Best Fuel Preservative for Pure Gas ???

[Son_of_Norway]

I buy pure (no ethanol) gasoline that I keep on hand in a couple of 5-gallon cans for snow blowers, lawn mowers, power washers, portable generators etc. The STABIL products that I buy indicate their use for alcohol-blended fuels. Are there any fuel preservatives specifically for pure gasoline and which one would you recommend? Thanks for your help.

[Johnny_G1]

Yes and I will back that up, Seafoam and end of problems for many yrs now.

[Bobbo]

drsteve wrote:
Same here. I use 10% ethanol regular pump gas and no stabilizers, and I never have an issue. Been doing it this way for many years.
Every piece of power equipment produced in the last 10-15 years is ethanol ready.

When it comes to lawn mowers, string trimmers, power washers, etc. there is no advantage to premium fuel, non ethanol gas, or stabilizers, in my experience.

You have been lucky. I was lucky for many years, until I wasn't. Finally, over a period of 2 or 3 years my lawn equipment got to running worse and worse. It even got to where I had to use ether (starter fluid) sprayed into the carburetor to start some of them. Then I discovered Seafoam. After using Seafoam at double the recommended concentration for one season, my engine troubles were gone. I started using Seafoam in every drop of lawn equipment gasoline. It was sometime after that I started using ethanol free gasoline in my lawn equipment.

I hope your luck holds.

[jkwilson]

JaxDad wrote:

markchengr wrote:
Your math is off. At one half of one percent you will have 6.4 ounces of water in 80 gallons.

80 (gallons) divided by 100 (one percent, or 0.01) is 0.8 (gallons).

One half of one percent (or 0.005) would be 0.4 gallons.

There is 128 ounces in a gallon.

Therefore 0.4 of 128 (ounces) is 51.2 (ounces).


Or if you look at it another way, 80 gallons is 10,240 ounces. One percent would be (10,240 / 100) 102.4 ounces. Half of that (one half of one percent) would be 51.2 ounces.


Can you explain my error please?

No error, assuming percentage is by volume, not weight.

1/2 of 1% is 0.01*0.5= 0.005

0.005*80 is 0.4

0.4*128=51.2oz

Expressed another way, 1% of 80 gallons is 0.8 gallons

Half of 0.8 gallons is 0.4 gallons.

0.4 gallons is 51.2oz

[JaxDad]

markchengr wrote:
Your math is off. At one half of one percent you will have 6.4 ounces of water in 80 gallons.

80 (gallons) divided by 100 (one percent, or 0.01) is 0.8 (gallons).

One half of one percent (or 0.005) would be 0.4 gallons.

There is 128 ounces in a gallon.

Therefore 0.4 of 128 (ounces) is 51.2 (ounces).


Or if you look at it another way, 80 gallons is 10,240 ounces. One percent would be (10,240 / 100) 102.4 ounces. Half of that (one half of one percent) would be 51.2 ounces.


Can you explain my error please?

[opnspaces]

My take on a few of the posts.

On non ethanol gasoline you should not need a stabilizer. Although I would try to use it up within two years as a precaution.

Ethanol in gasoline is a bad thing for storage. Some of you have stories about using no Stabil and after a winter of storage your equipment runs fine. I believe you, but I think that's because the carburetor jets of the equipment are large enough to not be plugged by gumming over winter. But the small carburetor jets like in a Honda are susceptible to gumming and clogging over winter. Hence the need for a stabilizer or float bowl draining.

Running premium in an engine that is not designed for premium is actually a negative. I would never run 100LL (low lead) in my Honda. Nor would I go out of my way to run premium fuel in my Honda. Premium won't hurt the Honda, but it will make less power.

jkwilson wrote:
Premium gas doesn’t increase fuel mileage. Octane isn’t a measure of energy content, it’s a component that reduces the premature ignition of the fuel/air mixture from engine compression

The issue with the octanes of fuels (premium 93 vs regular 87) is the burn rate. The lower the octane the faster the burn. Also the higher the compression of the cylinder the faster the burn.

If you have a high compression engine (faster burn rate) and you fuel it with regular 87 octane fuel (also faster burn rate) you get detonation and eventually damage. On the flip side of this is the part that catches people.

If you take an engine that is designed for regular unleaded and you fill it with premium fuel (it costs more therefore it must be better) you get less, not more power. Will you notice the power difference seat of the pants? Probably not. But you might also subconsciously be pressing a tiny bit harder on the accelerator pedal to maintain your normal driving speed and therefore using more fuel. Unless.....

You have a high mileage engine with a lot of carbon buildup in the cylinders. In this situation the carbon buildup might raise the compression high enough that you start to get detonation (remember the high compression and low octane regular fuel combination above) In this case you can run premium, a higher octane fuel (lower burn rate) to stop the detonation. You're not really getting more power in this scenario. What you are getting is your normal power back.

[drsteve]

Lynnmor wrote:
I wonder why Echo says this:

Purchase only recommended fuel

Use 89 Octane R+M/2 (mid grade or higher) gasoline known to be good quality and containing no more than 10% ethanol. Gas with NO ETHANOL is ideal.

No idea. I don't own anything from Echo. All mine say 87 octane and 10% E is OK.

Is that a 2 stroke manual you're quoting?

[Lynnmor]

I wonder why Echo says this:

Purchase only recommended fuel

Use 89 Octane R+M/2 (mid grade or higher) gasoline known to be good quality and containing no more than 10% ethanol. Gas with NO ETHANOL is ideal.

[drsteve]

MDKMDK wrote:

Son of Norway wrote:
I buy pure (no ethanol) gasoline that I keep on hand in a couple of 5-gallon cans for snow blowers, lawn mowers, power washers, portable generators etc. The STABIL products that I buy indicate their use for alcohol-blended fuels. Are there any fuel preservatives specifically for pure gasoline and which one would you recommend? Thanks for your help.

Agree with Old Wizard - unless you go through a 5 gallon can once every decade, I probably wouldn't worry about it going bad. Even stored for that length of time it will probably still work.
Honestly, I tried fuel stabilizer about 10 years ago, and there was no noticeable difference in the fuel quality that I put it in, versus the last 10 years of not bothering. I've left ethanol laced, and pure dino, gas in my shed over the winter and it still works, when I use it next year in the mower/tractor.
Some believe that some engines might prefer you use it all up, to dry, before long term storage. However, I've never done that either, and had no problems.

Same here. I use 10% ethanol regular pump gas and no stabilizers, and I never have an issue. Been doing it this way for many years.
Every piece of power equipment produced in the last 10-15 years is ethanol ready.

When it comes to lawn mowers, string trimmers, power washers, etc. there is no advantage to premium fuel, non ethanol gas, or stabilizers, in my experience.

[markchengr]

Your math is off. At one half of one percent you will have 6.4 ounces of water in 80 gallons.

[JaxDad]

SDcampowneroperator wrote:

Cummins12V98 wrote:

JaxDad wrote:

Cummins12V98 wrote:
I am curious why some run premium when their small engines only require regular gas?

Simple. Most premium fuel is also ethanol free gasoline.

In bigger engines the benefits go far beyond not having gummed up carb’s, the net cost per mile is lower running premium gas than regular gas.

The increased fuel mileage exceeds the increased cost per gallon.

Someone smarter than me can please explain the above is simply not true.

Ethanol fuels absorb moisture from atmosphere as ethanol is a dessicant and the resulting water contamination can be a serious issue.


It loves water and can turn your gas into 10 % near beer.

That ‘near beer’ is exactly the issue. The Ethanol is aggressively hygroscopic

While it doesn’t seem like much, E10 gas can easily contain 0.5% water, but even that seemingly little bit means if you have an 80 gallon fuel tank it will contain 48 ounces of water.

That water not only contains zero energy value but will be distributed through the gas. No engine has sensors to detect and account for water, the result is the sensors picking up the excess oxygen released when water is sprayed into a cylinder that’s at 4,000++ degrees then adjust the timing based on false readings.

The real world end result is much lower fuel economy than what the greenies and politicians would have you believe.

The end result, in my case, proven over many thousands of miles, is that the cost per mile is slightly lower (about $0.03 / mile) burning ethanol-free premium fuel instead of E10.

[Lynnmor]

SDcampowneroperator wrote:

Here. where I live at high altitude, low octane (85) ethanol gas gives equal mileage to 91 pure in vehicles. Cant see a difference in performance either. SDDOT.GOV results.

Not true, see this site.

[Cummins12V98]

Jkwilson, thanks!

[SDcampowneroper]

Cummins12V98 wrote:

JaxDad wrote:

Cummins12V98 wrote:
I am curious why some run premium when their small engines only require regular gas?

Simple. Most premium fuel is also ethanol free gasoline.

In bigger engines the benefits go far beyond not having gummed up carb’s, the net cost per mile is lower running premium gas than regular gas.

The increased fuel mileage exceeds the increased cost per gallon.

Someone smarter than me can please explain the above is simply not true.

Me too, I would like to see some proof of cost over cost. High octane fuels are needed for high compression motors to prevent pre ignition, Knock. Here. where I live at high altitude, low octane (85) ethanol gas gives equal mileage to 91 pure in vehicles. Cant see a difference in performance either. SDDOT.GOV results.
Back to OPs question. Ethanol fuels absorb moisture from atmosphere as ethanol is a dessicant and the resulting water contamination can be a serious issue.
Ethanol is an alcohol 1 of 7 miscibles that dissolve in any amount of water.
So your beer may be a near beer (.05 %) or an 190proof Everclear. Thats what ethanol is is a highly distilled grain alcohol. It loves water and can turn your gas into 10 % near beer.
I use 87 octane 10% ethanol in regular drivers with sealed tanks, 91 no ethanol in seasonals like boat , snowsleds, mowers, Harley, and 100LL av gas in all 2 cycle tools.
Never a stabilizer. Some sea foam for fun at beginning of the season for that machine.

[jkwilson]

JaxDad wrote:

Cummins12V98 wrote:
I am curious why some run premium when their small engines only require regular gas?

Simple. Most premium fuel is also ethanol free gasoline.

In bigger engines the benefits go far beyond not having gummed up carb’s, the net cost per mile is lower running premium gas than regular gas.

The increased fuel mileage exceeds the increased cost per gallon.

Premium gas doesn’t increase fuel mileage. Octane isn’t a measure of energy content, it’s a component that reduces the premature ignition of the fuel/air mixture from engine compression (like a Diesel). High performance engines run higher compression so premium fuel benefits them. Running premium in an engine that doesn’t need it has no benefit and can have negative consequences of increased carbon build up in the engine.

Most premium fuel is not ethanol free, but most ethanol free fuel is premium.