I have a 6 year old generator still in the box. Edit: in use now

I would run it for peace of mind if it were me.

the littlest of non ethanol gas and run it bone dry.

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Thanks guys. General question. I run my other generator about once a year for a couple of hours, do you generally run them more often?

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I run mine once a month. I'll just pull it out of the garage, start it, then plug an old ice cream maker into it. I'll then cut off the fuel and let it run dry as I mow.

I snagged one from the curb a few years back. Still had the Lowe's tag on it. Homeowner told me they'd bought it during Hurricane Gustav and never ran it. Instead of getting it in working order they tossed it and bought a new one. I had to replace the fuel lines, petcock, spark plug lead, and filter. I'd at least check on anything that can dry rot to make sure you don't get a surprise if you need to use it in a pinch.

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Thanks guys. General question. I run my other generator about once a year for a couple of hours, do you generally run them more often?

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Industry standard for ALL generators, regardless of fuel or intended use, is 30 minutes a month under a load. In the case of small portables intended for emergency purposes I doubt if one in a thousand is ran 30 minutes a month under a load and they generally work when needed for a LONG time, even cheap ones. No matter how long its ran and how often if it were mine I would run it out of fuel if it is going to go unused for more than a couple of days.


When it is ran it needs to be under a load. This is especially true if it has a load throttle system (if it idles down with no load and idles up as load is added) but also best industry practice for any generator - the engine may run fine but the generator may have issues, the only way to know other than the generator catastrophically failing, is to run it under a load. It will also cause the generator to heat up thus dispelling moisture, dust and corrosion. A space heater is sufficient but even a blow dryer or something around 1500 watts is sufficient. Crank it up, plug in the load and turn it on as high as it will go and let it run.

I’ve got one that just turned 10 I think, still brand new in the box!

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doubt if one in a thousand is ran 30 minutes a month under a load

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My yamahas sit for 9-12 months and then get run 24-72 hours at a stretch.

Run perfect.

If you ran that Onan for 15 to 30 min under load each month, you would have about 0 problems with it. I have a little over 2800 hrs on mine with nothing more than following Onan's regular maintenance schedule (oil changes, air filter, valve adjustments, etc). They are designed to run a couple hundred hours a month, sitting kills them.

I’ve got a generac 6500 that’s about 6-7 yrs old. I run it once a month for 30 min to an hour under a load. Always put a shot of seafoam in the gas. Only had to clean the carb once, and oil filter changed every 100 hrs. I ran it alot during Laura and just ran it for 1 week during Beryl without issue.

I got 2 WEN when the OB posted a deal before IDA.

Government even paid for my 12,000 watt WEN and I have a 3200 inverter. I run them about an hour every 3-6 months.

Forgot about my inverter at my dad’s and went to start it. Had to clean out the carb and get gunk out of fuel line. Didn’t realize I’d left fuel in it and didn’t run it out runs great now