Yamaha EF1000iS Fuel Tank Conversion

[CGlas]

Hi all, I’ve recently purchased an Okanagan 811SL TC and love it, but we all know the storage constraints that come with a TC.

Hence the reason I purchased a small Yamaha EF1000iS generator, which works awesome for boondocking when needed in the summer.

My issue with the generator is if I’m out in the bush hunting, and it’s -20, I want it to be able to run all night without refueling, under a 900w load it will only run for 4 hours with the existing tank.

So my question is, has anyone ever bypassed (or put a tank selector valve in) the gravity fed tank, and used a low pressure (2-4 psi) 12v inline pump from a jerrycan to fuel this generator?

Will the float in the carb be able to hold back the excess fuel being such low pressure?

The generator itself 12v to power the pump, so the safety issue of the pump running when the generator cuts out is not a concern.

Cheers!

[Gdetrailer]

Just checked my 2020 F250, YES you CAN EASILY fit GC2s in front and behind the wheel wells.

From inside bed to the wheel well I am measuring 8".. With 20" from rear of wheel well to tailgate is 22" minus the tie down of 2" and you have 20" battery length potential.

GC2 is 7 3/16" deep and 10 3/8" long and with a little noodling I would bet you could fit TWO GC2s behind the wheel wells in the bed..

I have a short bed so only could fit one GC2 in front of wheel well but long bed I suspect like the rear TWO GC2s would fit..

So, you have the potential of up to FOUR GC2s in the bed..

Underside you have space enough to fit two GC2s in front of the wheels if you turn the batteries side ways on the drivers side, didn't check passenger side but it should be similar..

That would give you space for FOUR GC2s using both sides on the outside of the from rails..

You really have the possibility for up to EIGHT GC2s giving you 840Ahr of battery capacity if you were willing to do a little detective work..

If you use 840 Ahr of battery capacity per day, you must be doing something pretty crazy with electric usage..

I have camped as low as 50F at night, furnace ran not much and a single group 24 battery was plenty sufficient for overnight use..

Group 24 typically gets you about 60Ahr-70Ahr max but half of that would be 30Ahr-35Ahr..

If you can't get it done with 840Ahr worth of battery capacity, probably should not be cold weather camping..

I personally would not enjoy camping with a generator buzzing all night so a combination of enough battery capacity and a generator of suitable size to recharge the batteries during daylight hrs is far better idea than kludging an extended run fuel tank..

[NRALIFR]

How do you know he’s not using the propane furnace? He may very well be using a small electric heater, and the furnace to keep things from freezing. Minus 20 is pretty dang cold, regardless of whether he’s talking F or C. I’ve done that myself when it gets really cold.

The electric heater I carry with me has a 700 watt setting and a 1500 watt setting. The 700 watt setting is for when I’m using the Yamaha for power. When it gets down into the single digits, 700 watts helps, but it won’t keep you warm on it’s own, and it won’t keep the black and gray tanks and valves from freezing. So, I also set the propane furnace so it will run once in a while, and it will also keep things from freezing that the electric heater isn’t warming. I learned a long time ago that it’s easier and cheaper to keep things from freezing, than to slip up and allow something to freeze unintentionally.

I never said there was no space around the wheel wells, I said it’s not always as easy to use as you’re imagining. Why would I say that? Could it be that maybe I’ve tried it? All of your suggestions are in fact doable, if the person doing it thinks it’s worthwhile. Personally, I don’t. For numerous reasons based on years and years of actually using a truck camper year round and trying different ways of doing just about everything. Whether the physical space is there or not isn’t one of them.

I suspect the OP knows what works for him as well, or I’ll at least assume that he does until he comes back and says “I never thought about adding more batteries before. I’ll just do that instead.” You never know, he might do it. Me, BTDT. I’ll stick to what works for me now. Any batteries I add to my camper will be inside the heated interior space. Why? Because that’s where they need to be for the way I use the camper.

The OP wants to use his generator for power, and wants it to run all night without running out of gas. Seems like a reasonable want to me. The extended run tank looks like the perfect solution.

:):)

[Gdetrailer]

NRALIFR wrote:
Staying warm in -20 is going to take a fair amount of energy.

Airdrie is in Alberta, Canada north of Calgary. Considering the weather conditions he’s talking about hunting in, I can imagine he’s using every watt that generator can produce to stay warm overnight. Lows of -20 are going to make batteries less capable of providing needed power, and make it more difficult to recharge them.

Adding batteries to the wheel wells isn’t always as easy as you might imagine due to the shape of the bed where the side walls meet the floor. There’s a curve there on Ford trucks that make it necessary to raise the battery up a few inches to get the width needed for the camper tub. The Okanagan 811 is a basement camper, with the floor height above the wheel wells. The floor of the camper also extends over the tops of the wheel wells, reducing the available height in the bed areas in front of and behind them.

Placing group 24 or 27’s or 6 volt batteries there before loading will make the camper more difficult to load, and the batteries will be even more exposed to ambient temperature than the ones in the battery box. While more batteries is generally a good thing, In the conditions Chad is talking about, I would want to add them inside the heated space of the camper.

Basement campers don’t usually have access to the wheel well areas while the camper is on the truck, but non-basement campers like mine typically do. I’m already using the majority of that space for items that can fit through the access doors on each side.

I’m glad to see that there’s an extended run kit available for the Yamaha 1000 now. I have one as well, and 99% of the time it’s all the generator I need. It’s size and weight are much more compatible with my needs and available storage space than any 2000 watt gen. When I first got mine over 12 years ago I looked for an extended run tank, but there just wasn’t much available for it, unlike the more common 2000 watt models.

This seems to be the extended run system I see most often for the Yamaha 1000/2000 generators.

Bergs System YMH1.2000IS



:):)

I AM familiar with Fords AND TCs, grew up in a "Ford Family", Dad had Fords his entire life. Dad also used a TC for yrs.. I HELPED with loading and unloading Dads TC up to and a few years after I finished Tech school.

Dad ALSO had both a "floor" and "basement TCs" and BOTH only have contact with the the bed BETWEEN the wheel wells.

Space between the wheel wells is a little over 4 ft so you can slide a sheet of plywood between wheel wells..

There IS space in front and behind the wheel wells that BOTH a floor and Basement TC never touch, and is dead space and it IS large enough to place some batteries..

A simple homemade battery rack from even a few 2x4s will suffice to allow at least one group27 in front and behind each wheel well.. A little bit of noodling most likely could fit 4 GC2s beside the TC..

Heck even UNDER the truck on the outside of the frame there IS lots of DEAD unused space.. One could easily hide a body in those spaces..

You don't load and wire the batteries as you load the TC, you load and wire them BEFORE you load the TC. Then you can connect them to your TC after it has been loaded..

By the way, OP using 900W gen pretty much means they are using an electric space heater instead of the on board propane heater, not the most cost effective way to heat.. OPs on board furnace can EASILY operate overnight on one group27 without the need to run a gen all night..

I personally would rather listen the propane furnace than even a 900W gen all night.

Use the propane furnace to heat and the gen in the morning to charge up the batteries.. It WILL work even at -20..

For some reason folks have a real issue using the built in propane furnaces, that is what they are designed to do.

[NRALIFR]

Staying warm in -20 is going to take a fair amount of energy.

Airdrie is in Alberta, Canada north of Calgary. Considering the weather conditions he’s talking about hunting in, I can imagine he’s using every watt that generator can produce to stay warm overnight. Lows of -20 are going to make batteries less capable of providing needed power, and make it more difficult to recharge them.

Adding batteries to the wheel wells isn’t always as easy as you might imagine due to the shape of the bed where the side walls meet the floor. There’s a curve there on Ford trucks that make it necessary to raise the battery up a few inches to get the width needed for the camper tub. The Okanagan 811 is a basement camper, with the floor height above the wheel wells. The floor of the camper also extends over the tops of the wheel wells, reducing the available height in the bed areas in front of and behind them.

Placing group 24 or 27’s or 6 volt batteries there before loading will make the camper more difficult to load, and the batteries will be even more exposed to ambient temperature than the ones in the battery box. While more batteries is generally a good thing, In the conditions Chad is talking about, I would want to add them inside the heated space of the camper.

Basement campers don’t usually have access to the wheel well areas while the camper is on the truck, but non-basement campers like mine typically do. I’m already using the majority of that space for items that can fit through the access doors on each side.

I’m glad to see that there’s an extended run kit available for the Yamaha 1000 now. I have one as well, and 99% of the time it’s all the generator I need. It’s size and weight are much more compatible with my needs and available storage space than any 2000 watt gen. When I first got mine over 12 years ago I looked for an extended run tank, but there just wasn’t much available for it, unlike the more common 2000 watt models.

This seems to be the extended run system I see most often for the Yamaha 1000/2000 generators.

Bergs System YMH1.2000IS



:):)

[rlw999]

Gdetrailer wrote:
Rather than running a genny all the time night and day, perhaps take a look at the space in front and behind the truck wheel wells.. Should be enough space there to add in some additional batteries between the TC and bed..

Of course you would have to place and wire the batteries before backing the truck under the TC but there is unused wasted space there that could take care of your power issue..

One Group27 battery should easily provide enough power to run your furnace for 8hr-10hrs before needing recharged..

I don't know what loads he's running (maybe an electric heater or tank heaters), but he said he's only getting 4 hours at 900W with the generator -- 900W for 8 hours is close to 600AH with batteries, and with lead acid he'll want around double that. That's around 12 Group 27 batteries.

His generator is rated at 12 hours at 1/4 load, so if he had a lower load he probably wouldn't have a problem with runtime.

[bgum]

Ebay has a extended run tank, for $139 and a new cap to be used with the new tank $16.50

[Gdetrailer]

Rather than running a genny all the time night and day, perhaps take a look at the space in front and behind the truck wheel wells.. Should be enough space there to add in some additional batteries between the TC and bed..

Of course you would have to place and wire the batteries before backing the truck under the TC but there is unused wasted space there that could take care of your power issue..

One Group27 battery should easily provide enough power to run your furnace for 8hr-10hrs before needing recharged..