Conversion for Honda Generator??

All U Get · Nov 14, 2010

For all the times I got up in the middle of the night during a power outage, this could be an option. I also looked at the additional tank, Honda seems to be listening to the consumers.
All U Get

kloudie1 · Nov 14, 2010

Couple of things.. First if you are under a warranty, that would be voided.
Consumption: The EU 2000i would use about 1 pound of propane an hour at half load. two #/hr at full load. Soooo a 20# tank like the BBQ uses would last 20 hours at an average of half load, with only the generator running.. ten hours at full load. Another problem is that because propane does not have as much energy per gallon as gasoline, the rating of the geneartor has to be lowered by about 10%.. so the Honda's continuous rating would go to something close to 1500 watts ..
The big benefit is that propane doesn't gum things up and you can store fuel for long periods of time without degradation.. Bad thing is that propane is a lot more expensive than gasoline when bought in portable containers..

RECESS · Nov 14, 2010

If I have all the conversions correct, these generators that sip gasoline do not sound like they sip propane. I found that with the converter kit the EU2000i uses 55 cu/ft per hour under full load. The most common tanks (the size used for most propane grills) holds 20 lbs of liquid propane. Propane has 35.79 cubic feet of propane per liquid gallon. So a 20 gallon tank has 715.2 cu/ft of propane. That means one of those bulky propane tanks will only give you 13 hours of run time at full load. At half load you get 20 hours of run time. It seems you get more bang for the buck from gasoline on a Honda Eu2000i. It takes 2 gallons of gasoline to run 13 hours at full load. So that works out to about $6 of gasoline for 13 hours vs. $20+ of propane for 13 hours. I think 2 gallons of gasoline weighs significantly less than 20 liquid gallons of propane plus the additional weight of that tank. I have a UE2000i and wanted the numbers to be better as I use it on my O'Day 25.

Run times for Honda eu2000i

Edit to add....shakes fist at Claude for his fast math skills!!

Ross · Nov 14, 2010

Connecting to propane or natural gas will limit the portability of the unit. Propane weighs about 4 pounds per gallon and gasoline about 7+ so yes you burn more gallons but you always have fresh fuel.

kloudie1 · Nov 14, 2010

laughing.. Recess.. I was an Injun Ear in an oil mill where we made propane .. have done many fuel calculations comparing the stuff to almost anything that burns.. I don't know how folks can justify charging so much for it, since it is basically a by-product of refining oil .. A big refinery could just about give it away and still make money! There is no road tax and not much other tax, so I can only conclude that greed and litigation insurance have super-inflated the price.

Ross · Nov 14, 2010

The cost of propane is easy to explain. It is what the market will bear. If it was hard to sell it would be much cheaper.

Ross · Nov 14, 2010

I decided to search for fuel cost comparisons. Check this out: http://erpud.com/comparison.htm

Chuck Creel · Nov 14, 2010

adapter for eu2000

capejt said:
Hi All,
I was just scouring the pages of EBay looking for a good price on a generator when I saw something that caught my eye. A conversion kit to allow your Honda to burn Gasoline, Natural Gas, or even Propane!
http://cgi.ebay.com/Tri-Fuel-Kit-Ho...417?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item5add64a5c9

I've heard about this kind of thing for your car in the past, but this is a first for me seeing it for a small generator.
I wonder how safe and reliable it would be. How's the "mileage" compared to gas?

might want to consider this alternitive.

http://durationpower.com/store//index.html

Florida sail · Nov 14, 2010

I have had both a propane generator and gas powered generators in my RVs. The gas powered genrators convenience and running time far exceeds the use of propane. I will never have a propane generator again.

txtowman · Nov 14, 2010

I made my own extend a run tank for mine.

It's simply awesome!

I have run several vehicles on propane, it's way more expensive and access is limited.

Also they no longer put 5 gallons in a 20 pound bottle due to new regulations.

I have a 250 gallon propane tank with a liquid hose to fill tanks with and I still would not use it as a motor fuel.

Ross · Nov 14, 2010

txtowman said:
I made my own extend a run tank for mine.

Also they no longer put 5 gallons in a 20 pound bottle due to new regulations.
You are having your tanks filled in the wrong place. I get 20 pounds in a 20 pound tank for 15 dollars. I just use it for grill fuel at home and cooking fuel on the boat.

RECESS · Nov 14, 2010

Blue Rhino has a class action lawsuit against them for selling 20 gallon tanks as full at Walmart but they only put 15 gallons in them. Amerigas also has a class action lawsuit against them for the same thing.

mlsalwa16686 · Nov 15, 2010

I converted my home generator to propane two yrs. ago and would never go back. I never have to worry about old gas and starts a lot quicker then when using gasoline.
I can still run on reguler gas if need be.

Winters Dream · Nov 15, 2010

Ross said:
I decided to search for fuel cost comparisons. Check this out: http://erpud.com/comparison.htm

Ross,

It's time for a new quote. We all read yours about five times.

Bob Lendvay

papski · Nov 15, 2010

boom

Propane, LNG, is heaver then air; thus any leaking gas will seap to the lowest place i.e. bilge and collect there waiting for an ignition sorce. Remember this when your deciding where you will store fule.

miatapaul · Nov 15, 2010

mlsalwa said:
I converted my home generator to propane two yrs. ago and would never go back. I never have to worry about old gas and starts a lot quicker then when using gasoline.
I can still run on reguler gas if need be.

I would agree that on a land based home it makes sense on several levels. You will get significantly less power out of the generator, and it costs much more to run it, but in the long run those are good trade offs. The propane seems to last almost for ever, it runs much cleaner, reduces maintenance, and you likely would have some around if you are considering using it anyway. Also size of the tank is really not even remotely important. Stick it behind some bushes and you can forget about it till it needs to be refilled. But on a boat I would never consider it, mainly for storage space and cost (you will run it a lot more on a boat if you do much cruising than you would at home, as there it is normally just for emergency use) after all you normally have to have gas on board for the dink outboard. If you really don't want to have a gas one, then run diesel, but they are big and big bucks to install.

I will say I used to drive a truck that ran on propane and when we changed to oil (did it at normal intervals, though I think you can normally extend it) the oil came out a nice clear honey, and if we were using gas it would have been black after a few hundred miles. Biggest problem was they did not like to start in the winter and they had no power, sure seemed like more of a loss than 15% for sure.

Ross · Nov 15, 2010

Recently i had occassion to advise the son of my long term friends on a back-up generator for their house. Edne is full time on a respirator and will surely die if the power is out for more than a minute or two. Hauling fuel is out of the question so I advised them to install a 100 gallon propane fuel system for an automatic start and swith over system. They have arranged for the gas supplier to keep the tank full in the event of a prolonged power outage.

kloudie1 · Nov 15, 2010

Lots of folks here in hurricane country have their units piped directly to natural gas lines. Some folks who aren't on natural gas grid have the setup you note, Ross.. It works..