copplecrown
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Hell of a year for rodents
Last fall the white pines dropped a huge amount of pine cones. As a result, the squirrel, chipmunk, and mouse populations are way up, and they are doing their mischief. The list this year so far: Chewed hoses and well line, anything plastic basically, lead flashing around chimneys, nests in engine compartments, eating roots of plants in the garden, you name it. Everyone has their choices for dealing with them- I personally use peppermint oil sprinkled on bounce sheets in my camper, but for the most part, I think we can all agree it takes work to rid ourselves from rodent problems, without owning a cat. The upside, if there is one, is that birds of prey have lots to eat. Sadly, though, people will use d-con, which gets passed on up the food chain and vet hospitals can tell stories of dying hawks and owls from ingesting animals who have been poisoned. Lately, I've found that mice really hate the smell of natrapel insect repellant. It has picaridin instead of deet, but the odor they add is probably what they find offensive. So far, so good, and here's hoping next year isn't as brutal!1.4KViews0likes6CommentsRe: Tractor Supply and Blue Rhino
Gdetrailer, I was attempting to point something out that I couldn't find much information about on the web. I came here because I figured there are people with experience with this, sorry you misunderstood my intention. If I wanted to complain, I'd go to twitter. Instead, ironically, I came to the Good Sam message board. I get your point. It's not a big deal. Sorry to get you all worked up.1.7KViews0likes0CommentsRe: Tractor Supply and Blue Rhino
My experience with TS has always been one person to do the filling. It had never been just anyone working there, and I had assumed they were trained and/or licensed to refill. Not sure what the actual law here is in NH, and not here to bash BR or TS. Just saying 1. BR and Amerigas, apparently, have a sticker for tanks and/or new E2018 stamp and 2. TS may vary from town to town in honoring the sticker. Obviously, a stamp is better than a sticker and a new tank is better than both. Also, TS is my closest filling station. Our local mom and pop hardware stores are all tank exchange for either BR or Amerigas. It wasn't about better service. I had been very satisfied with TS, but learned they don't all have the same policy or customer satisfaction. I don't see a lot of information regarding white sticker tank certification out there.1.7KViews0likes0CommentsRe: Tractor Supply and Blue Rhino
Thanks. Yes, I definitely agree, you get what you pay for. My tanks were free, I inherited them with propane in them and had the 'white sticker' discussion with a knowledgable employee at the store I had been going to, because they did have a good price/gal of propane. They would have filled the tanks because that was their policy. The difference in policy at another TS was accidental, I was merely driving to a location that had a new TS and I figured I'd bring the empty tanks. That particular store was totally unfamiliar with those stickers, or at least on that day. My other 2 tanks are my own and in much better cosmetic shape and are in use, no need to have an aggravating discussion about expiration dates, how they are applied, and whether the policy for filling them is consistently applied within a corporation within a state. New tanks are about $30 here, but that's New England. The tanks will live out their current E stamp and then hopefully be given back to BR or any neighbor or family member who wants to go that route. My neighbor said people shoot them and then bring them in as scrap metal! I didn't bother to ask whether they used explosive ordinance. That's what Youtube is for.1.7KViews0likes0CommentsRe: Tractor Supply and Blue Rhino
Thanks for the responses. Both Tractor Supply stores were in the same state, and not far from one another. I was pointing out the inconsistency within a small region. I usually buy new tanks, but had inherited the Blue Rhino tanks. Had TS's tech actually wanted to talk face to face, I would have been inclined to buy a new tank, but he chose a clerk with no knowledge whatsoever to inform me that particular store would not fill the tanks. Decided I was done with them at that point. My understanding was also that the sticker was good for 5 years, as well as the new certification stamp on the side, but apparently not all stores are aware of the sticker, which is admittedly faulty. I believe our town recycling center charges for outdated tanks. I chose to exchange for newly inspected tanks, and have already found a good local alternative for getting them filled at a nearby hardware store. The newly inspected tanks look fine, but when they are up, I'll be 'donating' them back to BR and buy new ones.354Views0likes0CommentsTractor Supply and Blue Rhino
Until recently, the least expensive option for getting my 20# propane tanks filled was at my local tractor supply. It was like $10 to fill verses $20 to exchange at Blue Rhino, where I had inherited a couple tanks that were technically beyond the 12 year mark. They were not old from BR, but their inspection system is unusual and often inconsistent, as is Tractor Supply's fill policy. Blue Rhino will often re-certify a tank with the "E" stamp, followed by the date, which is good for a number a years, but will also sometimes use a small white sticker with the date on that as an inspection. I went to my local Tractor Supply to get them filled and the tech explained the BR system and why he didn't like it, understandably. People could easily remove the sticker and put in on an old tank, making me wonder why BR would use such a system. But, he filled the tanks without any trouble, at least at that location. Last week, I went to another TS location and the tech wouldn't bother to look at the tanks. He had a salesperson look at them and she said they were out of date. I showed her the stickers and she said she'd talk to the tech. Again, he sent her back out, saying it was against their policy. No big deal, but I explained they have an inconsistent policy if one store will fill and another will not. I would have bought new tanks right there on the spot if the tech had actually bothered to come outside. I opted to exchange the tanks at a local store for $18 and the cashier allowed me to pick out tanks with actual stampings with this year's dates. So, I'm set for a while, but am a bit confused on Blue Rhino's usage of the stickers as opposed to an actual physical stamping, or Tractor Supply's policy on what is legally fillable. Has anyone else had this issue? Happy camping to all.5.3KViews0likes21CommentsRe: Honda EU2000i Throttle Control Motor Replacement!
Mine is an EACT-###### also, and was acting the same. I did find a place locally that sells ethanol free gasoline, mostly for the boating crowd, but it's so expensive most people don't buy it. As a result, I had concerns the fuel was old when you bought it. The source I used for parts is boats.net. You may not be able to check the gears on the idle control motor, other than spinning the shaft to see if it moves freely and smoothly, with some resistance.4.5KViews0likes0CommentsRe: Honda EU2000i Throttle Control Motor Replacement!
I've never seen that. Thanks for posting it. Most I found was recalls/tech bulletins for honda power equipment and not much there. Mine is newer than 2010, but still had a white label on the throttle control motor, manufactured by mitsubishi. Strangely enough, the replacement motor was also white, different manufacturer. Honda part# 36165-ZLO-D31. The generator runs great now. But I wish I had seen that bulletin a long time ago!4.5KViews0likes0CommentsRe: Honda EU2000i Throttle Control Motor Replacement!
Thanks for that update. I can reach the throttle link from the left side on top of the carb and can push it fully open from there. Found this out when the old one had failed and ultimately couldn't get any power from the unit at all. When manually manipulating the throttle link, the increase in rpm was enough for the green light to come back on.4.5KViews0likes0CommentsHonda EU2000i Throttle Control Motor Replacement!
Hi, new here, but wanted to post information about the throttle motor on the 2000i generator, since I don't see much information on the Web about it. Bought my Honda 2000i generator a few years back and from day one had starting issues. I always blamed this on today's fuel, despite the fact I was adding marine grade sta-bil or sea foam. I had replaced gaskets that had become misshapen due to ethanol and cleaned out the tiny idle jet with a strand of electrical wire, quite a few times. Kind of did the trick but still I never thought it ran right compared to what others who owned it were saying. The problem was the idle control motor. It's in the white plastic shroud on top of the carb and is actually easy to service. Two phillips screws attach it to the carb, 3 small tabs release the cover, where you can detach the electrical plug, and two more phillips screws attach the small motor to the housing. Keep note of the position of shaft that sticks out the bottom because that is what opens and closes the throttle on the carb and fits inside a small slot on the carb throttle lever link. When you install the new motor, you'll want to make sure it is at the same "o'clock" position. After reading much information here about other more expensive possibilities (faulty inverter, etc) I decided to just go for it and order a new throttle control motor from a boating supply company in Georgia that had it for $20 less than everyone else, paying $50. It took about 5 minutes to install the new motor and the genny fired up on the first pull. I let it warm up with the eco throttle off, then switched it on. It dropped rpm's and idled nicely. I then plugged in a ceramic heater and it compensated rpm's to accommodate the heavy load and let it run for a while with no issues. After shutting it off, I decided to perform an autopsy on the old throttle control motor. I pried the metal tabs that held it together and found out that the main gear had stripped out and wasn't able to spin the shaft to tell the carb what to do. Since I don't see much out there on this topic, I assume most people don't have the difficulties I did with the 2000i, but it has never run better. Chances are, I had gotten gasoline into the throttle control motor when I had pulled the carb before and was cleaning it, but that's just a guess. It could have been one faulty cog in any of the gears that could have caused the main drive gear to strip, but there you have it. Sorry for the long post, and happy camping to all.18KViews0likes7Comments
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