Let them Drink Gas
My generator happens to be in the same bay as my propane tanks. I know that sounds a little scary, but it was necessary for various reasons, and thinking about it logically I don’t think it is a practical concern. There is a huge hole in the floor underneath the generator and propane is heavier than air. Also, I have to open the doors to start the generator so it should air out the space before any possible ignition source is present. When running, the generator exchanges the air in that bay at a rapid pace. Propane is only flammable over a relatively narrow range. less than 2.15% or more than 9.6% of the total air volume and it won’t burn.
I decided to upgrade my generator gas supply as well. I bought a replacement gas cap for my Honda Eu2000i generator here:
HONDA Eu2000i GENERATOR EXTENDED RUN FUEL GAS CAP - eBay (item 160541994369 end time Mar-07-11 06:55:45 PST)
I am not sure if I recommend it though. It is very nicely made, and rather pricey, but my main complaint is that it fits too tight. It takes all my strength to screw it down far enough to get the gasket in the top to seal properly.
I have read on line that you can just hook this gas cap to an auxiliary tank and the fuel pump in the Eu2000i will draw a partial vacuum in the generators tank and pull fuel over from the auxiliary tank. This assumes that the auxiliary tank feeds from the bottom of course. I can’t say for sure if it’s true because that isn’t what I did. I can say that for such a system to work there has to be absolutely no air leaks.
What I did is drill a 2nd hole in the gas cap that is a tight fit for a piece of 1/4” O.D. vinyl tubing. The tubing extends about 1” into the generator gas tank and acts as a vent. The other end of the tubing exits the bottom of the generator bay so that any gas overflow will go outside of the truck onto the pavement.
I have a 5 gallon gas tank between the frame rails that came with the truck. I installed a barb fitting and a ball valve in the back wall of the generator bay for the fuel line into the generator Fuel tubing then carries the gas through an in line fuel filter, through a rotary hand pump, and into the center threaded opening of the replacement gas cap. I used this hand pump:
Ace Hand Pump Kit (0396) - Speciality Pumps & Accessories - Ace Hardware
The pump has an internal loop of tubing and some rollers that squeeze the gas through the tubing. The rollers are designed to pull away from the tubing if you turn the handle backwards allowing a free flow through the pump. In my case this could allow the generator to draw from the auxiliary fuel tank in the truck if I block the vent line.
While this might work, I am not counting on it. The normal process is to pump the fuel from the tank in the truck into the generator tank. When the generator tank is full I can see bubbles coming out of the vent line and it is time to stop pumping. So far it seems to work well enough, but I haven’t used it very much yet. It remains to be seen how well the pump or the tubing will stand up to years of use. I will have to let you know as I find out myself.
As always, pictures can be found under keyword “Stealth”.