Just finished my propane conversion on a small Briggs!!

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Can't remember who posted it, but several months ago someone said he had simply connected a gas grill regulator to his propane line and got his generator to run on it. I finally tried it and it works great! No conversion kit or anything like that. I had an old air hose and some fittings from an air compressor. Everything just screwed together. I mounted a small gas valve with a quick disconnect in the top of the air cleaner housing. It took a little time to figure out how it likes to run, but it actually worked. Mine is a 3 1\2 hp engine and it runs best with full choke. Power seems to be down about 10-20% which would be correct for propane compared to gasoline.

-- Steve (bibleout@tds.net), November 15, 1999

Answers

Now wait a minute. You connected the line from the gas grill regulator (through a valve) to where? Was it to the gasoline line that feeds the float chamber?

-- Dean -- from (almost) Duh Moines (dtmiller@midiowa.net), November 15, 1999.

he said he introduced the propane AT THE TOP OF THE AIR CLEANER.

so air and propane gas are going through the carburetor. but no gas.

It doesn't sound like a kit that I would want to put together and sell, but I don't see why it won't work in a pinch. You just have to make sure you shut off the propane before you shut down the generator. Also- if the generator shut off by itself, the gas would still be going.

-- plonk! (realaddress@hotmail.com), November 15, 1999.


Dean,

I knew my description was bad. A simplified version is like this.

What I basically did was hook a line from my propane tank to the air filter on the Briggs. That's all.

Steve

-- Steve (bibleout@tds.net), November 15, 1999.


Steve; Great idea and happy it works for you, did you ever think of using a tire valve stem attached to the aircleaner.? ? ? You could take out the small valve and attach the lp gas hose from the regulator to the valve stem. But I would keep the screw that holds the aircleaner to the carb, just incase you have too much pressure and it comes off... Thanks for the idea, I'll try my garden tiller with it and see how it runs, course I'll have to use a small 20lb tank and mount it forward of the engine for weight distribution... Furie...

-- Furie (furieart@dnet.net), November 15, 1999.

What you've done is *extremely* dangerous!

If your insurance company ever finds out, you'll... wish they hadn't.

If your engine stalls, your gas will continue to flow -- into the air.

As soon as it rolls into a spark, you'll see the biggest explosion you ever saw.

There's a reason your furnace and water heater have shut-off thermocouples that won't let gas flow unless the burner is working. And there's a reason real propane conversion kits won't allow gas to flow unless a *running* engine demands it.

-- Ron Schwarz (rs@clubvb.com.delete.this), November 16, 1999.



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