Generator qyestion

So my powerhouse 2300 will start up on choke, but when I put it on run, it revs for 10 seconds and than dies.

Any idea what that is and how to fix it?

Also, for tonight can I just run it on choke, without doing any damage?

Thanks

You might carbon it up and probably foul a plug, but that’s not all bad. You must be on a trip? I would try a couple easy checks, loosen the gas cap for one & look for a fuel filter also. Does it have a cut off if not level and/or low oil? All easy on the ice things to check. It’s cutting out for lack of gas probably, does run ok on choke or smoke heavily. If it’s not smoking or missing, go for it. Hope you have an extra spark plug and plug wrench or some sandpaper.

I got a free snowblower like that. Bought and installed a carb kit. Took care of the problem. Also what kind of fuel do you put in your generator? I was told to make sure to use 91 ethanol free fuel for all my small engines.

I agree. Likely needs a new carb, or at the very least to clean it.

My snowblower is doing the same, have a new carb sitting on the shelf waiting for some free time to change it out.

Try adding some Seafoam to the gas and it might cleanup the carb as you run it. I always ran 91 octane but have since learned to use whatever fuel the manufacturer recommends. Good luck!

Thanks guys. Let it sit for an hour and it ran like an charm.

I always use non-oxy gas, but will add some seafoam and look into cleaning out the carb.

Or some Heat, sounds a little like water in your gas. I thought you might be on a trip and trying to use till you could get help. My ideas were not the fix, just an emergency get by.

Zack Shack Guy wrote:

Thanks guys. Let it sit for an hour and it ran like an charm.
I always use non-oxy gas, but will add some seafoam and look into cleaning out the carb.

Water in the gas, frozen/restricted fuel line, sediment in the carb bowl, or ice buildup in the intake.

First off, do NOT run an engine on full choke as a workaround. An excessively rich fuel to air mixture will “wash” lubricated parts and cause scuffing and wear.

Check the unit for an in-line fuel filter and replace this to make sure you have good fuel flow and the filter isn’t clogged or filling with ice from wet fuel.

Drain all fuel. Pour a sample of your fresh fuel in a clear jar and check for water in the sample just to be sure before fueling the generator. BTW, a clear jar is a tremendous tool to make sure you have good fuel in the winter when there is a LOT of water in gas. If you don’t know what water in fuel looks like in a sample, there are videos on YouTube. It’s NOT as obvious as some guys make out because even very wet gas will only have a few drops of water in it per sample, it’s not likely to be 10% or more water like some guys expect.

Generators are notorious for building up ice in the air intake. If you bring the generator inside and warm it up and it starts working again, a good chance this was the problem. Some generators offer a cold-weather kit that directs some heated airflow toward the airbox to help eliminate this issue and some guys build a box to keep the unit warmer.

Eliminate these issues before you start tearing apart the carb. Carb issues, IME don’t tend to appear in a running engine suddenly. Yes, yes, anything could happen, but when you hear hoofbeats first think horses, not unicorns.