Gas Choice
Poor gas quality seems to cause generator carb problems. How many of you choose to pay a little more for non-ethenal gas? Thanks
Forum Discussion
There's lots of mythical, anecdotal inaccurate information about ethanol mixed gas. There also appears to be regional differences in how some gas blends work. I notice more West Coast complaints than Midwest complaints, FWIW.
In MN, we've had 10% Ethanol blends for years. It almost killed any complaints about fuel icing and the parts stores no longer have a display at the front of the stores selling fuel deicers or water eliminators. Heet brand is suffering.
FWIW, I've maintained fleets of both large and small gas powered vehicles and equipment. Also have been involved in the Marine side but got away from that. My experience is that most small engine equipment does not suffer from Ethanol added gasoline. These machines are engineered to run on that fuel. For practical Winterization of equipment, I always filled machine tanks full and added Stabil or other fuel additive to prevent oxidation of the gas over a long winter. In a fleet situation, supply tanks are large underground tanks and not susceptible to fuel vagaries in Winter. My gas can at the house is not the same. I leave it uncorked, only putting a cap on my chainsaw and other two cycle cans. The 6 gallon plastic generic can may or may not get fuel stabilizer depending on my wits and time. It doesn't seem to matter much. My standby generator for the house gets fuel stabilizer because I need 100% certainty it will start. It gets 10% Ethanol blend like all the rest.
IN MN, we are now seeing the advent of E15, labeled as "Premium fuel" at the pump. It is sold at, typically, a $.05 discount compared to regular (E10) and much less than "Premium" or Midgrade. I ran 10 gallons through my '03 5.4 V8 F250 and didn't notice a deviation in mileage. I was hoping for better mileage but it was an unscientific baseline and results were close to pump gas regular.
In MN, we've had 10% Ethanol blends for years. It almost killed any complaints about fuel icing and the parts stores no longer have a display at the front of the stores selling fuel deicers or water eliminators. Heet brand is suffering.
FWIW, I've maintained fleets of both large and small gas powered vehicles and equipment. Also have been involved in the Marine side but got away from that. My experience is that most small engine equipment does not suffer from Ethanol added gasoline. These machines are engineered to run on that fuel. For practical Winterization of equipment, I always filled machine tanks full and added Stabil or other fuel additive to prevent oxidation of the gas over a long winter. In a fleet situation, supply tanks are large underground tanks and not susceptible to fuel vagaries in Winter. My gas can at the house is not the same. I leave it uncorked, only putting a cap on my chainsaw and other two cycle cans. The 6 gallon plastic generic can may or may not get fuel stabilizer depending on my wits and time. It doesn't seem to matter much. My standby generator for the house gets fuel stabilizer because I need 100% certainty it will start. It gets 10% Ethanol blend like all the rest.
IN MN, we are now seeing the advent of E15, labeled as "Premium fuel" at the pump. It is sold at, typically, a $.05 discount compared to regular (E10) and much less than "Premium" or Midgrade. I ran 10 gallons through my '03 5.4 V8 F250 and didn't notice a deviation in mileage. I was hoping for better mileage but it was an unscientific baseline and results were close to pump gas regular.
