Honda Generator Propane Conversion

[gtsgarage]

Well it’s that time of year again. Worried about summer power outages.

I have a brand new EU3000 Honda generator I picked up last year. I see people converting them to propane and would much rather store propane tanks than plastic gas cans.

Any thoughts on the conversion?

Reliability, wear?

I read gasoline is more fuel efficient but not sure what the difference would really be.

 

[Joe From NY]

I have three different generators that I converted. I sent away to a company and got a model specific manifold spacer that went in right between the air cleaner and the carb. It came with a hose and regulator for the propane tank. easy hookup and instant start now. I love it. no stale gas to worry about, i just stockpile three tanks per generator.

Here is a link to one for yours from AMazon. i didnt try that company, but it looks similar to mine.

Heres a video of that one on your model.

 

[matt_i]

Propane is a lot easier on the oil side of the engine. Coming from an owner of forklifts, there aren't nearly the level of "dirty hydrocarbon cinders" to pollute the oil side of the engine.

Propane seems to produce more water out the exhaust.

I have the little brother, an eu 2000, and I run E0 "rec" fuel which is expensive but helped me dodge some issues I had with E10 fuel going bad. I try to go and start it every couple of months but I loaned it to my Dad for a power outage and he had issues.

The energy density of propane isn't as high as gasoline so your peak/max power suffers slightly. That might be a problem if you were intending to use all of the Watts during use. Tradeoff is like you are thinking, clean starts every time.

 

[Showkey]

The other concern...........you need a large store of propane. 20# propane containers won’t last very long.

 

[pattenp]

The other concern...........you need a large store of propane. 20# propane containers won’t last very long.

Well that's very subjective. It all depends on what your typical situation is. I have three 20# tanks and have never yet used more than two at one time.

 

[58Yeoman]

How do the 20# tanks do in the winter when it's cold, and you have to run your genset all day/night? Do they frost up and quit feeding.

When I first installed my propane BiggMaxx heater, I ran it off a 100# tank that I had. It would frost up sometimes, but of course, that's a heater.

 

[theoldwizard1]

Propane is a great fuel. Burns clean. More expensive than gas ($$$/BTU). No issues storing for long periods. Slightly more difficult to refuel.

If it is for spot outages 2 or 3 20 lb tanks should be good. If your outages tend to last more than 1 day, you need a BIG tank !

 

[gungatim]

last time I ran my HF 8700 watt generator for about 8 hrs. straight and used maybe half my 30lb rv tank if that.

a little Honda like that should run plenty long on a 20lb. tank.

personally I would just keep some gasoline if the outage is longer than a few days, use propane for short outages of a day or two, you can always run gas, you don't generally lose that functionality with a propane conversion.

also if you get a tri-fuel kit, you can run on NG if you don't have propane, for long term.

 

[Showkey]

The numbers on propane assumes 20# fill vs the exchange tanks are actually 15#.

An empty 20 lb tank will hold about 4.7 gallons of propane. That is $18.47 at $3.93 per gallon, which is the low quantity price ($3.44 per gallon when filling several tanks). If your exchanging tanks the pricing get worse. 15# is 25% less propane for the same money.

Subjective ....YES........but due the math:

Example on consumption:
RV Onan 3500 consumes propane at .4 to .5 gallons per hour. (published specs and experience). The RV crowd often carry gas genny like the HONDA as the propane consumption vs tank size gets your a weekend when running AC. Especially common at race tracks and summer weekend events.

The EU3000 will be better, has it has ECO mode and better numbers overall compared to other generators. The HONDA sips fuel compared to some........but...... it’s still an issue that must be managed.
the EU3000iS Runs from 7.2 to 20 hours on a single tank 3.4 gallons ( gasoline) depending on the load.
One FULL day on 15-20# is not really possible or probable. Again, Very dependent on load.

Cold weather and propane in small containers is another story as the vapor point problem becomes an issue.

 

[Lassen Forge]

Something to think about with Propane, you will burn more of it than you would Gasoline. You also have to jet your carb to the altitude you're running - harsh lesson in reality, we had a trailer mounted propane genset from the bay Area (altitude about 20 feet) that we took to about 4000 feet to run an event... normally the genset ran a week plus and change on a filling, but up in the hills, it lasted just under 3 days and died.

When we got our Kohler (also propane) we made sure we had the fuel system set up for our altitude (4000 ft.) and it will run about 75 gallons a week... otherwise we'd run through that in a day.

 

[Bretny]

With propane you loose about 20* of the generators output. So your 3kw on propane is actually closer to a eu2200 on gas. Propane has its major pro and that's shelf life. It has more than one con though. Vaporization in cold weather is a major one. Can you find the spec on how many BTU of propane input the generator needs? With that you can figure out how long you can run it and what size tank you really need

 

[Monte406SS]

Converted mine over about 7 years ago and use just propane. Don't need it often here, but it fires right up when I do need it.

I went with a kit from this place, easy to install.
http://www.propane-generators.com/

 

[csp]

An empty 20 lb tank will hold about 4.7 gallons of propane. That is $18.47 at $3.93 per gallon, which is the low quantity price ($3.44 per gallon when filling several tanks). If your exchanging tanks the pricing get worse. 15# is 25% less propane for the same money.

Subjective ....YES........but do the math:

Highly subjective. I get refills for under $8 for a 20# bottle.