1: Looking, I don’t see people having problems with stabilized fuel after ~1y—is this a problem you’ve seen?
2: I agree it’s nicer to be able to just hold onto the propane tank for a decade, but needing to replace the gasoline annually isn’t that bad. I’m planning to put it in my car and being the cans to the gas station to refill. I have a reminder set and I expect it’ll take me about an hour each time? I do think there’s a good reason to store gasoline as well as propane, in case what you end up needing is fuel for the car.
3: In a bit of reading this may not be enough for something that is used as infrequently as I’m expecting to use the generator, because you do still have a bit of gas that doesn’t get burnt even when you run it dry. This is what I was referring to with “doesn’t require gasoline’s level of cleanup from intermittent use”. My current plan is to only run it on gas if I’ve already used all the propane.
1: Looking, I don’t see people having problems with stabilized fuel after ~1y—is this a problem you’ve seen?
Yes. Shockingly high failures. Out of, I dunno, 8 lawnmowers and 4 gas weed-eaters and 3 gas edgars in my life, basically 100% of them have either failed or were extremely difficult to start at one point or another from clogged carburetors and stale gas.
Yes, fuel stabilizer works, but it isn’t perfect and you don’t want to be trying to diagnose the issue when you actually need a generator. It may be at night, or after the heat has failed during an ice storm, or during a rain storm, or when you’re in a hurry to get your workstation back online because you’re missing a critical meeting or demo.
Note that a lot of people using fuel stabilizer are using it for cars. They have much larger orifices, are harder to flood, have computer controlled starting systems etc. The gas can be pretty mediocre and they still run—various videos on youtube people have tried substituting ethanol, etc, and the engine still starts and runs.
It sounds like maybe you’re talking about small engines with stabilized fuel that are used very occasionally and aren’t cleaned out between uses? I’m not talking about storing stabilized fuel inside the generator, but about keeping a gas can with stabilizer in it.
A generator is in that class of “small engines with stabilized fuel that are used very occasionally and aren’t cleaned out between uses”.
In order to clean it out you must disassemble the engine partially, simply running it to fuel starvation is insufficient. Few have the time or tools to do this.
There is fuel still in the engine even after it sputters and dies (fuel starvation)
From experience, stabilized gas from a gas can still doesn’t start the engine as easily as actually new gas from a gas can.
… There is fuel still in the engine even after it sputters and dies
Yes. If you look at our earlier conversation above you can see I’m also storing propane. I’m only planning on using the stored stabilized gas if the propane runs out (or if I need it for the car). Needing to clean the engine thoroughly before putting it away if I do use gas will be a project, but I think a reasonably interesting one.
stabilized gas from a gas can still doesn’t start the engine as easily as actually new gas from a gas can
That’s much more relevant for my plans, though it’s hard to get a sense of how big a consideration this is.
1: Looking, I don’t see people having problems with stabilized fuel after ~1y—is this a problem you’ve seen?
2: I agree it’s nicer to be able to just hold onto the propane tank for a decade, but needing to replace the gasoline annually isn’t that bad. I’m planning to put it in my car and being the cans to the gas station to refill. I have a reminder set and I expect it’ll take me about an hour each time? I do think there’s a good reason to store gasoline as well as propane, in case what you end up needing is fuel for the car.
3: In a bit of reading this may not be enough for something that is used as infrequently as I’m expecting to use the generator, because you do still have a bit of gas that doesn’t get burnt even when you run it dry. This is what I was referring to with “doesn’t require gasoline’s level of cleanup from intermittent use”. My current plan is to only run it on gas if I’ve already used all the propane.
1: Looking, I don’t see people having problems with stabilized fuel after ~1y—is this a problem you’ve seen?
Yes. Shockingly high failures. Out of, I dunno, 8 lawnmowers and 4 gas weed-eaters and 3 gas edgars in my life, basically 100% of them have either failed or were extremely difficult to start at one point or another from clogged carburetors and stale gas.
Yes, fuel stabilizer works, but it isn’t perfect and you don’t want to be trying to diagnose the issue when you actually need a generator. It may be at night, or after the heat has failed during an ice storm, or during a rain storm, or when you’re in a hurry to get your workstation back online because you’re missing a critical meeting or demo.
Note that a lot of people using fuel stabilizer are using it for cars. They have much larger orifices, are harder to flood, have computer controlled starting systems etc. The gas can be pretty mediocre and they still run—various videos on youtube people have tried substituting ethanol, etc, and the engine still starts and runs.
It sounds like maybe you’re talking about small engines with stabilized fuel that are used very occasionally and aren’t cleaned out between uses? I’m not talking about storing stabilized fuel inside the generator, but about keeping a gas can with stabilizer in it.
A generator is in that class of “small engines with stabilized fuel that are used very occasionally and aren’t cleaned out between uses”.
In order to clean it out you must disassemble the engine partially, simply running it to fuel starvation is insufficient. Few have the time or tools to do this.
There is fuel still in the engine even after it sputters and dies (fuel starvation)
From experience, stabilized gas from a gas can still doesn’t start the engine as easily as actually new gas from a gas can.
Yes. If you look at our earlier conversation above you can see I’m also storing propane. I’m only planning on using the stored stabilized gas if the propane runs out (or if I need it for the car). Needing to clean the engine thoroughly before putting it away if I do use gas will be a project, but I think a reasonably interesting one.
That’s much more relevant for my plans, though it’s hard to get a sense of how big a consideration this is.