How to convert a small gasoline engine to Natural Gas or Propane. 

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Public Law 110-140, which required the addition of ethanol to gas, was signed by President in Bush in 2007. Just saying.

I've read a lot of the comments and one got my attention....when demand is added to "governed" engines the governor adds fuel to compensate....otherwise it will run lean and that can cause overheating. It's best to run engines on the rich side of the scale...it may waste fuel but the cost of rebuilding and engine buys a LOT of NG. Oh and... NG is a pretty safe fuel because it's lighter than air and won't accumulate if outside and the generator stalls. Propane, as you already know, is heavier and will accumulate....may want to mention that. Your thoughts.

Excellent work. During hurricane Sandy, we couldn't get gasoline but propane was plentiful.

Dang .. classic youtube videos, the nostalgia, very nice .. description alone has solid morals than most content on RU-vid these days.

Well done. Well said. Wow. The only thing I would do: is to put a "Y" item; in connectors of brass at hardwood stores. And have the Propane AND Natural Gas if one's have it. And be on hand with "On and Off's brass; in each branch of the "Y". Thanks for sharing your knowledge with us kind Sir.

Thanks and it is quite helpful to see how to make something out of nothing. I love propane and recall how my farming relatives used propane for cost savings back in the day. we have an immense supply of propane and it should be used and supported more in our society.

That was a real good vid. You keep posting and thanks.

Nice informative video. This explains the basics very well and demonstrates how an engine can be run on NG or propane. When you decide to permanently set up an engine for this, you would want the gas to be supplied via a regulator that is made for that purpose since it will change the feed amount based on demand. It responds to venturi vacuum to tailor the flow amount. Otherwise you risk running the engine lean and doing major damage. It doesn't cost a great deal to set this up and anybody living where power outages are too common should consider it. Conversion kits are available for less than $40.

thank you for the video it's just what I was looking for!!!

It Works thanks! now I've got to mess with it a bit to get it up to voltage, it just wants to idle but I'm closer to having a working gen set than before I watched your video

Excellent presentation and explanations. Thank you very much.

That is a great question. In this simple modification form, there is nothing to automatically turn the gas flow off. So, if the engine should quite for some reason, the gas would continue to flow. The purpose of this video was to show how easy it is to convert a small engine to nature gas or propane. There are much more complicated and expensive ways to do it of course, and those ways would include a mechanism to automatically shut the flow of gas off in the event of a engine stoppage.

Sorry, Ted, but you are wrong. I ran a 12,000 BTU A/C unit off this system all day with no problem. Are there more complicated ways to convert a gasoline engine to NG that might be better? Yes! This video was made to show a "Simple" way to do it. The video itself is irrefutable proof that this method works. One ounce of evidence is better then a thousand pounds of theory any day of the week. My question is why you feel the need to try to attack something that has nothing to do with you? What could be your motive for looking up random videos for you to attack?

I have a generator exactly like this one except it has a 240 volt twist lock plug and 2) 20 amp 120 VAC outlets instead of 4 of your 120 VAC outlets. It's a little older than yours and still runs fine. I was thinking of converting it to propane years ago when I used to have a 325 gallon propane tank in my yard. I went to a shop that I trusted and asked about it. The owner asked me if it was big enough to serve for what I asked it to do. I said just barely and he advised against converting it because gasoline back then had 115,000 BTU's of energy where propane has 91,600. For general information, gasoline today with ethanol has 120,000 BTU's. He told me that it would devalue the engine horsepower by 20% thereby essentially converting my 5,000 watt generator into a 4,000 watt generator and this was with a proper conversion using a control valve that is analogous to a throttle pump in a car engine. You do need the carburetor in your case for the throttle plate to control air intake. Without the carburetor, your engine would run wild and so would your voltage and frequency until it threw the piston and / or connecting rod out through the oil sump. Also the engine speed / voltage / frequency control governor is also connected to the throttle plate. Another problem with yours and so many other setups here on RU-vid is if the engine stalls, the gas will still flow causing a potential explosive situation. Another consideration to think about is if you develop an undetected gas leak, there are 2 carbon brushes and commutator rings, similar to the ones in a car alternator, behind a 1 X 3 inch plastic strip in the middle of the the red back cover of that alternator which energizes the field coil on the rotating shaft of that unit. For as old as you say it is, If the commutator rings have become corroded or if the brushes are well worn, they WILL develop electrical sparks during normal operation that can ignite a gas cloud very easily. In a proper conversion, there is a reverse action regulator that stops gas flow if the engine quits. Most other people don't do these cheap home made conversions because they know it's dangerous. When you load that generator, the governor will open the throttle plate more. In a gasoline fueled situation, it will be demanding / drawing more gas from the carburetor to maintain engine speed keeping the voltage, frequency and amperage of the power level that you demand from it at acceptable levels. With your natural gas conversion, when your wife turns on her blow drier, she will load the generator, the throttle plate will open but there will be NO provision to automatically supply more natural gas to increase engine speed or power like a throttle pump would nor supply enough propane to sustain the demand on the engine thereby causing a lean fuel to air ratio and lugging the fuel starved engine down to a slower speed which will cause the voltage, amperage and AC frequency to drop. This can damage things like refrigeration compressors in fridges, freezers, water coolers and window A/C units and sensitive electronics like flat screen TV's and computers. It can also cause engine knock that you won't hear due to the higher ambient noise from the smaller engine and also cause expensive problems in the engine like potential holes burned in the piston or valve edges to be burned. You can run out and increase gas flow to compensate for the extra load but when she shuts off the blow drier, the engine will flip in the other direction to a rich fuel air mixture simulating a stuck float condition in the liquid gas carburetor, flooding and possibly stalling the engine and there's where the explosive situation that I mentioned comes in with your conversion. The engine stops and the gas flow doesn't. If you are in the shower at this time and don't get out there right away to shut the gas off or restart the engine, the potential problems multiply with every cubic foot of gas released. Also propane is NOT like natural gas. Natural gas is methane which is lighter than air and can float away in an open area. This is why coal miners used to keep canaries in cages and carry them toward the ceiling of the coal mines when they entered. If the bird died, there was what they used to call coal gas, which is also methane, present. Where propane is liquefied petroleum gas, it is heavier than air and will collect close to the floor inside buildings like yours if it happens to flow under the wall next to it seeking lower ground or depressions or low points in the ground outside like flowing water and if the air is still and it should it leak. If someone is walking by such a low point and strikes a match or lighter to light a cigarette, they could potentially ignite a pocket of the gas not even knowing that it's there, if the top of the cloud is below nose level and, again, the air is still. They get killed before they knew it even happened. In 1976, I was in a propane explosion when a machine operator on a road paving crew that I worked on had turned on the wrong valve on a machine and feeding unregulated pressure to the burners that was my job to ignite. There was supposed to be less than 4 pounds of pressure so as to act like a pilot light when lit, but instead, this idiot hit the main feed valve for full pressure operation at 150 pounds. I went to get the igniter and he had invisible gas spewing everywhere. I was a dumb kid back then and didn't know the danger until I found myself standing on a burning candle wick that I had to run across 5 lanes of traffic and a grass center median to escape from. My clothes has absorbed enough propane that most of my body hair had been burned off without even singeing my clothes. The hair on my head got a lot shorter and I couldn't run a comb through it for a month. My left hand and arm suffered 2nd degree burns under a denim jacket sleeve. All in the time that it took me to run across 5 lanes of traffic, about 10 seconds. So, yeah, when it comes to propane or natural gas, I'm a little sensitive about going by the book while handling it. If they didn't have to rush me to the hospital that day, I probably would have pounded the piss out of that machine operator. Good luck with your conversion.

Work great. Manually adjust as loaded or needed. Yes, keep an eye on it at all times. Good job.

I've got that exact model genny. Thanks, saved me some time/energy.

Very informative and I appreciate the simplicity

Love it. Going to do this to my generator of similar vintage. Ethanol may be corrosion to some metals but it originates as plants that absorb CO2. Ethanol is the byproduct of creating animal feed. It also uncouples us from the big oil. Case in point, Brazil has two options, ethanol at a much lower price or petroleum.

I apriciate this video and will be doing a conversion soon thanks

I just bought a brand new little 2000w 4cycle generator tonight for $150 ,, I was thinking about buying a Tri Fuel conversion kit but they can cost over $300 bucks ,, Two times the price I payed for my little generator,, this is a great way to save money :) I can easily add a , auto shut off valve to the gas line that would turn the gas off if the generator stopped running, for a little added safety to your awesome setup :)

This is useful in a pinch. The bad thing though is that your mixture will probably be off if you're powering varying loads on the generator. The governor will be adjusting airflow with the butterfly valve but the gas flow won't change accordingly. Plus if the engine dies for some reason, the gas flow won't stop, which could be bad, depending on if there are any ignition sources nearby. But this is a good cheap way to get something running in an emergency. I wouldn't leave it completely unattended though. For viewers: the proper way to do it would be to get a gas regulator and adapt the carb properly so the gas can be fed through the main jet. But then again that costs money.

Interesting video. I'm amazed at how easy that was. However, as a plumber I have to say that everything about the gas setup is really dangerous. You cannot operate a gas appliance without all the safety measures in place. The gas line must be piped to the appliance. The shutoff must be at a safe distance. And a gas regulator and flashback arrester must be in place before the appliance is safe to operate.

This was such an eye opener! I've always wondered how to convert a small engine to propane or natural gas! Thank you for your time! Really appreciate this!

Great video. Loved the disclaimer too.

15% of ethanol! In Argentina we use 7% and the quality of the fuel is terrible. Here the 40% of the cars runs on compressed natural gas. Great video and very useful.

This video is going to help me at a crucial time. Let me thank you, and call you a good guy for sharing. I appreciate the politics, but that is tricky business. For example, how many Americans have died over oil? And you say business methods have lost ethics? You got that right. :)

Thanks for the video. No need to worry about keeping fresh gas in my gen.

Thanks very much Sir, I will be converting my outdoor equipment soon, thanks again.

You need a valve to shut down fuel flow if the engine should quit running. Gas will still flow making a dangerous situation

I like this video that you for sharing. Keep up the good job.

The tank on my generator rusted out so I changed to propane.All I did was drill a hole in the breather and inserted a hose that fit tight.Then used the regulator on the bottle for the propane adjustment.Simple just like your conversion.So simple that I started converting everything over to propane!!!

Thank You!

This is GOLDEN!

Ur like a genius man.👍🏻cool!

Appreasheate the tips.just what I was tring to do.

really liked this video I may try this out I don't like the gas i have to put in which is hard on rubber hoses as well.

Be glad you live where you do. Housing inspector would have a case of Apoplexy seeing your set up. I love it however.

Some one in my family bought a push lawn mower that was on sale for $100. As it turns out, the reason it was on sale, was because it was not made to run on ethanol fuel, and as such it has never run correctly out of the box. It starts fine, but you can tell it bounces between running at really high rpms, and really low rpms. I have tried everything known to man, and then some to fix it, even though like I said it ran like that since brand new out of the box. When nothing fixed it, I took to the internet, and found pretty much every single buyer of this lawn mower, had the same exact problem. The solution was to buy ethanol free gas. Although that is easier to find in some states, than in other, in pa and nj there is only one gas station I can find that sells it. It is in nj like 100 miles from my house. Seeing as I'm not driving 100miles one way to get gas for my lawn mower, we figured we will just run till it runs no more, then find something else. However now that I have seen this, I might convert to run on propane and see if that fixs it.

Totally Awesome Information

Bought me a DuroMax XP4850EH Hybrid that runs on gasoline/propane, will NEVER let gasoline touch this baby only propane! Very informative about what causes the gas to ruin your carb, thanks!

Great video thanks for showing us we don't need to spend a few hundred dollars on a conversion kit

They make a kit to put on there to make it work on natural gas! Unless you are going to stand out there and adjust it as the load changes

I converted a B&D from Home Depot and it started and ran better than it did on the E10 blend we have here in Fhonyfornia.

Thank you sir! :-)

I agree it is a very loud motor. I own one myself.

if your motor stops, and if your are not aware of it, gas continues to flow , and imagine the gas flows for lets say, 20mn... pretty bad. But your are right, it works. Not safely at all, but it works.

i am a nat gas and propane tech and other than that hose which you state is a proof of concept good job i would say if you want to do this either use black pipe or copper (check local codes) and please look up a spot test for gas and run one then you know your system has integrity and is gas tight

Thanks for sharing!

I have this same model generator!!

This is a great video! It answered all my questions, Unlike some other videos, you explained everything. Forget the naysayers who can't produce anything but misery. Thanks for this video and keep up the good work.

Interesting conversion. Two questions: so you removed the crank case exhaust line from where you NG now enters (the red line) and attached it instead to the place where the gasoline line used to attach? And what size is the NG hose you used? Thanks!

Great teaching, thanks!!!

This is the best video I’ve seen in years when it comes to this subject

They used to run cars and trucks on coal gas in times when gasoline was in short supply. Since I want to try to make my own gas (methane) from decomposing plant matter I came here (and to similar places) to investigate the possibility of running a small generator on it if I'm successful. It looks simpler than I thought. I had the notion, quite possibly totally erroneous, that gasoline provided some lubrication to the top end and that its absence might be a problem. But it seems that engine life (not just carb, but the whole thing) can actually be extended if various gasses are used as fuels. Good video - thanks for posting.

Excellent video thanks. any ideas what would be the challenges on an outboard gasoline motor?

Jungle... thank you for your time creating this video as it offered me many ideas I never knew I could do with my genny. What size hose did you use for the natural gas line?

Very clever, I don't get all the haters though, what I took away from this video is it could be done proof positive, in a real emergency situation your generator is tri fuel capable. When SHTF I want this guy in my neighborhood, not afraid to think outside the box !

I wouldn't wholly blame ethanol gas for carb problems. Those Tecumseh engines have notoriously horrible carbs. You HAVE to have a quality inline filter in the fuel line and even then, they just clog up. You can clean them as much as you want but you're better off buying a new $30 chinese carb on eBay or doing this conversion. That's the whole reason I'm here, cleaned mine twice and it's still garbage. For a generator that sits, a propane conversion is ideal.

Very true, new cars use stainless steel, brass (high quality material by the way) , and polyethylene parts in modern fuel injection systems, therefore are not affected by ethanol. Small engines use plated steel parts and aluminium parts that oxidize and corrode with ethanol therefore u need to buy a new carburator every two years.

Reaatestvideo greatest video out..... Thank you.

Good Video! How Long would your Generator run on a 20lb LP Tank?

No fancy stuff here.

I have what may be an even older, but great condition (I bought it new), Powermate 5000 / Techumseh MH100 10HP combo like yours. Mine has the crankcase breather just hanging down and the carb only has one port for the gasoline. I was considering buying a newer two port carb for it as they cost less than $ 10. I want to have the confidence that if the engine stops the LPG / NG will stop flowing. If I buy one of the vacuum demand KN type regulators (Century, Impco, etc.) do you know if their will be enough venturi effect to operate and shut off the regulator if the engine stops?

Nice Video. The engine in the video is an HM100 Tecumseh 10hp Flathead Engine. With my similar HM80 8Hp Tecumesh on a 4 kW Generac generator the fuel flow (gasoline, propane or Natural gas) at NO load 3600 rpm is about one half the full load requirement at 4kW. Thus flow rate of Natural gas has to be about doubled when the max 5Kw is added to this video's generator. In my own experiments this is doable with a dumb valve. it is sort of a pain but can be done. It is not a permanent set up or safe one for most all who assume or are careless. Refinement is by adding a "demand regulator" like the Garretson KN, this adds about 80 to 100 bucks but makes the project vary the flow as the engine needs it. That is why a typical conversion Kit for Propane/NG costs about 160 to 300 bucks. One has the added 80 buck demand regulator and custom metering venturi donut or snorkel, plus the adjusting load block valve to set the fuel to air ratio. In testing my 18Hp Powermate 8kW junker recently I ran it for about 1 hour and just adjusted the flow by the LP bottles valve. I do not want to buy a wazzo settup if the Katrina soaked unit is total junk, thus I ran it with just a tube down the carb. When one adds a load I just opened the valve more to allow more propane I ran my 4 kW Generac for awhile after Katrina with a tube down its throat and used Natural gas, when I ran low on gasoline. I taped off the gas meters tiny test port that is used to measure gas pressure and used a mix of clear hoses, none was really proper, but it worked. The bulk of folks should just have a pro install a turnkey system and spend the 4 to 20k to have a house generator and be all proper. Gas and electric stuff can be dangerous, so be carefull.

Some people may not know but you can extend your oil changes Much Longer if you are Running on Propane or Natural Gas...

Very nice concept to get you out of a emergency situation!!!!

I have been trying to get my powermate generator that I bought back in 2013 to run on natural gas this year. I have gotten it to start and run some what, I use a garretson valve so the gas doesn't keep going, but I have to hold the primer in to keep it running. It also pops and back fires ( and blows the air filter out if I have the housing cover off ) depending on how far I put the tubing in to the carburetor. I will have a look to see if mine has any where else to connect the hose.

Got Gennys out here a dime a dozen. Bout all I have to do, is get a regulator. Then get a .64 drill bit and press. A pipe down till I get decent size then add a manual valve to run up to frequency by my meter that I use to check my working Gennys. Tks om .

Comment made about an automatic cutoff valve incorporated in this is critical. Use only metal gas pipe and test for leaks. Vibration of engine will eventually cause leaks...........test of leaks in the pipe/flex tube (POW!) Lots of things to consider when setting up one of these conversions. The engine needs to be further from the house and protected from weather. Ventilation for engine is critical and grounding the engine properly is critical. Now, a final note, SEA FOAM fuel additive has solved all of my 2 and 4 stroke engine problems with respect to ethanol-gum up jet/hose damage. Label will tell you the volume to add per gallon of gas based on whether you are treating gas in 2 stroke or 4 stroke engine.

thanks-!!

Wow,,, really enjoyed your video and it's helped me alot

Here is a link to some photos of a another conversion I did last year. I was given I nice Craftsman riding lawn mower that did not run because the carburetor was ruined by ethanol gasoline. I converted it to LP gas and used it all last year to mow my four acre lawn. I did not make a video of the conversion (sorry), but here are some photos. I might make a video of me mowing with it in the spring. plus.google.com/photos/118274775653594710874/albums/5984366452074779361?banner=pwa

I want everyone to understand that even though I blamed Obama for the use of Ethanol in this video, I was not a huge fan of Bush either. I did not live in the US during the Bush administration and was unaware that it was he that started the usage of ethanol. I appreciate those that corrected this error. I also appreciate David Hampton's detailed history of the actual amounts of ethanol that has been increase from 3% under Bush to 15% under Obama. Craig Miller. This is not a Red vs Blue issue. This is a fact vs greed and environment issue. Fact 1: Adding ethanol to gasoline has destroyed untold millions of small engine carburetors, which has resulted in millions of perfectly good motors being wasted and ending up as junk. This is bad for the environment because these perfectly good motors end up in landfills or junk yards and also, they have to be replaced by new products that use up our increasingly limited natural resources. Fact 2: Converting these otherwise useless motors to NG or LP gas is good for the environment on multiple levels. One, NG or LP gas burns cleaner then gasoline with ethanol. Two, the engines do not end up in landfills. Three, it conserves our natural resources because people do not have to buy new products to replace their broken ones. Forth and most importantly; ethanol is primarily produced from corn. Corn is a top food source in the world, especial in third world countries. Converting corn in to ethanol has caused the price of corn to triple and is causing famine and hardship in many places in the world that depend on low corn prices. The bottom line is this. Converting a valuable food source into ethanol is not helping the environment, it is hurting it and hurting people and it is only being done because of greed (higher corn prices and redundant sales of small engines). The purpose of my video is not to promote a political party over another, it is to show people that their engines (that have been destroyed by ethanol) do not have to be thrown away and that they do no have to be a rocket scientist to convert them to NG or LP.

Lots of comments on here about engine rpm, all generators use governors to control engine speed, this is not a problem. Great job on video.

Awesome. Luca

old video, but it shows you can plug in LP or NG and an engine will run. not efficiently, but it will run. thing is, that LPG in the portable quantities youd put on your mower are more expensive than ethanol gasoline. even figuring in the cost of a replacement carb, you're still ahead financially than running LPG tanks. $3-5 to mow my lawn with LPG vs under $2 gasoline gasoline has more potential energy than LPG or NG. nowadays we'll just clean the carb more often. $3 can of Gumout once a year maybe 2x I found my 3.5hp B&S mower uses 0.6 gal gasoline for my small lawn or 2.4lb LPG for the same. factor in the danger of using compressed gasses, and safety can be a concern. filling a tank, hooking up regulator or valve, isnt something youd like to do often. much more caution is needed when refilling LPG tanks. *Bottom* *line*. NG and LPG conversions just are not practical in summer 2017 with gasoline prices right around $2.15/gal (Ohio) and LPG about $1/lb..

Natural gas and propane are better than gasoline whether the gasoline has ethanol or does not. Aluminum and brass are used because of their corrosion resistance. Companies are now making engines specifically to run on natural gas and propane.

Thank you.Nice

It's brilliant that this is running on methane or propane, but I think it will stop the governor from working when the electrical load changes. The governor wants to throttle the engine up to maintain voltage and frequency to the load, but it doesn't have control over the fuel delivery system anymore. Still, great for static loads.

I have used ethanol gas in 3 cars and 2 lawn mowers for years now. I've never had a problem. I don't so much believe it's the ethanol. I think it's more the people that don't or won't keep their engines maintained. It's more "user" error than anything else. All carbs, from a small lawn mower to a big V8, are brass and aluminum. Withsome fuel injected systems, about the only problem I've seen is with late-model cars is the rubber or plastic hoses. The ethanol is rough on them. But, changing the hoses fixes that.

wow he said y2k! I remember when that happened

I will use this method not unattended and I'll shut off the propane tank if I the motor shut off as it is fairly loud. Thanks for the info.

Thanks , nice n easy way to build it , so cool

lawn mower , use the brass torch assembly,small and can adjust the flow with the knob! PS. have not tried it yet, but should work better than a turkey fryer assembly!

Everything on this video is correct except for one minor detail Ethanol was introduced to gasoline in1988,. If memory serves Ronald Reagan was the president who passed that inovation. lets put the blame where it belongs

Thanks again

when it warms up late spring I'll be putting the digester together using kitchen scraps and horse manure I'll keep you posted

You need to check your facts a bit closer. Back in the early 80's they came out with a new product called GASAHOL, it was 10% alcohol. They tried to sell it. NO one would buy it, so they stopped trying for a while, Then they didn't ask you anymore . That;s all you can get. The gas company's did that. Its cheaper than real gas. more profit for them. It used to eat fuel lines carb's, till they changed the material they were made from. It's still junk, but it does work sorta. Not real sure why Obama is taking the hit for that. But it was around long before he was. Used to be 5 places that sold real gas, now there aren't any, It all comes from the same place, The more stuff they take out of gas the more they charge for it. To run a car on alcohol in a race car uses about 3 times as much as gasoline . It used to be cheaper , like everything ,supply and demand, you want it , we have it, but you get to pay for it. I have worked on cars over 50 years, so I have seen many things, GASAHOL is still now and always has been junk. But their profits went way up with it.

Before gas engines had carburators, this was exactly how they worked.

The thing i am wondering about is the tube for the crankcase pressure. that sometimes has allot of pressure that come out of it. Now its just going threw the float jet? thats not enough? I am surprised you dont have oil everywhere? Maybe you can just run it into a filter ? but yea pretty cool video thanks for sharing.

Great vidio thanks

Fell asleep watching this.he just goes on and on an on.

Obama screwed up a lot of things. Gasoline was just one of them. The Obama EPA also forced small diesel generators off the market.

Thank you sir, for this wonderful teaching video . Please I am confused. What is the difference between propane gas and biogas?

auuu , man I love you ,,thank you so much for inventing this idea,,, I spend 20 dollors in gas now I can spend 13 dollors in a 20 lb tank that will last me a long time ,,,again thank you so much I will down load this video to keep for my days to come...

Interesting how some people HAVE to politicize EVERYTHING.

the biggest issue is the tecumseh engine on that generator. I wont even work on them. I pull them off and replace them

thanks for your reply, after starting the generator for few minutes the became very hot almost immediately.What should I to lower the heat?

Cheers Food for thought