Ethanol aaaaaarrrrrgggghhhhh!!!!

[dcubfan]

Check out this article from OPEI on the new e-15. Funny how even 15% ethanol isn't recommended on most small engines.

http://www.marketwire.com/press-rele...ou-1334268.htm

[ACecil]

dcubfan, they built an Ethanol plant, behind our house. At times, it does stink pretty good...lol!

[Matt G.]

They tried to build one of those about a mile from me, too. Fortunately, the developer went bankrupt when the economy crashed, and now it will never be built. That cloud did have a silver lining, after all...

[dcubfan]

Yeah, ours really stunk until the epa made them put higher stacks on it, I admit that helps out with the odor. I never realized how much pollutants come from one of those until the big fight was on with ours. I don't have any of the newspaper articles anymore from that time but there is some bad stuff that comes out of that stack. When people from outside of the area come to my place and ask why the smoke is so dark coming from the plant our local joke is we tell them this is the day of the month they burn the check stubs from their subsidy checks lol.

[Merk]

Here is some infomation from that the article that dcubfan posted a link to:

from OPEI
This advisory comes after the decision by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to approve higher levels of ethanol (E15 or 15% ethanol) in gasoline for use in only 2007 and newer automobiles.

and

"The Department of Energy's (DOE) own testing has shown that putting anything other than E10 in non-road, small engines can cause performance irregularities and equipment failure," said Kris Kiser Executive Vice President at the Outdoor Power Equipment Institute. "Consumers need to understand this or they could encounter performance irregularities, increased heat and exhaust temperatures, failure or unintentional clutch engagement when using outdoor lawn and garden equipment."

Notice E15 can cause performance irregularities and equipment failure and E15 is approve for 2007 and newer automobiles. I don't see the word will in the sentence. Any fuel can cause problems if it is not stored right.

The number one problem I see is poor fuel management. The non-ethanol gas isn't the same as it was 5 years ago. Biggest reason is the oil companies are adding more additives to their fuel now than they did 5 years ago. Todays fuel is design for a closed fuel system. The majority of the motors are computer controled and have fuel injectors. All gas (ethanol/gas and straight gas will loose some punch if it isn't stored correctly...which is some of the posters biggest problem. I've ask several questions dealing with fuel storage and haven't had a answer.

I'm not doing anything special with straight or gas that has ethanol in it. I was doing the 30 gas rule before I tried gas with ethanol.

Like it or not ethanol is here to stay. Brazil is having good success with it.

[IAfarmer]

I have 100,000 miles on a Chevy truck that has mainly run on E85. I have done extensive mileage comparisons and came to this conclusion.

As long as the price difference between E85 and E10 is $0.35, it is a break even endeavor.

I have not run enough 87 with No Ethanol to determine a price break there.

What little testing I have done at the blender pump (E20, E40 etc) tells me that we can go to E20 with no difference in fuel mileage with E10.

As for running in small engines, we have had 0 problems in all the cubs we have had, or still have that are abnormal to normal wear and tear using both E10 and E85. You have to pull the choke lever out a bit to richen up the E85 giong into a Kohler 2 cylinder in a 782, but otherwise, it runs just fine and the motors are clean as a whistle.

[dcubfan]

Please people read this whole article from opei if interested in runnning higher than 10% ethanol in your small engines. I don't think putting a spin on the word "can" will help you with a voided warranty. Playing Russian roulette "can" also get you killed, even though it might not I don't recommend you do it. I was in a shop last summer where some new little tillers, and a chainsaw were brought back ruined that had higher than 10% ethanol in them. The companies "can" choose to void the warranty on them because of this and that is what they did!

As I stated earlier if you have good luck with the high percentage ethanol laden fuel great for you! Many of us don't like it and have not had good luck with it. I doubt the doe and opei would bring out warnings like this if there isn't merit in them.

Thanks
Darren

[dcubfan]

Brazil having great success with ethanol is as much of a heated topic in Brazil as corn ethanol is here in the states. There are many articles on the net one can read to side either way with brazillian ethanol. Again without billions of dollars of subsidies that many thought Brazil could ill afford there wouldn't be much sugarcane ethanol in brazil. Now it looks as though large corporate buyouts of the sugarcane farms will keep Brazil cranking out "cane ethanol".

But hey wait a minute, we were talking US corn made high % ethanol here why confuse it with sugarcane Brazillian ethanol? My bad I guess......

Take care
Darren

[Merk]

by dcubfan
But hey wait a minute, we were talking US corn made high % ethanol here why confuse it with sugarcane Brazillian ethanol? My bad I guess......

Both are alchol base products. The only difference is what ag product was used to make the ethanol.

by dcubfan
Brazil having great success with ethanol is as much of a heated topic in Brazil as corn ethanol is here in the states. There are many articles on the net one can read to side either way with brazillian ethanol. Again without billions of dollars of subsidies that many thought Brazil could ill afford there wouldn't be much sugarcane ethanol in brazil. Now it looks as though large corporate buyouts of the sugarcane farms will keep Brazil cranking out "cane ethanol".

Can you provide a link to your statement?

bydcubfan
I was in a shop last summer where some new little tillers, and a chainsaw were brought back ruined that had higher than 10% ethanol in them. The companies "can" choose to void the warranty on them because of this and that is what they did!

You should reread this :

by Merk
I was having problems with my 2 cycle motors in the middle of the summer (late June thru early August). Anytime I replace the old fuel with new fuel the 2 cycle motors ran great. I desided to try that with all my small motors (2 and 4 cycle). I haven't had any problems since I went to the 30 day rule.
Another interresting thing I notice was when you started to pour 2 cycle fuel in the motor's fuel tank it was straight gas for a few ounces...them the gas oil mixture came out. Shaking the fuel container mix gas and oil so the motor got the right mixture.

If this happens with 2 cycle gas it has to be happening to 4 cycle gas.

Unless You can provide the missing infomation...
How was fuel stored?
How old is the fuel?
Where was the fuel purchase? (Name brand station or cheapest station in the area)
Did homeowner shake/mix the fuel right before it was added to the motor?
It goes back to poor fuel storage again

I have ask several questions in this topic without getting an answers from you. As I said in the past todays fuel ( non ethanol gas ) is not the same as 5 years ago. Big oil is adding more additives now than they did 5 years ago.

[48Farmall]

dad bought a new echo weedeater just over a year ago and it ran fine up till about a couple months ago. he took it to the shop and 50 60 bucks later and a new carb its up and running like new.. the shop said it was from the ethanol eating up the rubber inside.. we had a older echo for over 8 years id say and we never did anything but put fuel and string to it and its just now starting to give me problems