Who shuts off the petcock and drains the float bowl?
I always shut them off ...20 years ago parked a honda in my back porch next to gas hot water heater .....long story short carb leaked ....dog barked like hell ....went to back porch and it was a blaze to the tune of 3 k in damages ....I was very lucky and I'm very careful about petcocks, and gasoline ....NEVER PARK A BIKE NEAR A HOT WATER HEATER ...
That is a reason that the Briggs siphon type carb is the way to go if it's not a performance engine. Can't drip fuel on the floor [or fill up the engine crankcase] because of a faulty needle valve. Park that Briggs powered mini anywhere! My basement is full of minisand motor cycles but I drain all the fuel and run them dry if they are going to be stored for a while.
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At work we have gas powered water pumps on the tool trucks and if the fuel doesnt get shut off it will sometimes leak into the engine and make its way to the oil which ...needless to say is not good for the engine.
But that is on a moving vehicle so there is a much higher chance of it doing that.
I still shut the fuel off on everything that has a shut off valveWhen we trailer our toys we make sure the fuel is off just in case.
I would only run the fuel out if the engine was a 2 stroke and not going to be used for some time.
Having been in a house fire myself I will never bring any flammables like gas, nitro RC fuel or even oil based paint into the house especially near the furnace or gas hot water heater.
But that is on a moving vehicle so there is a much higher chance of it doing that.
I still shut the fuel off on everything that has a shut off valveWhen we trailer our toys we make sure the fuel is off just in case.
I would only run the fuel out if the engine was a 2 stroke and not going to be used for some time.
Having been in a house fire myself I will never bring any flammables like gas, nitro RC fuel or even oil based paint into the house especially near the furnace or gas hot water heater.
I've got about 10 motorcycles and one mini. On one of my dirt bikes I left the petcock turned on and it drained fuel all over the floor. My '86 Yamaha SRX 600 has two carbs on a single cylinder engine. I let it sit too long w/gas in the carbs, and now they're plugged up. The bike is packaged compactly, so it's a total pain to pull them for cleaning. Won't let that happen again. I try to run everything regularly. But if a bike's gonna sit for awhile, it gets a full tank of gas w/Sta-Bil added. The full tank helps prevent rusting. I drain the carb(s) and put the battery on a tender, make sure the oil is fresh, and either pump the tires up harder than usual or lift it off the ground if I can to prevent flat spotting the tires. I also change brake fluid regularly, even if the bike isn't ridden a lot. Bringing one back to life is a whole other project.
Here's a pic of the SRX.
Here's a pic of the SRX.