Generator Tune-Up - What Have I done?

Well, if the screw is about a #8 and has a o-ring and pointy end and screws into the main body of the carb, it probably is a mixture adjustment screw.

If it's bigger, has a flat rubber or fiber washer, and screws into the float-bowl, it's probably a drain screw.

In any case you'llprobably get better answers on a small-ening newsgroup, not an electronics group.

Probably true, but there are all kind of guru's here that know all sorts of things.. I once asked abou the best way to make a glass beer bottle into a drinking glass / tumbler and got lots of answers here and almost no answers in alt.rec.glass.cutting or whatever the group is for that was. :-)

Answer to the original,

As Ancient Hacker also said... I'd guess that the screw you turned was just a bowl drain since it was tight when you tried to turn it to the right. Many small carbs have them, and you probably havn't messed anything up.

-Mike

Mike-

The screw is located on the side of the carburetor, but at the very bottom. Your comment that "many small carbs have them", reinforced by the fact that gas did drain, leads me to think everything is OK.

Following Ancient Hacker's suggestion, I searched for a more relavent newsgroup. A semi-close match was rec.motorcycles.tech, where I posted again. Today there are a couple of responses there that don't seem to address the carburetor! One refers to an article from the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology entitled, "Unskilled and Unaware of It: How Difficulties in Recognizing One's Own Incompetence Lead to Inflated Self-Assessments".

Those motorcycle guys sure are an intellectual bunch!

Fred

I see that you had about the same experience that I did with the glass making / cutting community. :)

- Mike

That sounds like the banjo bolt that holds the float bowl on. If you loosen it up go figure fuel will leak out.

James-

There is a hex-head bolt on the bottom that probably holds the bowl in place. The subject screw is on the side near the bottom, screwing in towards the center of the bowl. It has a small hole on the bottom of the tube it screws into, that appears to be the drain.

I ran the engine with the fuel valve shut off and choke on, to run out as much fuel as possible. I removed the screw and there was still a few drops of gas that drained.

The screw has a relatively sharp point and has a spring to keep it from vibrating loose. In other words, it looks just like needle-valve adjustments on other carburetors.

Someone on the rec.radio.amateur.equipment newsgroup posted a link to

which has forums on small engine and generator set repairs. If I have any additional problems, that looks like a good place to find help.

Fred

Hmm that really does sound like the needle valve, be careful not to crank it down too tight, you can squish the tip. It may be for the idle mixture if the engine still runs fine.

Well I'd say it sounded like a needle valve too except that it was tight to start with and when you open it gas pours out.. Does the gas come out some sort of line or hole in the carburator or does it pour out the hole where the screw is?

An easy way to find out what that screw does is simply to remove it.. If it is a needle valve it should come all the way out and look kind of like a needle and be pointed on the end.. If not you'll probably have gas running allover the place.

If it is running correctly now I wouldn't touch it though. Too much potential to make it not run. If anything I'd take the carb and have it cleaned or rebuilt at the local mower shop if it doesn't appear to have any other screws on it.

- Mike

Mike-

It is a needle valve. There is a small hole, perhaps an eighth of an inch diameter, located on the bottom side of the bowl where the needle valve screws in. Yes, gas leaks when the valve is unscrewed, even before it is removed.

There is a paragraph in the owner's manual that says to drain the carburetor before storing the generator for a long period. However, it doesn't say anything about how to do it. I'm hoping that the subject needle valve is intended for that purpose!

I have an old Sears/Generac carburetor that has two such valves, and the owner's manual gives instructions on how to adjust them. One is for no-load and the other for full-load, according to the procedure. The one on the Powermate generator doesn't behave like either of the ones on the Sears/Generac. The engine sound doesn't waver when it is adjusted for either load or no load, and there is never any black smoke from the exhaust.

For the moment, I plan to leave it alone, as the generator seems to be functioning OK. I think the "rough" sound may have smoothed-out after running for a while.

Fred