ethanol gas

[jteneyck]

Another "yes" vote.

There is one place in town that sells ethanol free gas.......the farmers co-op.  I get that for all small engines.

But ethanol is only a part of the story.  As EPA is regulating small engines more and more they are being engineered and tuned to tighter tolerances.  So the "I used to leave gas in my lawn mower all winter and it would start on the first pull every time" is often true...but the change is both a gas problem and an engine problem.  So now instead of using an extra pint per year to mow my lawn all summer and keeping a lawn mower for 10-15 years, mowers are dying at 4-5 years and being landfilled (probably too often with gas and oil still in them).  In somebody's world that makes sense.?.?.

Just so you are aware, small engines put out a lot of pollution. 2 strokers in particular are just awful.  Before they had regulations a good size chainsaw could put out more pollution in a few hours than your car would driving across the US.  They are somewhat better now, but still not as low as your car.  I understand how people think regulations are often ill conceived.  I think the ethanol requirement does more harm overall than good.  But regulations are what drove manufacturers to implement fuel injection, electronic ignition, catalytic converters, unleaded fuel, and a whole host of other improvements that have resulted in the long life and low maintenance needs of today's cars and light trucks, without even considering the lower pollution.  Some of those things would likely have happened without regulation, but much later and without direct focus on lower pollution or improved mileage.  A similar transformation is occurring with heavy duty diesels, with similar complaints and benefits.  As one who worked in the automotive supply chain I was certainly happy for the opportunities it afford my company and me, but I'm happier for the cleaner air as I'm sure anyone who's old enough to remember how LA or similar cities used to be is, too.

John

[Robert Adams]

My snow blower was running poorly.  I called the vendor and he asked me when I got the gas.  I told him early in October.  He says that modern gas can only be stored for 30 days before issues with moisture and poor running.

Additionally he reminded me that we had some 70 degree weather back in October and it was 20 degrees lately.  He said condensation would contaminate the gas.

Is there any truth to this?

          Yes out definitely. Alcohol absorbs water like nothing else. Go to one of the gasoline finders like pure gas app and see if you can get gas without ethanol near you. Ethanol is a nasty additive that ruins small engines and lowers fuel economy around 4%. Don't get me wrong ethanol is a great fuel by itself but not mixed with gasoline and not produced how it is in this country.

           Also iirc Briggs and Stratton recommends not keeping gas in a can more than about two weeks or so. Steel gas cans are also a no no as they will accelerate condensation in the can. There are stabilizers that claim to work better with the ethanol but I don't see how they could.

[pprobus]

My snow blower was running poorly.  I called the vendor and he asked me when I got the gas.  I told him early in October.  He says that modern gas can only be stored for 30 days before issues with moisture and poor running.

Additionally he reminded me that we had some 70 degree weather back in October and it was 20 degrees lately.  He said condensation would contaminate the gas.

Is there any truth to this?

Cooler, the issue is not really the ethanol in the gas, its using "old gas".  In the late '80's and early '90's, my parents owned some wooded property that we used for camping.  I bought a used Honda Passport scooter that I left up on that property.  The first few years, I would just leave the scooter over the winter as I would leave it if we were going to return the following weekend, i.e. just turned off the valve and left fuel in the bowl and tank.  Every first running I ended up having to pull the carb and clean it to get it to run right.  There was no ethanol in gas back then, just "pure gas".  After doing that a few times and finally wising up (i was in my late teens early 20's), the last few years I camped there with my parents, I would run the carb dry at the end of the season.  The following spring the scooter would run a little rough until the gas left in the tank over the winter was run out, but ran great when filled with fresh gas.  Granted its not like I did this for 20 years with that scooter so I am sure had this gone on for a long time I would have had to do a normal cleaning, but at least for those last few years I went camping up on that property, I never had to clean the carb.  Oh, before I forget, the scooter is a 4 stroke, so no two stroke oil that may have contributed to any issues that I had with old gas.  And I put quite a few miles on it each season, and when I wasn't riding it, when they got old enough, my nephews and niece rode it for hours, too.

IMHO, probably about 75% to 90% of the issues reported as being related to ethanol being in the gas is false.  Whether you use ethanol free gas or ethanol containing gas, its never a good idea to use old gas.  The only issues that I believe I ran into with ethanol in the gas is that it may have eaten the priming bulbs in two McCollough tools my dad gave me (a chainsaw and a weed whacker).  Granted by about 2005 or 2006, the chainsaw was definitely 20 years old by that time and the weed whacker was around 15 years old, both had their priming bulbs break (just crumbled like a rubbery dust) within a year of each other and both within two or three years of ethanol gas being forced on us.  But that allowed me to justify getting a new chainsaw and weed whacker, so if ethanol did cause that, I'm OK with that. 


Paul

[geek2me]

Is there any truth to this?

Hard to say, sounds reasonable in theory.

However, I can tell you that over the last 30 years or so, I have used gas a year or more old, don't drain the equipment for the winter (or summer), etc.  Basically I have done all the stuff you are not "supposed" to do, with no starting or running problems.

Just started the snowblower I have not run in three years, with the three year old gas, no problems.

YMMV, etc.

[JosephP]

...
Just started the snowblower I have not run in three years, with the three year old gas, no problems.
...

That is surprising.  Even non-ethanol gas will spoil in less time than that.

[Stwood_]

I store 25 or so gallons of regular gas and try to rotate out at 6 months. Never noticed a problem.
It's for the car, truck, tractor, mowers, chainsaws, generator....

Though lately I've been trying to buy the higher priced 91 non ethanol for the chainsaws, because they do run better with higher octane fuel.

[Robert Adams]

I store 25 or so gallons of regular gas and try to rotate out at 6 months. Never noticed a problem.
It's for the car, truck, tractor, mowers, chainsaws, generator....

Though lately I've been trying to buy the higher priced 91 non ethanol for the chainsaws, because they do run better with higher octane fuel.

Climate also has a large influence on how quickly it goes bad. Hot humid climates greatly accelerate the VOCs flashing off and moisture absorption. 

     Ethanol damage has done one thing that's good though. It has made most carb kits not available now. What they have had to do is greatly reduce the price of the entire carb as the aluminum in the carb is often corroded due to the moisture and the small passages can never be cleaned without increasing their size. Many carbs for 2 stroke engines are as little as $15 these days. Even carbs for 4 strokes can be had for as low as that now as well.

[JosephP]

Good point...just replaced snowblower's carb. It was less than $20. No more alcohol for that guy. I didn't look through a lense but old one didn't look bad. Engine runs much better now so something was wrong with it.

[varkpilot]

If I'm hijacking the OP here, I apologize in advance.

What do you do with old ethanol fuel/oil mix gasoline?

[JosephP]

Put it in a nearly full tank in the car (see posts 8 & 9).