This is my second generator, a Briggs and Stratton 5000watt with a 6250 surge that I bought about 4 years ago.
I thought I would run it since it hasn't run since last winter and hurricane season is here then it will be winter. It will run for 10-15 seconds and then die. I drained the fuel, cleaned the plug with no luck. I took it to a local repair shop. The owner said carb was clogged up from the gas even though I had used stabilizer for ethanol. I got it home, but wouldn't run any tools at normal speed. I brought it back, did some research and thought if they can't fix it, it appears the voltage regulator is the first place to start after making sure there are no gas issues.
The repair shop calls, replaced the voltage regulator $100, and it runs 3 tools and the outlet plug shows 109 volts coming out (4 plugs, 3 running tools).
My question is should the generator rev up noticeably with these 3 tools running? (small grinder, Sawzall, and a small band saw). I could barely detect an increase in the RPM of the generator. I'm used to a generator idling down when not under load but this seems to be running pretty strong all the time whether under load or not. Anyone have experience with this?

No. In order to keep the hertz correct on the 110 voltage, it has to keep the RPM's constant. It runs at a constant 3250 RPM to keep 60hz. And I hate E10! If you are storing the fuel for any period of time, even 30 days, it will ruin a carburetor. And stabilizer won't remove the crap either- it is still there and it is the devil.

I have/had the same engine. The engine was replaced under warranty 3 times, each with less than a hundred hours on them. I wasn't sure what I was doing wrong. After the last had symptoms like yours, called it quits. Even tore the engine apart myself (after the warranty expired), everything looks good, rings may be bad?!? Who knows?

To answer your question though, no, mine ran same rpm all the time. Bogged a little if a heavy load was on it, but should keep the same high rpm.

Ended up getting a different type generator. Good luck. I am curious to know if you find out what is causing these engines to die.

Get alcohol free gas.

If memory serves -

Alcohol, given the opportunity, absorbs water (ever used dry gas?). Water and aluminum react, causing the aluminum to corrode (aluminum oxide). This creates problems in tiny holes, jets, etc. Granted, there are probably hundreds, if not thousands of aluminum alloys, so some are likely to have problems, where others may not.

quote:

Originally posted by bigpond73:
I have/had the same engine. The engine was replaced under warranty 3 times, each with less than a hundred hours on them. I wasn't sure what I was doing wrong. After the last had symptoms like yours, called it quits. Even tore the engine apart myself (after the warranty expired), everything looks good, rings may be bad?!? Who knows?

To answer your question though, no, mine ran same rpm all the time. Bogged a little if a heavy load was on it, but should keep the same high rpm.

Ended up getting a different type generator. Good luck. I am curious to know if you find out what is causing these engines to die.

Thanks, at least I now know it running high is normal. I didn't run it hard since we had hurricane Sandy a few years back and at the time I only ran it 8 hours a day for 6 days. At night I shut it down and we didn't use the fridge or freezer during the night hours.

Chris42, I asked the repair shop where I could get ethanol free gas and the closest station according to him was 40 miles away.

Next generator will be a dual fuel, propane is never a problem to get. I have 3 20lb bottles and 2 30lb bottles on my RV.

Here is a link to a website that lists the gas stations 'near' you that provide 'real' ethanol-free gasoline: https://www.pure-gas.org. It is nice to be able to find it when you want to stock up on some before you need it.

Sometimes it is a bit of a trek to drive there but it beats the option of running ethanol or other additives.

Enjoy,

Kevin

On the other hand for generators, whole house propane-fired Cummins Onan 20KVA with 1,500 gallons is pretty nice for cutting down on trips to the gas station 60 miles away. ;-)

I've got an old Coleman, probably about 14-15 years old similar specs. My carburetor turned into a useless paperweight after sitting a few years. I thought I had drained all the fuel out but according to my S-I-L a ex-John Deere dealer tech any little bit combined with moisture is death to those castings.

He and I got the generator to start and run with several times taking the carb off and cleaning it, final solution for that emergency need was to run it on partial choke. Ordered an new carburetor the next day as we could not get it to run off choke. He said that SOP in the shop was to replace the carburetor as rebuilding them was a crapshoot as we found out. The crud and corroded metal gets deep in the passages, impossible to completely remove.

Mine will slightly slow then speed up when the load increases but as the load is reduced I have not noticed any change in engine speed.

Ran it straight almost 24 hours early this spring, ran flawlessly. Use a transfer panel, ran the furnace, lights (mostly LED and fluorescent) refrigerator,sump pump TV. Only hiccup was the microwave, because of the high current that required that was verboten and the small freezer I ignored. If it had been more than 24 hours I was going to rotate the freezer on and off the generator for a few hours.

The instructions on my DeWalt generator say to drain ALL fuel from the system if not running the engine >30 days because of the ethanol gumming up the works. I haven't had it longer than that period, so I can't say if that is sufficient to keep it running smoothly.

Propane is a great solution, it never goes bad. Highly recommend generators that run on propane.

Chris42 (and some others) are RIGHT ON TRACK. My experience is that there are alcohol-free gas stations almost everywhere. Do yourself a favor and use it! It is well worth the decreased aggravation. I am NOT suggesting that you use it in your car, as the costs ARE somewhat higher - but it IS well worth using it in your smaller tools.

You may want to check the gas line. Ethanol will clog up the lines and putting the choke on shows that it is not getting enough gas to run.

I would also drain all the gas out when storing and run the carb dry. Sea foam is also good to use to clean the carb by adding it in the gas.