My gas generator (only about 50 hrs) was VERY hard to crank and will only run with the choke on full. I start it about once every 3 months and let it run for about 20 minutes. Never had a problem till I lost power. I thought it would eventually choke down running like that but it didn't.

Ethanol probably is the problem. Drain the tank and the carb and put either non ethanol or gas treated for ethanol. See if that don't fix it.

And remove all the jello looking stuff from the carb in the process. Been there, done that.

That is exactly why I am about to buy a propane generator.

Drain the gas and run a treatment of seafoam through it with a tank of non ethanol gas. Also check the plugs. Whenever you exersize it run it with a load. Always let it run out of gas when shutting off by cutting off the fuel and treat your fuel with Stabil. I had an old genny at the cabin and the ethanol gas eventually delaminated the fuel lines - as long as yours is not over 10 years old it should be ok on the lines. If it's still running rough try cleaning the carb.

Or your fuel line could be crimped and or clogged.
Slow down and look at the fuel line good.
Take it off and inspect it. 5 min job

Thanks for all the good suggestions. I'll let you know what works.

Dad just bought a turn-key propane one because he keeps his 90yr old step mother there on oxygen. That thing is nice. looks like he chopped the front end off a kubota, cut of the axle, and ran a copper pipe to it.

we have an older one at the house. Every year I have to take the can carb off and clean it out to get the float moving. I just take the tank off and clean the lines and carb out. plus you never know what the heck vibrates loose.

I try to crank my generator once a week. Usually it ends up being about every two weeks though.

I'm going to get THIS ONE on the tax free weekend in July for all disaster supplies. It is enough to pull a fridge and deep freeze. The way I look at it is when a disaster strikes everyone goes crazy over gas, you can always go get a bottle if you need one. I have a 100 gallon propane that just feeds my fire place that I am going to run a line off of for my shop and 2 - grill bottles that are always full. Propane doesn't go bad either, or at least not like gas does.

I thought about buying a propane one a few years ago, but went with gas, cuz if I have a problem with it during an outage, I can more than likely fix it myself. I've never worked on a propane powered engine. Plus I could siphon my neighbors gas from their vehicles if I had to.