The Home Machinist!

GlennW wrote: ↑Tue Mar 26, 2019 8:38 pm The Ethanol free gas still plugs up the idle jet leaving varnish through evaporation.

Been there, done that...

What I am reading is that ethanol makes it happen considerably faster. Don't know if that's true. My impression is that anything over a month is risky.

And apparently it doesn't seem to continue doing harm when you drain or run it dry, or damage those blasted little primer bulbs. I sure don't remember this kind of problem in (many) years past, but many things have changed, so exactly how much is one thing or another I can't say.

Fortunately the small airport near me does sell to the public. I also use the canned gas for the small power tools. The 3200watt generator is diesel and I got that for a sale price that I just couldn't pass up. The story of why it sat at the dealer for 5 years is mind boggling.

Jim B

I'm in for a good mind-boggle story.

Okay; I bought real gas today at Sunoco. I figured it would be $4.00 per gallon. Regular 87 octane was $2.75. Guess what 90 octane gasoline cost? It was $2.89. So apparently, not only is ethanol a crap fuel...it doesn't even save us money.

I'm not quite sure why anyone buys premium at that station, since they can get actual gasoline with a nice octane rating for less.

Meanwhile, Home Depot wants $20.00 per gallon for the same thing with oil mixed in.

I bought a special 5-gallon can for the gas. I'm going to add Sta-bil and oil to it. Who knows? It could help.

I think I'm going to be doing the same thing, though with only 1-2 gallons. In the desert, there's not that much to run for long other than the pressure washer, or maybe chipper 1 or 2 times a year. Everything else is diesel.

I asked about this on a forum for people who cut trees, and they seem to agree that ethanol is a horror for 2-strokes. One guy says Sta-bil doesn't work with ethanol gas and 2-strokes. My guess is that they know what they're talking about.

If you store 2-stokes for any length of time, it’s best to drain all the gas out of them. I use Stabil in mine, but for winter, I empty ‘em egardless. The oil & gas can separate over time, the gas will evapoate, and you can end up with a cab full of oil, instead of mix. If nothing else, it’ll make it hard to fire up the fist time you fill it in spring.

Move to Alaska. All the gasoline is ethanol free.

I Googled around and got some good info.

1. Ethanol-free will last twice as long in storage as corn gas.

2. Additives vary widely in cost and effectiveness.

3. Boating Magazine looked at a bunch of additives, and they claim Biobor EB does a great job and costs about half of what most additives do.

I also learned that tree cutters only consider gas/oil mix good for a month of storage, so I plan to add a stabilizer to my 5-gallon can of real gas and leave the oil out. I have a 2-gallon can I take with me when I cut trees, so I'll add the oil when I transfer the gas to it.

I should be able to get away with leaving gas in my generator for two years. I don't plan to do that, but it sounds like I won't have to worry about three months any more.

Also found an "expert" article that basically says Sta-bil is useless. That would explain why so many people claim to get bad results with it. Article says Sta-bil forms a film on top of the gas, and if you break the film by, say, moving your chainsaw, the Sta-bil stops working. It says Sea Foam mixes with the fuel and does not care if you shake the tank later.

More news. Biobor EB is under $12 on Amazon, but West Marine--no surprise here--charges $25 in its stores.

Well....if it was on the internet......it must be true!

All I know, is I’ve been using Stabil for years, and have not taken apart a carb to de-gunk it since.
And the last couple years, I have been using ethanol free since it became available here.
Pick a flavor of stabilizer, and run with it. Time will tell.