Honda EU200i Fuel-Will white gas work?

[JaceBeck]

I have an extended boondocking trip coming up and, though I do not use my generator all that much, I may have a need. I don't want to carry a jerry can of gas in the car, so was wondering if "Coleman white gas" will work in a pinch until I can get to a regular filling station. What is the consensus?

[overlander63]

My personal opinion is the white gas doesn't have enough octane in it to run the generator properly. If it was all I had, and it was 100 miles to town, I might try it.

[TheBigRedTruck]

It will go BOOOOM!!!!!!!!!!! Dont try it!!!

[tpi]

No the octane rating of the Coleman fuel is too low. The generator has a sufficient compression ratio to risk damaging knock or ping.

[Motoman]

Originally Posted by JaceBeck

I have an extended boondocking trip coming up and, though I do not use my generator all that much, I may have a need. I don't want to carry a jerry can of gas in the car, so was wondering if "Coleman white gas" will work in a pinch until I can get to a regular filling station. What is the consensus?

My reply is a little off thread, but we used to have an old Class C motorhome with a Ford 460 engine. On one trip I was trying to get to a small town where the gas was typically cheaper, except we ran out about 3 miles from town on an uphill section of the heavily crowned 60 Freeway in California. I had one liter of Coleman Fuel for our lantern. I put the Coleman Fuel in the tank and was able to drive get the motorhome started drive a short distance to the top of the hill where the freeway wasn't as heavily crowned and then into to town.

Certainly the tank wasn't completely empty but the hill and the crown kept the fuel away from the fuel pickup in the tank., so I was actually driving on a mixture of Coleman Fuel and gasoline.

Who knows if it would have run on Coleman Fuel alone. However, I echo the comments of others though. This was an emergency; I wouldn't try to run either of my Honda Generators on Coleman Fuel under any circumstances. Besides I find that having 260 watts of solar on the roof of the Airstream and a Honda generator let me use which ever can best deal with my situation at the moment.

You might try putting a jerry can mount on the back of the Yukon, check with the 4X4 shops for different mounts to see if you can find something that won't interfere with with the trailer when you turn.

[Pick]

I have run Coleman fuel in a Honda GX160 (5.5 HP) powered water pump, with no problems. Can't say it would or would not hurt a Honda generator engine, though.

White gas will evaporate a lot faster than gasoline in a vented tank.

[2dabeach]

Originally Posted by JaceBeck

I have an extended boondocking trip coming up and, though I do not use my generator all that much, I may have a need. I don't want to carry a jerry can of gas in the car, so was wondering if "Coleman white gas" will work in a pinch until I can get to a regular filling station. What is the consensus?

Call Honda's Power Equipment Division @ (770) 497-6400 and get your question answered by the folks that made your generator rather than taking a chance to ruin a $1000 generator.

[crazylev]

Even with gas at around or over $4.00US a gallon, it is still less money than a gallon of white gas, not to mention the above warnings.

We bought a little 2 1/2 gallon plastic gas can thing. We fill that up when we know we are close to our destination, or during a trip if we think the Honda tank will run dry. We only run the gen for two hours each day, and I think think one tank runs for eight hours on eco throttle, so if my reform skool math is correct, that's four days of use.

When we leave, I simply pour the remaining gas in the tow vehicles gas tank.

Jonathan

[Pick]

From the Coleman website:

Coleman® Fuel is basically petroleum naphtha with a bit of rust inhibitor. It has an octane rating of 50 to 55 and none of the additives found in gasoline. It has a lighter molecular weight than gasoline, kerosene and diesel fuel and cannot be used as a substitute for any of those fuels.

The flammability of Coleman® Fuel is comparable to gasoline but it cannot be used in gasoline engines. It will burn out the valves.

[Westfalia]

Sounds to me like a good excuse to convert to a propane dual fuel carb.