Quote:
Originally Posted by teejk
I got that ethanol thing from the guy that I buy my power equipment from after hearing it from a friend that works for a utility company...
go ahead and google <ethanol fuel separation>...my take is that ethanol fuel not used promptly is poison in air-cooled machines. the articles all talk about water absorbtion but I think it's more about burning pure alchohol (HOT) when it separates.
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You are talking about "phase separation". Ethanol mixes easily with gasoline. Ethanol also mixes easily with water.
An ethanol/gasoline combo can hold a slight amount of water in suspension and run it right through the engine without problems.
The problems start when the fuel combo absorbs too much water for the gasoline to hold in suspension and the water falls to the bottom of the tank. Thus, you'll have basically watery fuel on the bottom, water/ethanol/gasoline in a middle layer and gasoline, robbed of it's octane in the top layer as the light stuff in the gasoline has settled to lower layers.
This is VERY generic description of what happens to E 10 gasoline when left exposed to the atmosphere or even an uncapped can that sits out in the rain.
Use ONLY SEALED gas cans for your small engine gasoline storage and rotate it frequently and I don't think you will have problems with E 10.
PS. Once phase separation takes place in your gasoline, the best thing you can do is dispose of it. It cannot be recycled to make it a usable fuel. If you try it, guaranteed you will have problems.