Very Good...you just forgot one thing. When you decide to store your GenSet (Lawn Mower, 4 wheeler or any other small engine powered device)..while it is running turn the FUEL supply off and let it run until it dies. This will all but empty the carburetor fuel bowl! Been doing this for 40 years and never had a gummed up carburetor.
On my harbor freight generator, running it dry caused the carburetor float valve to stick open every time I tried it. The first time I turned the gas back on after that, the engine cylinder filled with gas. I could barely turn the engine over and liquid gasoline poured from the exhaust when I finally turned it over. I had to beat on the carb to unstick the valve. A lot of gas went into the oil. I had to give up on that procedure since it caused such a dangerous condition.
@@AnsweringAtheism It is quite unlikely running your engine dry caused this sticky float and inlet pin problem. Switch to non ethanol or coleman fuel. Running dry is the best way to keep the carb from gumming up. Small engine expert 45 years.
There was probably some damage done from ethanol previous to your issue, however it is more likely some small particle found its way to get in between the pin and seat of the float. Drop the bowl, float and pin, and give the carb a good cleaning. Adding a small in line filter will also help, and buy a new fuel canister, maybe yours is old and dirty inside.
Good advice. One thing I do to keep fuel fresh is to rotate my stock. I use Stabil in my stored fuel, but I also pour it into my cars after 6 months or so, and refill the cans. I also run my generator every few months to expose any problems before I need it. I shut it down by turning off the fuel, letting it die, and then try to restart it three times with the fuel off.
I run the same type a schedule. I have 27 gal on hand for the emergency generator use, and store non ethanol fuel with Stabil. Every 6 months, I pour the fuel into the car and buy fresh Gas and Stabil it. I have also been transitioning from the original plastic 5 gal cans to the metal, Eagle, type 1 cans. They seem to have a tighter seal.
Many of the WalMart Murphy gas stations and others are offering no-ethanol gas now. The EPA is finally acknowledging that our original gas was fine and that ethanol only creates problems. So far all of the ethanol-free gas is 87 octane which is actually the optimum spec for most of these generators especially the Hondas. Higher octane in a smaller/low compression engine is not a benefit. Don't bother with it. You don't get as much energy out of it in these engines like you do a high compression automotive engine.
Extremely ACCURATE and solid advice ! We are a small engine service facility, and see literally dozens of ethenol fuel related damaged carburetors every single month ! While we do sell a quality fuel stabilizer called Gas-Shok ! That I highly recommend by the way ! It by far exceeds the commonly found fuel stabilizer you find in your local auto parts store, or discount store. ( I won't call it by name ) But it's just not worth the money ! The pre-containerized racing fuels are optimal for longer term storage ! What they did not mention here, ( and this is critical ) You MUST exercise your generator once a month ! Ten or fifteen minutes every month ! ( Always allow your generator to cool down before refueling ) And please folks, refueling MUST be done OUTSIDE, and in a WELL VENTILATED area ! Make a point to mark your selected exercise day on your calendar. Pick an easy day for you to regularly perform this little exercise once a month ! It doesn't hurt to actually plug something in to your generator, make sure it is actually making power every month ! This is a very important step folks, and will help insure that your generator will run properly when you need to count on it the most ! Not to mention, most generator manufacturers recommend this exercise ! PLEASE MAKE ABSOLUTELY SURE YOU ARE RUNNING YOUR GENERATORS OUTSIDE, AND IN A WELL VENTILATED AREA AT ALL TIMES ! ( NO EXCEPTIONS ON THIS )
@@checkyoursix5623 NO, Moonshine burns better than Gas with Ethanol. It's hotter. Good moonshine burns almost a clear flame with a light blue tint. That's about 150 proof.
@@pietikke5598 Oil companies don't want anything to do with Ethanol. No ethanol = more pure gas to sell. Ethanol was a scam pushed by Midwest politicians to sell more corn. It requires more fuel to make ethanol from corn but no leader, including the one in the White House, has the balls to stop this because they would lose Iowa, Kansas, Nebraska et al in the next election.
Only 4 miles from my address in Tennessee, a gas station has an ethanol free gasoline 91 octane option for small engine , marine uses or any non-diesel engine for that matter. It's really nice and handy for fillng a 5 gallon container for my lawn equipment, so I don't have to worry about corrosion damage or the like. Also I fill up my car's tank every fourth time to help keep water contamination down and octane level up to a good range. The price is usually only about 60 to 70 cents more per gallon. Peace out!
There are a dozen or more gas stations by me that sell ethonal free. It's usually $1 or more expensive per gallon than premium, so about $1.50 more than regular. I use it occasionally when I store fuel in my jet skis and other small engines.
I'm a tanker driver. I don't personally haul few but many of my friends in the industry do. They all tell me that they unload whatever fuel is in their tank trailer into whatever ground tank has the room. The most important thing is to not return to the terminal with product.
When living in Southern Florida, we had five 6 gallon gas cans just for the generator! On June first, the gas we stored for hurricane season, we put into our cars! We then refilled these five gas cans with gas and stable for the hurricane season! We have had no problems with our cars or the generator in the 30 years we did this!! Now that we live in the Lake Tahoe area, we have three 6 gallon gas cans for the generator and snowblower! Stable works just fine!!!
@@maloney7461 I use Stable or another treatment and after running them, I have the engine on, shut the gas off and progressively close the choke keeping it running until it stops with little if any gas in the carb. When, needed in the future, open the gas shut off and start.
Thanks for the video and great information! I can't afford the ethanol free gas you referred to, but this is what I have been doing successfully for the last 10 years. I treat my gasoline with Stabil (one of the treatments that didn't pass the professor's test) and mark the date I purchased the gas, on the can, with a magic marker. When it is close to a year, I dump the unused gasoline into one of our cars and start the process over. Every so often, one of the cans is a month or two passed the "expiration date' and the gasoline worked fine. I keep many more than the two 5 gallon cans the "gas police" supposedly allow, and have been using Sam's Club gasoline. BTW, Honda carbs are famous for the problem you mentioned.
That reminds me I need to crank up our generator and let it run. Before my dad passed away he bought a huge generator so big which stands about 4 ft tall. He said to run it every once in awhile. So thank you.
Actually running it every once in awhile is very bad for it! It should be ran for fairly long periods on a regular schedule! Each run period should last at least long enough for it to warm up to full operating temperature and then operate under full load for some period of time before shut down! Cold starts are one of the the MOST DESTRUCTIVE things you can do to an internal combustion engine short of deliberate damage. In general less frequent long runs are better than frequent short runs. Run it completely OUT OF FUEL each run time and only use fresh fuel!
I have had the Honda 2000 for many years now. What was left out of this video, and most important, is to drain the carburetor before 'lay up'. If you are not going to run or exercise the generator for more than two weeks, drain the carburetor. The small screw on the bottom of the carb with the drain hose is there for just that reason. The tiny jet in the carb is prone to clogging as the fuel evaporates while sitting. You will know you have this problem if the motor surges, or won't run without the choke partially on. Yes, you can clean the jet yourself if you know carburetors, otherwise expensive service charge. It will take a few extra pulls to start next time, but it will run correctly. Also, the shutoff on the fuel cap is there to minimize oxidation and water vapor in the tank, be sure to use it.
I use Stabil in a five-gallon can. I get fresh gas for winter and I burn the old gas in my car. I then get fresh gas for the summer and burn the leftover winter gas in my car. I always run the motor dry before I store it. I could go many years before I use my generator or chain saw.
One hint: Keeping your gas tank completely full will eliminate any condensation in the tank. No air in tank = nothing for water to condense out of. Basically this means either store the generator empty or completely full. Also, from the world of aircraft. We always run the engine until it stops from lack of fuel. Having fuel sitting in the carb is considered bad/dangerous.
For those curious where to find ethanol free gasoline, look for a country store/ farm supply. Farm implements and older tractors don’t play nice with ethanol and it is usually available in all 3 common octane levels. You can tell it’s ethanol free by the clear color as opposed to light amber.
Many of the WalMart Murphy gas stations and others are offering no-ethanol gas now. The EPA is finally acknowledging that our original gas was fine and that ethanol only creates problems. So far all of the ethanol-free gas is 87 octane which is actually the optimum spec for most of these generators especially the Hondas. Higher octane in a smaller/low compression engine is not a benefit. Don't bother with it. You don't get as much energy out of it in these engines like you do a high compression automotive engine.
@@1badpete999 Words ave little weight. I can prove this by breathing on you..but won't, because I don't want and you don't want me to breathe on you (most likely).
They feed it to cows and cows are supposed to eat grass it’s fucked up, but it’s all because of Monsanto, they created a epicyte. Look it up and don’t eat corn.
Ethanol is another Gov't Boondoggle!!! Costs 4 to 5 times as much to manufacture as Gasoline. Great for the corn farmers not so great for the people who are forced to buy gas with it added to the fuel. Another We are from the Government and we are here to Help!!!!
In fact mixing in ethanol isnt a completely bad idea. But you know all noble and good ideas ... when it comes to realization... turn utterly bad, especially when caried out by govts. Ethanol is viable fuel but ... Definitely not good idea to produce corn/whatever on purpose and just distill them. Acceptable and reasonable is to utilize waste byproducts. (eg. sugar cane) . My incredibly old car ran pretty good on E85 after minor mods.
The days before the addition of ethanol, you could keep gas ten years and it work just fine. Today fuel that is three months old will give you problems.
yup. when we first went to E10 and I had to replace 6 of my fuel pumps in my cars in our household I did some testing. ONE of those tests was to pull gasoline out of the RV that had been sitting for over 10 years. burned fine and my MPG's returned :-)
@@nerys71 Years ago my father parked a old buick that he put in premium gasoline. The car sat for at least 0 years. I sciphoned the gas out of the tank and checked it in a glass jar. Guess what the fuel looked normal and I ran it in a mower first and then my new truck and it ran just fine. You can never do that with the new gas. Would turn into varnish for sure. THANKS FOR NOTHING BASTARD GAS AND OIL COMPANIES. vf
I put the fuel stabilizer and a injection cleaner with something to help with water. Living in Florida the Hurricane season is 6 months, but can get them outside that time. When the season is over and a short time after I put the fuel in my truck. Save some for lawn mower, grass grows year around here but slower in the winter. This system has worked well for me. And just for the record before there was ethanol in the gas it still got water in it when stored for a long time. Airplanes don't have ethanol in the gas but they try to have them near full because it gets less water in the fuel that way. They also have water drains just for this. Long ago many cars had glass bowls near the fuel pumps so people could see if there was water in the fuel.
Too complicated... just rotate your emergency fuel... last year's unused fuel goes in the car and fresh fuel for the emergency generator every year with some stabil added.
@@jonathaninman2224 Stabil will work to prevent varnishing of gas but it isn't going to prevent water or bond to it. It isn't designed for that. Above is correct rotate your fuel in mowers and cars. Date your cans, add stabil and exercise your equipment monthly to burn off any water resting in carb.
Ha, I thought this might give us some kind of reasonable idea(s) like ADDING a ‘stabilizer’, etc to a fuel supply. Ended up being a SUNOCO ad for OUTRAGEOUSLY priced, unobtainium fuel in a ‘can’...
Wawa sells ethanol free gas. I've never tired it. I live on the central west coast of Florida. We got some blow off from Ian a few weeks ago. I had some gas in my generator left over from Hurricane Irma. 10 years ago, I started treating my gas with Mechanic-in-a-Bottle. The gas left over from Irma worked just fine. My generator was stored in a shed, exposed to all the heat and humidity. I was impressed.
I do it for a year and replace right around Christmas so I remember. Then it goes in the car. I use ethanol free gas and sea foam preservative. I also bought a cheap battery operated gas pump off amazon. Holding a 5 gallon tank waist high and not spilling on your shoes is hard. I keep about 20 gallons around in a shed away from the house.
In Canada, Premium grade fuel (91 Octane) is ethanol free (E0); that's all I use in my small motors, and have never had a failure. I also let the carb run dry by cutting the fuel and let it run till it stops.
good info. i start my generator once or twice a year and make sure its good to go and I make sure to have fuel on hand before bad storms, ice storms, etc happen.....usually you have a few days advance if things start to go south. but i start mine and turn the gas off to let it empty the carb bowl so no corrosion in the carb as well. and i keep a dedicated heavy duty extension cord nearby just for the generator
I guess I am lucky. I can still buy Gas at the Local Gas Station that is Non Ethanol. We live in an Agricultural area and most everyone runs Non Ethanol in most of their equipment on the Farms and use it for "mixing" for the weedeaters, chain saws, Leaf Blowers, etc. Great Video.
When I was in the small engine repair business I bet 25% of the engines I got in for repair had algae or mold or something growing in the carburetor bowl.
My neighbours are pretty aware that I am the "fix anything" guy. Every spring, there is increased demand for bringing mowers, weedtrimmers and other tiny gas gulpers back to life. Crap and gunk in carb bowl and jets is the culprit.
Or, people should rise up and demand that governments stop pushing ethanol fuel, which is no fit-for-purpose, and allow folks to use fuel in its optimal form.
Many of the WalMart Murphy gas stations and others are offering no-ethanol gas now. The EPA is finally acknowledging that our original gas was fine and that ethanol only creates problems. So far all of the ethanol-free gas is 87 octane which is actually the optimum spec for most of these generators especially the Hondas. Higher octane in a smaller/low compression engine is not a benefit. Don't bother with it. You don't get as much energy out of it in these engines like you do a high compression automotive engine.
If Creepy Joe has his way there won't be Gas period and if there is it will cost a fortune,, more than you can justify compared to just letting your refrigerator food go to waste.
@@Vladviking If Creepy Joe has his way half the country would be killed and put into mass graves or dumped in the ocean and you won't need a generator. Drama queen.
Absolutely fantastic video!!!!! I live in the Seattle metro area and i can buy 100 octane aircraft fuel from Kenmore Air (located on the North end of Lake Washington). this fuel is non leaded and no ethanol. The price of the fuel is about $5.00 a gallon. I use this in my chain saw and generator. Brian really like your vids, THANKS
@@randomstuffwithnofluff7472 It's no joke that they are immune to most of the laws. I even saw them set up sidewalk restaurants, right in front of legitimate restaurants. And I've seen countless sidewalk fruit stands, right in front of grocery stores. Try that if you're American! There's clearly a push to support illegals and their illegal activities, while Americans are being fined and sometimes jailed for doing the very things that illegals get away with daily.
Yeah tell me about it . And now they Chemtrail the crap out of us , been doing it for a few years now . For some reason they didn't spray us as much in years past . Looking to buy some land and in many photos you can see friggin streaks going across the sky . Pisses me off . Now we have this Plandemic social engineering psi op running and the sheeple will do anything they're told . Pathetic .
The little black jet shown in the beginning of this video, is the slow speed jet. The engine will surge at low speeds if it is clogged. No start/hard starts, runs and dies, would involve the main jet and emulsion tube inside carburetor. (center of float bowl).
The best option is remove the ethanol yourself ; it's a doddle. All you need to do is mix water ( distilled or de ionised ) 2 parts to 1 with your gasoline ( petrol ) in a clear ( see through ) container after first adding a few drops of food dye ( preferably red in colour / color ) to the water. Shake it up and leave to stand overnight. Next day the gas will be sitting on top of the red coloured ethanol/water mix. Carefully siphon off the gas leaving ( most of ) the ethanol behind. This method normally leaves you with fuel that has between 1 to 2% ethanol in the fuel, at most. I will leave you to decide what to do with the Ethanol.....
You did this so well , to communicate the emotion yet be accurate and balanced I'm a mechanic since 1977 officially ; you rocked this discussion and presentation. It even educated me Enginman USNavy and GSM3 Thank you sin·cere·ly
Another issue with the content of the video: we had issues with gasoline gumming up in storage long before anyone ever thought of adding ethanol to it. That’s why products like sta-bil were invented.
In 2004, I filled my pep-boys 3500 watt generator with non-ethanol gas treated with Stabil I turned off the gas and ran it the carb float-bowl dry. I pulled the spark plug and sprayed the cylinder with a bit of oil, replaced the plug and pulled the pull cord to coat the cylinder with with oil and made sure I left it on the compression stroke to keep the valves closed. I covered it and shoved it into the back of my shop. In 2011, I uncovered it and smelled the gas...It smelled like gas and not varnish. I turned on the fuel valve and choke and gave it exactly two pulls on the starter cord and it started. That is 7 years folks.... Proper prep for your genset and your gasoline... Stabil is an awesome product that exceeds all expectations. When used with non-ethanol gas, you get a LONG shelf life.
It's so easy to make yourself an alcohol-removing system for gas. It's even fun to do. I used to remove the alcohol from 5 gallons of gas a year but quit doing it a while back. With PG&E as my electric provider, I had to install another generator system so I will be going back to removing alcohol again. There are several good videos on youtube on how to do it and how to make the remover.
Here is my strategy: Buy gas in 2 gallon containers and mix with sta-bil in the can and date it. After 6 months it goes into my car and a fresh batch replaces it. Rotate as many 2 gallon containers as you want (I do 3), but 2 gallons is more manageable so you don't add too much to your car at once and you don't get arthritis trying to pour it. Never keep gas in your generator or other gas tools long term, that's important. Just burn off excess in the generator or when you put your tools away for the season, make sure everything is out of gas if you don't see yourself using them in the near future.
I keep one gallon of gas in a separate can, putting Stabil into it. I fill my Honda generator, which holds less than a gallon, also with Stabil. I start the generator and let it run for 10-15 minutes every two weeks when I am not using it for camping. Been doing that for almost 6 years. The generator runs SLIGHTLY rough, at idle. Other than that, it seems to continue to work well. I am not an expert with this. Do you have any additional suggestions?
All excellent information. One more option I use is Aviation fuel 100LL. I go to the local small airport every two years, give or take, and fill my 5 - 5gallon cans with 100LL. Aviation fuel is highly refined, and as you would guess, for safety reasons, the recommended shelf life is if I remember correctly, 2 years. I'm guessing it's probably good for 3-4 without issues. But realistically, nothing I have goes longer than a year without running. But just in case, I'm good for a long, long time. The last time I filled my cans, 100LL was $5.15 a gallon. A little higher now but still worth the peace of mind. And don't worry about the low amount of lead, the manufacturers say no lead is required but I have yet to find a small engine that can tell the difference, 2 or 4 cycle. Maybe with a late model auto with all the electronic circuit boards and what have you that might detect small amounts of lead in the fuel, but I doubt that also. Probably just required verbiage for legal reasons. I've read where some others have a small engine that doesn't like the 100LL but all I know is that it works for me. In many cases, first pull starts after 5-6 months of non use, but good for years. If you have to use pump gas for expense reasons, there are many video's right here on YT that show how to remove the ethanol from pump gas. Then use a gas preservative of some sort. If you run your engines until they quit, then the only fuel left that can hurt anything is in the carb. If what is left has no ethanol and was stabilized, then when you fill with fresh gas it should start without too many pulls.
I've got e10 in sealed gas cans and stored it for a year with no major issues. I could probably get 3 years out of ethanol free pump gas in a properly sealed gas can. I used just keep my generator tank topped off and did a monthly 30 min maintenance run topping off with fresh e10 when I used to store it in my shed. I did that for 4 years with no problems. The trick with storing gas is to keep moisture laden air from it. And if it's going to sit for awhile use non ethanol. But keep it in an air tight can. If it's in equipment, make sure you fill the tank as full as safely possible to reduce surface area exposed to the air in the tank and reduce the volume of air that can be in the top of the tank.
Never did tell us what additives are recommended. For what it's worth, I use "StaBil" in my stored gasoline for up to one (1) year and it has never failed me.
I, too, use Stabil. I run my gen 15 minutes every two weeks when I am not camping. Generator is now almost 6 years old. Runs SLIGHTLY rough but seems to work well.
This was a surprisingly good video! Thanks! Glad to see it wasn't simply suggesting one of those "fuel stabilizers" (snake oil). I find that the critical element to long term fuel storage is containers that are absolutely air tight. I store my gasoline in steel Jerry cans with GOOD gaskets, for YEARS at a time. Avoiding ethanol laced gasoline is also good whenever possible. Aviation gasoline is excellent as well, much less expensive than racing fuel, but does contain lead. So don't put it in anything that has a catalytic converter or an oxygen sensor!
great job....thanks for the tips....one thing to remember fellas....ethanol gas will gum up your carburetor. It will also eat fuel lines unless they have been designed for ethanol gas. Here is the way i would do this....Have your race fuel. When the emergency hits...run your regular gasoline until emergency is finished. Then run the machine on run/no fuel. When the gen stops....add a hundred cc of race fuel to the tank and run that through the gen until it dies. Now you have good fuel in the carb and it has flushed out the ethanol gas. Just buy a couple of cans of the small race fuel.
Rotate your stored fuel. I keep a 55 gallon drum in the shed. The drum is ventilated to the outside of the shed for vapor control using copper tubing, fuel line, and various brass hose fittings. Every year and a half or so, the fuel in the drum ends up in the cars/trucks to be used as normal. Then, new fuel is replenished to the drum. If you're really serious about a fuel with an infinite shelf life, go with Coleman white fuel. It's the stuff sold at Walmart for camping lantern and cooking stoves. Oh yeah, the stuff is a bit pricey. In addition, it will eventually evaporate away over the years. As with all long-term storage of emergency supplies, constant testing, inventory checking/control, and proper rotation are the key to it working when really necessary.
ybgrsfd Yep. If your not looking for a whole house Genny, go with a dual fuel like the Champion 3500 that runs on either gas or propane. Store a few 20 gal propane tanks is easy. Or, if on rural land, go with a Generac whole house back-up and bury a 500 gallon LP tank.
absolutely love the sun machine in the background. same one i grew up on. anyone driving in the "70"s with gasahol knows what crap it was. the only time it was good was in the winter. remember the ad "if you don't go boron will pay your tow" ya bought that ya didnt need dry gas. if it has a carburetor non-ethanol is the only way to go!!
@@jeffbanfieldsflwr3537 Excellent point. If you are going portable as I am buy a dual fuel generator and a large propane tank. Propane has a very long shelf life. When disaster strikes you can begin by running off the propane then switch to fresh gasoline once the propane runs out. Propane burns faster and your generator will not produce as much energy but it is a great option. It would really bad if you needed to run your generator only to find the gas you just filled it up with is bad.
Jeff Banfield that’s true, but I’ve never seen a dual propane and natural gas setup? All the Dual Fuel setups I’ve seen are Gasoline or Propane, which in MHO is the best way to go, just as long as you have at least 4-5 days of propane stored if you’re in an area that’s had historical significant power outages!
You can make ethanol-free gas from pump gas by adding water, mixing and let the ethanol/water mixture settle out and drain it. The ethanol and water bond together and settle to the bottom. Your octane rating will suffer so start with high octane. As for those recommending propane: while it's true that propane will last forever, it doesn't have as much energy as gas(1gal gas=1.36gal propane I think), the carboration is more complex($$), and it doesn't work well in colder climates(see below). Also, natural gas is only good as long as the utilities are working. And if you're getting it as LNG then I have to believe you would start having the same cold weather problems as with propane. I guessing that a liquified hydrocarbon fuel that is gaseous at room temperature wants to stay a liquid in really cold weather. But, that's a guess. It's all about trade-offs unless you have lots of land and you're willing to use wood and animal dung(very renewable).
I put Stabil in my Honda gen, and when I do not use it, I start it and let it run for 15 minutes every two weeks. It seems to be running fine. This is not my area of expertise. Do you have any further suggestions?
Well done. One can store gas in several gallon containers and as the gas ages pour the oldest container's contents into your car and fill that container with fresh gas + stabilizer.Always use the oldest gas first.
I bought propane generator since rare to use. Propane tanks used for grill and area heater so several spares plus used propane all year. Never used for 5 plus years. May get one if we start camping.
Hennessey, 30kW ? Really ? What are you guys running a commercial machine shop ? If you need 30 k to power your home you are Really doing something Wrong........
@@flighthelmet in an engine without emissions it’s fine. Ideal ? Not exactly. For storage purposes for a generator it’s perfectly acceptable. When generator is used you refill with pump gas to prevent lead build up. With the engine being air cooled at running at high power settings, the lead buildup is less of a concern anyway. To run avgas daily in lawn equipment would cause build up. But to say engine damage is a stretch. More like short plug life and filthy oil changes.
@@matth5309 depends on your area. For some reason it hasnt been made available in Houston. We can get Ethanol free fuel but thats only good for 6 months no stabil and 1 year with. Avgas is good for 10 years per manufacture. Its perfect storage fuel, however once im using the generator I use pump gas while its running. Lead does build up on the plugs over time. But like I said, its the perfect storage fuel.
I too am a 100LL user and have been for 30+ years. My lawnmower, gas weedeater, and blower have never seen a drop of pump gas. I generally keep 100-200 gallons in my hangar and ironically, I haul gas from the airport home to supply lawn machines. I did find that storing Avgas in your generator is not a good idea without some modification. The on/off valve has a small rubber o-ring and it didn't like Avgas, so over time, one drop at a time, it emptied itself. Took it apart and used an aviation grade O-ring instead. When in storage, I just run it till it quits. I run it every 6 months from 1/2 hour or so. The recent Texas Blackout left millions without electricity for several days. Made a quick run to the hangar and loaded up a 30 gallon drum and two 5 gallon cans of 100LL. Let the neighbors tap in anytime they wanted for making coffee, toaster, microwave, refrigerators, recharging phones, laptops etc. etc. I ran it 2-3 hours every 8 hours for days.
*Many of the WalMart Murphy gas stations and others are offering no-ethanol gas now! The EPA is finally acknowledging that our original gas was fine and that ethanol only creates problems. So far all of the ethanol free gas is 87 octane which is actually the optimum spec for most of these generators especially the Hondas. Higher octane in a smaller/low compression engine is not a benefit. Don't bother with it. You don't get as much energy out of it in these engines like you do a high compression automotive engine.*
Thank you for that info. Many people I know don't understand what the octane reading means. My brother-in-law is a mechanic and drag races on weekends. The octane rating is counter intuitive. I tried to explain it to him and his friends but they all think I'm an idiot. They insist that the higher octane level is bigger "boom". You'd think they would know better. I ended up buying these premium fuels simply because I wanted the lowest octane rating I could find. Small engines and motorcycles love the low octane stuff.
I for whatever reason haven’t had good luck with Stabil .....I have switched back to PRI-G and have had no issues since. It cost more and West Marine was the only local place I could find it, but now Amazon sells it so that’s no longer an issue. I also just purchased a Honda eu7000is to replace my trusty Yamaha EF6600, which is fuel-injected so that should also help to avoid those blasted ethanol issues.
Don't leave any kind of gasoline in your Generators fuel tank or carburetor drain both thoroughly before storing long term. Every generator carb i have rebuilt was caused by leaving gas ethanol or pure in the carburetor float bowl.
Consider a propane conversion kit, many kits allow you to still use gas as well as natural gas. Propane stores forever, doesn't decay. Whole lot safer to switch propane tanks vs fill hot generator with gas. Runs longer on propane tank vs the usual small tank on gen. Not sponsored, but Hutch Mountain has kits for most Honda gens.
This is just for storage once you were using your generator like in a power outage you would switch to regular pump gas and save the good stuff for storage
I buy only 100% gas and use Sta-Bil for my generator gasoline supply. 100% gasoline is widely available in some parts of the country. Costs about .30 to .40 cents more per gallon than E10.
Great video and pretty informative. But one other alternative that he doesn’t consider in it (and should) is a natural gas/propane conversion kit. This allows your generator to run on natural gas, if your home is plumbed for that, or yes, even propane. Both of these fuels are stored hermetically, meaning “no air” and are thus always ready to power up your generator, burning cleaner, and all at the price of a slight sacrifice in capacity as well as, of course, the cost of the conversion kit. Talk about peace of mind!
I knew this was a trustworthy video once I saw the faux wood panel station wagon parked in the garage!! 😊👍🏾 We did so many crazy and wild trips in ours when I was a kid and I lived to write this!! I don't even remember seat belts in that thing??? Anyway, great video and now I'm going to pull my generator out and swap out the gas! 😊👍🏾
So on an 8 minute video over half has nothing to do with long term storage. Just get to the point already! This could have been a 5 second video - buy racing fuel.
Ethanol free is the best solution especially for small engines. Better yet get a dual fuel generator, propane has very long shelf life, and does not gum up the carb. Single fuel generators require you to run out the fuel completely between uses. Dual fuel is the best solution for an emergency generator. It may cost for the convenience, but when the lights go out having a choice between fuels is important. Remember gas pumps run on electricity.
You can make your own ethanol free gas by adding a gallon of water to 5 gallons of gas. Let it sit overnight then drain off the water and ethanol. Works like a charm.
What dye do you put in it? Seems straightforward but at the end of the day a lot of work when you can just go buy it. Plus the octane drops from what I’ve read
@@michelleedmiston7835 - The dye stays with the water and ethanol therefore when you’re draining it out you can see clearly where the water/ethanol stops
Very Good...you just forgot one thing. When you decide to store your GenSet (Lawn Mower, 4 wheeler or any other small engine powered device)..while it is running turn the FUEL supply off and let it run until it dies. This will all but empty the carburetor fuel bowl! Been doing this for 40 years and never had a gummed up carburetor.
Thanks, that's great advice
Great tip. Will tell hubby.
On my harbor freight generator, running it dry caused the carburetor float valve to stick open every time I tried it. The first time I turned the gas back on after that, the engine cylinder filled with gas. I could barely turn the engine over and liquid gasoline poured from the exhaust when I finally turned it over. I had to beat on the carb to unstick the valve. A lot of gas went into the oil. I had to give up on that procedure since it caused such a dangerous condition.
@@AnsweringAtheism It is quite unlikely running your engine dry caused this sticky float and inlet pin problem. Switch to non ethanol or coleman fuel. Running dry is the best way to keep the carb from gumming up. Small engine expert 45 years.
There was probably some damage done from ethanol previous to your issue, however it is more likely some small particle found its way to get in between the pin and seat of the float. Drop the bowl, float and pin, and give the carb a good cleaning. Adding a small in line filter will also help, and buy a new fuel canister, maybe yours is old and dirty inside.
Always store gas in the container full as possible, regardless of what kind it is. Helps keep out moisture
I forgot about that 1 tip
I was planning on storing my gas next to an open flame..... Sure glad you said something.
I store my gas on top of my wood stove inside my house. Am I not supposed to do that?
I’m just disappointed as you are.
So you're the person that killed the gas can
I like my gas warm. I'm a bit miffed.
I store mine inside my wood stove , makes for quick fire 🔥 . Next to the drums next to it
Good advice. One thing I do to keep fuel fresh is to rotate my stock. I use Stabil in my stored fuel, but I also pour it into my cars after 6 months or so, and refill the cans. I also run my generator every few months to expose any problems before I need it. I shut it down by turning off the fuel, letting it die, and then try to restart it three times with the fuel off.
I run the same type a schedule. I have 27 gal on hand for the emergency generator use, and store non ethanol fuel with Stabil. Every 6 months, I pour the fuel into the car and buy fresh Gas and Stabil it. I have also been transitioning from the original plastic 5 gal cans to the metal, Eagle, type 1 cans. They seem to have a tighter seal.
@@gibblespascack1418 Same here almost exactly.
Same here. Standard procedure.
Wawa sells ethanol free fuel. They cal, it boat fuel. Currently in 2019 it’s $3.05 a gallon. Lots of marinas sell it also. Way cheaper than race fuel.
That's what i do . Gas station near a local boat launch has 93 octane, no ethanol gas for about $3.25 gallon.
I live 50 miles round trip from an ethanol free fuel source. I have to use the water method.
Race fuel is retarded unless real gasoline is just too far away...
@Phil M thank you governor Newsom, gas money going to everything except road repair.
Many of the WalMart Murphy gas stations and others are offering no-ethanol gas now. The EPA is finally acknowledging that our original gas was fine and that ethanol only creates problems. So far all of the ethanol-free gas is 87 octane which is actually the optimum spec for most of these generators especially the Hondas. Higher octane in a smaller/low compression engine is not a benefit. Don't bother with it. You don't get as much energy out of it in these engines like you do a high compression automotive engine.
I wish this guy could teach everyone everything. This country would be so much smarter due to his listenablity.
I could watch Cooley talk about anything all day. Please make your own channel once your contract is done with Roadshow.
Extremely ACCURATE and solid advice !
We are a small engine service facility, and see literally dozens of ethenol fuel related damaged carburetors every single month !
While we do sell a quality fuel stabilizer called
Gas-Shok !
That I highly recommend by the way !
It by far exceeds the commonly found fuel stabilizer you find in your local auto parts store, or discount store.
( I won't call it by name )
But it's just not worth the money !
The pre-containerized racing fuels are optimal for longer term storage !
What they did not mention here,
( and this is critical )
You MUST exercise your generator once a month !
Ten or fifteen minutes every month !
( Always allow your generator to cool down before refueling )
And please folks, refueling MUST be done OUTSIDE, and in a WELL VENTILATED area !
Make a point to mark your selected exercise day on your calendar.
Pick an easy day for you to regularly perform this little exercise once a month !
It doesn't hurt to actually plug something in to your generator, make sure it is actually making power every month !
This is a very important step folks, and will help insure that your generator will run properly when you need to count on it the most !
Not to mention, most generator manufacturers recommend this exercise !
PLEASE MAKE ABSOLUTELY SURE YOU ARE RUNNING YOUR GENERATORS OUTSIDE, AND IN A WELL VENTILATED AREA AT ALL TIMES !
( NO EXCEPTIONS ON THIS )
Ethanol was the dumbest thing we ever did with gasoline.
Ethanol is the same thing as moonshine. Moonshine doesn't belong in my gas tank for ANY reason ...
@@checkyoursix5623 NO, Moonshine burns better than Gas with Ethanol. It's hotter. Good moonshine burns almost a clear flame with a light blue tint. That's about 150 proof.
Not for the evil oil company's and there politician puppets.
Yep... you can run your car with it. You can drink it. The perfect fuel
@@pietikke5598 Oil companies don't want anything to do with Ethanol. No ethanol = more pure gas to sell. Ethanol was a scam pushed by Midwest politicians to sell more corn. It requires more fuel to make ethanol from corn but no leader, including the one in the White House, has the balls to stop this because they would lose Iowa, Kansas, Nebraska et al in the next election.
Only 4 miles from my address in Tennessee, a gas station has an ethanol free gasoline 91 octane option for small engine , marine uses or any non-diesel engine for that matter. It's really nice and handy for fillng a 5 gallon container for my lawn equipment, so I don't have to worry about corrosion damage or the like. Also I fill up my car's tank every fourth time to help keep water contamination down and octane level up to a good range. The price is usually only about 60 to 70 cents more per gallon. Peace out!
Every time I run through TN we always look for those stations and fill up. Wish we had them here
There are a dozen or more gas stations by me that sell ethonal free. It's usually $1 or more expensive per gallon than premium, so about $1.50 more than regular. I use it occasionally when I store fuel in my jet skis and other small engines.
I'm a tanker driver. I don't personally haul few but many of my friends in the industry do. They all tell me that they unload whatever fuel is in their tank trailer into whatever ground tank has the room. The most important thing is to not return to the terminal with product.
When living in Southern Florida, we had five 6 gallon gas cans just for the generator! On June first, the gas we stored for hurricane season, we put into our cars! We then refilled these five gas cans with gas and stable for the hurricane season! We have had no problems with our cars or the generator in the 30 years we did this!! Now that we live in the Lake Tahoe area, we have three 6 gallon gas cans for the generator and snowblower! Stable works just fine!!!
Did you leave gas in your generator or is the tank empty until you need to use it? Thanks
@@maloney7461 I use Stable or another treatment and after running them, I have the engine on, shut the gas off and progressively close the choke keeping it running until it stops with little if any gas in the carb. When, needed in the future, open the gas shut off and start.
This guy was very articulate, never missed a beat.
Thanks for the video and great information!
I can't afford the ethanol free gas you referred to, but this is what I have been doing successfully for the last 10 years.
I treat my gasoline with Stabil (one of the treatments that didn't pass the professor's test) and mark the date I purchased the gas, on the can, with a magic marker. When it is close to a year, I dump the unused gasoline into one of our cars and start the process over. Every so often, one of the cans is a month or two passed the "expiration date' and the gasoline worked fine.
I keep many more than the two 5 gallon cans the "gas police" supposedly allow, and have been using Sam's Club gasoline. BTW, Honda carbs are famous for the problem you mentioned.
The jet you pulled out is the 'air metering jet'. The fuel metering jet is in the bowl of the carb.
That reminds me I need to crank up our generator and let it run. Before my dad passed away he bought a huge generator so big which stands about 4 ft tall. He said to run it every once in awhile. So thank you.
Actually running it every once in awhile is very bad for it! It should be ran for fairly long periods on a regular schedule! Each run period should last at least long enough for it to warm up to full operating temperature and then operate under full load for some period of time before shut down! Cold starts are one of the the MOST DESTRUCTIVE things you can do to an internal combustion engine short of deliberate damage. In general less frequent long runs are better than frequent short runs. Run it completely OUT OF FUEL each run time and only use fresh fuel!
@@raibeartcahill4295 Thank you for letting me know that, it's very appreciated. Miss my dad so much he knew what to do always.
I have had the Honda 2000 for many years now. What was left out of this video, and most important, is to drain the carburetor before 'lay up'. If you are not going to run or exercise the generator for more than two weeks, drain the carburetor. The small screw on the bottom of the carb with the drain hose is there for just that reason. The tiny jet in the carb is prone to clogging as the fuel evaporates while sitting. You will know you have this problem if the motor surges, or won't run without the choke partially on. Yes, you can clean the jet yourself if you know carburetors, otherwise expensive service charge. It will take a few extra pulls to start next time, but it will run correctly. Also, the shutoff on the fuel cap is there to minimize oxidation and water vapor in the tank, be sure to use it.
Once every few months, pour the gas from the cans into your car and refill the cans.
@That Guy what is happening with your fuel in that space of time?
Exactly. I ad Stabil to mine. I change out my 15 gallon drum every 6 months January/July. Been doing it for the last dozen years or so.
I use Stabil in a five-gallon can. I get fresh gas for winter and I burn the old gas in my car. I then get fresh gas for the summer and burn the leftover winter gas in my car. I always run the motor dry before I store it. I could go many years before I use my generator or chain saw.
One hint: Keeping your gas tank completely full will eliminate any condensation in the tank. No air in tank = nothing for water to condense out of. Basically this means either store the generator empty or completely full.
Also, from the world of aircraft. We always run the engine until it stops from lack of fuel. Having fuel sitting in the carb is considered bad/dangerous.
Great advice! Thank you!
Thanks for the reminder. I will top off my generator.
Mr. Cooley speaks fast and clearly. Kudos!.
This guy is a GREAT communicator. Don't know him but will definitely follow.
For those curious where to find ethanol free gasoline, look for a country store/ farm supply. Farm implements and older tractors don’t play nice with ethanol and it is usually available in all 3 common octane levels. You can tell it’s ethanol free by the clear color as opposed to light amber.
Many of the WalMart Murphy gas stations and others are offering no-ethanol gas now. The EPA is finally acknowledging that our original gas was fine and that ethanol only creates problems. So far all of the ethanol-free gas is 87 octane which is actually the optimum spec for most of these generators especially the Hondas. Higher octane in a smaller/low compression engine is not a benefit. Don't bother with it. You don't get as much energy out of it in these engines like you do a high compression automotive engine.
@@v.dembsey3355 EPA is retreating on the ethanol lacing initiative? Where and when is this joyous occasion happening?
Tell the government that Corn belongs in animal feed & grocery stores . Not our gas .
100% gasoline is widely available in parts of the country. It's all I use in my small engines and generators.
It's all GMO, so I wouldn't give corn to my animals or anything I'd eat.
You honestly think that a Democrat government in San francisco that think the end of the world is in 11 years would listen to the public demands ?
@@1badpete999 Words ave little weight. I can prove this by breathing on you..but won't, because I don't want and you don't want me to breathe on you (most likely).
They feed it to cows and cows are supposed to eat grass it’s fucked up, but it’s all because of Monsanto, they created a epicyte. Look it up and don’t eat corn.
I didn't know ethanol was so unfaithful to petrol. Water is such a home wrecker for so many compounds.
Ethanol is another Gov't Boondoggle!!! Costs 4 to 5 times as much to manufacture as Gasoline. Great for the corn farmers not so great for the people who are forced to buy gas with it added to the fuel. Another We are from the Government and we are here to Help!!!!
It's another government and Elites Club $ schemes. Then goes to Jeffrey Lube Epstein's Paradise Meat Island for party.
In fact mixing in ethanol isnt a completely bad idea. But you know all noble and good ideas ... when it comes to realization... turn utterly bad, especially when caried out by govts. Ethanol is viable fuel but ... Definitely not good idea to produce corn/whatever on purpose and just distill them. Acceptable and reasonable is to utilize waste byproducts. (eg. sugar cane) .
My incredibly old car ran pretty good on E85 after minor mods.
@@loktom4068🛥️.. & probably serving subversive🧠 ethenal,🍸🍾🥂 no doubt💃. 🤪
Government retardation of fuel supply is all it is. Ethanol laced gas is all that's available in my area, far and wide.
If you look at 5:52 on the video, you will see that BG and ISO-HEET are the two fuel additives that ere shown to be effective in the study.
Thank you Mr.Cooley
The days before the addition of ethanol, you could keep gas ten years and it work just fine. Today fuel that is three months old will give you problems.
yup. when we first went to E10 and I had to replace 6 of my fuel pumps in my cars in our household I did some testing. ONE of those tests was to pull gasoline out of the RV that had been sitting for over 10 years. burned fine and my MPG's returned :-)
@@nerys71 Years ago my father parked a old buick that he put in premium gasoline. The car sat for at least 0 years. I sciphoned the gas out of the tank and checked it in a glass jar. Guess what the fuel looked normal and I ran it in a mower first and then my new truck and it ran just fine. You can never do that with the new gas. Would turn into varnish for sure. THANKS FOR NOTHING BASTARD GAS AND OIL COMPANIES. vf
My wife's 4 stroke motorcycle sat for over 2 years Due to a illness. It had ethanol free fuel with staybill in it and it started on on 2nd kick
I put the fuel stabilizer and a injection cleaner with something to help with water. Living in Florida the Hurricane season is 6 months, but can get them outside that time. When the season is over and a short time after I put the fuel in my truck. Save some for lawn mower, grass grows year around here but slower in the winter. This system has worked well for me. And just for the record before there was ethanol in the gas it still got water in it when stored for a long time. Airplanes don't have ethanol in the gas but they try to have them near full because it gets less water in the fuel that way. They also have water drains just for this. Long ago many cars had glass bowls near the fuel pumps so people could see if there was water in the fuel.
Too complicated... just rotate your emergency fuel... last year's unused fuel goes in the car and fresh fuel for the emergency generator every year with some stabil added.
If you watched the video you say that when Sta-bil was added , it didn't work.
@@jonathaninman2224 Stabil will work to prevent varnishing of gas but it isn't going to prevent water or bond to it. It isn't designed for that. Above is correct rotate your fuel in mowers and cars. Date your cans, add stabil and exercise your equipment monthly to burn off any water resting in carb.
Rhyme& Reason - that’s exactly what I’ve been doing for years.
Ha, I thought this might give us some kind of reasonable idea(s) like ADDING a ‘stabilizer’, etc to a fuel supply. Ended up being a SUNOCO ad for OUTRAGEOUSLY priced, unobtainium fuel in a ‘can’...
Aviation gas would be a solution. I think it lasts 8-10 years, albeit you have lead in the gas.
Excellent video
Start to Finish
Wawa sells ethanol free gas. I've never tired it. I live on the central west coast of Florida. We got some blow off from Ian a few weeks ago. I had some gas in my generator left over from Hurricane Irma. 10 years ago, I started treating my gas with Mechanic-in-a-Bottle. The gas left over from Irma worked just fine. My generator was stored in a shed, exposed to all the heat and humidity. I was impressed.
Or, just get regular ethanol free gas in a $20 plastic can. Every six months pour it into your car and refill it.
And a simple plastic tube with squeeze pump to siphon out some gas from your car if you need more gas and can't get out for a few days.
Without the ethanol will last a few years!
Anand:The best comment yet.
I do it for a year and replace right around Christmas so I remember. Then it goes in the car. I use ethanol free gas and sea foam preservative.
I also bought a cheap battery operated gas pump off amazon. Holding a 5 gallon tank waist high and not spilling on your shoes is hard. I keep about 20 gallons around in a shed away from the house.
Can you add stability fuel to it
In Canada, Premium grade fuel (91 Octane) is ethanol free (E0); that's all I use in my small motors, and have never had a failure. I also let the carb run dry by cutting the fuel and let it run till it stops.
good info. i start my generator once or twice a year and make sure its good to go and I make sure to have fuel on hand before bad storms, ice storms, etc happen.....usually you have a few days advance if things start to go south. but i start mine and turn the gas off to let it empty the carb bowl so no corrosion in the carb as well. and i keep a dedicated heavy duty extension cord nearby just for the generator
I guess I am lucky. I can still buy Gas at the Local Gas Station that is Non Ethanol. We live in an Agricultural area and most everyone runs Non Ethanol in most of their equipment on the Farms and use it for "mixing" for the weedeaters, chain saws, Leaf Blowers, etc.
Great Video.
When I was in the small engine repair business I bet 25% of the engines I got in for repair had algae or mold or something growing in the carburetor bowl.
My neighbours are pretty aware that I am the "fix anything" guy. Every spring, there is increased demand for bringing mowers, weedtrimmers and other tiny gas gulpers back to life. Crap and gunk in carb bowl and jets is the culprit.
Memories of my shop in the early 70’s! It appears to be a classic Sun Scope/Analyzer in the background. 👍👍👍
Or, people should rise up and demand that governments stop pushing ethanol fuel, which is no fit-for-purpose, and allow folks to use fuel in its optimal form.
Many of the WalMart Murphy gas stations and others are offering no-ethanol gas now. The EPA is finally acknowledging that our original gas was fine and that ethanol only creates problems. So far all of the ethanol-free gas is 87 octane which is actually the optimum spec for most of these generators especially the Hondas. Higher octane in a smaller/low compression engine is not a benefit. Don't bother with it. You don't get as much energy out of it in these engines like you do a high compression automotive engine.
If Creepy Joe has his way there won't be Gas period and if there is it will cost a fortune,, more than you can justify compared to just letting your refrigerator food go to waste.
@@Vladviking If Creepy Joe has his way half the country would be killed and put into mass graves or dumped in the ocean and you won't need a generator. Drama queen.
@@v.dembsey3355 Well with half gone then there will be enough GREEN energy for everyone at least,,, maybe.
@@Vladviking Sure buddy. That's what a man with about 10 years left to live wants.
Absolutely fantastic video!!!!! I live in the Seattle metro area and i can buy 100 octane aircraft fuel from Kenmore Air (located on the North end of Lake Washington). this fuel is non leaded and no ethanol. The price of the fuel is about $5.00 a gallon. I use this in my chain saw and generator. Brian really like your vids, THANKS
Out of compliance in California?!?! LOL That's the land of 1,500 laws. JUST THIS YEAR!
Unless your an illegal, then the law doesn't apply to you.
@@randomstuffwithnofluff7472 It's no joke that they are immune to most of the laws. I even saw them set up sidewalk restaurants, right in front of legitimate restaurants. And I've seen countless sidewalk fruit stands, right in front of grocery stores. Try that if you're American! There's clearly a push to support illegals and their illegal activities, while Americans are being fined and sometimes jailed for doing the very things that illegals get away with daily.
@@shredders3881 When are we going to wall off California and cut our losses!
@@michaelb.8953 I wouldn't call walling off Kalifornia a loss. It'll be a WIN for the rest of the country!
Yeah tell me about it . And now they Chemtrail the crap out of us , been doing it for a few years now . For some reason they didn't spray us as much in years past . Looking to buy some land and in many photos you can see friggin streaks going across the sky . Pisses me off . Now we have this Plandemic social engineering psi op running and the sheeple will do anything they're told . Pathetic .
So Ethanol is even worse than I already knew. Thanks Cooley.
We have had that Honda generator for around 15 years. Indestructible! Highly recommended.
The little black jet shown in the beginning of this video, is the slow speed jet. The engine will surge at low speeds if it is clogged. No start/hard starts, runs and dies, would involve the main jet and emulsion tube inside carburetor. (center of float bowl).
The best option is remove the ethanol yourself ; it's a doddle. All you need to do is mix water ( distilled or de ionised ) 2 parts to 1 with your gasoline ( petrol ) in a clear ( see through ) container after first adding a few drops of food dye ( preferably red in colour / color ) to the water. Shake it up and leave to stand overnight. Next day the gas will be sitting on top of the red coloured ethanol/water mix. Carefully siphon off the gas leaving ( most of ) the ethanol behind. This method normally leaves you with fuel that has between 1 to 2% ethanol in the fuel, at most. I will leave you to decide what to do with the Ethanol.....
@ Lewis. If a Chemist drinks it does it make one an Alchemist?
You did this so well , to communicate the emotion yet be accurate and balanced I'm a mechanic since 1977 officially ; you rocked this discussion and presentation.
It even educated me
Enginman USNavy and GSM3
Thank you sin·cere·ly
Another issue with the content of the video: we had issues with gasoline gumming up in storage long before anyone ever thought of adding ethanol to it. That’s why products like sta-bil were invented.
I've used Stabil for years. Seems to be effective.
This is the best video I have found about storing gasoline.
Still waiting for update video on how to store it, this part one video only explained prepackaged gas
Here in Coastal NC, we have ethanol-free gas for the boats. It runs good in my car and lawnmower as well.
In 2004, I filled my pep-boys 3500 watt generator with non-ethanol gas treated with Stabil
I turned off the gas and ran it the carb float-bowl dry.
I pulled the spark plug and sprayed the cylinder with a bit of oil, replaced the plug and pulled the pull cord to coat the cylinder with with oil and made sure I left it on the compression stroke to keep the valves closed.
I covered it and shoved it into the back of my shop.
In 2011, I uncovered it and smelled the gas...It smelled like gas and not varnish.
I turned on the fuel valve and choke and gave it exactly two pulls on the starter cord and it started.
That is 7 years folks....
Proper prep for your genset and your gasoline...
Stabil is an awesome product that exceeds all expectations.
When used with non-ethanol gas, you get a LONG shelf life.
It's so easy to make yourself an alcohol-removing system for gas. It's even fun to do.
I used to remove the alcohol from 5 gallons of gas a year but quit doing it a while back.
With PG&E as my electric provider, I had to install another generator system so I will be going back to removing alcohol again.
There are several good videos on youtube on how to do it and how to make the remover.
In my area they sell ethanol free gas at the pump in 76 stations!
Here is my strategy: Buy gas in 2 gallon containers and mix with sta-bil in the can and date it. After 6 months it goes into my car and a fresh batch replaces it. Rotate as many 2 gallon containers as you want (I do 3), but 2 gallons is more manageable so you don't add too much to your car at once and you don't get arthritis trying to pour it. Never keep gas in your generator or other gas tools long term, that's important. Just burn off excess in the generator or when you put your tools away for the season, make sure everything is out of gas if you don't see yourself using them in the near future.
I keep one gallon of gas in a separate can, putting Stabil into it. I fill my Honda generator, which holds less than a gallon, also with Stabil. I start the generator and let it run for 10-15 minutes every two weeks when I am not using it for camping. Been doing that for almost 6 years. The generator runs SLIGHTLY rough, at idle. Other than that, it seems to continue to work well. I am not an expert with this. Do you have any additional suggestions?
All excellent information. One more option I use is Aviation fuel 100LL. I go to the local small airport every two years, give or take, and fill my 5 - 5gallon cans with 100LL. Aviation fuel is highly refined, and as you would guess, for safety reasons, the recommended shelf life is if I remember correctly, 2 years. I'm guessing it's probably good for 3-4 without issues. But realistically, nothing I have goes longer than a year without running. But just in case, I'm good for a long, long time. The last time I filled my cans, 100LL was $5.15 a gallon. A little higher now but still worth the peace of mind. And don't worry about the low amount of lead, the manufacturers say no lead is required but I have yet to find a small engine that can tell the difference, 2 or 4 cycle. Maybe with a late model auto with all the electronic circuit boards and what have you that might detect small amounts of lead in the fuel, but I doubt that also. Probably just required verbiage for legal reasons. I've read where some others have a small engine that doesn't like the 100LL but all I know is that it works for me. In many cases, first pull starts after 5-6 months of non use, but good for years. If you have to use pump gas for expense reasons, there are many video's right here on YT that show how to remove the ethanol from pump gas. Then use a gas preservative of some sort. If you run your engines until they quit, then the only fuel left that can hurt anything is in the carb. If what is left has no ethanol and was stabilized, then when you fill with fresh gas it should start without too many pulls.
I've got e10 in sealed gas cans and stored it for a year with no major issues. I could probably get 3 years out of ethanol free pump gas in a properly sealed gas can.
I used just keep my generator tank topped off and did a monthly 30 min maintenance run topping off with fresh e10 when I used to store it in my shed. I did that for 4 years with no problems.
The trick with storing gas is to keep moisture laden air from it. And if it's going to sit for awhile use non ethanol. But keep it in an air tight can. If it's in equipment, make sure you fill the tank as full as safely possible to reduce surface area exposed to the air in the tank and reduce the volume of air that can be in the top of the tank.
Never did tell us what additives are recommended. For what it's worth, I use "StaBil" in my stored gasoline for up to one (1) year and it has never failed me.
I, too, use Stabil. I run my gen 15 minutes every two weeks when I am not camping. Generator is now almost 6 years old. Runs SLIGHTLY rough but seems to work well.
This was a surprisingly good video! Thanks! Glad to see it wasn't simply suggesting one of those "fuel stabilizers" (snake oil). I find that the critical element to long term fuel storage is containers that are absolutely air tight. I store my gasoline in steel Jerry cans with GOOD gaskets, for YEARS at a time. Avoiding ethanol laced gasoline is also good whenever possible. Aviation gasoline is excellent as well, much less expensive than racing fuel, but does contain lead. So don't put it in anything that has a catalytic converter or an oxygen sensor!
great job....thanks for the tips....one thing to remember fellas....ethanol gas will gum up your carburetor. It will also eat fuel lines unless they have been designed for ethanol gas. Here is the way i would do this....Have your race fuel. When the emergency hits...run your regular gasoline until emergency is finished. Then run the machine on run/no fuel. When the gen stops....add a hundred cc of race fuel to the tank and run that through the gen until it dies. Now you have good fuel in the carb and it has flushed out the ethanol gas. Just buy a couple of cans of the small race fuel.
Rotate your stored fuel. I keep a 55 gallon drum in the shed. The drum is ventilated to the outside of the shed for vapor control using copper tubing, fuel line, and various brass hose fittings. Every year and a half or so, the fuel in the drum ends up in the cars/trucks to be used as normal. Then, new fuel is replenished to the drum.
If you're really serious about a fuel with an infinite shelf life, go with Coleman white fuel. It's the stuff sold at Walmart for camping lantern and cooking stoves. Oh yeah, the stuff is a bit pricey. In addition, it will eventually evaporate away over the years.
As with all long-term storage of emergency supplies, constant testing, inventory checking/control, and proper rotation are the key to it working when really necessary.
Trufuel is a better choice...87 octane...ive had problems with small engines with "high test"
Easiest way to store fuel for your generator? Propane.
ybgrsfd Yep. If your not looking for a whole house Genny, go with a dual fuel like the Champion 3500 that runs on either gas or propane. Store a few 20 gal propane tanks is easy. Or, if on rural land, go with a Generac whole house back-up and bury a 500 gallon LP tank.
Right on! Hutch Mountain makes propane kits for these little gennys.
That’s ok for big ones, those small ones work better with gas in winter.
@@danlux4954
Buy your propane in winter when it has less butane mixed in.
@@calvingreene90 propane doesn’t work well when it’s -20. They should run it on MAPP gas
Well spoken without drivel and useless words 👍
absolutely love the sun machine in the background. same one i grew up on. anyone driving in the "70"s with gasahol knows what crap it was. the only time it was good was in the winter. remember the ad "if you don't go boron will pay your tow" ya bought that ya didnt need dry gas. if it has a carburetor non-ethanol is the only way to go!!
My home has a Stand-By generator that runs on Natural Gas. Hooray.
DeadKoby what happens if the nat gas pipelines are interrupted
They have propane options as well.
@@jeffbanfieldsflwr3537 Excellent point. If you are going portable as I am buy a dual fuel generator and a large propane tank. Propane has a very long shelf life. When disaster strikes you can begin by running off the propane then switch to fresh gasoline once the propane runs out. Propane burns faster and your generator will not produce as much energy but it is a great option. It would really bad if you needed to run your generator only to find the gas you just filled it up with is bad.
Jeff Banfield that’s true, but I’ve never seen a dual propane and natural gas setup? All the Dual Fuel setups I’ve seen are Gasoline or Propane, which in MHO is the best way to go, just as long as you have at least 4-5 days of propane stored if you’re in an area that’s had historical significant power outages!
You can buy a gasoline generator, add a dual-fuel kit (propane and NG) and end up with a tri-fuel generator.
Cool, I didn't know they made civics that small!
Who would of thought. Tote a Honda around to jumpstart your Tesla.
Alec Denston same motor
Who wants hot beers? Always keep a tapped 44 gallon drum handy , Gen set fueled and 10 slabs stacked in the shed for a 'rainy' day event lol
I enjoyed your show. The little humor was great, and you speak very well.
"We get ripped off anyway..." -- LOL. Dude's awesome!
You can make ethanol-free gas from pump gas by adding water, mixing and let the ethanol/water mixture settle out and drain it. The ethanol and water bond together and settle to the bottom. Your octane rating will suffer so start with high octane.
As for those recommending propane: while it's true that propane will last forever, it doesn't have as much energy as gas(1gal gas=1.36gal propane I think), the carboration is more complex($$), and it doesn't work well in colder climates(see below).
Also, natural gas is only good as long as the utilities are working. And if you're getting it as LNG then I have to believe you would start having the same cold weather problems as with propane. I guessing that a liquified hydrocarbon fuel that is gaseous at room temperature wants to stay a liquid in really cold weather. But, that's a guess.
It's all about trade-offs unless you have lots of land and you're willing to use wood and animal dung(very renewable).
I've had a craftsman 10 hp generator for 15 yrs. Keep stabil in it. Crank twice a year. Never had any problems.
I put Stabil in my Honda gen, and when I do not use it, I start it and let it run for 15 minutes every two weeks. It seems to be running fine. This is not my area of expertise. Do you have any further suggestions?
Well done. One can store gas in several gallon containers and as the gas ages pour the oldest container's contents into your car and fill that container with fresh gas + stabilizer.Always use the oldest gas first.
Hey Cooley's back
What about diesel gensets Brian?
I bought propane generator since rare to use. Propane tanks used for grill and area heater so several spares plus used propane all year.
Never used for 5 plus years. May get one if we start camping.
the way you speak with that voice tone makes you a great instructor. I believe in you man ;)
Our standby generator is a 30kW unit and is a micro turbine engine. And it’s LP gas powered 😊
Hennessey, 30kW ? Really ? What are you guys running a commercial machine shop ? If you need 30 k to power your home you are Really doing something Wrong........
BigDogBob it’s for the entire ranch. Not just the house.
Well that does make much more sense, your power requirements are greater with all of the stuff on a ranch. Sounds like a really good backup system.
Whoa. 30kW backup and LPG. love it. Shame its so costly to install amd purchase tho. Over $3k for sure
Mike, the cost of the LPG storage tank ALONE is well over $3 K. The 30kW generator is probably upwards of $15 K . And then add the install cost ! ! !
Local airport will sell you Avgas for about $4 per gallon Good for 10 years. Your welcome.
AVGAS is 100 Low-Lead, which you generally can't use without damaging an engine
@@flighthelmet in an engine without emissions it’s fine. Ideal ? Not exactly. For storage purposes for a generator it’s perfectly acceptable. When generator is used you refill with pump gas to prevent lead build up. With the engine being air cooled at running at high power settings, the lead buildup is less of a concern anyway.
To run avgas daily in lawn equipment would cause build up. But to say engine damage is a stretch. More like short plug life and filthy oil changes.
You don’t have to get 100LL. Most airports have 91 octane lead free a gas.
@@matth5309 depends on your area. For some reason it hasnt been made available in Houston. We can get Ethanol free fuel but thats only good for 6 months no stabil and 1 year with. Avgas is good for 10 years per manufacture. Its perfect storage fuel, however once im using the generator I use pump gas while its running. Lead does build up on the plugs over time. But like I said, its the perfect storage fuel.
I too am a 100LL user and have been for 30+ years. My lawnmower, gas weedeater, and blower have never seen a drop of pump gas. I generally keep 100-200 gallons in my hangar and ironically, I haul gas from the airport home to supply lawn machines. I did find that storing Avgas in your generator is not a good idea without some modification. The on/off valve has a small rubber o-ring and it didn't like Avgas, so over time, one drop at a time, it emptied itself. Took it apart and used an aviation grade O-ring instead. When in storage, I just run it till it quits. I run it every 6 months from 1/2 hour or so.
The recent Texas Blackout left millions without electricity for several days. Made a quick run to the hangar and loaded up a 30 gallon drum and two 5 gallon cans of 100LL. Let the neighbors tap in anytime they wanted for making coffee, toaster, microwave, refrigerators, recharging phones, laptops etc. etc. I ran it 2-3 hours every 8 hours for days.
San Francisco has someone that checks the amount of fuel you have? I love Indiana. Good explanation of what actually happens with ethanol.
No. I live the Bay Area. Nobody checks. Nobody talks about checking. Nobody knows it’s a law. Nobody cares. Indiana has similar laws.
I drove a truck 30 miles to a junkyard this truck sat in the same spot with a half tank of gas for 17 years ran fine. No ethanol back then
*Many of the WalMart Murphy gas stations and others are offering no-ethanol gas now! The EPA is finally acknowledging that our original gas was fine and that ethanol only creates problems. So far all of the ethanol free gas is 87 octane which is actually the optimum spec for most of these generators especially the Hondas. Higher octane in a smaller/low compression engine is not a benefit. Don't bother with it. You don't get as much energy out of it in these engines like you do a high compression automotive engine.*
Thank you for that info. Many people I know don't understand what the octane reading means. My brother-in-law is a mechanic and drag races on weekends. The octane rating is counter intuitive. I tried to explain it to him and his friends but they all think I'm an idiot. They insist that the higher octane level is bigger "boom". You'd think they would know better.
I ended up buying these premium fuels simply because I wanted the lowest octane rating I could find. Small engines and motorcycles love the low octane stuff.
Dude must be doing well with that Rolex submariner on that wrist.
it's not yachtmaster but still nice
I for whatever reason haven’t had good luck with Stabil .....I have switched back to PRI-G and have had no issues since. It cost more and West Marine was the only local place I could find it, but now Amazon sells it so that’s no longer an issue.
I also just purchased a Honda eu7000is to replace my trusty Yamaha EF6600, which is fuel-injected so that should also help to avoid those blasted ethanol issues.
For long term fuel storage, I converted my generator to a gasoline/LP/NG and I have plenty of LP on hand!
So you should follow the recommendation of every small engine manufacturer and use non-ethanol gas and avoid many problems?
Don't leave any kind of gasoline in your Generators fuel tank or carburetor drain both thoroughly before storing long term. Every generator carb i have rebuilt was caused by leaving gas ethanol or pure in the carburetor float bowl.
Get back to us when you have fuel suitable for long term storage for a carburetor fuel system generator
Consider a propane conversion kit, many kits allow you to still use gas as well as natural gas. Propane stores forever, doesn't decay. Whole lot safer to switch propane tanks vs fill hot generator with gas. Runs longer on propane tank vs the usual small tank on gen. Not sponsored, but Hutch Mountain has kits for most Honda gens.
Very informative, thank you for educating the masses
Good in theory but $68 for 5 gallons, and you may need several of these over several days? No one but the Hollywood rich would go for that
This is just for storage once you were using your generator like in a power outage you would switch to regular pump gas and save the good stuff for storage
Does not always work, but does drawing fuel from the car work well? If it is full tank.
Most cars have anti-siphon tanks.
In Canada at least Premium gas is often unleaded. Plus run the engine dry until it stops.
It’s a Honda so your good. I got a Honda mower and it never failed me in the 8 years of owning it.
I buy only 100% gas and use Sta-Bil for my generator gasoline supply. 100% gasoline is widely available in some parts of the country. Costs about .30 to .40 cents more per gallon than E10.
I was off-put by the thumbnail until I realized the cost of that 5 gallons of fuel. 😳 Goodbye 💸💸💸
Great video and pretty informative. But one other alternative that he doesn’t consider in it (and should) is a natural gas/propane conversion kit. This allows your generator to run on natural gas, if your home is plumbed for that, or yes, even propane. Both of these fuels are stored hermetically, meaning “no air” and are thus always ready to power up your generator, burning cleaner, and all at the price of a slight sacrifice in capacity as well as, of course, the cost of the conversion kit. Talk about peace of mind!
I knew this was a trustworthy video once I saw the faux wood panel station wagon parked in the garage!! 😊👍🏾 We did so many crazy and wild trips in ours when I was a kid and I lived to write this!! I don't even remember seat belts in that thing???
Anyway, great video and now I'm going to pull my generator out and swap out the gas! 😊👍🏾
So on an 8 minute video over half has nothing to do with long term storage. Just get to the point already! This could have been a 5 second video - buy racing fuel.
and use a metal can, not plastic.
Ethanol free is the best solution especially for small engines. Better yet get a dual fuel generator, propane has very long shelf life, and does not gum up the carb. Single fuel generators require you to run out the fuel completely between uses. Dual fuel is the best solution for an emergency generator. It may cost for the convenience, but when the lights go out having a choice between fuels is important. Remember gas pumps run on electricity.
You can make your own ethanol free gas by adding a gallon of water to 5 gallons of gas. Let it sit overnight then drain off the water and ethanol. Works like a charm.
What dye do you put in it? Seems straightforward but at the end of the day a lot of work when you can just go buy it. Plus the octane drops from what I’ve read
Why would you need to dye it? Never had any issues with octane levels.
@@michelleedmiston7835 - The dye stays with the water and ethanol therefore when you’re draining it out you can see clearly where the water/ethanol stops
CAN WE JUST GET THIS OUT THERE; WHY IS COOLEY NOT THE PRESIDENT OF THE USA?
He's smart, logical, witty, friendly. What a legend.