Hi,

I'm pretty careful with power equipment, when I put away equipment for the winter (mower, weed wackers, my wife's scooter, etc.) I always add gas stabilizer and run the engine for at least five minutes. Never have a problem in spring except for a few extra pulls.

I've just bought a gas generator - in my area it seems as we're without power at least 5 days out of the year, often more. Now of course since I've purchased the generator, I probably won't have any more outages, but just in case....

So my question revolves around gas storage for this unit. I'll be building a platform and small covered shed for the generator and ideally, I'd love to have this thing filled with gas and ready to go when I need it (so I don't have to fill it during a big storm). The unit holds 5 gallons - any thoughts on whether I should fill it now & add a stabilizer or keep it empty and just fill it when the situation arises?

In addition, I'm getting a 5 gallon Carb tank - do these thing keep gas stabilized better than the old cans/ And I just found some old stabilizer in my shed - probably at least 10 years old. Does that stuff stay stable or should I toss it?

Thanks!
Bob

 

I've been wondering the same thing with my generator.

What I have been doing to date (until I find a better solution), is use the generator fuel to fill the lawn mower (sifon hose) and then top it back up with new fuel.
I've try to run the generator once or twice a month for 10 or som minutes just to keep everything moving.

Definately interested to hear how others take care of this.

 

If you can do what Northern Mike stated without fail, then that is probably the very best option. Keep the tank full also, to keep air out (air brings in moisture, which condensates when the temperature changes). Keep it out of direct sunlight and extreme heat. Buy non-ethanol fuel also. I would use the old stabilizer if it's still sealed. If it has been opened, some of the less stable solvents may have evaporated out of it.

 

I have all but eliminated fuel related problems in small engines by using the highest grade of premium fuel and a small amount of stabilizer between seasons.
Here the top grades have no ethanol which I believe is the problem as cheese has also stated.

 

I believe Premium still has some ethanol, but maybe not as much.
Other then our van, everything gets premium as the carb equipment tends to like it better (no knock sensors) and my car requires it.
As cheese mentioned (and I forgot to mention), keep it topped up.

My only problem with the setup I have is a do not like transfering fuel back and forth between quipment via a sifon. If I could safely incorporate a tee in the fuel line of the generator with a shutoff valve, this could allow me to simply open the valve and let fuel from the generator poor into a small can to fill the lawn mower or snow blower. Without really looking into it, I think this could be tough as it's pretty tight between the tank and the motor and valves do leak.