Gunner Asch wrote:
On Mon, 04 Feb 2008 02:20:38 -0800, Ron wrote:

Gunner Asch wrote:

Id actually LOVE to convert it to propane. How?

Gunner

Check out this link:

http://www.propane-generators.com/onan.htm

The only thing is that you will find that it will cost more
than you paid for the generator.

Even so, these generators are really rugged and run things
like air conditioners or pumps very nicely. They are not
like all those ultra cheap things with wishful thinking type
specs being sold in all the stores these days. You are lucky
to get through your first power outage with some of those
things that seem to have the same specs as yours.
Unfortunately, I think a lot of these manufacturers learned
about specs from Sears by looking at air compressor ads.

First, I would talk to the folks at Cummins. Onan made
factory conversions for some of their motors.

By the way, I use the portable plastic five gallon boat gas
tanks with integral fuel gauge and quick connect fuel line
to run my Onan. With two of these tanks, you can run pretty
much non stop in an emergency. No waiting for a generator to
cool down for refueling.

Ron


Thanks Ron. Are these really that thirsty? A gallon an hour? Or is
that at full load?

Gunner
That is at full load. And now that I think about it, it was
my 6.5 KW Honda generator that was a gallon per hour.

The Onan is probably closer to six tenths of a gallon per
hour. But keep in mind that the Onan was made by an American
company when specifications meant something. Unlike the
foreign garbage generators this one will run all day at full
rated output and probably more.

When I was living in the motor home and using it constantly,
it was drawing fuel from a forty gallon tank so I never had
a way to actually measure how much it was using. Since then,
I have not run it enough to measure its usage. I just use
the gallon an hour figure as a worst case guesstimate for
budgeting purposes. Remember that in normal usage, a
generator speeds up and slows down with changes in load. The
published fuel usage is for a constant load which most small
generators never see. I really don't know if they use less
fuel when the average load is less than full load but
changing wildly or when operating at rated capacity with a
constant load. I prefer not to get caught short so I
estimate based on worst case of an engine out of tune etc.

A good comparison would be to look at the increased economy
of hybrid cars vs. a normal gas powered car. Hybrids operate
the engines to charge batteries etc thus maintaining a
fairly constant load on their engines.

Only experience in a given environment will tell you what
reality is in that regard.

Ron