A Little Snow.

[Chris Olson]

Ugg... you should look into switching the genny to run off of propane.
Even after two years of sitting around the propane would still be propane....

looking at all the pictures of snow... I kind of would like to see a little bit of Winter around here after 27 consecutive days of rain...

[MoparNorm]

Out here...

We put our utility lines underground, so it looks "pretty". I'm surprised that the utilitys are not underground in areas that have ice damage like that. It would be way cheaper for the utilities and customers in the long run.
MN

[Ugg013]

Chris:

Yeah, but if ya got snow instead of rain, you'd lose the webs between your toes. HA! I've been following the weather your having up there as I used to live in Washington State for 1.5 years and have been trying to get back ever since I left in 1980. I guess it all depends on what ya do there. I worked construction, but the weather never stopped us.

Norm:

You would think, but that makes sense. I once asked one of the Com Ed guys that question. His answer was that if they did that, any breaks in power would then be on the homeowner as it would usually be caused by animals chewing the lines underground. With them aboveground, it's on Com Ed up to the house.

I've got some BIG trees here in Uggville. Some in front are growing thru the high power lines. Com Ed is supposed to keep them trimmed away from the lines, but if and when they come out, they hack the heck out of the trees with no rhyme or reason.

Later
Ugg

[MoparNorm]

He's full of ...well let's just say he's reaching..

ALL power on the Utility side of the meter is their's whether it's underground, overhead or in his mind. I have NEVER seen any animal chew through UL underground conduit in my 40 years of construction experience. For starters it is at least 40" deep and deeper depending upon your climate. We have it all over Colorado and in our SoCal Mts., no damage, no animals, bury and forget.
Don't you just love informed public employees....ha!ha!
MN

[Ugg013]

Norm:

I felt the very same thing, so I made a few calls. Dealing with Com Ed is like dealing with the SS, unless you have money in hand. Bottom line, if I wanted underground, I'd have to pay to have it done to their approval. Most of the new construction in the area (and there's tons of it going on, over 7500 single family dwellings within a 2 miles radius of me in the last 2 years, another place about 5 miles away put in 2100 units, average price, $750K) has it underground.

Later
Ugg

[bosco]

Aboveground Utility Lines

All of our utility lines are aboveground in my neck of the woods too (what used to be woods), and I hate it. But, I guess I will have to live with it ... been doing so for many years now. About 10 years back some rancher (the ranchers KIDS, I mean) sold off 14000 acres to a developer and my land is just across the blacktop. This area used to be such a peacefull place, until all of the suburbanites moved in. Kinda similar to what you're going through Ugg.

Anyway, all those new homes (or estates) have their utilities underground ... heck they even got the fiber optic cable installations. State of the art stuff just down the road. Now me and what neighbors I have are just stuck in a time warp, never to see the future. But, that's ok with me. It's just that with all their suburbanite lights ... I can' see the stars at night like I use to (but I can still chase the wife around the yard). The traffic, well I aint gonna go there ... #$(##&$@*!#@! ... where did they learn to drive.

OK thats enough crying in my beer.

About those generators. You should have seen the folks around here during hurricane Rita ... they ran like fireants when you step on their mound. The wife and I stayed put, stocked up early and was prepared for the worst. Now, since I have a gas generator I had already gotten 20 gal just incase ... 5 gal will run about 12 hours. Ok, that will last 60 hrs. Then I start syphoning the gas from the wife's car and the M (the Ford is diesel). Forunately for us, Rita just knocked out our power for a few hours.

Ok, ok, the point I am trying to make is that a backup generator is great as long as you have the fuel to run it. In a disaster the fuel supplies are limited if not there at all (as in the case we had here). Before the next hurricane season I intend to install a generator that is propane fueled. It burns more effeciently and is easy to store. Plus I can do some great BBQing too.

[MoparNorm]

Last add, to clarify....

Ugg, while the conversation turned slightly to power lines on your own property, my original point was ALL of the utility grid lines are underground in most places here, Only the older, high voltage transmission lines are still above ground. Just about all new construction is underground, most older lines are being retro-installed below ground and that includes just about everything 14,500 volts and smaller. Transformers, etc are in vaults or on grade, it makes it very easy to add, upgrade and prevent damage from wind, trees, frost etc.
Bottom line, the utilities have a responsibility to their rate payers to provide the most cost effective power to their customers, not pad their bottom line or put line repairs on the backs of tax payers.
Truck On!
MN

[Longhunter7]

Propane Conversion

Bosco,

It is usually possible to convert a gas generator to gas/propane quite easily!

If you need a source, I might be able to dig up the information! It has been a few years since I converted my generator.

[JimmieD]

Hey Ugg, on that genset:

there's a fuel bowl on the carb that's held on with a brass bolt sort of thing. Use your fuel shut-off in the fuel line [if you don't have one now's the time to install one] and cut fuel supply then remove that 'bolt'. It is made of brass and is hollow, called an emulsifier tube. It helps atomize the fuel farther up the line.

Look closely, maybe even with a magnifying glass, at the threads on this tube. Right near the top of threads you'll see a tiny little hole, and maybe one or two larger ones, going crosswise into the tube. Clip one wire off your wire brush and use it as a probe to clean out those holes in emulsion tube. A combination of that wire cleaning and some carb cleaner will have it good as new in no time.

Take a look in carb throat right near the air filter area, in front of choke butterfly and also farther into throat. You'll see some tiny holes that are air bleeds in the sides of venturi. Clean these with that small wire also. Note: the carb body is aluminum so don't go crazy and ream stuff out as it must be correct dimension to work properly.

Those few little details should have you up and running in no time.

JimmieD

[Ugg013]

Jimmie:

Had the carb off and did a royal clean-up. I'm thinking I put to much Heet if the tank so when the snow melts I'll drain the tank and re-fuel. Hopefully that'll do the trick. Thanks.

Norm:

Back in the old days, while I was living up in Washington, I worked putting communication and power lines underground thru the Cascades. They said it was cheaper to do that because the past time up there was getting drunk and crashing into telephone poles, knocking out 3 or so counties. HA! Back to reality, Com Ed over has been nailed so many times for padding their pockets that I lost count. With that said, since we've lived here, the longest we've been without power was less than 12 hours. Just as the sump pit was about to crest, it kicked in. WHEW!

Guys:

There's a way to run off natural gas/propane. Before W2K, you were able to get the whole set-up (with 15K gen) installed for under $2K. Because of the Yuppies panic, your now looking at $10+K. I've been toying with the idea of picking up a big ole diesel gen from Uncle Sugar and just tellin Com Ed to kiss off, and maybe sell em back power.

Later
Ugg

[JimmieD]

All due respect, and understanding you cleaned the carb, if it was as gunked up as you say and you did not take those specific steps to clean the orifices in the emulsion tube and the air bleeds in the carb throat it ain't likely gonna run: maybe, but not likely. That's of course if it is a model that has an emulsion tube carb.

I've been building and repairing small engines since 1962 so it isn't just a wild idea I came up with... :~ )

[Longhunter7]

Gas Trouble

JimmieD,

Does the Honda GX 270, 9.0 hp, have that pesky tube? It would be good to know what to look for, thanks!

[Ugg013]

Jimmie:

Again Thanks. I should have been more specific about the cleaning. The carb was COMPLETELY torn apart on a bench and all parts were throughly cleaned and inspected before being put back together. I still think it's bad fuel, and will deal with that tomorrow as the temps are melting all the snow. If, after replacing the fuel and it still doesn't work, I'll take the carb off again (which is a bear) and reclean, looking to see if we missed any orrafices before. We had the bowl and contents apart and including the circular float (?) and what was attached.

Later
Ugg

[JimmieD]

Longhunter and Ugg:

Most of these small engine carbs have an emulsion tube of some sort, somewhere. It's the most common way of drawing fuel with a carb that has a bottom float bowl to use the same basic design as Briggs and Tecumseh, like the one I described.

I haven't worked on the Honda GX270 recently but if it has a float bowl under the carb it probably uses a similar design. The tube also acts as the fastener to attach float bowl to base of carb, so if there's a big brass nut on the bottom of bowl just turn it out and take a peek. The emulsion tube has some fairly large holes, like maybe 1/8 inch, plus the one or two very small ones. Not sure that Honda, if it uses emulsion tube, also has that very small hole in between threads.

It must have the air bleed in carburetor bore so these may certainly be cleaned. I cut off the end of the carb cleaner spray tube at about a 45 degree angle, so it's easy to fit it down and get a full shot of cleaner with the 45 end in side of carb throat at air bleeds. Then hit it with the brush wire, shoot it again, and you're good to go.

It's easy to overlook this tiny hole near the top of the emulsion tube because of its size, and with Briggs or Tecumseh, it's usually in between the threads on the tube! I never would have seen it, and hadn't for many years, until I saw it in a Tecumseh manual! I now have a dealer that brings stuff to me to fix for him just because of a couple of units I repaired after he had done his best and couldn't quite get them right. The factory school never told him about those little air bleeds and orifices, so with certain problems "Just replace the carb..."!$$$!!

[MoparNorm]

All this talk about gunk and goo made me hungry...

...ha!ha! It also made me think about that active gunk and goo eater, Marvel Mystery Oil. A quart of it in the fuel tank may help out.
Ask me how good it works,..... it's a Marvel! BUT don't ask me HOW it works, it's a Mystery! ha!ha!
MN