generators and gasoline

[Bill Foster]

Here are some questions and comments. First, I'm a car guy. I've been involved in car repair in one way or another all of my many years. I have two gasoline generators. I know if I leave gas in the carb, the gas will turn to varnish and clog the jets. In a PAW situation, I wouldn't want to have to take apart my carbs to clean knowing there would not be any replacement parts around if I dropped or broke something. Murphy has always been my co-worker. I once purchased a Holley carb. The inside was coated with a liquid that was not gasoline, so I called Holley and asked them what it was. Nice folks, by the way. They told me it was filtered mineral spirits. They flow test each carb with it to simulate gas, but it is not as volatile, therefore much safer. Plus, they told me, if the carb sits on a store shelf for a long time, mineral spirits will not turn to varnish and is easy to flush out when you are starting it with gas. Does anyone have a good reason why I shouldn't run some min spirits through the fuel system while storing? Is there something better? Inquiring minds want to know.

[slingshot]

Howdy Bill! I have had no experience with mineral spirits so can't comment. I have had years of experience in storing gas for my 2 gensets. I store 5 gal. cans of gas treated with Sta-bil. The way I understand it, Sta-bil not only preserves gas, but also keeps the carbs from varnishing up by the same additive that preserves the gas. I can only tell you that I have never had the aggravation of junked up carbs after many years. Periodically I will run the engines for a few minutes under load so the brushes in the generator will drop like they're supposed to. I test ran them yesterday when it was raining and I was trapped inside and looking for something to do. They started right up with the gas in their tanks being over 1 year old. I have a hard time running them dry with just test runs. I rotate my gas cans through the gensets, ATV's, mower, etc. I've heard of other products like Sta-bil, but they're not carried around here. This didn't hit your question squarely, but hope it gives you something to think about!

[bountyhunter69]

pri G is a good stabilizer for gas,pri D is for diesel,i use pri D,and i will say it works good,check with site sponser,he sells both pri G and D

[Bill Foster]

Thanks everyone for your help. I'll try the Pri G. BTW, I have some personal experience with a product call called Sea F**m. I am partially responsible for a fleet of vehicles. We purchased a few vehicles ahead of time that we were going to store for a few months before using. One of my co-workers insisted on using the product. Short version, 6 fuel tanks removed and cleaned, 2 fuel pumps at $450 each. Now you know why I am shy of additives.

[Urban Survivalist]

My Generators have a fuel shut off, so once I'm ready to shut my Gens off and store them for a month or more I shut off the fuel and let the genny run dry. This uses all the fuel in the carb. Since I started doing this I have not had a varnish problem. Here in Arizona I store my Gens in the garage where it gets really hot so it took less than a month in the summer for the gas to turn to varnish. Hope this helps and it costs nothing.