I was getting the snow blower ready for winter and when I went to fill the tank noticed the gas in the can was cloudy. The gas was purchased around the beginning of Oct and stored with a tight lid so I cant imagine it has gone bad...or has it???? Is it ok to use?
I called the gas station but they don't seem to know anything.
If the gas temperature was much below 32 degrees, then the alcohol in the gasoline has absorbed water and it has frozen out of solution in the alcohol. Just a guess, as you mentioned snow!
Paul
I had that happen too. Turns out it was water in the gas. Don't know how it got there. I dumped it out.
I think I'd use it to kill grass, start fires, or clean brushes.
Dump it in my car? Not on *your* life.
If I was going to trust a filter [which I wouldn't] - I'd put one on the snowblower. [I have one on mine, but still wouldn't put questionable gas in it.]
Jim
Sounds like water. Probably too late to see if gas station is at fault. Chamois filter idea sounds good or maybe even dry paper.
A gallon or so of gasoline contaminated with a small amount water (or other normally undesireable product such as 2 stroke oil or diesel fuel) will not harm a car if added to a nearly full (let's say 15 gallons or more) tank. If you believe it to be water add a can of drygas if your area doesn't use ethanol blended gasonline) This is SOP for many vehicle fleet operators to get rid of such contaminants without having to go the hazardous disposal route & the attendant documention requirements and costs. (Speaking from
34 years experience in vehicle fleet maintenance & management)
Not entirely correct. Genuine, new chamois, first soaked in clean gasoline can be effective enough for a snow blower, though certainly would not be recommended for an airplane.
See for instance:
Gasoline is not hygroscopic unless it has been blended with ethanor or other hygroscopic compounds.
Just what I feared. I'll prolly toss the gas on the brush pile.
I thought the term was "miscible". When you mix alcohol with gasoline the mixture is miscible with water because the alcohol is miscible with both water and gasoline. I thought "hygroscopic" referred to solid compounds?
harry wrote in news:c83b59a8-edfc-4905-b0cf- snipped-for-privacy@c18g2000yqj.googlegroups.com:
I don't believe gasoline/petrol/benzine (US/UK/NL) is hygroscopic. Most likely, a tank that is less than full and equilibrated with ambient temperature, humid air will exhibit condensation when tem[erature plummets, either with altitude, or cold nights. Once condensed, water will not easily evaporate from the gas.
Ethanol in the gas will actually help dissolve any water that gets in the tank, although I believe the additive that used to be sold to help dissolve condensed water in a tank was methanol, not ethanol.
Be sure to get a fire started before tossing the gas. Ask me how I know!
Paul
You evidently are correct for the terminology that a chemist would use, though I believe that 2 liquids being miscible does not necessarily imply an attraction between the 2 of them the way that "hygroscopic" does for a substance that attracts water. My background is in vehicle and mobile equipment maintenance, where the term "hygroscopic" is commonly used to describe the affinity that DOT 3 (glycerine based) brake fluid and some other automotive fluids seem to have for water.
Hummm, very true in many circumstances, the terminology across fields often morphs into different but similar meanings. I remember studying for my broadcast engineers license that the instructor said that when asking the phone company engineers to give you more volume on your leased line for a program feed, you don't tell them to increase the gain, you have to ask them to lessen the loss. ^_^
TDD
harry wrote in news:77d74da9-a74f-41cc-a2c8- snipped-for-privacy@o13g2000vbo.googlegroups.com:
hygroscopic means attracts water. At any given temperature, ambient humidity and pressure, there is a certain amount of water that can dissolve in any fluid, including gasloine. If then the temperature falls, such as when the gas is evaporating, or at high altitude, the water comes outof solution very easily and then is bad for aviation engines. Hence the need for determining exact water content of the gas.
I've told Harry before that I am a chemist. He pays no attention to me. You can't teach stupid ;)
harry wrote in news:e5eef018-d058-4765-88a2- snipped-for-privacy@f35g2000yqm.googlegroups.com:
It's a question of definition. Gasoline is NOT hygrosacopic by itself, which does NOT mean that a little water cannot dissolve in it, and certainly doesn't mean that water condensation insode the tank cannot occur. Sorry for the many double negatives.
Calcium chloride (solid) IS hygroscopic and will attract water until it is dissolved in a puddle of water.
Is that sufficient illustration of the definition of hygroscopic?
harry wrote in news: snipped-for-privacy@gl2g2000vbb.googlegroups.com:
Pay attention, especially to where it was said that water can condense inside a tank, and contaminate the gasoline stored there (either in the main storage tanks or the airplane's tank). It is likely that a little dissolved water isn't as bad as a fine emulsion of excess condensed water (cloudy gas). For internal combustion engines water is likely much more of a problem than in a jet.
in news:77d74da9-a74f-41cc-a2c8-
Nobody said you could not get water in your gas. It need not be hygroscopic for it to get there. Finer points are lost on you.
Frank wrote in news:ed8b2770-dbae-44fc-a297- snipped-for-privacy@m10g2000vbc.googlegroups.com:
Good points. :)
Me thinks harry is either mentally retarded or a troll.
HomeOwnersHub website is not affiliated with any of the manufacturers or service providers discussed here. All logos and trade names are the property of their respective owners.