Over the past couple of months, there have been several hurricanes that devastated parts of Texas, Florida, Puerto Rico, and Caribbean Islands. There were two common issues in all these areas. One, high standing water, and two, no electricity. Compounding these two issues as a third, lack of gasoline. People had generators and pumps, but they could not acquire enough gas to operate them.

In addition to the scarcity of gasoline during these emergencies, the relatively short shelf life and volatility of gasoline make keeping adequate personal supplies impractical and very dangerous. Most local regulations also make it illegal.

Here’s the good news. The engines that use gasoline to drive the generators and water pumps can also burn propane and natural gas. With gasoline to propane conversion kits, that generator that sits idle during a crisis can be producing electricity, and the pump can be dewatering your basement or yard.

There are other reasons to convert to propane. Since gas contains up to 15% ethanol, the fuel can be corrosive in some parts of the engine; ethanol does not age well.

For a lot of portable work for generators and pumps, propane is an easier fuel to transport and store on vehicles.

In firefighting, propane is a much safer fuel to carry into dangerous situations.

Propane and natural gas burn “cleaner” than gasoline as well.

So, how can the engine burn propane?

Engines don’t actually burn liquid gas. What they burn is a vaporized form of gasoline created by carburetors that is sucked into the engine’s cylinder(s) to be ignited by the spark plugs. The carburetor also controls the amount of vaporized gasoline that passes into the engine. “Opening up” the carburetor increases the amount of fuel, increasing the combustion and speed of the engine.

Propane and natural gas are already in a vaporized form and ready to burn.

The propane kits essentially provide a bypass to the carburetor. As part of the kit, there are also regulators to adjust the amount fuel entering the engine. The core function of the engines remains the same.

One type of conversion kit is here.

The conversion kit you use will depend on the engine. Check the kit specs, or contact us directly to determine which is best for the engine on your pump or generator.