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Old 03-07-2012, 01:44 PM   #1
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2012 16' Sport
Pittsford , New York
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Gas tank 1/4 full on bifuel generators?!

I got my propane/NG/gasoline EF2000 generator from US Carburetor yesterday. It has to be run for 2 hours on gasoline before I can try propane, but it runs fine on gasoline.

The instructions say that code requires the gasoline tank to be 1/4 full, and if I have any questions I should take it up with the NRPA, not with USC.

I don't want to leave gasoline in the tank; it will just get stale and have to be replaced if I ever want to run on gasoline.

Any idea what the reason is for this requirement?
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Old 03-07-2012, 03:03 PM   #2
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If you must leave fuel in the tank go down to your local auto parts store and buy a can of Seafoam additive.Your fuel will not go bad if you add a little to your fuel.No worries I have used it for years in all of my tanks Ferrari's,Lamborghini's outboards and yes my Honda gens.Best stabilizer that you can buy.
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Old 03-07-2012, 03:14 PM   #3
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I think it is to ensure that LP doesn't back up into an empty gasoline tank causing an explosion hazard.
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Old 03-07-2012, 04:55 PM   #4
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Yes, I think that the notion is that this insures that the flat bowl will be full, and so the float needle valve closed, so that you don't get "reverse flow" whereby propane backs up into the gasoline tank, creating an fire / explosion hazard. Back when I carried my Yamaha 2400 tri fuel around with me, I just always carried it with the gasoline tank FULL - on the theories that a.) this would allow for less gasoline oxidation / degradation, and b.) if ever I ran out of propane, I could still run the genny on gasoline.

At some point, I discovered a third reason: my machine is sometimes hard to start on propane, but if I run it for a few minutes on gasoline to warm it up, I can fire it right up on propane ... and then fiddle with the mixture for a bit to get it right ... (silly me, I thought that once I got the mixture leaned out properly and the mixture knob "locked" that it would always be fine in the future at that setting. Not so, at least on my machine.)
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Old 03-11-2012, 08:05 PM   #5
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Wayne&Sam View Post
I think it is to ensure that LP doesn't back up into an empty gasoline tank causing an explosion hazard.
Can it do that with the gasoline valve closed?

Of course, maybe the code was to cover generators that don't have valves.

I set my generator up when it was 60* and today tried it when it was 35*. Started right up (with some priming...) and the RPMs were spot on. I am optimistic.
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