Propane/LPG Generator Conversion Kits for a Generator

[kwando]

Does anyone have one of these?

http://www.motorsnorkel.com/motor-sn...-kit-3433.html

I will be looking at a generator shortly and i've been reading up on pros/cons. This email came through today.

[TFOGGER]

I can't speak to the conversion kits, but my generator is dual fuel gasoline/propane. I've never run it on gas, but it does well on propane.

[Jefe's AR]

Got the same email. I also have two Hondas EU2000i. I did some quick research and found that 1. this kit is inexpensive. Especially with the discount. Some other kits are into the $400s. 2. gennys like propane better than gasoline. 3. You're gonna need some more parts/fittings that are not included in the kit. A fuel petcock for one.

I'd like to get one and then set up a line off my main gas line and run to my grill as well. Sure wouldn't hurt to have fuel options for your genny.

[Wulf202]

Propane is not natural gas

[Brian]

This is by far the most popular kit out there, and us carb has been around for a long time. They are super popular and well regarded, especially for the popular honda/yamaha gennys. I bought one a while back, and got a 2nd one when they ran this half off deal maybe a year (?) ago. There's a long thread on arf about the last deal - if I remember correctly, they had the sale, and started wondering why they were getting so many referrals from arfcom, and so one of the reps registered an account there, ended up extending the sale, and eventually signed up as a partner and have sent out a couple emails now.

I haven't installed mine yet, so I can't give you first hand info, but I did research them pretty well before I bought one and was happy with the unit at full price. Half price, you can't go wrong - I'd definitely jump on it.

Side note on the genny - if you decide you want to go all out and get a honda, and if you're not too much in a hurry, you can save a little money by buying the sale gift cards that murdoch's does a couple times a year, and then using them when they have a honda sale.

Another side note - I don't know about this deal, but when I ordered my last kit during the last sale, it included the fuel petcock. If nothing else, they do sell them. Makes it a lot easier and is better to use that even without the conversion kit.

[Brian]

Propane is not natural gas

My kit is tri-fuel and runs on all 3 (gas, propane, natural gas).

[Great-Kazoo]

This is by far the most popular kit out there, and us carb has been around for a long time. They are super popular and well regarded, especially for the popular honda/yamaha gennys. I bought one a while back, and got a 2nd one when they ran this half off deal maybe a year (?) ago. There's a long thread on arf about the last deal - if I remember correctly, they had the sale, and started wondering why they were getting so many referrals from arfcom, and so one of the reps registered an account there, ended up extending the sale, and eventually signed up as a partner and have sent out a couple emails now.

I haven't installed mine yet, so I can't give you first hand info, but I did research them pretty well before I bought one and was happy with the unit at full price. Half price, you can't go wrong - I'd definitely jump on it.

Side note on the genny - if you decide you want to go all out and get a honda, and if you're not too much in a hurry, you can save a little money by buying the sale gift cards that murdoch's does a couple times a year, and then using them when they have a honda sale.

Another side note - I don't know about this deal, but when I ordered my last kit during the last sale, it included the fuel petcock. If nothing else, they do sell them. Makes it a lot easier and is better to use that even without the conversion kit.

What would you or anyone say the ratio is for gas/propane use over an 8 hr period? Would the conversion kit be worth it just to have for plan B

[Brian]

What would you or anyone say the ratio is for gas/propane use over an 8 hr period? Would the conversion kit be worth it just to have for plan B

There's a bunch of really smart people who have made those calculations, I'll see if I can find it. Propane and natural gas produce slightly less power if I remember right, but run so much more cleaner and don't cause the same wear on an engine that gas does. They've done the math on the honda 2000 series as well - how much runtime you get per propane tank or gas tank, etc. as well.

It's definitely worth it as a "plan b" - there are a lot of people commenting in threads I've read about being on east coast during the storms a few years ago. Gas was non-existant, propane was easy to get and of course natural gas almost never goes offline unless they have to turn it off due to leaks/fires.

[Brian]

Original sale thread over on that other site:
https://www.ar15.com/archive/topic.h...&f=17&t=680532

Rep says runtime is similar for a 5gal gas can to 20lb propane tank

Some other stuff from that post, not sure the math is 100% solid. There are some other sites and info I have stashed on a laptop somewhere - will dig it up later if I get a minute.


Originally Posted By EXPY37:
Originally Posted By MAGICmaker:
Check the U.S. CARB website. Look for the section labeled "CONSUMPTION ". Rule of thumb
Is 1000 BTU X HORSEPOWER per hour at WOT. NATGAS is billed in THERMS, one therm
Being 100,000 BTU. After you wade thru the math you'll find the cost of operating on
gasoline to be 4X the price of NATGAS, and propane being 2.5X the price of NATGAS.
Of course this will be dependent on your local prices. As long as you've tuned the
Regulator per the included instructions, with a Tachometer, your numbers should be in
line with your generators output in horsepower.

ETA: My local numbers, non-ethanol gasoline $3.00 gal, propane $2.19 gal, NATGAS $.79 THERM.
--------------------
Since gasoline has about 115,000 BTU's per gallon... [unleaded]
And propane has about 90,000 BTU's per gallon...
Per hour...
Propane has about 3/4 BTU's of gasoline...
IIRC.
And since propane is about 75% the cost of gasoline at your location...
Doesn't that make them closer to equal in cost per HP developed?
BTW, according to the first link I pulled up, they are saying one HP is ~= 2540 BTU's per hour...
Link

[Big E3]

I was doing some research on this a few years ago. It was reported that a generator runs about $8 a 12 hour day with natural gas. People were standing in lines during Katrina for almost all day every day to keep enough rationed gasoline for a genny. They highly recommended nat gas conversion because it is somewhat perpetual in nature. It was reported that natural gas is pumped at the source with natural gas powered pumps. So they run without much intervention even when power is down.