Do I need to drain gas from my generator?

[Sumboodie]

A generator should be exercised regularly to make sure it's ready to go when you do need it. Run it once a month or so, and that should keep it from getting gummed up.

I fire mine up once a year or two. I'd never really "need" it beyond convenience anyhow.
Have wood heat and a lantern.

 

[cgall]

Do not put leaded aviation gas or racing gas in your generator, it will build up a carbon deposit on the valves and lead to loss of compression.

 

[onkyo]

I called my local general aviation airport and the fuel guy who answered the phone told me that they would not pump gas into anything but an aircraft.

That is a shame, might call a small municipal airport, we drive right to the pump put in our credit card and fill up. I take my snowmobile trailer and get 25 gallons. Us it to fill everything that sits over winter.

 

[tdkkart]

100LL, yep, that'll make it work, not. Do some research folks, 100LL is 100 octane because it is actually harder to ignite, and it gets even worse when it gets cold outside, so it's the LAST thing you want in your snowblower or generator. Ethanol free if you insist, and the lowest octane you can get for this low compression small engine stuff.

 

[onkyo]

100LL, yep, that'll make it work, not. Do some research folks, 100LL is 100 octane because it is actually harder to ignite, and it gets even worse when it gets cold outside, so it's the LAST thing you want in your snowblower or generator. Ethanol free if you insist, and the lowest octane you can get for this low compression small engine stuff.

100LL or Avgas will freeze at -58°C (-72°F) at that temperature you probably should be more worried about the oil.
I am confident I can find other stuff to do at that temperature aside from running my snow blower,
my comment was about storing engines over winter, I have been doing this for years with no issues, this is the "Internet" and everyone is an expert.

 

[rk_tek]

Anything that sits over 2 weeks gets the fuel shutoff or drained and run dry. I'll usually pull things out once in the off season and run them before putting away again. I always run non ethanol with Stabil and my 2 strokes get Stihl mix

 

[Legion Prime]

We usually have a power outage at least once a year up here in Northern MI. Since they started trimming the trees back from the power lines it's usually back on within 24-48 hours but has been out for over a month before. I keep at least two 5 gal cans of ethanol free gas with stabil on hand. Each spring any remaining gas in the gas cans gets poured into the cars gas tanks and refilled with ethanol free & stabil, nothing else gets used in the generator. Then the oil gets changed and the spark plug gets pulled. I hit it with a wire brush and check the gap, then spray fogging oil in the cylinder, pull the cord a couple times, another quick spray and the spark plug gets reinstalled. Make sure the fuel valve is off and it gets put away for the summer. The only problems I have had starting it are usually because I forgot to turn the fuel valve on. Sometimes in subzero temps it may need a quick shot of ether but in those temps I will usually start it in the garage, let it run for a minute then shut it off and it fires right up once I have it outside by the hookup.
If you can't find any ethanol free gas near you try checking out https://www.pure-gas.org you may be surprised.

 

[RickyPetite]

Ethanol-free gas is annoyingly hard to find. I use pure-gas.org to search for availability. Half of the results are gas stations that sell 100 octane (racing fuel, Sunoco costs $10/gallon!). The other half are airports that want nothing to do with a guy with a 5 gallon can. Seems that rural areas (of PA) have greater availability. I end up going to the state's largest convenience chain Wawa and get normally priced Ethanol-free gas 89 octane. Since I have to drive nearly 1 hour each way, I fill up two 5 gallon containers.