Posted: 3/20/2011 1:09:46 PM EDT
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I have two portable generators. One is a Homelite / subaru 1500w the other is a B&S 5500W. What is the best way to store them? I ran the gas out of the subaru engine a few months ago and when I started it the other day it was surging. The thing has only been run 4 times! Had to pull the carb and clean it and now all is good. I run Sta-Bil in my gas. Is draining the fuel bowl on the carb enough or should I be doing something else? |
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Run it once a year. Use HEAVILY treated gas...I like PRI G. Start it up and run about 1/2 tank through it under moderate load. Once it sputters to a stop, drain the oil. While the oil is draining, pull the carb bowel off and squirt something like WD40 inside the carb and up the jets. Squirt a little WD40 into the carb bowel and reassemble. Remove the spark plug and squirt a little Marvel Mystery Oil inside the head. Spin the engine a couple times and squirt a little more in. Put the plug back in. Fill the oil with a quality synthetic. Put away till it's needed or next year.
If you use it for more than 50 hours at a time, pull the head, clean the carbon, then reinstall using a new gasket. Run it to make sure that everything is working well. Then repeat the process above. |
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I stored my generator last year with untreated E10 gas in the carb and tank. I happened to walk by it a week or so ago and decided I should start it. After about 7-8 pulls, it fired up and ran perfectly. My riding mower was stored the same way, and I'm sure after I charge the battery it will fire up and run just fine as well. Keep the engine in proper tune(even if new, there are no guarantees) and you'll have fewer issues, even with crappy fuel. |
| I have a B&S 6200 that I got in 2005. My current routine it to run it twice a year (January and July) and change the oil once a year (January). For each run I use 1 gallon of double StaBil-ized gasoline and run it dry... I also use the maintenance runs to meter the genny for voltage and frequency both with and without a load... After the generator runs out of gas, I wait about a minute or 2 and then pull the cord again - it will usually restart and run for about a minute or 2 and then die again... |
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I drain the fule out of mine when I am done using it (our normal fuel is 10% EtOH around here) and then I put about a quart of Gassoline that has no ethanol in it (I get it at a Marina) and that EtOH free gassoline has Staybil in it. I run teh engine enough to get the good gas into the engine and all the lines good and then I turn it off.
I try to run it every 4-months but in reality it is at least every 6-months. When I need to use the generator, I will add say 5-gal of fresh gas to the tank (my tank holds about 8+ gallons) before I start teh generator and that helps freshen up the small volume in there. When I am done, I disconect teh fuel line from the carb and drain the gas into a 5-gal can and pour the gas into the car or truck to burn it up. I will then restart the process so I never have Ethanol Gas sitting in the engine or tank. It also keeps me from having a lot of gas in the tank to potentially go stale (not that this really should happen but only takes a few minutes so why not!). I tend to use our Ethanol containing gas first and save my ethanol free gas for when the other stuff runs out. I have to drive well over an hour to get gas that does not have ethanol so I treat it like special juice 
I do NOT store my generator with an empty carb, fuel lines, etc. |