Gas to Propane conversion

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No responses on the "Prep" forum so Ill ask here. I have a generac 6500XL Genset. Have a Propane conversion kit that I ordered from U.S. Carb. Anyone converted a gas to propane generator? Any caveats or suggestions. How did it turn out? Appreciate any thoughts, ideas or advice.

-- Larry (Rampon@cyberramp.net), November 10, 1999

Answers

Larry--

I have a similar Genset, and also considered conversion to LP, but I decided to wait until I could afford a second carburetor. Since the conversion is permanent for the original one. Does this agree with your kit? Also acquired a conversion hose from camp gear lp equip to commercial tank fittings.

Home Depot had a sale on 100 lb propane tanks this weekend. $58.00 was the best price I had seen to date. $0.99 gal for the LP. $34.00 for 15,000 btu radiant heater.

Rereading Dale Ways responses, combined with Gartner, Bank of Calgary, ad infinitum, second/third tank indicated.

-- Michael (mikeymac@uswest.net), November 11, 1999.


My generator, a Coleman, was converted by my local propane distributor. They're the experts, so I'd recommend giving your local propane folks a call. They'll do it right because they want you to be using that propane and they wouldn't want you to blow yourself up, right?

-- Kurt Ayau (Ayau@iwinet.com), November 11, 1999.

The question here would be what kind of kit do you have or what is in the kit? if it is "Impco" type there is very little you have to know the output of the "Impco" carburetor connects to the standard gasoline air in. if it is the spud type there is going to be a modification to the existing carburetor. there should be instruction with the kit. the genset will run much smoother on LP that gasoline as a rule. but the overall power out put will suffer a bit, normally about 20%

-- FRD (FRD5@aol.com), November 11, 1999.

I have a Kohler 6.5 RMY

The 6.5 refers to 6500 watts (when running on gasoline)

It is factory setup for LP/NG and the output is derated to 5500 watts. (confirmed by testing on my Inverter/Charger setup)

I hope you have a horizontal propane tank (500 gallons or larger). these can handle the demands of the generator (it consumes approx 120 cu ft per hour of Natural Gas at full bore, goes down to 60cu ft per hour at 1/3 demand. Propane consumption should be similar).

If you plan on using a 100lb tank for running your gennie, you may have to link 2 together and draw on both, I have a propane spec document that says the 100lb tank can only put out 23-25 cu ft per hour. I would like to get several 100lb tanks as backup (we use natural gas), but I may have to rent one to test and see if the generator runs at all on a 100lb tank.

-- plonk! (realaddress@hotmail.com), November 11, 1999.


You can run a 5kw generator on a 100lb tank for normal loads, you may have to heat it in cold weather to get full load from the generator. this can be done with the running engine itself. I have ran my generator for about 12 hours on a 100lb tank.

-- frd (frd5@aol.com), November 11, 1999.


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