Fuel Drain

[lefty]

I have a generator that the customer asked me if I could install a drain for the fuel. I was thinking maybe there was a 3-way fuel valve I could use but can't seem to find one. Is this a thing?

[RoyM]

Can you use a shutoff with a sediment bowl? He could remove the bowl to dump the fuel, Briggs used them for years.

[lefty]

He has that and I suggested it. But he's afraid of breaking it because it's so old. It's plastic. I found a few online with 1/4" barb, which is what I need I think. But a lot of them don't have very descriptive features. Can't tell if it's both on, one on...so on and so forth.

There's not much room to work with so I'd have to eliminate it anyway and use an inline filter. So I may just suggest that he does it until he breaks it and we'll deal with it then.

[KE4AVB]

Or he could use a Rotary 11273 fuel valve but once the fuel is drain still need to empty the carburetor fuel bowl by either draining it or running the engine until fuel is used up. The fuel valve is used to switch tanks or just to shut off the fuel completely. Just connect and operate backwards.

[lefty]

Or he could use a Rotary 11273 fuel valve but once the fuel is drain still need to empty the carburetor fuel bowl by either draining it or running the engine until fuel is used up. The fuel valve is used to switch tanks or just to shut off the fuel completely. Just connect and operate backwards.

I was looking at that one. The whole thing seems ridiculous to me since it's pretty easy to just drop that plastic bowl but he seems hell-bent on it.

Thanks for the help guys.

[Skywatcher]

Hi Lefty

What make and model is this generator? Is this an inverter or regular style? Does it have a fuel valve on the tank? If so, how easily accessible is the fuel valve? How about simply disconnecting the fuel line from the fuel valve, install a drain hose onto the valve and turn valve on to drain the tank. Another idea, install a quick coupler in the fuel line? Uncouple the coupler, point the line into a pale and turn fuel valve on. All these ideas are of course assuming the carburetor has already been run dry.

As for the 3-way fuel valve from Rotary, they are designed to feed in from both sides and feed out from the center. The valve is 3-position, center = off (no flow). Move the lever to one side or the other and the side that the lever is, is open to fuel flow. These valves were designed for machines that have a left and right side fuel tank so the operator could switch from one tank to the other. To install this valve as a tank drain valve, you'd need to feed into the center port and out from one side to the carburetor. The other side would then be the fitting for the drain hose. Alternatively, your customer could use Aspen fuel which has a shelf life of up to 5 years. Hope this gives you a few ideas,

Sky

[lefty]

I believe it's a regular generator.

I think the easiest way to drain this is by removing the filter bowl. It's how I drained it and it was a piece of cake. Thank you for your ideas. I'm going to run them by him.

[Skywatcher]

Hi Again Lefty

If the fuel valve has the screw-on sediment bowl just under the lever, then that is by far the quickest and easiest method. With the generator running, shut the fuel valve off and let the carburetor run dry. Give the machine at least 5 minutes to cool off. Remove the sediment bowl and set up a funnel under the fuel valve with a hose into a clean container. Turn the fuel valve on and the tank will be empty within 10 minutes.

Once the tank is completely empty, turn the fuel valve to off and reinstall the sediment bowl. Pull the engine over to top dead center compression stroke so both valves are closed and the unit is ready to go into storage until the next time. If the unit is going into storage for more than a year, remove the sparkplug and using a squirt type oil can put a couple of shots of clean engine oil into the cylinder then reinstall and reconnect the sparkplug. The unit can then be safely stored for several years. All the best,

Sky