Diesel fuel in a gasoline engine

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levittownnick

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Is there any way diesel fuel can be substituted for gasoline in a small engine (10 HP)?
(Diesel fuel is used to make heat & hot water for my house therefore I have a substantial supply on hand. During power outages, gasoline may not be readily available to run a generator. It would be a God-send if I could switch over to diesel.)

Thanks,
Nick
 
R

rbh

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Re: Diesel fuel in a gasoline engine

levittownnick said:
Is there any way diesel fuel can be substituted for gasoline in a small engine (10 HP)?
(Diesel fuel is used to make heat & hot water for my house therefore I have a substantial supply on hand. During power outages, gasoline may not be readily available to run a generator. It would be a God-send if I could switch over to diesel.)

Thanks,
Nick
Click to expand...

Years ago tractor motors could be started on gas and when warmed up switched over to diesel or kerosene, but your little gen set would just die if you tried it I think.
Time to get a diesel gen set.

You can get propane conversion kits if that helps?
 
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levittownnick

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Re: Diesel fuel in a gasoline engine

I don't have a supply of propane available so that would not help.
Thanks for the good thought,
Nick
 
Grub54891

Grub54891

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Re: Diesel fuel in a gasoline engine

levittownnick said:
Is there any way diesel fuel can be substituted for gasoline in a small engine (10 HP)?
(Diesel fuel is used to make heat & hot water for my house therefore I have a substantial supply on hand. During power outages, gasoline may not be readily available to run a generator. It would be a God-send if I could switch over to diesel.)
Click to expand...

Nope!
Some kids cut the lock @ the local town shop,filled up,found the car 1/2 mile down the road broke-down.
Diesels run higher compression for self ignition,a regular motor would never work that way. Yeah it's been done even in the old day's with the hit and miss and throttlers,but by different design.
 
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bigdee

bigdee

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Re: Diesel fuel in a gasoline engine

I had a 1968 F-150 with a 240 six cylinder during the gas shortage of 73 and I ran kerosene in it several times and I honestly could not tell the difference in the way it ran. I had to start it on a little gas until warm then switch over. I have used it in my riding mower after running out of gas and not having time to go to the store.
 
Volphin

Volphin

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Re: Diesel fuel in a gasoline engine

Years ago GM tried to make a gas engine a diesel. It did not end well AT ALL.
 
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H20Rat

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Re: Diesel fuel in a gasoline engine

bigdee said:
I had a 1968 F-150 with a 240 six cylinder during the gas shortage of 73 and I ran kerosene in it several times and I honestly could not tell the difference in the way it ran. I had to start it on a little gas until warm then switch over. I have used it in my riding mower after running out of gas and not having time to go to the store.
Click to expand...

I burn kerosene/white gas in my rc airplanes, which are using homelite 25cc weedeater engines. They run great on it (using spark ignition, they are NOT dieseling), and its far easier to transport than gasoline. But... that said, kerosene is still quite a bit different than diesel. Much shorter hydrocarbon chains, much lower parafin content. Think of it as the midpoint between gasoline and diesel. Diesel fuel needs high compression to keep it going reliably, a spark isn't enough.
 
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CheckFire

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Re: Diesel fuel in a gasoline engine

If you keep an eye on craigslist ect you may be able to find a diesel welder generator for a good price.
Had a friend that got one that could run his whole house while he welded away for 800.
 
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frantically relaxing

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Re: Diesel fuel in a gasoline engine

Back in high school, and this was before unleaded gas, my friend pulled his '60 chevy into a gas station, and about a minute later he's yelling in horror "I JUST PUT DIESEL FUEL IN!!" -- He probably got 3 or 4 gallons of diesel in, then followed it with gasoline. Mix was probably 4:1 gas to diesel- it smoked a little, but it ran fine. We joked later about using diesel because it was cheaper (even tho gas was 27 cents a gallon) ;)

Ergo, you might get away with a diesel-gas mixture, which would obviously require some experimentation, but I don't think straight diesel would work very well..
 
Scott Danforth

Scott Danforth

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Re: Diesel fuel in a gasoline engine

levittownnick said:
Is there any way diesel fuel can be substituted for gasoline in a small engine (10 HP)?
(Diesel fuel is used to make heat & hot water for my house therefore I have a substantial supply on hand. During power outages, gasoline may not be readily available to run a generator. It would be a God-send if I could switch over to diesel.)

Thanks,
Nick
Click to expand...

are you using diesel fuel, or fuel oil for your hot water and heat? if so, not the same fuel.

And as been covered, to answer your question short of replacing your generator with a diesel unit, NO
 
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82rude

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Re: Diesel fuel in a gasoline engine

frantically relaxing ,you must be real real old:D .unleaded fuel has been around since the beginning of gas motors!the standard marine fuel up until the mid 50,s was unleaded.did you know that at one time if you ran a mercury on leaded fuel you could void the warranty!!I got this info from and excellent article in woodenboat mag. number 91 by Gordon h miller who was an engineer with ethyl corp in the 40,s and 50,s and a long time participant to introduce leaded fuel into the industrial and marine business.its and excellent article for anybody that's interested.he was also the vice pres ,engineering, for deere and company and many other positions in the auto and marine field.as to this orginal post my brother has direct experience with using diesel in gas motors.they run great for a minute or more ,then proceed to blow up catastrophically.p.s. one of the motors that blew was a genny.
 
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F

frantically relaxing

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Re: Diesel fuel in a gasoline engine

...My 'before unleaded gas" remark meant before unleaded gas started showing up at typical gas stations around 1973 or so...

I'm pretty old, but not older than dirt! (or gasoline!)

;)
 
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levittownnick

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Re: Diesel fuel in a gasoline engine

I knew that I came to the right place for this question and I thank all for your input. It is great to have this resource to thrash out ideas.

After reviewing the above responses it is clear to me that using diesel fuel in a gasoline engine is futal and therefore I have given up on that idea.

Thanks to all,
Nick
 
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