Winter is coming - question re gas and generator maintenance

Matt_Colie wrote:


If you are worried about the generator, read my post:https://www.rv.net/forum/index.cfm/fuseaction/thread/tid/29463009/gotomsg/29463882.cfm#29463882.
If you have questions (many do), come on back, I am here a lot and cn always be PMed.

Matt

Hi Matt your link is not working for me.

Thanks

Ragdogs,

In Ontario motorfuel does not go bad very fast, but the tanks will "breath" with temperature and barometric pressure. Filling them mitigates this. A fuel stabilizer may help, but if you miss it, I bet you won't notice.

If you are worried about the generator, read my post:https://www.rv.net/forum/index.cfm/fuseaction/thread/tid/29463009/gotomsg/29463882.cfm#29463882.
If you have questions (many do), come on back, I am here a lot and cn always be PMed.

Matt

Was I just lucky last year ? I didn’t add anything to the gas tank and it went into storage where I don’t have access for 6 months and both my engine and generator were fine?

Rag,

The "Exercise the Generator" is a left over from WWII when the windings were sealed with a lacquer (old technology) and perpetuated but the people that sell parts and service....

You don't say what the generator is, but there has to be a way to shut the fuel to it off. You want to do this so the carburetor ends up as dry as possible. Many have a way to drain the float bowl. This may not be in the manual (Gee - Why Not?) but if you go by any small engine shop, they may well know a good way to do this.

Then, if you are not sure when you will get back to using, Fog it. This means that you crank the engine (while it is still warm is best) and spray this oil in the air intake so it coats all that bare metal that makes up the internal parts.

Now, when you want it to run again, get a battery, get fuel into the carburetor by cranking it in short bursts, and it will start. when it does, it will blow out some smoke for the first few minutes.

I have been taking care of other peoples engines for nearly 60 years. Some were miniature like this, some were small like the one in your coach and some were real and rated in 100s of horsepower per cylinder.

Matt

I would never dispute any information that is prudent and offered with merit. I have run my Onan genny religiously since brand new, every month for 2 hours under load, regardless of weather and/or fuel tank capacity, unless of course it is near 1/4 full which it never is while parked. I have used Stabil or Sea Foam only as a preventative if I do not head out for weeks at a time in the winter. To this date the genny has worked flawlessly with minimum attention other than an oil change and spot inspections. The same exercise time goes for my stand alone Champion 9500 genny. No issues. Reading the forums it appears some choose the 1/2 hour run time and others go with the 1-2 hour run time. To each his own. I can only report good things for my exercise schedule.

I use STA-BIL® Fuel Stabilizer.

It's best to have the gas tank full (with Sta-Bil or some other fuel stabilizer) if it is to be stored for a long time. This helps to avoid getting moisture in the gas due to condensation; if there's little room for air in the tank, there's correspondingly little condensation from the bit of air that is there.

Onan recommends running the generator under load for half an hour or so monthly to keep the brushes and slip rings clean and prevent the carburetor from getting gummed up.

Other than that, there's not much to it. I recommend leaving a roof vent or two cracked open (assuming you have vent covers) to allow some air exchange and setting a few mouse traps and removing foodstuffs. It would, of course, be a very good idea to take any water-based things out, as well, so they don't freeze and possibly burst their containers and cause a mess.

In the old days I always tried to get the rig's gas tank down to 1/4 tank or so - load it up with fuel stabilizer and run the generator. Now I just put on rain jacket and start up the generator once a month - both seem to work fine - rain jacket is already paid for so I save a few bucks.

Sea foam ?

As a central Florida rv owner and have never " winterized" our TTs, and this will be our first with the class C. One of the main reasons is "winter" is our RVing season. Oct to May in Fl is the best time to be RVing here.

We will doing the same in the C, but i will be using Sea Foam if it will be sitting for a month or more. Generator ? Same plan as always as to running it once a month, under load for an hour.

Good luck !

you can put in stabil or in both and let them run for a little while so the mixture gets into the carburetors. be careful not to over do it with the stabil, it can do some harm if you put too much in the gas. there are other additives you can put into the gas but my senior moment just kicked in, it is in a white can with red letters, come on guys help me out here. I gave in and went to look. it's sea foam