Generator fuel

[oldguy]

Should I use Trufuel in generator / snowblower/ lawnmower to prevent gum up of carburetor ?

[Wilhelm]

Seafoam.

Drain after winter regardless.
Can use it in you car diluted in a tank of fresh.
It won't be too "old" after one season for that, especially with the Seafoam in it.

Lawnmower has a small enough tank you can just run it out on your first mow of the year.

Never used or heard of trufuel, but seafoam is in the convo here with it.
https://www.iceshanty.com/ice_fishing/i ... c=283293.0

afaik, Sta-Bil needs to be in unused equipment, as shock will knock it out of it's useful state.

A good metal gas can, with a good, gasketed, cap seal, will keep extra fuel fresh longer than a plastic one.

Also, run your generator periodically to keep it lubed up, and move fuel through it.
I also read something about "keeping the coils dry."
Put a load on it when you run it.
I have a box fan in the shed i use for these maintenance runs.
10 to 15 minutes is what i do.
Then you also know it works before you actually need it.

The exhaust is plumbed out through the shed wall, btw.

[Idlehands]

get a fuel injected snowblower ! my local gas station also has some without ethanol too!

[Wilhelm]

get a fuel injected snowblower ! my local gas station also has some without ethanol too!

Seafoam is great for injectors too.

[Oldandfat]

Seafoam.

Drain after winter regardless.
Can use it in you car diluted in a tank of fresh.
It won't be too "old" after one season for that, especially with the Seafoam in it.

Lawnmower has a small enough tank you can just run it out on your first mow of the year.

Never used or heard of trufuel, but seafoam is in the convo here with it.
https://www.iceshanty.com/ice_fishing/i ... c=283293.0

afaik, Sta-Bil needs to be in unused equipment, as shock will knock it out of it's useful state.

A good metal gas can, with a good, gasketed, cap seal, will keep extra fuel fresh longer than a plastic one.

Also, run your generator periodically to keep it lubed up, and move fuel through it.
I also read something about "keeping the coils dry."
Put a load on it when you run it.
I have a box fan in the shed i use for these maintenance runs.
10 to 15 minutes is what i do.
Then you also know it works before you actually need it.

The exhaust is plumbed out through the shed wall, btw.

This all works fine and dandy until it doesn’t. Gas station gas will go bad far quicker than trufuel/aspen, etc.

Further more, not all premium is ethanol free. And “running it,dry” still leaves fuel in the carb bowl. This small amount will go bad and gum up carbs.

My snowblower gets aspen 100% full time. It’s,seldom,used, and sometimes,not used,at all.

Lawn mower gets premium, non ethanol for the,season, and when it’s time for storage I drain the fuel, and put in aspen for the final cut.

Also keep in mind if you are buying ethonal free fuel and the pump has 3 grades of fuel, but only 1 nozzle be sure to put some into your,car before you fill the gas can.

If not, you’re putting in crap fuel if the guy before you didn’t purchase ethonal free

[Oldandfat]

Oh, and,seafoam is crap. Well it’s good to clean things up, but horrible as a fuel stabilizer.

Buy the trufuel and be done with it

[Wilhelm]

$20 for a 110 oz can?
How much is that gonna cost you if you have an extended power outage?

I could see it maybe for the lawnmower, as it's a small amount, and will sit unused.
But 10 years on, and my lawnmower starts up no problem each summer.

Seafoam will keep the carb from gumming up, which was OPs's question.

Good metal gas can to store extra fuel, run it periodically, drain it after winter, and you're good.
If you want to, use the spare gas once or twice over the winter in a tank of fresh in the car, and get new spare gas.
Probably overkill, imo, but inexpensive.


Nice to have a snowblower and not need to use it. ; )

[Hanley]

My snowblower gets aspen 100% full time. It’s,seldom,used, and sometimes,not used,at all.

Lawn mower gets premium, non ethanol for the,season, and when it’s time for storage I drain the fuel, and put in aspen for the final cut.

That's pretty much exactly what I do.

Snowblower gets used all the time, but it's like 20 years old and I'm weirdly sentimental about it, so I baby it with TruFuel. Mower gets ethanol free premium.

[Wilhelm]

It would be over $100 to fill the generator with trufuel at $20 for well less than a gallon.
I'm sure it has its place, but not in something i need to have a large reserve of fuel for to keep the pellet stove running in case of an extended outage midwinter.

It's not going to gum up with the gas being replaced regularly.
I did have to replace the carb this year, but only because i was negligent and just topped off the tank and added Seafoam for 7 years. lol
Embarrassing, but i'm sure the Seafoam is why it took so long to start running only on half choke.
Carb was only $30, but i wouldn't even had to spend that if i hadn't been lazy/stupid about it.

The generator needs to be run every month anyway, and the end of season gas with Seafoam just goes in the car.
And like i said, that's worked for the lawnmower too for ten years, and it just sits in the shed all winter.
Prime it and pull the cord, and it starts.

[Cinic]

I moved to TruFuel in my 2 stroke lawn equipment when I started using it sporadically enough that I couldn't get thru a gallon of my own mix before it went bad.

I've had good luck in the past using Seafoam to 'clean' the innards of equipment that I let sit too long w/ gas in it. Fresh gas w/ a heavy dose of Seafoam usually got stuff running like new.

Lately I've had no issues but I've been much more diligent about running equipment dry that is going to sit for an unknown period. I did have to rebuild the carb in my blower when it was acting up - but it was 15 years old and runs again like a champ.

[omaniphil]

I use Trufuel exclusively for my lawnmower. I dont have that big a lawn though, and 1.5 of the 110oz cans gets me through a season, so I dont mind the cost for the peace of mind. If I were running a generator, I'd probably just use a ethanol free premium gas due to the cost, and then make sure to run it dry between uses.

[Hanley]

I couldn't get thru a gallon of my own mix before it went bad.

How do you know if the mix goes bad?

*gazes at gallon of 2-stroke mix that I've been using for probably way too long*

[Wilhelm]

If you do "run dry" your generator, just run it just until it coughs a little.
Running it lean can do damage.

[oldguy]

thanks all for your opinions - I will probably run the Truefuel in snow blower and generator . I need those 2 things to work when called upon and the additional cost not that big a deal to me in that case.

Will continue to run regular fuel in lawn mower with Stabil and just run it dry on last (next) cut of season..

[Oldandfat]

thanks all for your opinions - I will probably run the Truefuel in snow blower and generator . I need those 2 things to work when called upon and the additional cost not that big a deal to me in that case.

Will continue to run regular fuel in lawn mower with Stabil and just run it dry on last (next) cut of season..

Since your,gonna have trufuel,on hand anyways.... do yourself a favor and drain the mower, and put a bit of trufuel in the tank and run for 10 min.

[Cinic]

I couldn't get thru a gallon of my own mix before it went bad.

How do you know if the mix goes bad?

*gazes at gallon of 2-stroke mix that I've been using for probably way too long*

Just wouldn't run right. Died. Wouldn't throttle up. Hard starting.

This was stored in a plastic can. And I couldn't get gas w/o ethanol here.

[Hanley]

I couldn't get thru a gallon of my own mix before it went bad.

How do you know if the mix goes bad?

*gazes at gallon of 2-stroke mix that I've been using for probably way too long*

Just wouldn't run right. Died. Wouldn't throttle up. Hard starting.

This was stored in a plastic can. And I couldn't get gas w/o ethanol here.

Fuck it. TruFuel for the Fancy Stihl henceforth. Not worth trying to save $15

[Wilhelm]

Yeah, a well sealed metal gas can is a good thing no matter your strategy.

Fortunately, my sleigh shovel is basically equivalent to a snowblower as far as effort goes.
And i don't freeze walking behind it.
I've really developed my technique, and stopped using the 10HP Toro my neighbor always offered to lend me.
The Toro was self propeled, but still significant work.
Even before he passed away, i stopped using the Toro in preference to the sleigh shovel.
It's just a more enjoyable experience for me overall.

I just have gentle slopes i use to push the shovel up and over, and with that style, you never actually lift the shovel from the ground.
It's rather amazing how fast i can clear everything, and we get significant depths of snow.
I'll run one groove down the drive, and can then load 4 shovelfulls in that groove, and walk them all down at once.

[Cinic]

I couldn't get thru a gallon of my own mix before it went bad.

How do you know if the mix goes bad?

*gazes at gallon of 2-stroke mix that I've been using for probably way too long*

Just wouldn't run right. Died. Wouldn't throttle up. Hard starting.

This was stored in a plastic can. And I couldn't get gas w/o ethanol here.

Fuck it. TruFuel for the Fancy Stihl henceforth. Not worth trying to save $15

I really tried to mix my own. Used the fancy synthetic Stihl oil and the best gas I could find. Still went bad.

If you really want to go boutique, give the Stihl pre-mixed a run. It's 'like a sports drink for your engine.'

https://www.stihlusa.com/products/oils- ... l/motomix/

(i've never bought it - think it was $9/quart when I saw it in the dealer)

[JonA]

I guess I'm kinda lucky. All my two strokes have heavy seasonal use. Never really had to worry about fuel going bad; we go through too much of it. Draining the fuel at the end of the season is some one of a couple of seasonal maintenance tasks, so its not a big deal.

I have been looking at LP generators, though. I have a 500g LP tank for heating the house and could run the generator off of that. Anybody run a propane or duel fuel generator?