Generator won't start. Not enough gas in tank?

C

Carvervirgin

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Jan 4, 2012
RO Number
32836
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Fellow Carver owners, I am having an issue with my generator not starting. My port tank has a little more than a 1/4 of fuel. Someone told me that if the port tank is low, the generator won't start to conservative the fuel. A safety issue. Any truth to that and does anyone know the magic amount of fuel needed in the tank?
 
Simple solution, put some fuel in the tank and see if it starts. Most factory genset installs are plumbed so they won't use all your fuel.
 
Don't own a Carver, but I would be interested in a true answer.

Personally, I doubt it's true. My old W'beke 4.5 burns about 1GPH. Hardly a player in the big scheme of things. Additionally, how would the gennie know how much gas was in the tank? By wiring it to the gas gauge which is (at least in my cases) historically incorrect?
 
It's typical for the genny to have it's own pick-up in the tank, and it's mounted higher than the pick-up for propulsion engines.
 
Sounds right to me. Most vessels are designed so that generators will be the first to run out of fuel [based on the length of the pick-up tube], and Carvers [if I remember from my 33] are plumbed so that the genny will only draw from one tank. On the other hand, 1/4 tank should be enough for alll engines to run for a while. Probably your issue is with the fuel line/pump, rather than lack of fuel.
 
quote:
Originally posted by SLW

It's typical for the genny to have it's own pick-up in the tank, and it's mounted higher than the pick-up for propulsion engines.

Click to expand...


I did not know that. Score one more for BE.
 
Another vote for it likely being due to the fuel pickup being higher for the genset. I found this out the hard way last summer on our Tiara when I was running the tank low (down to 22%)in anticipation of a fuel truck coming to fuel a handful of our boats and my genset ran out of fuel.

max
 
I ve seen higher pick up for gensets... Petty common when things are plumbed directly instead of having fuel manifolds.
 
Our old Carver 3807 only drew fuel from one tank for the genset and yes, it's pick up tube was shorter than the tube for the main engine. We had to have at least a 30% full tank for the genset to run. Any less than that and we were out of luck.
 
it is true on our Maxum. Have had the gen cut out twice when we got below quarter tank.
 
True on my Mainship where we have a common 310 gallon fuel tank. If we get bellow 25% fuel the generator shuts off due to fuel starvation. The generators fuel pickup tube is shorter than both engines.
Bill
 
To follow up . I added fuel to the tank but no difference, still wouldn't start. I opened up the air filter and sprayed some starting fluid in. She started an ran good after that. Thanks for all the advice and help.
 
Be careful of using started fluid. I've often heard that everytime you use it, it's the equivalent of adding 50 hours of use to the engine. the reason...when you use it, the fluid washes down the oil on the cylinder walls to the point you have bare metal rubbing bare metal with no lubricating oil to protect the metals.
 
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