Random screwing around of the day...
Was looking up some info on a couple of my smaller engines, and discovered that my flat-head 97cc engine is a honda Gx100 (old style) clone. Well, maybe that means a Gx160 carb will fit on it?
Yup!
Test ran it on propane for a bit, worked well.
Linkage doesn't work the same way, and the bore through the carb is considerably larger (which might mean running it on gasoline might not go so well), but it ran well on propane.
Of course the propane flow control bit decided it wouldn't shut off completely even with no vacuum on it, which isn't right.
This thing:
That's the second one of these that's had an issue. The last one didn't have a hole drilled in it to allow the gas to pass through at all! (I guess that's what I get for buying the absolute cheapest ones I could get my hands on...they're probably rejects).
This is what's inside one:
A simple diaphragm connected to a spring loaded lever/valve. Even a tiny amount of vaccum gets amplified enough to actuate the valve...vacuum created across a venturi in the carb (like the one for gasoline, but it's larger and wide open) which then turns on the flow of propane gas...the more air flowing through the carb, the stronger the vacuum and the more gas that will flow...but it also means with no vacuum, the gas flow is shut off. Or it's supposed to, anyway.
Look at the top of the "bowl":
Little bits of rubber flashing. One of these was stuck to the lip of the valve, preventing it from closing all the way.
You get what you pay for. You wanna save a buck, it'll mean more leg work. (Maybe I should stop being so cheap, since I'm not actually as poor as I act)
On a completely different note, the power was shut off to my building all day as they replaced a power pole up the street. Fortunately, I have a 5kwh, 72v battery sitting on my work bench and a matching 2kw sine-wave inverter. Unfortunately the BMS kept deciding to shut off for no apparent reason and had to be bypassed. After that waste of time, I was the only one on the street with power.
My computer and the internet were only using ~130 watts. Full size i7 desktop, potentially power hungry video card, screen, printer, cable modem...using the power of a couple of incandescent bulbs. Crazy.
I plugged the fridge in too. It was only pulling ~150 more watts when running.
Things sure are crazy efficient these days. 8 hours without power barely put a dent in the 5KWH.