Comments on: Federal Study On Ethanol In Small Engines Released

By: federal-study-on-ethanol-in-small-engines-released - Machine Underground -Tractor & Commercial Equipment Discussion Forum

Mon, 04 May 2009 04:48:27 +0000

[...] Federal Study On Ethanol In Small Engines Released | PowerET Blog | The Official Blog of Power Equip… Here is the full updated report… [...]

By: dshell

dshell — Fri, 12 Dec 2008 14:05:16 +0000

I’m not an expert by any means, but the way I understand it, fuel stabilizers mainly serve as anti-evaporative agents to reduce oxidization, thereby keeping fuel “fresh” longer. Adding a stabilizer wouldn’t affect “percent of ethanol content” at all except only slightly by volume.

The anecdotal evidence I’m hearing is that even though fuel stabilizers help, it’s not advisable to store fuel more than a month, two at the most, with E10, and especially not with higher blends such as E15 and E20. It’s shaping up to be a big consumer education effort by manufacturers, distributors and dealers.

By: Blaine

Blaine — Mon, 08 Dec 2008 18:25:37 +0000

How does the introduction of stabilizers affect the percent of ethanol content, especially when left over the winter

By: Railroad Bob

Railroad Bob — Mon, 08 Dec 2008 17:09:45 +0000

Ethanol will play havoc in any fuel system if it sits up for any length. The boating and marine industry is currently making a big fuss about the use of Efuel engines.

Stabil, however, appears to be tapping the market with an “ethanol” fuel treatment that will treat the Efuel.

By: mus302

mus302 — Sat, 06 Dec 2008 07:34:25 +0000

Since the beginning of the 2006 mowing season E10 is all that I have used. And I have had no problems that could be traced to fuel.

By: John Corley

John Corley — Sat, 06 Dec 2008 03:59:42 +0000

The life of the fuel was a significant problem prior the the introduction of “corn squeesins” a good preservative “we use seafoam” extends the usable life to 3-4 months comfortably and tends to moderate the agressive chemical reaction as oxidation of the fuel occurs.
Where possible , we try to richen the mixture a little more agressively to prevent the lean running seen with the hotter burning blends. Sometimes the carburetors require jet modifications, and we reduce the idle and sometimes reindex the choke mechanism to cause a richer burn. This probably defeats the purpose of the blend, but we minimize comebacks.

Fuel lines have been a big problem. We recently changed to a Tygon type product across the board. I don’t know if the light exposure due to the lines being clear is good or bad chemically, but it sure makes it easier to see if you have a fuel supply issue.

By: Steve

Steve — Fri, 05 Dec 2008 18:27:57 +0000

Well, ya’ll might as well get used to the idea of methanol, thank you Californi-eh.
Here in NY we’ve had the stuff for the 2nd year now. Most of the fuel lines that were going to wilt, have, and have been replaced with newer and more resilient stuff. (Example: Stihl FS55 with the green fuel line vs. the original black line). Now it looks like everything is running leaner than ever with the Ethanol.

Before this it was MTBE destroying Tecumseh’s Walbro carbs (they needed to fix their metallurgy, such as the Keihin on the Honda’s). The problem is, our industry generally runs slow, because there is not much $$ feeding it! Research and development costs lots of $$$$ that frankly is just not there, thanks to big box stores discounting of everything. That will only get worse with chinese knockoff stuff. And now, Tecumseh apparently will not even exist as a company after this year (2008). fun fun.

For years, and now more than ever, we have been telling everyone to:
1. Use high test fuel (93 octane).
2. Keep fuel no longer than 1 month.
3. Shake can every time you use it.
4. When you empty the can, check it for water and debris. Keep it clean.
5. Use only high grade premix (Stihl, Remax, Amsoil….)
6. No cheap gas stations (I don’t care what anyone says; I had a customer repeatedly kill his stuff on Stew_arts fuel, after he changed to a reputable brand, no more piston/ring/cylinder scores!)

By: Chuck Oliver

Chuck Oliver — Fri, 05 Dec 2008 17:18:33 +0000

Gasoline has been the bane of the small engine industry since the early 70′s (our first energy crisis). Your April 08 article, Consumer Education Reduces Fuel-Related Service Issues, is be far the most comprehensive, useful, printed offering I have seen to date. Perhaps the biggest problem with gas today is shelf life. In the southern tier of NYS we are provided with gas that will not function in 2-cycle engines in as few as 10 days. We, in the business I own, have been preaching the issues of “old gas” for years.

By: dshell

dshell — Fri, 05 Dec 2008 16:33:02 +0000

The spread of ethanol-blended retail gasoline is one thing we’re looking to get a handle on in a future blog or magazine report: How fully it’s penetrated various markets around the U.S. Here at powerETblog headquarters, E10 wasn’t widely available until August 08 in the greater Montgomery tri-county fuel market, and I’m betting a lot of homeowners won’t be seeing ethanol issues until mower startup season next spring.

One note: When I was driving around looking to take the ethanol stciker photo for this blog post, I ran across a Chevron station still selling the good ol’ unblended straight stuff gasoline. With prices as low as they are now, I’ll probly start getting my gas there until they either switch to blended or the inevitable price upturn occurs.

By: Billy

Billy — Fri, 05 Dec 2008 16:11:14 +0000

You should see the work orders since E-10 showed up in March. We have had one station out of ten that stuck with selling non-ethanol fuel. After nine hard months of getting the word out by us,our customers who have seen and paid for the issues it’s caused, and the local auto and marine dealers who have ,also saw countless problems with their customers.We now have only four stations still selling E-10 and there’s no waiting in line at those stations.
We have seen issues with fuel lines,diaphrams,inlet seats and needle tips,o-rings,seals and even fuel filters dissolving ,Not to mention the water and corrosion issues. It has cost my customers a lot of money and there is no since in it.
Can’t we all just go back to eating corn like we used to do?