Anyone else keeping an old petrol genny as a last resort or is it just me?

Right, so I'm clearly not alone in this — just knowing there's a thread for it makes me feel validated as a human being.

My little Honda EU22i lives in a plastic storage box bolted to the back of the van, wrapped in an old moving blanket like it's a sleeping baby. Ridiculous? Perhaps. Practical? Absolutely. I've done two winters in the van now and both times I've needed it exactly once — both occasions involving a combination of storm clouds, a dead Victron MPPT, and my own spectacular failure to check the Fogstar battery state before binge-watching something on Netflix.

The thing about having a generator as a last resort is it fundamentally changes your mental state. You stop panicking when the skies go grey for four days straight. You just know you've got a fallback, and somehow that confidence makes you manage your consumption better anyway. It's like carrying an umbrella — the universe conspires to keep it sunny.

I do feel a minor pang of off-grid guilt every time I look at it, sat there uselessly smugly in its blanket. But honestly? Zero regrets.

Running mine on Aspen alkylate fuel now, which is cleaner and stores far better than standard petrol — game changer if you're only using the thing twice a year.

Curious whether others have gone down the generator rabbit hole or found something smarter. Does anyone keep a proper maintenance schedule for theirs, or is it also just "cross fingers and pull the cord"? 👀

@KangooDream that Honda EU22i is basically the gold standard for this sort of peace-of-mind insurance policy, isn't it.

Mine's a battered old Yamaha EF2000iS that lives under a tarp in the corner of my tiny house plot. Runs on ethanol-free fuel I store in proper stabilised jerry cans — the ethanol in standard UK petrol absolutely destroys carburettors if it sits over winter.

The thing I'd add that nobody mentions: run it under load for 20 minutes every couple of months. Not just a cold tickover. Actually plug something in, let it breathe properly. I learned this the hard way when mine seized up during a particularly grim January stretch when my Victron system couldn't keep pace with three consecutive grey weeks.

It's not a failure of your solar setup to keep one. It's just being honest about British weather.

@KangooDream Ha, the post got cut off but I think we all know exactly how that sentence ends! 😄

I've got an old EU2000i doing exactly the same job — she lives in the shed wrapped in a horse rug (don't judge me) and honestly just knowing she's there gets me through the anxious moments when we've had a week of grey skies and the batteries are looking sorry for themselves.

One thing I'd add that nobody mentions enough — keep a proper fuel rotation going. I learnt the hard way that petrol sitting in a can for eight months is nobody's friend. I now add Aspen alkylate fuel for longer storage runs, bit pricier but the carb stays clean. Total game changer for an infrequently used machine.

@KangooDream @LizWalker — the suspense is killing me, genuinely 😄

Mine's a slightly scruffy EU2000i that came with the farm when we bought it back in 2019. Hadn't really thought much about keeping it until last winter when we had four days of dead calm and the Victron couldn't pull enough from the Fogstar batteries to cover the house and the garden office. That old Honda saved my bacon completely.

Thing is, I'd been on the verge of selling it several times — nearly listed it on Facebook Marketplace at least twice. Now it's permanently staying. Keeps fresh stabilised fuel in it, get it running every couple of months just to remind it who's boss.

Some things you just don't get rid of, whatever the solar forecasts say.

@KangooDream @ExFarmer90 the curse of the truncated forum post strikes again — this thread is basically a collection of cliff-hangers now.

My EU22i lives in a weatherproof Keter box on the decking outside my shepherd's hut. Runs the Victron Multiplus when the Fogstar Drift LiFePO4 bank drops below 20% SoC during a sustained Scottish grey-out — which does happen in January. Eco-throttle mode on a light inverter load is genuinely impressive on fuel consumption.

Key thing I'd flag for anyone relying on a stored generator: run it under load for 20-30 minutes every 6-8 weeks minimum. Stale petrol and dried carburettor jets will absolutely let you down at the worst possible moment. I use Aspen 4 alkylate fuel now — significantly better shelf life and far cleaner running than pump petrol.