Engine who makes my engine

[bmeister]

I have a 5500 watt Westinghouse generator and was wondering if anyone can tell me who made the engine. It is only about 8 years old and have been told that parts are no longer available for it. Hope someone out there can help. Thanks
Bruce

 

[StarTech]

well we will need more info. So far all we got is that it is a Westinghouse 5500 watt generator. No model number to even to start research. From what I see so far (WGen5500) that going be a cloned engine sold under the Westinghouse name so that is not a good starting point if parts are needed.

But you can look-up some of the parts by images at https://generatorguru.com/wgen5500/.

 

[bmeister]

I know better than to just ask a question without anything to go on. It was just an instant thought when I asked the question so I will get as much info as I can find and let you know. Thank you.

 

[bmeister]

OK, now that Christmas is behind us, Model number on the Westinghouse generator is WH5500, serial number is 10520A0113100207, part number is 10520. A little story about my project. This generator belongs to a guy that I know, not well enough to call him a friend yet but he told me he took it to a repair shop to be fixed. He was charged $70 and was told they couldn't fix it because no parts were available anymore. I told him to bring it to me and I would look at it. Since I wrote last I have cleaned the carb and fixed his gas leak. Didn't have a kit for the carb but can get one if I have any problems. The carb is made by Huayi in Japan. That carb I found out is also used on some Honda equipment. What this guy would like for me to do is set it up to run on propane. Can you give me some info on a kit to do that. Want something of some quality insead of the cheapest stuff you can buy. Thank you.
Bruce

 

[StarTech]

Parts go to the following site. This one of those Chinese dump on America generators. No real IPL available.

https://generatorguru.com/wh5500-1/

No have no idea what it takes to convert to Propane.

 

[Rivets]

As to my knowledge you won’t be able to convert these Chinese engines to propane, because they don’t make a carb for that application.

 

[bmeister]

As to my knowledge you won’t be able to convert these Chinese engines to propane, because they don’t make a carb for that application.

Rivets
I found a kit on Amazon that is a carb and regulator for LPG or NG but gasoline is not part of it. Sent the manufacturer a question about a kit to work with this carb that would add LPG to it. If I get a positive response I will post it. I know the carb was made in Japan. I have a little more respect for teachers than that. I had a couple of darn good ones when I was a kid. That was a long time ago.

 

[Rivets]

Please don’t trust Amazon when trying to do what you want to accomplish. I’m sure that many other techs on this site will agree. To often what Amazon says is not what they deliver. It’s your money you can do as you please, but if you still want to attempt, only get your parts from the engine manufacturer who tells you “THESE PARTS WILL DO THE JOB FOR YOU” and offers some sort of return policy. Good Luck

 

[bertsmobile1]

There is more to it than just changing the carb and IMHO to do this would be akin to throwing a rope around big tree , tieing a noose then putting your head in it .
Small propane engines need a different cam to work properly and by prefference one without any valve overlap as the combustable air : fuel ratio for propane is a lot wider than for petrol:air
So there will be a high chance of ending up with a nasty fire in your "not quite a friend's" basement / garage or where ever they run it .
If he wants a gas powered generator tell him for safety sake to buy a proper gas engine.
On top of that a converted engine will be lucky to put out 80% of its rated power and use 30% more fuel doing it .
I ran a fleet of LPG powered delivery vans and when ever possible we fitted fork lift engines into them .
On those you would not notice the fact they were LPG powered
The vans with venturi rings on the carb used near double the fuel for substantially less performance
The ones with a computer controlled variable rate feed venturi rings ran substantially better but still used a lot of fuel, even on the EFI engines.
The 2 we had that had direct LPG injection were head & shoulders better , used a lot less fuel & had substantially more power.
Of those one was a 2 lite tow motor engine ( genuine gas engine ) which had noticeably more power and used less fuel than the 2.4L converted to LPG engine
I drove that one most of the time , 15km/L the diesel van ( same body ) only got 11 km/L .
Right now I am looking for Taxi Pack gas powered wreck to pinch the genuine LPG engine out of it for the current van .
Going full gas in vehicles would cut the CO2 by 10% to 30% and makes more sense than going to EV's

 

[troverman]

Seems like a lot of effort to fix up what amounts to a poor quality generator in the first place. I'm not sure a different camshaft is needed to change lift and duration, considering there are many gasoline automobiles which are converted to LPG without swapping cams. Running propane also means running more of it - propane engines get the worst fuel economy. On the upside, propane never goes bad. If I really wanted propane, I'd get a generator designed to run on it from the start.