Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire Honda generator gas?

When's the last time you bought a new car that had a carburetor? When's the last time you let your car sit for months before trying to crank it like a generator frequently does?

I have 0 fear of E10.
Even in 2 cycles if its gonna be run up in a week or two and not left sit.
In a can, in the tank, or in the bowl.

If it's gonna sit, ethanol free.

Personally buy ethanol free for my 2cycle fuel. It sometimes sits,
plus I find I need to tune the carb going back and forth. So I just stay
E-free.

(E-10 runs leaner than straight gas)

We have schit that sits for years.

I run ethanol free gas with added fuel stabilizer in all my small engines.Here is a link to where you can find it.
https://www.pure-gas.org/

So do I, and none of it runs.

Something fuel injected I don't worry about, that includes diesels. Pretty much charge the battery and they fire up. Something with a carburetor with old ethanol gas that sat in our humid environment you can forget getting it to start without cleaning, rebuilding, or replacing the carb. Fortunately a lot of small engine makers are getting smart and putting fuel shutoff valves on the engines. By far the best thing you can do with a carbureted small engine is to turn the fuel shutoff switch and let it run out of gas instead of using the kill switch. I don't know if the Honda generators have a fuel shutoff valve, I have a Champion 2000 that came with one and I've always used that to shut it off. I also use non-ethanol fuel and have never had a moment's trouble out of it over hundreds of hours running time.

I can't tell you how many carburetors I had repaired or replaced before non-ethanol fuel became easily available near me. Now I have a close local source for 92 octane non-ethanol and that's all I use in the small engines. I have not had a single fuel related problem since I went to non-ethanol, but I still run the carbs dry via the shutoff valve or drain the fuel and run them dry in things such as the chain saws and weed eaters.

Maybe it doesn't hurt anything in a dry environment like Montana. I know that in a humid environment like Mississippi that stuff is the death of small engines. I'm not anal retentive about much, but I am about fuel and small engines because that's the only way I've found to keep them running in this humid environment.

You don't have to use ethanol free gas, but if you store the gas for it very long, it is better, especially with Sta-bil added. I never store my gen-sets with gas in the tanks, and always use a gas stabilizer. I've kept gas for 2 years easily this way. I just rotate it in my lawn tractor and other equipment, and keep refreshing gas that way. I always run it out of the carb and empty the tank, if I don't plan to use the generator for a while. I never have problems this way no matter what gas I use.

There is moisture in the air here.


Fuel does NOT have to have ethanol in it to become contaminated with water.

Its not as if premium non corn gas has a force field around it.

Just a quick couple of thoughts: to the OP and others: yes to real, eth-less fuel.
To those wanting to change over to propane: expect to be running a “1700” watt generator and check if that’s enough power for your needs. Lastly, the EU 2200i has a built in position on the on-off knob to run the carburetor dry. It is the last position just before shutting the engine off.

I have used Costco gasoline in boats and small engines for years. Including my generator. No more prone to ethanol separation than any named gasoline. YMMV.

Ethanol free is going to be the safest bet but I think it really depends on the situation. I've only gotten in trouble with ethanol in small two cycle engines that have those damnable plastic primer bulbs and perhaps other plastic and rubber components inside the carbs. Plus they are so tiny that the passage ways may be more prone to getting gummed up. The mechanic at the local Stihl place told me that even with stabilizer the alcohol would destroy some of their stuff and its usage kept them busy. He told me that if I used ethanol free I would never have any trouble and so far he has been right. I put stabilizer in it just for overkill.

On other equipment I have with older engines with no damnable plastic primer bulbs, they have sat during off seasons using ethanol gas and stabilizer without issue. For instance, we had a little tropical storm this year already. I have a welding machine that I use for a generator. Its got an 18 HP Kohler Command on it.....good old school engine. I seldom attempt to weld and had gotten really lax about cranking it once in a while and it had probably sat for more than a year. Couple of days before the storm was due I pulled the breather off and hit it with a shot of starting fluid and it fired right up. Sure enough the power was knocked off and I had to use it. It burned the old gas without issue.

I mostly run avgas, It’s easier for me to get then ethanol free. I know I’m going to be in the area where they sell Ethanol free I’ll bring a few 6 gallon cans and fill them up. I have bought VP racing fuel 55 gallon drum in the past. Ethanol gas is fine if you run the equipment On a regular basis.if you let it sit for a long duration you could have issues. I have read that there is no fuel stabilizer that makes a difference with ethanol fuel. I have seen on YouTube guys letting the fuel sit and draining off the ethanol from the bottom, too much of a pain in the ass I think.

have a 5 horse Honda motor on a slide in pickup sprayer........it has never seen anything but E10 ethanol gas


it sits unused near 11 months out of the year , starts with one pull of the rope virtually every time

Put whatever gas you want in your Honda equipment, but when mine became hard to start the Honda repair shop advised using mid grade Shell or Amoco gas. Took their advice and hard starting problems are a thing of the past.

yes, if its easy to find, no reason not to use it. Great generator, I'm thinking about buying a second to run parallel.

It will run cooler if you use non-alcohol mix gas. My Honda snowblower manual didn't say not to run un-leaded, but when I saw the muffler cherry red from using it... Never again. I haven't seen that exhaust that hot since and I've used mid-grade non-alcohol fuel. I use that gas in all my small engines with its lower flash point for easier starting.

I run Premium in all of my small engines
I was doing some homework years back about White gas (Colman Stove Fuel) and I came across some very interesting information. about Distilled Fuels. Basically the premix Fuels you buy to run in your Chainsaws and like motors is Distilled Fuel and they say it will not go bad.
I tried to find Colman Stove Fuel to mix my own Chainsaw gas and cold not find it anywhere in Commyfornia.

I have let Arizona Premium set in a Generator for over 5 years at my Property in Arizona and when I finally burned that tank of fuel up the engine never did smoke any more that with fresh gas in it. I did not put Stabil or any other gas additive in that or any of my Premium gas.
Premium Fuels have proven them selves to me.

How long will the generator run on a full load of LP?

I do not and will not run corn gas in any motor that I own.

Vehemently opposed to it both chemically and politically.

And my stuff runs great because of it.

Well...thats because there is no atmospheric moisture in South Dakota...or Montana.

Furthermore....South Dakota and Montana are the only states receiving gasoline produced this century....apparently.

i run high test in all my small engines and harley. i run the predator gennie dry when it is going to sit. it does not get a lot of use. my honda mowers i leave gas in all season and run them dry when done for the year. same with honda splitter. knock on wood so far so good. i also run some seafoam through my small motors when i think about it and also put stabil in my gas cans that sit for any period of time.