Do you drain the gas out of your Onan Carb?

the trippers wrote:
Where or how would I find a gas station that pumps non-ethanol blended gasoline? Didn't know stations were allowed to do that. In Utah or the Southwest somewhere? I would like to try pure gasoline in all my vehicles.

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Where or how would I find a gas station that pumps non-ethanol blended gasoline? Didn't know stations were allowed to do that. In Utah or the Southwest somewhere? I would like to try pure gasoline in all my vehicles.

ajriding wrote:
First, if you want to store the gen for more than, say 2 months, then use non-ethanol gasoline with Stabil. The so-called ethanol fuel stabilizers will not stabilize ethanol to the degree you need it to. The ethanol will break down and turn everything gummy. The ethanol is water based and the water that is left behind will rust or corrode the carburetor parts.
Second, and this all depends on your generator fuel pump, if left in a dry state some things can dry out and crack/rot. I personally have a mechanical pump and the paper element/diaphragm dried out as well as some of the rubber o-rings. Some generators need to have gas in there to keep things wet.
Run the generator with non-ethanol gas for 10 minutes (or until it is purged of ethanol). You can simply move the fuel hose to a container with the gas in it, or you can purge your RV gas tank by running real gas for a while. I have an old push mower gas tank that I use to feed the generator gas when I will store it.
All said, the generator head unit also needs to be run regularly, so it is not ideal to store the generator for too long.

Where would I find a gas station that pumps non-ethanol gasoline?
Seems like they would be fined by the State EPA. I would like to run it in all my vehicles, pure gasoline no ethanol.

Good feedback all, thanks. I am going to stick with the draining unless short on time but am neutral on the topic. Much like blowing out lines vs using pink antifreeze for winterizing. Have been running monthly without draining gas from the carb with no issues.

I've extended stored ATVs in extremely hot desert conditions by draining fuel bowl without incident. I personally would never leave fuel in a carb I expected to completely go dry-even treated high quality fuel.

These carbs have no accelerator pump. Perhaps if concerned about that or something drying out in other carbs run a bit of premix through it at the end before layup.

First, if you want to store the gen for more than, say 2 months, then use non-ethanol gasoline with Stabil. The so-called ethanol fuel stabilizers will not stabilize ethanol to the degree you need it to. The ethanol will break down and turn everything gummy. The ethanol is water based and the water that is left behind will rust or corrode the carburetor parts.
Second, and this all depends on your generator fuel pump, if left in a dry state some things can dry out and crack/rot. I personally have a mechanical pump and the paper element/diaphragm dried out as well as some of the rubber o-rings. Some generators need to have gas in there to keep things wet.
Run the generator with non-ethanol gas for 10 minutes (or until it is purged of ethanol). You can simply move the fuel hose to a container with the gas in it, or you can purge your RV gas tank by running real gas for a while. I have an old push mower gas tank that I use to feed the generator gas when I will store it.
All said, the generator head unit also needs to be run regularly, so it is not ideal to store the generator for too long.

I'd drain mine if I expected to lay it up for more than a month or so. It's evaporating an entire bowl of fuel that reduces down to these flaky deposits.

The Logans wrote:
It has to be run once a month with a load on it (we use the AC or the hot water heater for the load). We run it for about 20 minutes. The monthly exercise eliminates the need to use a fuel conditioner or drain the carburetor.

If the genset is not run monthly, it can dramatically shorten the life of the Onan.

That is what I was taught. Jim

Cobra21 wrote:
I don't think the fuel evaporates very fast during a Minnesota winter, but Florida is most likely a different story. I don' drain.
Brian

Or does it evaporate faster because of different formulation/additives and lower humidity?

Expiring minds need to know. Jim

It has to be run once a month with a load on it (we use the AC or the hot water heater for the load). We run it for about 20 minutes. The monthly exercise eliminates the need to use a fuel conditioner or drain the carburetor.

If the genset is not run monthly, it can dramatically shorten the life of the Onan.