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Stabil again
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Mr. Luddite
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First recorded activity by BoatBanter: Aug 2013
Posts: 6,972
Stabil again
On 1/26/2015 8:41 PM,
wrote:
On Mon, 26 Jan 2015 17:23:05 -0500, "Mr. Luddite"
wrote:
On 1/26/2015 5:10 PM,
wrote:
On Mon, 26 Jan 2015 15:56:03 -0500, "Mr. Luddite"
wrote:
My experience with lawnmowers was that draining the gas at the end of
the year usually resulted in leaks and float problems in the spring.
I just leave the gas in them now, along with a shot of Stabil. No
problems with leaks or floats since.
Never let logic get in the way of a good anecdote I guess.
Virtually every small engine tool I have ever bought had instructions
not to store them full of fuel. The generator in my garage even has a
fitting in the fuel line to drain the tank. E-10 even makes that a
worse idea.
Who reads the instructions? :-)
Why is E-10 worse? If the fuel lines and other components are
designed for E-10 what harm does it do? I can certainly understand
older systems that were never designed for it. My last boat had
newer, USCG approved fuel lines but they were not E-10 rated. The
surveyor picked up on it and recommended replacing them.
The short answer is phase separation.
E10 absorbs water and pretty soon the alcohol gets saturated and comes
out of solution.
It is a good news bad news situation. The stuff at the top of the tank
is low octane gas. The stuff in the bottom, where the pickup sits, is
low octane vodka sludge. It will not burn and it is pretty nasty on
everything on the fuel system.
Greg, there are millions of cars and trucks running just fine on E-10,
E-15 and E-85 and they tend to run longer (much higher mileage in
today's engines) with no negative affects due to ethanol.
Eethanol's primary purpose is that of an
oxygenater to reduce carbon and unburned fuel in emissions. It
was introduced to replace methyl tertiary butyl ether (MTBE) that was
banned because it was contaminating groundwater.
The phase separation you mention might be a problem in large fuel tanks
(like in a car or boat) if the gas sits for years but I don't think
it's a big deal in a little generator with a gallon of gas in it or a
lawn mower with even less. In any case, I've never had a problem with
it in the generator or small engine gas tanks, even after sitting for years.
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