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I bought a motorcycle a while ago that had been sitting in some guys garage for three years. He had drained the fuel tank before putting it in storage. The small amount of fuel in the carb float bowls evaporated leaving only sticky gum and varnish. The bike was emaculate but couldn’t be started. I bought it for a song hoping that whatever the problem was, I could fix it. Took only a few minutes to figure out that the carbs were not passing any fuel. I opened them up and I still can’t believe how much solid stuff is in a half cup of gasoline.
Rebuilt the carbs and It ran like new.
(They then leaked like a sieve and I had to do it all over again)
-Ryan
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I need a generator for building and am tired of forking out fifty bucks a weekend for a rental. Problem is, with all the Y2K hype I'm concerned about cheesy products being dumped on a naive market. Here's some current observations:
• Compared with US products, the Japanese ones cost twice as much for half the wattage (Yamaha, Honda, Mitsubishi).
• The Japanese machines run much quieter and claim to be longer lasting and better built.
• Almost all the rental outfits around here use Japanese products.
However, my construction needs are temporary and I hope to have hydro hooked up within a year. From then on the generator will be for backup use only.
I'm currenty thinking about the 5000 watt Coleman, Devilbiss, or Generac. I don't think I my needs warrant the Japanese stuff. Anyone have anything positive/negative about these machines?
Thanks,
Scott.
*I've been thinking about getting one for quite a while. I've decided to wait unitl January 2nd. I figure that when the world doesn't end, there will be hundreds of unused generators in the classifieds for half price.
*The deVillbiss uses a Briggs and Straton motor ... a good name, at least in the past. Make sure you get one in which you ahve to change the oil -- they run way too hot for oilless motors. Then use top grade synthetic oil and keep it topped up. Auto-idle is best and it should have a manual shut-off... look for tis feature (manual override).The US generators are loud, maybe you can get a better muffler.Most of them are rated for start-up watts of 1/2 the operating watts. This means you can't have more than 25OO start-up watts on the 5000. You might want to go for something bigger if you plan on using big saws in tandem.
*There have been several threads on generators over the past several months. Go up to the top of "Breaktime", click on "search", and enter "generators". One of the threads included some interesting thoughts on how the waveform of the AC output affected certain tools.
*I've got a Generac 2500 watt machine that I use with a 6", 9 amp, PC sawboss, Panasonic battery charger, and an old Maytag ringer washer. Cost under $300 when I bought it. Works great for me so far. I store it for months at a time. Take Fred L's fuel suggestion one further if your a belt and suspenders type, Stabil fuel stabilizer in all fuels before draining and storing. Joe
*Ryan;I've been thinking the same thing for months. Need one to make my welder portable, but just gonna wait.
*I owned a 5000watt generac until last year, I bought a honda 6500 watt this year. There is no comparision between the two .The generac had a briggs and stratton engine that was so damn loud it would rattle your teeth if you were too near it. Go for the honda or one with a honda engine on it.I hear there is a shortage of gen sets.
*Thanks All.Think I'll go for the Coleman ProGen 5000. To my thinking it offers a reasonable compromise between the el cheapo teeth-rattling side valve B&S motors and the wonderful (but expensive) Japanese gensets. The Pro Gen has a OHV B&S Vanguard motor, a reasonable noise level, a two year warranty, and a long life air filter. Everything I've read so far indicates that fuel, oil, and air quality is what keeps these things running, so I plan to pay close attention to all these maintenance duties.Much thanks for all your thoughts,Scott.
*Lots of different opinions, but one piece of misinformation, at least in my experience; most generators are rated for a surge of at least 1/3 ABOVE rated capacity. For example, a Dewalt radial arm saw can be used on a 5KW generator even though the startup is amperage is higher than the constant rated of the generator.Please do a good job of research in the archives. This subject comes up fairly often and there is a lot of information there. Basically, gen life depends on free cooling air flow and changing the oil frequently. Even then most are only designed to about 900 hours. But many people get much more than that out of them if properly maintained.I'm also buying my new generators in February, or as soon as this Y2K nonsense quiets down. LOTS of money being made of it though. Guess I'm just jealous I didn't think to turn Y2K into a profit center.
*Gee, you guys, what happened to the strident "Buy American" cry?Can anyone explain what the deal is with gasoline going "stale"? I accept that it happens, but why? I hace some very old lawnmower gas -- went electric a couple of years ago -- any suggestions what to do with it?
*Andrew:http://www.chevron.com/prodserv/bulletin/longterm_gasoline/background-info.html
*Pour it into your car when your tank is near full.(it soaks into the uphostery and after you drive with the windows down for six months, it is gone):-)Rich Beckman
*Andrew: Re: Stale Gasoline Since I do a fair amount off the road system where I use generators, etc many times from cached fuel I did some research on the subject. According to the labs at a couple refineries what makes fuel go "stale" are the additives in the fuel. Depending where you are in N America this means fuel might last anywhere from 3 months to 3 years with no problems. As a general rule I was told the further north you are the fewer the additives and the less the problems. Back in the leaded fuel days the problem was much worse than now. From experience I find that water in the fuel is a much bigger problem so I always refuel using a good aviation grade fuel filter.
*The Chevron site was quite interesting -- their argument was that the lighter volatile hydrocarbons boil off over time if the gasoline is not perfectly sealed in ... and that these light volatiles are necessary for starting an engine and keeping it running properly. Also, "gum" tends to build up over time and can foul the engine, for which detergents are added by federal law.Gen. aviation fuel (still heavily leaded) always presented us with a lot of water problems ... but the water simply sank to the bottom of the tank where it was easily drained out.Sooo... should hermetically sealed gasoline be useful forever? (Haven't finished my Y2K bunker yet, so there's still time to make changes.)
*Scott-I started with a $1300 Makita generator and used it for a year until it was stolen. For a replacement I bought a $600 Generac (sold by Sears). Four years later and a couple of hundred hours of construction use, I'm convinced the Generac is a better genset than the Makita. It's reliable, has better controls, came with spare parts and plugs, and they don't gouge you on the price of the wheel kit.Scott D.
*While very similiar to the answers I got from the labs I checked with the Chevron site differs in a couple of important ways(it is 1996 info so may not be current). First, depending on where the fuel was produced there may or may not be stabilizers that can degrade. They point out Federal and California fuels will store longer than "conventional" fuel. In 1998 more and more fuel meets Federal standards so that may now be the normal.In the north us and western canada much of the fuel doesn't have many additives at all, I've been told. So the refinery can't really say how long it will be useable as a motor fuel.Best answer is to filter for water and try it. If it works it is ok. If it doesn't it isn't. Personally, I use the sniff test. If it smells ok it is ok. Never let me down yet.All that said; just how many folks on this board really care about how long fuel can be stored? Not very many I suspect. But it is interesting to us knowledge sponges.
*I bought a motorcycle a while ago that had been sitting in some guys garage for three years. He had drained the fuel tank before putting it in storage. The small amount of fuel in the carb float bowls evaporated leaving only sticky gum and varnish. The bike was emaculate but couldn't be started. I bought it for a song hoping that whatever the problem was, I could fix it. Took only a few minutes to figure out that the carbs were not passing any fuel. I opened them up and I still can't believe how much solid stuff is in a half cup of gasoline.Rebuilt the carbs and It ran like new.(They then leaked like a sieve and I had to do it all over again)-Ryan
*Gasoline is a witches brew ......different formulations for diffent areas of the country ....... different formulations for different seasons (winter/summer)- tough to make a blanket recomendation as far as storage. As far as storage goes, I do know that Echo power products recomends no longer than 30 days for fuel storage/ 60 with a fuel stabilizer. For storage, I've had the best luck with a full tank of fuel and a stabilizer added to it. If you run a tank dry, there still is fuel remaining in the carb- gum and varnish can result. It would not hurt to change the oil before storage ..... clean oil doesn't have the corrosives found in dirty oil. Remove the spark plug and squirt some WD-40 in the cylinder. It will help prevent rust, sometimes a problem with cast iron cylinder liners. Store the generator in a dry place. When it comes time to fire it up again, check the engine for mouse nests (especially if it was stored in an outbuilding). It sounds funny but we've run into a rash of blown motors because of the nests .....the nests clog the cooling fins and the motor overheats.