GENERAC EMAIL - THOUGH IT WAS A SCAM BUT TURNS OUT TO BE GENUINE - I WILL PLAY

[ggibson511960]

I mentioned in my post that mine runs off natural gas. I also mentioned the friend of mine that runs an identical unit, he runs his off the same huge propane tank that runs his house. Both of us have had no problems. Mine went off today on its bi monthly test, right on time. I checked into the valve adjustment and being a natural mechanic felt that it would be something I could easily take care of, I ordered the gasket set along with a couple of extra oil filters. I have not had a power failure long enough to run up the hours necessary for valve adjustment. I did have a tech come by last Spring for a check up and asked him. He told me I was well below the hours necessary and the worst part is accessing from the front end to be able to turn the engine over manually for proper adjustment. I've adjusted valves on everything from early V.W.s, hot little SBC V8s, flathead V8s, BMW motorcycles, and a boat or two.

Removing enough shroud sheet metal is pretty easy, enough to get a socket on the fan hub. I’ve checked and adjusted clearance on several friend’s machines. Hardest part is leaning over to access the far side head. I’ve yet to check one that didn’t need adjustment, but ours get run hard in Houston. I haven’t needed cover gaskets yet. A tech passed on to me that he’s seen some machines wreck from excessive valve lash. Seems the tappet follower guide and retainer is such that tappets can come adrift if too far out of clearance spec. I’m more worried about valves peening into seats, getting too tight, not seating and fail from no cooling, a common failure on hot air cooled engines.

 

[prairieviper]

anyone try to run these generac units off of a PROPANE TANK...

Yes. Our house is all electric so we had to have a propane tank brought in. The propane tank's only job is running the generator. We haven't had any problems. The longest power outage we have had lasted 73 hours. Normally, outages are infrequent and last only a couple of hours. We did not even experience a power outage in 2024.