I bought a 6875/5500 Coleman Powermate with a Honda engine, and installed a tri-fuel conversion kit on it. My electrician brother installed a breakout box with manual throw-over switch, and wired up the circuits I wanted. Then I got a plumber to add a valve just after my natural gas meter. My system runs most of my electrical outlets, the lights, the Fridge, Freezer, and the gas heater blower. Total initial cost: $1171. (Generator was $650 of that)
The generator has never had gasoline in it. After 22 years, the total usage has been about 33 1/2 hours. The oil has been changed twice. (Amazingly, It has stayed clean using nat. gas) I just changed the spark plug today.
It still fires right up and can run at over 100% of its rated load (5500 watts) despite being ON NATURAL GAS!
Hondas are the only engines I buy now.
I have a spreadsheet that calculates cost per day to run my setup on gasoline versus natural gas.
Based on current gasoline price of $2.55 (where I live) versus what I pay per Therm of natural gas, my cost to run continuously for 24 hours is $23.89 at a 50% load versus $30.60 for a 50% load using gasoline. I never have to go out and refill the gas or change the propane tank.
My son is in Virgina and tested his dual-fuel generator last night with gas. I told him to go buy a can of starter fluid to test spark - it fired up and ran til the starter fluid ran out. He disassembled and cleaned the carb with no joy. It is not even sputtering without starter fluid.
He’s getting 20 pound propane tank(s) after work today. We are praying it will run on propane until he can sort out the running on gas problem. I have to switch my dual-fuel from propane to gas manually, but his manual says his is self selecting based on supply.
It is a Duromax - any suggestions are appreciated.
Remove the gas and put in fresh gas? If you already did that, How many hours has the Generator run in total?
Does it backfire at all, or just not start?
Could be as simple as a new spark plug, or could be a little more involved. (Adjusting the valves) Either way, there are You Tube videos showing how to adjust the valves, or changing the gap on a new (or used) sparkplug. Consult your manual for the required settings.
Could also be clogged jets in the carburetor, how thorough was the carburetor cleaning?
I failed to mention draining and refilling with fresh gas is on tonight’s to do list. It doesn’t have many hours on it and he said he last test ran it about 2 months ago. He confessed (his Dad was disappointed) he did not run the fuel out of the carb the last time he ran it. Don’t know for sure, but suspect the baby was trying to sleep so he was instructed to immediately shut down
Unfortunately, if you are not a mechanic (Like I am not) this lesson is learned the hard way.
If you are not gonna use power equipment for a long time, buy some Sta-Bil and add it to the tank, then let it run for 10 minutes to extend the life of your gasoline and help to prevent carburetor fouling.
Another reason I use natural gas… it runs REALLY clean.
Couldn’t agree more. Gasoline has never run through my generator so far, but the boat has 30 gallons of real gas with Seafoam mixed in it as backup to the 250 gallon propane tank buried in the front yard.
Similar to you, I keep gasoline on hand as backup. I used to treat the 190 gallon boat tank as my backup, but that’s gone now. I like having the dual fuel, because if propane delivery isn’t available after a storm and I’ve run my house tank dry (which it likely won’t be available), I can go in sesrch of gasoline or portable propane.
My generator has run once on gasoline since I changed the carburetor to a dual fuel one, just to test and make sure the gasoline side of the the carb worked right. Then I ran it dry, drained the whole gas tank dry and sprayed it all out with carb cleaner, and haven’t run it on gasoline since.
Besides, propane runs so much cleaner, doesn’t pollute the oil the same way, and doesn’t make much exhaust smell at all.
It would have been a good one, except it was single engine. It was a good sized walk around with a Mercruiser B1 stern drive. Great for all day trolling, cruising and family recreational use, with a full width swim deck, but I probably wouldn’t have wanted to head 80 miles out with a single engine. Given that, it was as reliable as the day is long, and cruised at 3 MPG at 20 knots, so it had huge range.
A guy from Western Michigan came down and bought it. It’ll live out its days on Lake Michigan, where it belongs. People up there love those boats for walleye, and the fresh water is easy on the running gear.
I was going to post this, but the site doesn’t allow uploading of spreadsheet documents. The spreadsheet also calculates the cost to run a generator on a 20lb propane tank, versus gasoline and natural gas.
Cabin fever went away today. We had a fine sleet permeate the snow. Stuff weighs like spent uranium. I usually love the absolute silence walking around this lake, but today it was noisy, micro-spike clad boots going “crunch crunch crunch”. Still managed to surprise a bunny. Saw 4 deer, loads of turkey tracks, fox and coyote as well. Geese and heron are gone.
Repaired my 95 year old neighbors snowblower last year, gas in the lines had turned to licorice. I took care of her paved driveway and made some trails from her house to mine, and mine to the sheds and greenhouse. My driveway is gravel, and pretty full with the RV, Chevy and Tacoma ( Challenger my son left behind and another Chevy in the garage). It’s going to be “Taco only” for awhile unless I get a sled and some huskies.
