# Generator.



## Whitetailer (Jun 27, 2021)

For those of you using an invertor generator.  In your experience, do you think it is worth the extra money to get a dual fuel generator?  Gasoline/propane.


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## trad bow (Jun 27, 2021)

I’m interested in an answer because wife just said I need to go buy one.


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## sparky (Jun 27, 2021)

If I was gonna buy a portable or stationary genny,I would buy a propane !


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## Buck70 (Jun 27, 2021)

sparky said:


> If I was gonna buy a portable or stationary genny,I would buy a propane !


Why?


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## sparky (Jun 28, 2021)

Buck70 said:


> Why?


trying to refuel while hot,sorry gas cans ,storing spare gas,need to buy non-ethanol gas to keep from gumming carb and fuel lines


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## GeorgiaGlockMan (Jun 28, 2021)

sparky said:


> If I was gonna buy a portable or stationary genny,I would buy a propane !


Dual propane natural gas.

We've had natural gas during the last 3-4 power outages that we've had in Athens.   All from ice/snow storms.

Why? Diesel and gas are hard to store in quantity and they don't last forever.


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## Son (Jun 29, 2021)

Hurricane Michael of 2018 taught me a lesson. I had one generator, a large gas model that cost over 1K. Two hours after the hurricane it blew up. We were without. My son came from S Florida with his generation to get us going the next day. Before he arrived we were using a small generator a friend had brought over. Now we have three generators. Two gas and one big dual fuel. The yellow one was used a week after Michael. The other two are new. If we hear a hurricane is coming, we will have plenty propane tanks filled and plenty gas on hand.


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## nc dawg (Jun 29, 2021)

Yep.. 10-4 on the propane…non ethanol gas is sorry too..I had to put cleaning the injectors on my Yamaha 150/4 stroke on the yearly maintenance plan because of "the so called non ethanol gas"..


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## shdw633 (Jul 1, 2021)

How long will a generator go on propane.  My gas generators last about 8 hours on a tank of gas.


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## thumper523 (Jul 1, 2021)

If you get a Propane Generator, make sure you get a can of starting fluid or brake cleaner to get it to start in cold weather. Propane single cylinder engines don't create enough vacuum to start them in cold weather because the diaphragm is cold and rigid. Get a dual fuel and start it on gas then shut off after a minute and switch over if needed.


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## specialk (Jul 1, 2021)

i dont know but ive been told that the duel fuel gens propane side only produces 80% of the watts posted....


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## Mars (Jul 1, 2021)

If I remember correctly, the generators running on propane are much less fuel efficient than when running on gas. I may be wrong but I think that was a factor I consider back when I bought my generator.


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## transfixer (Jul 13, 2021)

If I were going to set one up permanent for my house I might go propane or natural gas,  but for a portable I'll stick with regular gasoline,    you can remove the majority of ethanol out of regular gasoline if you want to,  its not that difficult,  biggest issue with ethanol for generators is leaving it in the tank and carb while stored.  If you'll drain it out or run it out its less of an issue.


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## Havana Dude (Jul 13, 2021)

I have a friend who had a whole house genny installed. 250 gallon propane sunk in ground. Hurricane hit, genny ran about 7 days straight, power came back on. Refill tank...........900+ bucks. I do it somewhat cheaper with a portable.


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## Havana Dude (Jul 13, 2021)

Havana Dude said:


> I have a friend who had a whole house genny installed. 250 gallon propane sunk in ground. Hurricane hit, genny ran about 7 days straight, power came back on. Refill tank...........900+ bucks. I do it somewhat cheaper with a portable.


That’s a 3600$ a month utility bill.


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## Rich M (Jul 14, 2021)

Do a little research on Honda - when I was looking around there was a conversion kit to hook up propane to say a Honda 2000.  They also have a gas cap that will allow hooking it up to a boat-type fuel line so you can run off an outside tank.

If I remember right, a 20# propane can would last about 24 hours, equivalent to about 3 gallons of gas.

I use ethanol fuel - used to add stabil, now add Startron.  Run the genny couple hours every 3 months or so and before the storm hits.

Do store gas but cycle thru the jerry cans and replace em.  Or you could just buy gas when the storm is a few days out.  Put it in your car when stuff is over.


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## north_ga fireman (Jul 19, 2021)

i have a champion dual fuel just bought used not used yet larger variety manual says on 6 gallons of gas around 8-9 hours and slightly less on a 20 pound cylinder


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## hopper (Aug 17, 2021)

I bought a Northern 13,000 5 or 6 years ago for work. I use to run it 10 to 15 days a month. Now only gets run maybe a couple days every 3 months. That thing gets regular gas at whatever station is near the job and has never not cranked up. I did pay over $3000 for it but served me well.


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