The right fuels to use. Don't be foolish

B.O. Plenty wrote:

wa8yxm wrote:
Though the person who said "only so many Refrineries" is correct.

It is a fact that different companies use different formulations for their additivesm, also different comnpanies have different quality standard.

One name brand station in a town I used to live in the management got in trouble for topping off their storage tanks... WITH WATER from a garden hose.

The state of Michigan has regulations which allow a small amount of water in the underground tanks, and they inspect for it,, Clearly the station above had more than that.

Another name brand station, before it was sold to an overseas firm at least, had company rules that were much more strict than the Michigan law (They only allowed about 1/2 the water the state did) Plus in the winter they added a gas line freeze up preventive (HEET brand Gas Line antifreeze in fact)

I gassed up at one of their stations.. My Daughter's God Father laughed at me for paying that high price, and bragged about how much he was saving buying at an "off brand" discount station.... Till I used my Running just fine car to tow his would not start to the shop for a 300 Dollar repair job due to water in the gas.

Really??? Gasoline and water do not mix...the gas floats on top. What would they gain by doing this? Sounds like an old urban myth to me..

B.O.

Ethanol is capable holding more than 20 times the water that straight gasoline can.

Even more problematic is an effect called 'phase separation', this when the water in suspension in a gas / ethanol blend reaches the saturation point of the gasoline part of the mixture. At that point the ethanol, which aggressively absorbs and holds onto water, starts to drop out of the gasoline.

When this happens you end up with a tank of mostly gasoline with a layer of very water-laden ethanol at the bottom.