Honda EU2000 propane conversion

270 + hours on my tri-fuel Yahama...no issues...been running natural gas and propane...love it.

thomas201 wrote:
I like another poster used Honda gasoline engines converted to natural gas at work. We used casing head gas to run pump jacks in the oilfield.

They were a royal pain. Lots of failures. Problem assigned to engineer (me). Root cause, gasoline engine cooling assumes that you lose a lot of heat by evaporating the gasoline. Running at max horsepower without this additional cooling equals trashed engines.

If you do light duty they will last a long time. Running and pulling all the power they got, you will junk the engine on propane.

You need a propane engine designed from the start with propane in mind for heavy continuous duty.

Interesting results. The way I read that is you used casing head gas as the fuel?

Non-engineer minds like mine would like to know if "casing head gas" is equivalent to propane from the store? Or possibly did that gas burn hotter as well?

thomas201 wrote:
If you do light duty they will last a long time. Running and pulling all the power they got, you will junk the engine on propane.

You need a propane engine designed from the start with propane in mind for heavy continuous duty.

Interesting perspective, and I would think it would be especially relevant to the EU2000i. With it's compact design encased in plastic I wouldn't think it would cool as efficiently under a heavy load as a conventional generator. It also has a very small oil capacity (only 300cc) for a generator of its size. Like you said though, for light duty it should be fine.

I like another poster used Honda gasoline engines converted to natural gas at work. We used casing head gas to run pump jacks in the oilfield.

They were a royal pain. Lots of failures. Problem assigned to engineer (me). Root cause, gasoline engine cooling assumes that you lose a lot of heat by evaporating the gasoline. Running at max horsepower without this additional cooling equals trashed engines.

If you do light duty they will last a long time. Running and pulling all the power they got, you will junk the engine on propane.

You need a propane engine designed from the start with propane in mind for heavy continuous duty.

We dry camp and only use the propane for cooking and hot water if not on the gen-set. If it's hot we use the 2400i to run the a/c, if not the 1000i runs everything if needed. When the power is on the fridge and everything else runs on 110v. We figured this out when we had a houseboat on Lake Powell with a propane Onan: it would empty a 30gal propane bottle in a day and a half and we only had two onboard! Kind of a problem if you go out for a week at a time. With the gasoline gensets we could run the big one for 3 days on a five gallon can and it was a lot easier to find refills if we needed any. This way we used less than 3gallons of propane a week and could wait to refill until we got back to the dock. An RV has pretty much the same systems as a houseboat, so I don't see why this won't work out the same way.....

Coach-man wrote:

SabreCanuck wrote:


I think I was thinking more along the lines of leveraging the 3 tanks already on the trailer and the BBQ quick connect. Also remember it is still TRI mode if you chose to use gas. I guess it all depends on how often you are using that generator and all the gas in the jerry can.

So, you never use the stove, turn off your fridge while you travel, and never ever use the furnace? If you use any of those things you WILL have to fill your propane tanks, if you add a generator, you will have to refill a little sooner! To have the extra step of getting and then storing gasoline is silly at least for me! Add in the benefits of running on propane, much longer times between oil changes, much cleaner burning than gasoline, no gummed up carburetors or sticking injectors, almost never have to change spark plugs, not worries of the tank rusting, no spilling gasoline, no stinky gasoline tanks in the bed of the TV or basement, this to me would far out weigh having to get your propane tanks refilled once in a while!

I assume you were replying to the wrong reply as I was basically saying the same thing that you replied with??

I can see benefits to it over carrying/storing and gumming up gas. But my situation may be different than some others...

Glad it was posted.

SabreCanuck wrote:

CampbellDaycruiser wrote:

352 wrote:

CampbellDaycruiser wrote:
IMHO propane is the most trouble/hassle to fill of all the fuels we use: for some reason I have no problem with taking a 5 gallon plastic gasoline can to be filled, but I feel like doing the same with a propane tank is being a real PITA. Stopping at a gas pump and squirting a few gallons into a can without having to go inside and find an employee to fire up the propane dispenser seems a whole lot simpler.....

Your kidding right?

Nope. My plastic gas can sits flat and does not roll around the truck like propane tanks, does not scratch what I set it on and does not have to be unstrapped and lifted out of a fitted base in a compartment that's just a bit too tall and too narrow to manage comfortably. It also weighs so much less than a propane tank when empty that my wife is even willing to carry it out to the truck for me if my hands are full......sometimes. If I need a refill I just swipe my card a second time at the pump when I'm filling the diesel truck, fill them both at once, set the filled plastic can in the bed of the truck and we are on our way.

I think I was thinking more along the lines of leveraging the 3 tanks already on the trailer and the BBQ quick connect. Also remember it is still TRI mode if you chose to use gas. I guess it all depends on how often you are using that generator and all the gas in the jerry can.

So, you never use the stove, turn off your fridge while you travel, and never ever use the furnace? If you use any of those things you WILL have to fill your propane tanks, if you add a generator, you will have to refill a little sooner! To have the extra step of getting and then storing gasoline is silly at least for me! Add in the benefits of running on propane, much longer times between oil changes, much cleaner burning than gasoline, no gummed up carburetors or sticking injectors, almost never have to change spark plugs, not worries of the tank rusting, no spilling gasoline, no stinky gasoline tanks in the bed of the TV or basement, this to me would far out weigh having to get your propane tanks refilled once in a while!

I don't think I'd want to do it. I have a camping friend that has a LP fired Onan in his RV as says its the biggest pain of anything he deals with on his rv because it uses so much LP and caused him to carry extra LP tanks all the time which you can't just run to all the local stations and get filled. He now uses 2 Honda 2000 gens to run his RV with 6gal tank, he says its so much easier to deal with the gas vs LP. That's from his experience.

CampbellDaycruiser wrote:

352 wrote:

CampbellDaycruiser wrote:
IMHO propane is the most trouble/hassle to fill of all the fuels we use: for some reason I have no problem with taking a 5 gallon plastic gasoline can to be filled, but I feel like doing the same with a propane tank is being a real PITA. Stopping at a gas pump and squirting a few gallons into a can without having to go inside and find an employee to fire up the propane dispenser seems a whole lot simpler.....

Your kidding right?

Nope. My plastic gas can sits flat and does not roll around the truck like propane tanks, does not scratch what I set it on and does not have to be unstrapped and lifted out of a fitted base in a compartment that's just a bit too tall and too narrow to manage comfortably. It also weighs so much less than a propane tank when empty that my wife is even willing to carry it out to the truck for me if my hands are full......sometimes. If I need a refill I just swipe my card a second time at the pump when I'm filling the diesel truck, fill them both at once, set the filled plastic can in the bed of the truck and we are on our way.

I think your point makes a lot of sense, I too do not want to deal with another propane tank, two is enough in the fifth wheel.

352 wrote:
HERE

ol Bombero-JC wrote:
Not sure what "kit" you mean... US Carb, or?

(I prefer Maine Diesel - send 'em your carb, returned "converted" with regulator, and necessary parts).

Converted my Yam 2400is to tri-fuel - with no intent to ever run it again on gasoline.

Works great for me - nat gas at home, propane (in needed) "on the road".

No problems *ever* with contaminated or "old" gasoline, no need for Seafoam or StaBil.

BTW - you might take your question to the Tech Forum (or ask the mod to move it) - as *everything* generator is there.

~

$179.00, Pretty sure I will stick to gas. One thing I did do to the Honda 2000 was I installed a shutoff valve, that ,and using a bit of gas additive, no worries about it starting or running right after prolonged sitting.

I suppose if one is using theirs a lot I could maybe see a benefit for propane, but for the occasional use, a small container of gas seems a better choice. good luck with the conversion.