Power Outage

[JoePa]

A couple days ago we experienced a power outage as the result of an ice storm - I got one of my two generators out to provide power to my refrigerator and freezer - when I put my generator away for an extended period I add stabilizer to the gas and fill the tank up - well I had a real hard time to get the generators to start - my son puts his away by just running his generator until it runs out of gas and stops - his generator started with the first pull - years ago that's how we did it - run the motor with the gas supply off - we did that with outboard motors too - now they tell you to use stabilizer and not cut off the gas supply - I'm wondering if leaving gas in the generator is the best thing to do -

[Fisherman]

I never ever leave gas in the carb for extended periods especially the ethanol blended crap. Run them dry or put a shut off tap in the fuel line and then drain the carb with the drain screw. If it doesn't have a drain screw, loosen the float bowl nut and it will drain that way. As for stabilizer, I tried that crap once and it made a jello mess that took a day of cleaning to get that crap out. The only thing I add to my gas is Seafoam, keeps crap from forming in the carbs. My 50 year old snowblower still starts on first try, and I'm not changing my method.

[impact]

High octane gas with no ethanol plus running the carburetor dry does the trick on my dozen small engines I have around the yard that get seasonal use.
I also remove the spark plug and fog the engine on each before prolonged storage. Seems to help as well.

[js4fn]

Get can Briggs and Stratton carb clean you can start any gas engine on it spray in air intake soon it will run on stale gas

[johnjyb]

high test with zero ethanol is left in the tank , and run with fuel supply closed until the carb is dry and motor stops. have done this with all my toys, Snow blower started first pull this week and is 15 years old, although I did do a trial start 24 hours before this blast of 40 cm as I didn't want to be left high and dry.
John

[FishHog]

if your storing for less than a year, I wouldn't hesitate to store it full with nonethanol and treated fuel. Longer than that, I'd drain it.
Either way I'd drain the carb if your leaving it more than 6 months.
I use non ethanol fuel in anything that will sit for more than a couple months and treated with stabil.

My generator hardly gets used. In Dec we had a power outage for 23hrs. After 12, I got the generator out that hasn't run in 5 years. But I drained the fuel and oil storage sprayed the cylinder. Put fuel in it, waited a couple minutes for it to fill the carb and it fired on the first pull.

Drained the tank and carb, sprayed the cylinder again and put it back to bed. If its 10 years from now that I need it, I'm confident it will start right up again.

[greatwhite]

All fuel in Canada will contain ethanol this summer according to this from REPORT FROM PARLIAMENT on Cheryl Gallant website

https://cherylgallant.com/blog/2021/...ations-coming/

When I shut off my generator I do it by turning off the fuel that way the carb has been drained and since O always have the fuel tank full I add seas foam. I run the generator twice a year for at least an hour maybe 2 just to make sure it works well. Every two years I drain the fuel and put in my lawn mower or car and then I add new fuel to the generator.

[FishHog]

All fuel in Canada will contain ethanol this summer according to this from REPORT FROM PARLIAMENT on Cheryl Gallant website

https://cherylgallant.com/blog/2021/...ations-coming/

When I shut off my generator I do it by turning off the fuel that way the carb has been drained and since O always have the fuel tank full I add seas foam. I run the generator twice a year for at least an hour maybe 2 just to make sure it works well. Every two years I drain the fuel and put in my lawn mower or car and then I add new fuel to the generator.

Well that's not good news at all.
If that's the case I'll be getting it in the US if I can, or run and drain every time.

[greatwhite]

So out of curiosity for those who use Portable generators, who has a generator sub panel to plug into and distribute the power to key breakers or do you use extension cords?
What size of genny do you use ?
What do you power with it?

I use to just run extension cords one down stairs and plug the Sump, freezer, TV and computer another upstairs to the fridge and network. Now I have a generator panel.

When do you decide to pull the generator out? That the big question after 2 hours, 3 hours etc?

[MikePal]

I have mine set up for both GW. The bypass panels are set up for only a 30 amp service. So put a 4 socket 120v outlet under that panel and wired it to be plugged into the generator outside (120v twist) That way I have an outlet for extension cords for freezers etc, while still having the power to basically 6 CCTs. (x1 204 for well)

I have a 5kw for that set-up.