From Popular Mechanics:
"Small-engine repairmen tell PM that ethanol mixed with gasoline is corroding and damaging chain saws, string trimmers and other outdoor equipment at an alarming clip. As a result, a new market is growing in U.S. hardware stores: Ethanol-free gas packaged in small cans that sell at a premium but promise to make your small engines last."
My chainsaw and string trimmer have been running on 100ll AvGas for the last 2 years. (left over from friend's ultralight plane -40:1 premix.
My lawn mower and snow blower run on Shell Ultra - which in Canada is still ethanol free.
No, ethanol is added in Missouri as a mandate as gasoline hits a certain selling point. It has nothing to do with octane levels, but government stupidity.
The issue is letting gas sit for months to absorbe water, Sthil recomends something like 60 days max for storing gas, they introduced that product for European gas which is notoriously bad. When I was there in the 60s the gas was so crappy our 67 TBird with a 390 often could Not run without a liter or TWO of alcohol dumped in to keep it from knocking. Once a tank of gas was so bad the car barely made it up a hill. We dumped in 4 Liters of alcohol to get it to tun again. So European gas itself can ruin equipment. At 110000 the tbird died with a hole in the piston from years of pre ignition. We have had gasohol for maybe 35 years? I dont remember ever hearing any dramatic life cycle difference before gasohol. From what I see just dont keep gas around more than a few months. You dont see major 2 stroke companies like Echo getting less engine life over the last 10 years, Echo now gets longer life. I think its a marketing gimmic, something someone thinks will just make money them money. I have seen actualy less water related issues with my cars since gasohol was introduced. And what about shelf life,and octane, buy a quart of that crap thats been in the store 6 months and its already deteriorated and of less octane than it advertises. Just buy less and dont store it. And run the tank dry if its stored for more than a few months.
Its far better to run it dry and not to keep old gas for more than a few months even in a can.
And then you can Drink it!
My snowblower has only ever had the E10 ethanol gas used in it. Bought it in 1985. Still starts on the first pull. My brother-in-law uses the ethanol fuel mix in his chainsaws with the same result: there are no problems.
These claims made the rounds back in the 80s when the fuel mixture changed. They've resurrected now because of the introduction of E15 and E20 ethanol mixtures into the marketplace. But the higher-percentage ethanol mixtures are rarely offered, so they're easy to avoid. As for the E10 mix, there's no issue with it.
Right, in Chicago where I am i think in the late 70s, early 80s we had ethanol, all my motors last till the compression is shot, i get 15 or so years out of my 2 and 4 stroke and no lawn guy or motor repair service has ever said here to get real gas. Corrosion is old gas, and old gas causes other problems like Varnish. That line i read about blowing pistons is crap also since alcohol actualy raises compression because it take a higher temp to ignite. Bad gas old gas would be the factor, not alcohol. Just dont keep it around more than a few months, dump it in your car. E15 E20 in theory should be the same. Are there even issues with E85 in motor vehicles?
I wonder how much advertising revenue Popular Advertising, I mean Popular Mechanics, is getting from the "gas in a can" company.
Jon
If it sits on the shelf to long, and at that price, its crap in a can.
If it don't frig up your car or truck or motorcycle why should it frig up your lawn mower or leaf blower? I've had no trouble. I don't drain nothing, starts every year just fine.
Because it can evarporate in the carb leaving behind a varnish coating, in your car you drive it, and fuel injection is sealed.
NOT TRUE. Just because you have E10 does not mean you WILL have problems - in a very dry atmosphere you can often get away with it - and plastic tanks are less likely to get condensation than metal tanks - ditto for full vs half empty., and non-vented tanks (like on my chain-saw).
However, when ethanol fuel is combined with high humidity and extreme temp changes, water DOES get absorbed by the ethanol, and itf that moisture level gets high enough, and then the temperature drops, for instance, you WILL get phase separation, where the alky and water drop out of the fuel mix - and at higher power settingsparicularly on 2 stroke engines, the engine goes lean (and loses lubrication as well) when that slug of watered down hooch hits theengine - and engine damage occurs.
That is ONE documented problem with hooch-gas.
The SECOND problem is when that watered down hooch sits in the carb and corodes all the copper-containing parts. That's anything brass, as well as a lot of alloy parts. Known as the "greenies", this corrosion product plugs up jets and generally just fouls up everything it gets close too.
The THIRD problem is the hooch is an oxidizer. That's why it is added to the fuel - to make the fuel burn "cleaner" But over time, the oxidizer oxidizes the fuel without burning it - forming a "varnish" that also changes the calibration of the carb by half plugging the jets, and makes float valves stick, damage diphragms in diaphragm carbs and pulse pumps.
That's only THREE reasons Hooch-Gas is not good for (particularly) small engines.
There are others, but these are the main 3 - and NONE of them are "old wives tales" or "Urban Legends", OR inconsequential.
I'll take issue with a couple things.
First of all, in the T-Bird it wasn't the octane of the Alky that killed the engine. The octane of the fuel itself was low ("regular" grade euro gas in the seventies was something like 85 octane by our RM/2 rating) and the 390 neaded a minimum 89. They may have also had water in the gas.
Adding too much alky to the fuel mix causes engine damage because it LEANS THE MIXTURE. If the carb calibration is not changed to handle the fuel, alky leans the mixture by half. So, 10% alky leans the mixture by 5%, 20% alky by 10%, etc. A lean mixture under power takes out pistons.
Also, although alky DOES raise the octane, it is NOT because it"takes a higher temperature to ignite" Octane rating is a measurement of resistance to DETONATION, which is uncontrolled burning of disassociated "end gasses" in the combustion chamber.
As for E85 in motor vehicles, dang right there are issues if the engine is not "flex fuel" or "E85" calibrated. In fuel injected engines Alky is LESS of a problem than in carbureted engines, due in large part to the electronic controls that allow the engine to recalibrate itself to provide the right mixture and the right ignition timing to protect itself.
And YES, OLD gas is most often the issue - but OLD gas with alky is not as old, chronologically, as old gas without. (alky fuel does not store well)
As the article said, automobiles do not use plastic or rubber parts sensitive to alcohol and are equipped with computers that drive the fuel injectors.
AvGas is a sealed can is still AvGas after 5 years. Regular gasoline in a sealed can would be reasonable too, but I wouldn't bet on gasahol.
There is also "TANK STETCHER" you can buy in a sealed can, that you pour into your tank when you run out of gasoline to get you off the highway and hopefully to a gas station. It has something like a 5 year shelf life - but you need to use it while the engine is still warm - you could have problems restarting a cold engine because it's vapour pressure and volatility is quite low.
If your doctor IS taking new patients, maybe the old ones are dead?
Mark
Er, yeah.
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