I was completing a backlog of Christmas framing projects when the power went out but I was not too concerned because I thought my emergency generator was ready to go and save the day. After all, I had started it every few weeks after the last storm and everything had been working perfectly. <\/p>\n
I had purchased an extra spark plug in case it was needed and had three 5 gallon cans of gasoline in addition to a full tank on the generator. I felt that I was much better prepared than last year. <\/p>\n
Little did I know.<\/p>\n
The generator started up as it should have but it faltered and died when I backed off on the choke. This state of affairs continued until the normally faithful Honda engine just quit and died and would not start again.<\/p>\n
Thirty minutes of tinkering in the increasing cold produced no results and I called it quits for the night. This morning, Glenn Givens, who is a really good small engine repairman, came over and he found the problem almost immediately. There was water in the bottom of the emergency generator gas tank.<\/p>\n
We drained the carburetor and the liquid looked cloudy at first, then the water settled out from the gas\/water mixture in about 20 seconds. When we did the first test today, there was as much water in the jar as there was gasoline! <\/p>\n
We kept draining the carburetor until the water disappeared from the gas, put a spritz of ether in the carburetor, and the engine started up like a charm.<\/p>\n
I ran the generator with no problems until about 4:00 pm when the power came back on.<\/p>\n
I felt I had been well prepared but I did not anticipate that freshly filled cans of gasoline would have so much water in them. I need to add a visual check for water in the gasoline to my emergency preparedness checklist.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
We were snowed in for a few days and ice built up on the trees to the point where branches were snapping off and blocking the roads.<\/p>\n
Here is a picture of our lane taken by Tom King as he and a chainsaw-wielding neighbor cleared their way to the main road.<\/p>\n
I was completing a backlog of Christmas framing projects when the power went out but I was not too concerned because I thought my emergency generator was ready to go and save the day. After all, I had started it every few weeks after the last storm and everything had been working perfectly. <\/p>\n I had purchased an extra spark plug in case it was needed and had three 5 gallon cans of gasoline in addition to a full tank on the generator. I felt that I was much better prepared than last year. <\/p>\n Little did I know.<\/a> <\/p>\n
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