RV Lifestyle & Repair Editors

Simple Generator Precautions when Storing Your RV

RV Lifestyle & Repair Editors
Duration:   1  mins

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Unless you’re a full time RVer, you’re going to be storing your RV for months at a time, depending on the weather. While it’s important to clean out the interior to keep it fresh for the next time you roll, it’s even more important to keep the mechanical parts of your RV in good working order during the storage period. The generator is one piece of equipment that doesn’t do well when it’s ignored for months at a time. If you’re storing your RV for the winter or taking a long break, you have to take care of it on a regular basis if you expect it to be in good running order when you get back on the road.

Some generator models advise an elaborate scheme of filling, running, emptying and cleaning before every storage period. It’s a rare owner who will go through all that trouble every time he wants to store his rig. Instead, there are some basic things you can do to keep the generator in good running order no matter how long you are storing your RV.

In this video, we’ll cover about how much gas to keep in the tank, as well as reasons why monthly maintenance is necessary when storing your RV. Find out about running the generator monthly, as well as what appliances should be plugged in and used at the same time. You’ll see how to deal with propane or diesel generators. Plus get tips on preventing condensation inside fuel tanks and how often each type of generator should be fired up and used when storing your RV.

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When storing your RV for more than a month at a time, it's important to take some precautions with your generator. The first thing you wanna do is make sure you have a full tank of gas in the gasoline models. To Onan and Kohler, and some of the generator companies out in the market today recommend that when you store your gas generator for more than a month, you need to disconnect the fuel line, run the generator till it runs out of fuel, reconnect your fuel line and put some stabilizer through that system, run it for about five minutes, disconnect it again and then run it until it stops. Well, the average RV owner is not gonna do that. What you can do though is once a month, go to your RV, start your generator, run it under load, and that means putting in some type of an appliance, a little space heater, something that's gonna get it close to 30 Amps.

If you just let it run, it's not gonna drive. We're trying to keep it from varnishing up, we're trying to work that generator. It's also gonna keep the seals pliable, as well in the inside. Another tip is make sure that your gas tank is full, you don't want any condensation in that gas tank building up that you would draw to the inside of that and have a stabilizer inside of it. Now for those of you that have a diesel or a propane generator, it's still a good idea, once every month, once every two months, to run that generator.

You don't have to run it under load as much but you wanna keep those seals pliable, that fuel pump, all that stuff inside just needs to be to be ran occasionally just to make sure it stays in working condition. So by taking a little precaution, taking those steps to make sure you do a little bit of preventative maintenance on your generator is gonna help reduce having a problem in the future.

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