Posted: 3/18/2026 12:20:56 AM EDT
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I have owned a Honda e2000 generator for 20 years. It only runs on gasoline and has done everything I need to do. I have worked on keeping 25 gallons of gas on hand to keep it fed. Over the last five years I have been hearing more people talking about how propane helped them keep the generator running when SHTF. So I was looking to buy a propane conversion for the Honda, but when I get all the parts bought, shipped and installed, it will be about $400. For that type of money, a few people have been talking up this bi fuel generator Amazon generator So the question is, buy a bunch of parts for a 20 year old generator that works fine as is but get extra flexibility. Or Spend the money on a second generator that does gas or propane , 80% more electric power; but has an unknown track record. Right now I am leaning towards getting the second generator and not screw with a known quantity. Have a propane option. Or sell the Honda, run away from unpronounceable name generators and then start saving for “solar generators” to fill any power needs. Thoughts… |
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If you get 20 yeas out of a Gen, I'd be happy and not feel bad about replacing it. IF I ever buy a new Gen, it will be a propane and it will likely never see pump gas... |
LARUEMINATI
NRA Endowment Life Member
Originally Posted By Boom_Stick:
""AKs are for villagers you have to tell not to shit in their water supply.""
NRA Endowment Life Member
Originally Posted By Boom_Stick:
""AKs are for villagers you have to tell not to shit in their water supply.""
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Good to have options. Our big Hardy Diesel 12KW had issues during Helene. I "thought" I had good spares, I didn't... We had several smaller gas/propane generators, none big enough to power our main well. We had to relay on the solar submersible, the hand pump and we used some rainwater from the catchment tanks filtering it through a Katadyn TRK. A lot of products have used a Honda engine, I would check your engine model and see if you can find a generator that uses the same/similar engine. I found that our tiller and splitter both use the same Honda engine which is great cause that's less spare parts to stock. |
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In business since 1992- Over 30 Years in business- Thank you for your business!
Quickest ways to contact us-
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I havent had any issues out of my westinghouse generators. Brother in law is rocking a firman from lowes and running it on propane. I would definitely leave your current one alone and buy something designed from the beginning to use propane. Even if you put a kit on yours and it works, it will produce less power. There's a reason generators have different ratings for gasoline, propane, and natural gas. The fuels contain different amounts of testosterone. Gasoline to propane looses 10% right off the top. Originally Posted By smullen: If you get 20 yeas out of a Gen, I'd be happy and not feel bad about replacing it. IF I ever buy a new Gen, it will be a propane and it will likely never see pump gas... This is how mine is going. I'll run it on propane and NG as long as I can. Gasoline is only for a super duper last ditch hail mary. |
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I picked up a Wen dual fuel 3500 a couple years ago for $480. It's constantly in use with no problems. I'd retire a 20 year old generator simply from a reliability/parts standpoint. I consider a generator to be a wear item. It'll get replaced at a certain age or hours of operation. |
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Originally Posted By tree-hugger: Do these propane ready genearators come ready to accept Natural Gas? If its marketed as "dual fuel", thats usually gasoline and propane. "Tri fuel" is those plus natural gas. The physical hookup for the propane and NG is the same on the generator. Its a single quick connect gas fitting. There is a different setting where it meters the fuel differently and whatever else it needs to do to handle NG instead of propane. |
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Originally Posted By giantpune: If its marketed as "dual fuel", thats usually gasoline and propane. "Tri fuel" is those plus natural gas. The physical hookup for the propane and NG is the same on the generator. Its a single quick connect gas fitting. There is a different setting where it meters the fuel differently and whatever else it needs to do to handle NG instead of propane. Thank you for the reply. I looked that up before I asked the question. The way those above posts were worded, it looked like the linked generator were ready to use Natural Gas as well as Propane. |
"Some of the greatest dads I've ever seen weren't so much perfect as they were willing to work hard to overcome their failings. Does that make sense?"
Yes. Yes it does.
Yes. Yes it does.
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I'm buying a dual fuel inverter generator in the next few weeks because I want to run propane. I have an electrician coming over today to look at my main panel to install a 50A transfer switch. I'm looking at this Westinghouse inverter. It's expensive, but my house is all electric and I have a lot of sensitive electronics that I'd rather power with an inverter.  
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Originally Posted By Pennsilfaanisch: I'm buying a dual fuel inverter generator in the next few weeks because I want to run propane. I have an electrician coming over today to look at my main panel to install a 50A transfer switch. I'm looking at this Westinghouse inverter. It's expensive, but my house is all electric and I have a lot of sensitive electronics that I'd rather power with an inverter. www.amazon.com/dp/B0CQMZZ47V In case anyone is interested, here's the Tri-Fuel version of what you linked. 
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"Some of the greatest dads I've ever seen weren't so much perfect as they were willing to work hard to overcome their failings. Does that make sense?"
Yes. Yes it does.
Yes. Yes it does.
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I have a bit of experience running on generators. In my USMC days we ran on generators for thousand of hours and maintaining the generators was my responsibility. When we moved into a new house over 25 years ago we had a lot of power outages. My wife ran a business out of the house and we had a disabled son so we NEEDED to keep things running, even without power. Most years we ran at least 100 hours on the generator and some years we ran more. That first genset was a Chicago Electric 8KW and we bought it from Harbor Freight. It had a Honda motor, always started, and we abused it. bad. One thing about those older gensets is that they were LOUD and gulped fuel. So after putting nearly 1000 hours on the generator and after we were in better financial shape we bought a Generac 20KW standby generator. The Generac was much more user friendly, ran the whole house, and reduced our stress levels, a lot. We were able to stop worrying about the house when we were not home and the weather was questionable. It has worked out well, except that it gulps even more fuel. Fortunately we have a 1,000 gallon propane tank but the numbers indicate that we would deplete that entire tank in a couple of weeks if we run the genset 24x7. Also that Generac is now over 15 years old. So we do have other generators. I have an older Honda EU2000I, a Honda EU2200I, and I recently added a Honda EU7000IS. You may notice a trend there. They all get tested, run, and maintained. I will also mention that both the EU2000I and EU2200I have Hutch Mountain Propane kits installed and we have not noticed any degradation in the amount of power that they produce. I really appreciate that you can still get Honda replacement parts for the older generators. I was watching James Condon's Youtube channel and he was buying Honda parts for an EX5500 that was built in the 90's. So even though your generator may be old, it may be very servicable. But the question that needs to be asked and answered is how much was it run and how well was it taken care of. I also appreciate the fact that the EU2000I and E2200I have fuel pumps that allow you to use an extended fuel tank to increase your runtime. That has been handy on a few occasions.  Some on this site have suggested that buying a cheaper generator and getting a warranty that allows you to swap in a store is an acceptable alternative to spending money on a more proven model of a generator. I get the premise but experience has taught me that when you really need something then if you don't already have it then you may likely have to go without. Expecting the store to give me a warranty replacement when gensets are in high demand isn't something that I am prepared to count on. So even though I buy units that have good reputations, I still have a backup plan. Not knowing your financial situation, it is hard to say what you should do. But personally, I wouldn't sell the Honda and buy something cheaper. Having said that, anything can break. So having options is nice, but maybe you don't run them enough to justify owning a spare. Edit: I forgot. Doing the math on running the EU2000I on propane, the 800 gallons of propane (you cannot fill a 1000 gallon tank full. It can only hold 800 gallons) it would keep the EU2000I running for 270 days. Obviously you have to change the oil every four days but it SHOULD do it. |
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Originally Posted By 2Hut8: I have a bit of experience running on generators. In my USMC days we ran on generators for thousand of hours and maintaining the generators was my responsibility. When we moved into a new house over 25 years ago we had a lot of power outages. My wife ran a business out of the house and we had a disabled son so we NEEDED to keep things running, even without power. Most years we ran at least 100 hours on the generator and some years we ran more. That first genset was a Chicago Electric 8KW and we bought it from Harbor Freight. It had a Honda motor, always started, and we abused it. bad. One thing about those older gensets is that they were LOUD and gulped fuel. So after putting nearly 1000 hours on the generator and after we were in better financial shape we bought a Generac 20KW standby generator. The Generac was much more user friendly, ran the whole house, and reduced our stress levels, a lot. We were able to stop worrying about the house when we were not home and the weather was questionable. It has worked out well, except that it gulps even more fuel. Fortunately we have a 1,000 gallon propane tank but the numbers indicate that we would deplete that entire tank in a couple of weeks if we run the genset 24x7. Also that Generac is now over 15 years old. So we do have other generators. I have an older Honda EU2000I, a Honda EU2200I, and I recently added a Honda EU7000IS. You may notice a trend there. They all get tested, run, and maintained. I will also mention that both the EU2000I and EU2200I have Hutch Mountain Propane kits installed and we have not noticed any degradation in the amount of power that they produce. I really appreciate that you can still get Honda replacement parts for the older generators. I was watching James Condon's Youtube channel and he was buying Honda parts for an EX5500 that was built in the 90's. So even though your generator may be old, it may be very servicable. But the question that needs to be asked and answered is how much was it run and how well was it taken care of. I also appreciate the fact that the EU2000I and E2200I have fuel pumps that allow you to use an extended fuel tank to increase your runtime. That has been handy on a few occasions. https://www.ar15.com/media/mediaFiles/415398/Capture_PNG-1939114.png Some on this site have suggested that buying a cheaper generator and getting a warranty that allows you to swap in a store is an acceptable alternative to spending money on a more proven model of a generator. I get the premise but experience has taught me that when you really need something then if you don't already have it then you may likely have to go without. Expecting the store to give me a warranty replacement when gensets are in high demand isn't something that I am prepared to count on. So even though I buy units that have good reputations, I still have a backup plan. Not knowing your financial situation, it is hard to say what you should do. But personally, I wouldn't sell the Honda and buy something cheaper. Having said that, anything can break. So having options is nice, but maybe you don't run them enough to justify owning a spare. Edit: I forgot. Doing the math on running the EU2000I on propane, the 800 gallons of propane (you cannot fill a 1000 gallon tank full. It can only hold 800 gallons) it would keep the EU2000I running for 270 days. Obviously you have to change the oil every four days but it SHOULD do it. Cool. Thanks for posting. You wouldn't, by chance, have a parts list for the auxilary tank hack would you? I have a Yamaha 2800 inverter generator and a Sportsman 1000 inverter generator that I'm guessing I would need the correct gas tank caps for those hacks? |
"Some of the greatest dads I've ever seen weren't so much perfect as they were willing to work hard to overcome their failings. Does that make sense?"
Yes. Yes it does.
Yes. Yes it does.
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Originally Posted By tree-hugger: Cool. Thanks for posting. You wouldn't, by chance, have a parts list for the auxilary tank hack would you? I have a Yamaha 2800 inverter generator and a Sportsman 1000 inverter generator that I'm guessing I would need the correct gas tank caps for those hacks? I posted details on the setup back in 2024. That post was in reference to people using six gallon Marine (boat) fuel tanks as extended tanks for the Honda's. Here is the content of the post but I am wondering if it is plagiarism to rip off my own post?  "When running Honda EU2000I and EU2200I's I ran into the same thing that you did. My solution wasn't to invest in the 6 gallon boat tank setups. My setup is based off the five gallon NATO/Wavian fuel cans. The Honda EU2000I and EU2200I both have fuel pumps. That means that they can pull fuel from an external tank as long as the system is sealed. The second tank does not need to be elevated for this to work on the Hondas. It does if you try to duplicate this on a champion generator or any generator that does not have a fuel pump. Here are the items that I used: Generator Fuel Cap: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B06VTS928N/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1 Wavian NATO can: https://wavianusa.com/?srsltid=AfmBOop3P_5_As-moTP8qN0iA2Mpi6xLafeg9XxnT_q8RW8z4XNgJGNW NATO Can Pickup Tube: https://www.electricalworld.com/en/us/Sealey-Jerry-Can-Adaptor-Double-Tube/m-49694.aspx?PartnerID=3&utm_source=google&utm_medium=shopping&utm_campaign=UnitedStates&gad_source=1&gclid=CjwKCAjwvKi4BhABEiwAH2gcw9uAsZ37Hxhp4TrwEysvs3T58k8RvDbosXwJv653tbkHaJvXOm-3fhoC2AYQAvD_BwE 5/16" Fuel Line with compression clamps: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B008Y1YFXK/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1 Connecting them together is pretty self explanatory. I had a picture on this site at one point but I don't know where it is right now. If the generator starts with a full internal tank then as the fuel is used from the internal tank it is automatically replenished from the NATO can. If you start with both tanks full then it takes the runtime from 4-6 hours up into the 24-30 hour range. I chose clear fuel line because I want to see that syphon action is working to refill the internal tank. Also you can visually see if the NATO can is empty. When the NATO can is empty, the internal tank will still be full, at least until it runs out. This allows a 4-6 hour buffer to refill/replace the NATO can with a full one without having to "Hot Fuel" the generator. Other advantages, I am not storing/transporting a special tank just for the Honda. The parts used are allowed to drain then dry and are stored with the rest of the cables for the generator without taking up any noticeable space. And although these components work best with a NATO can, they can be used with any external gas can but the risk of the gas being spilled/contaminated are elevated. You can buy the pickup tubes as a single pickup tube or as a pickup/return tube. I bought the pickup/return style, attached a four inch fuel line to the return side, and looped it over to serve as a vent. Note that I said looped and not kinked. This allows me to leave the external tank outside in the rain without concern for water getting into the fuel. Each of my three Hondas are setup the same way. They can be run together or separated and still be run in the extended runtime configuration. And the storing/transporting of special tanks becomes more of an issue when you have three generators. Just don't forget to pay attention to the oil change interval. I have gotten into a rut of swapping the can every morning and then realizing that I should have stopped and changed the oil two days ago. The Wavian cans are pricey but well worth it. I won't buy any brand of NATO can except Wavian. We routinely transport them in enclosed vehicles and we never issues with them leaking, smelling, or spilling any fuel. "Personally", I avoid putting more than 4.5 gallons in them ever and if I fill them in cold weather I don't put more than 4 gallons in them. Leaving room for expansion is important when cans seal this well. I hope that is useful. " Now to be clear, this works because the Honda EU2000I and EU2200I both have sealed fuel systems and a fuel pump. My EU7000IS has a vented tank and cannot use this setup the same way the others can. I don't know what the fuel setup is for your Yamaha or Sportsman so this may or may not work. That is another thing going for the Honda's. They have some after market support that few of the others have. |