Wet Bowl or Dry Bowl?

[TomG2]

When shutting down my generator from its monthly exercise, it occurred to me that I might have it wrong. I have been shutting off the fuel valve and letting it run dry. This means that a small amount of gasoline remains in the carburetor which will certainly dry out and leave a deposit before the next month is up. By leaving fuel in the bowl, that won't happen. Any small engine experts know the answer? Applying a coat of varnish to the interior of the carburetor every thirty days may not always be the best?

[hypoxia]

Avgas is a good choice, stock up now while prices are down. High usage may get the plugs fouled with lead but that is easily cured.

[pawpaw47]

JimBollman wrote:
100LE AvGas, no additives needed, I drain the carb after use and put the generator away till I need it again. I have left it unused for 6+ months and the only problem is you have to slow pull the starter rope a dozen or so times to prime everything before you do a couple of serious pulls to start it. Gas is not cheap but I don't use that much. I keep about 15 gallons on hand and run it in my other small engines and replenish as needed. Shelf life on Av gas is 3+ years according to the manager of a small airport I use to buy from.

I never thought about using Avgas - kind of pricey, but I like the idea of not having ethanol or other additives that can gum up the fuel system. Hmmm, got me thinking.....

[JimBollman]

100LE AvGas, no additives needed, I drain the carb after use and put the generator away till I need it again. I have left it unused for 6+ months and the only problem is you have to slow pull the starter rope a dozen or so times to prime everything before you do a couple of serious pulls to start it. Gas is not cheap but I don't use that much. I keep about 15 gallons on hand and run it in my other small engines and replenish as needed. Shelf life on Av gas is 3+ years according to the manager of a small airport I use to buy from.

[Canadian_Rainbi]

I have a 4400 watt genset in the stick house to power the well, septic sump pump, freshwater treatment etc etc during weather related outages.

Homelite generator with the optional Honda 4 cycle engine.

It was purchased in 1997, has had one new fuel tank (rust!) in the early years, and yearly oil changes. I think I have had the plugs changed two perhaps three times. A very small solar panel hanging on the stair rail (only gets at most a couple of hours of sun during the winter) connected without a regulator to the starting battery We are now on our third battery. Fuel stabilizer is added to the fuel

I have never drained the bowl. It is started and run with a 1500 watt heater load once a month or when I remember. It has never failed to start and run.

[Sloop_Smitten]

I reason if I am not going to use the generator for an extended period (more than 90 days) I run the bowl dry. If I plan on using it again shortly I don't worry about it. I don't think it will run dry in 30 days. I use this same plan for my outboard motors as well and have not experienced any issues since I started using this strategy about 5 years ago. Adding stabilizer is a good idea but if you pull your gas from the vehicles fuel tank you have to treat the entire tank. I also run the generator every 6 weeks or so anyway so that eliminates the need to drain the bowl and exercises the generator.

[Almot]

Have been lucky enough to avoid using a generator so far. But... looking at my pretty similar 1-cylinder 4-stroke Suzuki outboard, I would say - no worries if left with gas for less than a month. No big difference with either wet or dry bowl, though I would drain it if it's a week or longer. For a month or longer periods of storage I run the carb dry and drain both the bowl and fuel tank. Stabil is added to the tank every time, it's a good thing to have with infrequently run engine. Without Stabil, gas starts deteriorating after a month.

If you're going to transport it - it's better to drain the bowl.

[TomG2]

boogie_4wheel wrote:
Drain the bowl. The gas will evaporate over time anyways, so if you leave it full at shutdown, a majority of it will be gone come next month.

With fuel in the tank and the fuel valve on, the bowl would remain full and not dry out from month to month. Seems that way to me anyway.

[TurnThePage]

Stabil or seafoam and no draining necessary.

[Hondavalk]

I keep StarTron in the fuel tank and keep the carb wet. Even if you drain the float bowls the carb has lots of small passages that won't drain and the fuel can gum up.

[2oldman]

Hondas have a drain screw at the bottom of the bowl. I thought monthly running was supposed to eliminate the need to drain the carb.

[gbopp]

TomG2 wrote:
I have been shutting off the fuel valve and letting it run dry.

That's what I do with my generator.

[boogie_4wheel]

Drain the bowl. The gas will evaporate over time anyways, so if you leave it full at shutdown, a majority of it will be gone come next month.