Options for small 240V portable generators?

[johnbowser]

Not quite the "holy grail" you are making it out to be !

I had a 4 stroke outboard with EFI. There was some fuel in the tank from OVER 18 months. Gummed up the injectors when I started it. You need special equipment to clean injectors (all those injector cleaner products did not work). Cost me more than a couple of bucks to send them out to be cleaned.

That's why you don't leave old fuel in such an expensive and important device. You either stabilize the fuel to prevent gumming or you disconnect the fuel line from the tank and let the motor run its self out of fuel. No need for special equipment.

 

[theoldwizard1]

That's why you don't leave old fuel in such an expensive and important device. You either stabilize the fuel to prevent gumming or you disconnect the fuel line from the tank and let the motor run its self out of fuel. No need for special equipment.

I don't recall exactly, but Sta-Bil says it is only good for 12(?) months.

 

[dcg9381]

You honestly think brand new cars would still be using carburetors in 2024 if catalytic converters were not made mandatory is the 1980s???

I think we'd see "low price" imports (India/China) with carbs come back into the USA, yes if we didn't have emissions requirements.

GM/Ford/Toyota? No. Drivers aren't going to tolerate the starting and drivability issues and many of these engines can't really be accurately carborated.

Motorcycle manufacturers are only "relatively recently" EFI. I think we'd see carb'd Harleys again.

You honestly think THE ONLY reason to use electronic fuel injection on gasoline engines is BECAUSE catalytic converters can't handle carburetors??? That right there should tell you just how bad (inefficient) carburetors are.

That would be untrue. Many 2-strokes with carbs these days have catalysis.
Carbs can be efficient.. Generally at one specific point on the load map! You can run rich on an EFI engine and it doesn't kill the catalyist.

I can think of a MANY reasons why fuel injection is far superior and none of them have to do with catalytic converters. Cats may have been the original reason for FI, but now that it's perfected, nobody is going back to carbs..... except maybe you. And that's okay, enjoy your carburetors. lol.

US regulators have created a market that challenges the technology of car makers, which has lead to massive leaps in performance and emissions. And likely costs to the consumer.
I'm an EFI fan-boy, but I've still got carb'd generators. And I hear nightmares from a KTM mechanic about getting their darn EFI problems sorted out when they happen. I'm not sure that I'm ready to pay more for "small motor" (generator) EFI.

 

[AA/FC]

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[75gmck25]

A properly tuned carburetor can get equivalent mileage and power to EFI, but all of the control mechanisms (choke, jets, rods, linkage, power valve, etc.) are usually physical/mechanical. That means there will be wear and tear, and need for periodic adjustment to keep it working correctly. To really get it tuned correctly you usually have to use external instrumentation (dyno, O2 and lambda sensors, etc.) while making adjustments. Adjusting with a vacuum gauge and tachometer only gets you so far.

EFI accomplishes the same task using sensors (O2 sensor, TPS, etc.) and a small dedicated computer to adjust the fuel and air flow based on feedback from the sensors. This means there are sensors to fail and a computer that can go haywire. Then you add in the fuel injectors, which must inject fuel at high pressure at exactly the right time and in exactly the right amount, and you now have a mechanical dependency. EFI has been around long enough that there are reliable systems on today's cars, and you can buy them aftermarket for older vehicles (or generators). It just depends on what you are comfortable with.

My daily driver has EFI and my old '75 truck has a Chevy 350 with a Quadrajet. I've considering switching to EFI on the truck, and there are many aftermarket solutions, but for my use its not worth the time and trouble. YMMV