(Thank you to reader RH for writing this and taking photos of your rig.)
Introduction
For years I have had a generator here at the Homestead, but even though I had wired a plug for it to backfeed my house, I had never tested it.
Sure, I had printed instructions (with pictures) for my wife or whoever was here if I wasn’t (i.e. turn main breaker off here, turn this breaker on here, open gas valve, etc.). Anyway, our local grid power supplier was having a planned outage today so I figured it would be a great opportunity to test my generator. I have an older Black Max model purchased at Sam’s Club probably 10 years ago.
This generator was originally gasoline only, but I added a multi-fuel kit from Motor Snorkel and if your generator is gasoline only, I strongly recommend that you add a multi-fuel kit to it that allows you to run it on propane or natural gas. The older kits look like this:
The newer kits are much smaller and simpler. What you’re seeing is a pressure regulator – like from a BBQ tank – that reduces the pressure from your supply to the proper level for the generator.
On To The Test!
I have my generator set up with a direct feed from my household propane tank. (We live in the boonies, dirt road and all, so everyone is on propane.)1 You can see the feed hose in the above photo.
Following my pre-printed instructions (laminated to ensure they last)2 I shut off the main household breaker (VERY IMPORTANT TO PREVENT POWER BACK-FEEDING AND KEEP ANYONE WORKING ON THE LINES ALIVE!) and started the generator. Well, at least, I tried to. Even though the generator was cranking well, it wouldn’t start on the propane feed. I’m not sure why, and tried for several minutes, even adjusting the choke on the carb. No go.
Finally, because I was testing to ensure that the generator would be sufficient to run the well pump – it is very important to have water – I switched over to gasoline and the genny fired right up. Success!
I went to the main breaker panel and tied in the well pump. Water! Yay, survival assured, at least on gasoline. I tested a couple of other important household items as well. Knowing that the A/C would be too large of a draw I left that breaker off. With those items checked off the list, I returned to the propane issue. I turned off the gasoline feed, allowing the carb to run dry and the generator to die. I then turned on the propane, and it fired right up.
Huh.
Either I didn’t give enough time for the propane to properly feed the carburetor, something was stuck or not in the right mixture ratio, or maybe the stars weren’t aligned but now it was running fine on propane. I’ll have to research that further with more testing, but I was happy that at least the warm engine fired up on propane. Lesson learned, all else fails, start on gasoline for a few then switch over.3
Reminder #124
Anyway, moral of the story – TEST YOUR GEAR! Whether it’s a generator, weapon optic, clothing, boots, med equipment, whatever, TEST IT. We need to know it works now, not when things are getting hairy and we don’t have the time anymore.
Stay safe!
I view this as an asset, not a liability. - ed.
I will forever remind readers of the wisdom here; paper doesn’t run out of batteries. - ed.
This is solid advice. You can run a gasoline engine on naphtha (Coleman fuel, white gas) but usually only when it is hot. Gasoline is a mixture of both medium and light hydrocarbons and the light ones get your engine started. - ed.