Generator LPG conversions

rvZA said:
Okay, done and dusted. Generator converted to gas. Will now wait for tonight to give it its first test run and see how it goes. Will let the first 19KG bottle run empty to see how many loadshedding sessions / hours I will get on a bottle.
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Is it duel fuel now?
 
So, tried starting up the generator and it would not start on first attempt. Tried a second and third time, but no luck. The whole room reaked of gas and with my mobile flash light you could see the gas next to the generator with the eye.

Will sit in the dark tonight and have the provider remove the gas and carburator tomorrow and revert me back to petrol.
 
rvZA said:
So, tried starting up the generator and it would not start on first attempt. Tried a second and third time, but no luck. The whole room reaked of gas and with my mobile flash light you could see the gas next to the generator with the eye.

Will sit in the dark tonight and have the provider remove the gas and carburator tomorrow and revert me back to petrol.
Click to expand...
The petrol is also not working?
 
TheChamp said:
The petrol is also not working?
Click to expand...

No way I am starting the generator while the gas is still connected. I do not trust the safety of the system. Just called the installer and they will come out in the morning. Will wait for them to come and inatruct them to remove the gas system and put back my old carburator.
 
rvZA said:
No way I am starting the generator while the gas is still connected. I do not trust the safety of the system. Just called the installer and they will come out in the morning. Will wait for them to come and inatruct them to remove the gas system and put back my old carburator.
Click to expand...
Oh okay, I just don't understand why the gas can't be disconnected, isn't that the whole point of it being dual fuel?

Anyway, hope you get it sorted.
 
rvZA said:
No way I am starting the generator while the gas is still connected. I do not trust the safety of the system. Just called the installer and they will come out in the morning. Will wait for them to come and inatruct them to remove the gas system and put back my old carburator.
Click to expand...
Our Dads would have gone back to the garage to start generator, with a lit cigarette and that generator would have seen the error of its ways.
 
Okay, went back, with a lit cigarette. Tried again. The generator started up twice, backfired and died. The third time started up and is running now. Perhaps some air in the pipes?
 
rvZA said:
So, tried starting up the generator and it would not start on first attempt. Tried a second and third time, but no luck. The whole room reaked of gas and with my mobile flash light you could see the gas next to the generator with the eye.

Will sit in the dark tonight and have the provider remove the gas and carburator tomorrow and revert me back to petrol.
Click to expand...
Did you not get a tutorial on how to start it. It is a lot different apparently.

Can you take a pic of your before and after?
 
rvZA said:
No way I am starting the generator while the gas is still connected. I do not trust the safety of the system. Just called the installer and they will come out in the morning. Will wait for them to come and inatruct them to remove the gas system and put back my old carburator.
Click to expand...
I thought you said it was duel fuel.

Didn't you get any training.

Take a breath and give it another chance.
 
rvZA said:
Okay, went back, with a lit cigarette. Tried again. The generator started up twice, backfired and died. The third time started up and is running now. Perhaps some air in the pipes?
Click to expand...
Its all about the air fuel ratio. Watch a few YT vids to get an idea.

Can you show us the changes they made?
 
wingnut771 said:
Did you not get a tutorial on how to start it. It is a lot different apparently.

Can you take a pic of your before and after?
Click to expand...

Okay here goes...

I had a normal 7.5KvA Ryobi generator. Standard. No modifications.

The guy removed my old carburetor and added a new one. A new pipe is now connected to a 19KG gas bottle. (I will take picture tomorrow morning as it is dark and I do not have any lights in the small backyard room where the generator is located.)

Yes, I was told what to do and how to start it up. I should leave the choke on full running speed all the time. Opening the gas first, pressing a button on the carberator for 3 seconds to get the gas into the pipes and then starting up the generator. (For stopping the generator I need to close the gas first and then push the start button on the generator to off) I did all this, but on my first 6 attempts nothing happened. The generator just did not start up.

After leaving it a while, I went back. On the first two attempts, again it would not start up, but on the 3rd and 4th attempt, both times it started running, backfired and then died. On the 5th attempt the generator started up and then ran for the remaining 1hr and 25 minutes without issues.

I suspect it might have been air in the pipes or the carburetor somehow sucking air. I did check all the screws to ensure they were tightened properly on the carburetor and they seemed to be tight.

Oh, and by the way, since there were so much gas I was too scared to close the gas and start the generator with the petrol. So, I have not even tried starting it up with petrol the first time around. The guy told me I could just close the gas on the gas bottle and start the generator as normal and it will then run on petrol.
 
Last edited:
Was it running on petrol before u started to use gas ?
Dont know if this apples to ur situation.
But I have seen something similar in india where a petrol tuk-tuk was converted to lpg, the driver used to turn off everything petrol and gas and attempt to start ot 3-4 times then turn on the gas and it used to start without any issues.
Their explanation was that there is petrol in the carburetor and that's why it won't start wil gas, they have to burn off the petrol first by attempting to start it with everything off and then let the gas in and it used to work fine.
 
rvZA said:
Okay here goes...

I had a normal 7.5KvA Ryobi generator. Standard. No modifications.

The guy removed my old carburetor and added a new one. A new pipe is now connected to a 19KG gas bottle. (I will take picture tomorrow morning as it is dark and I do not have any lights in the small backyard room where the generator is located.)

Yes, I was told what to do and how to start it up. I should leave the choke on full running speed all the time. Opening the gas first, pressing a button on the carberator for 3 seconds to get the gas into the pipes and then starting up the generator. (For stopping the generator I need to close the gas first and then push the start button on the generator to off) I did all this, but on my first 6 attempts nothing happened. The generator just did not start up.

After leaving it a while, I went back. On the first two attempts, again it would not start up, but on the 3rd and 4th attempt, both times it started running, backfired and then died. On the 5th attempt the generator started up and then ran for the remaining 1hr and 25 minutes without issues.

I suspect it might have been air in the pipes or the carburetor somehow sucking air. I did check all the screws to ensure they were tightened properly on the carburetor and they seemed to be tight.

Oh, and by the way, since there were so much gas I was too scared to close the gas and start the generator with the petrol. So, I have not even tried starting it up with petrol the first time around. The guy told me I could just close the gas on the gas bottle and start the generator as normal and it will then run on petrol.
Click to expand...
I look forward to the visuals.
 
joker08 said:
Was it running on petrol before u started to use gas ?
Dont know if this apples to ur situation.
But I have seen something similar in india where a petrol tuk-tuk was converted to lpg, the driver used to turn off everything petrol and gas and attempt to start ot 3-4 times then turn on the gas and it used to start without any issues.
Their explanation was that there is petrol in the carburetor and that's why it won't start wil gas, they have to burn off the petrol first by attempting to start it with everything off and then let the gas in and it used to work fine.
Click to expand...

The installer added a brand new carburetor to the generator. He did not even test the petrol function. So, there definitely were no petrol in the carburetor.
 
wingnut771 said:
I look forward to the visuals.
Click to expand...

I will take some images in the morning and post them here.

After watching two or three Youtube videos as you recommended, I wonder if the choke isn't part of the problem. The guy told me the choke should always be on full running speed. I have seen one video where the guy starts the generator and then turning up the choke. On another video, the guy had 3 choke settings. His started up with the choke in the middle position. Mine does not have 3 settings though.

Maybe I should try playing with the choke tomorrow and first see if that could be an issue.
 
rvZA said:
The installer added a brand new carburetor to the generator. He did not even test the petrol function. So, there definitely were no petrol in the carburetor.
Click to expand...
Maybe try it anyway, maybe it will solve ur issue while u wait for the installer.
 
rvZA said:
I will take some images in the morning and post them here.

After watching two or three Youtube videos as you recommended, I wonder if the choke isn't part of the problem. The guy told me the choke should always be on full running speed. I have seen one video where the guy starts the generator and then turning up the choke. On another video, the guy had 3 choke settings. His started up with the choke in the middle position. Mine does not have 3 settings though.

Maybe I should try playing with the choke tomorrow and first see if that could be an issue.
Click to expand...
Lovely doverly, pics are awesome.

Yeah, there's not much to it it seems except for the air/fuel ratio which is on a hair trigger from educating myself with YT school.

I would have assumed that a proper kit would take the guess work out of it.
 
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