Chainsaw gas

[Woodomaker]

Anyone using 100 octane fuel found at airports?

 

[mtngun]

I use regular ethanol. The ethanol is not a problem as long as there is no water in the gas. Occasionally some old gas will have water in the bottom of the tank, which can cause issues.

 

[Woodomaker]

My experience is the fuel seperates and does not store long.
I'm jus hoping I'm not burning up valves, etc.

 

[VT-Woodchuck]

I use 93 octane and synthetic oil. No problems and it stores well.

 

[hamish]

Ethanol is only bad when it has been left for a long time, and is picky about how it is stored. If you are regular in your usage you will have few problems. If you like running 3-18mth old fuel then you will have problems, especially if stored in places that have variable temperatures. Yes ethanol affects fule lines and internal carb parts, just in a different way vesus regular non-ethanol gasoline.

Gasoline:
dries fuel lines rock hard and they become brittle/stiff along with diaphrams and pumps
when dried out turn to a thick hard greenish varnish that takes forever to clean up

Ethanol:
makes fuel lines and crab parts extra supple and mushy
many will find alot of white residue in there carb, its just the water in the ethanol oxidizing with aluminum, an easy clean up



Regardless of what you use, it boils down to awareness and your individual habits. Be prudent and look after your gear and it will serve you a lifetime. Be careless you will spend alot of time wrenching and buying parts or worse paying for the wrenching too.

 

[BobL]

I use 98 RON which is equivalent to Somewhere between 93 and 94 AKI (USA Rating)

 

[Timberframed]

89 octane. I get only what I need that day or weekend.

 

[820wards]

Regardless of what you use, it boils down to awareness and your individual habits. Be prudent and look after your gear and it will serve you a lifetime. Be careless you will spend alot of time wrenching and buying parts or worse paying for the wrenching too.

Hamish,

I got my Husky 365 Special from a neighbor who left fuel in the tank and then let it sit for two years before he tried starting it again. After I put a rebuild kit in the carb and new fuel lines she fired right up. I always empty my fuel tanks on my saws and then run them out of fuel. By doing this I never have problems getting them to start. The new fuels are really tough on the saw if you leave it to long in the saws without running.

I just got another free saw from another neighbor this past week, a Stihl 192C. It still had the first tank of fuel in it. She gave it to me because I pruned some limbs on a tree in her yard. She bought the saw, used it once and put it in her shed and decided chainsaws were not her favorite things to use.
jerry-

 

[gemniii]

Another vote to stay away from ethanol.
Due to an unexpected back problem my saws and weedeater sat for months with ethanol gas in their lines for and were basically inoperable, I've also gotten what I considered a "bad batch" of gas. Both situations were resolved by buying some prepackaged mix at the Stihl store and filling the machines with that plus some Sea-Foam . I then cranked the saws about 12 times and let them sit for a day or so, and repeat, this went for about a 10 times until they finally started firing.

What I've been doing recently is to buy a new gallon of gas, pour in some Stabil mix only enough for a tank full on the machine, use what I need of the gallon in a week, then throw the rest of it (whatever is in the mixed and the gallon container) in my minivan. I haven't filled my minivan since April I think.

 

[jimdad07]

A good synthetic mixer, fuel stabilizer is usually already in some of the better mixes and common sense about storing the gas and storing your equipment without fuel in them. Also remember that you have to run the carb empty because fuel will sit in it and eat away at the internal parts. I also store my saws without bar oil in them. Seems to be working well so far.

 

[820wards]

A good synthetic mixer, fuel stabilizer is usually already in some of the better mixes and common sense about storing the gas and storing your equipment without fuel in them. Also remember that you have to run the carb empty because fuel will sit in it and eat away at the internal parts. I also store my saws without bar oil in them. Seems to be working well so far.

Jim,

My friends think I'm anal because I even drain the oil out of my saws besides the gas, but I'm the guy who doesn't have problems starting my saws.

jerry-

 

[gemniii]

Jim,

My friends think I'm anal because I even drain the oil out of my saws besides the gas, but I'm the guy who doesn't have problems starting my saws.

jerry-

Would draining bar oil have anything to do with starting?

 

[sachsmo]

Been toying with the idea of building an e85 milling machine. a nice pop-up and a bigger carb. Eth does keep the engine cooler. So if the carb is big enough to run a little fat?

 

[jimdad07]

Would draining bar oil have anything to do with starting?

Doesn't have much to do with starting the saw but I have seen some bar oils get very thick sitting in the saw, not sure why it doesn't happen so much when it's in the jug. Also a non veg base bar oil I would think would have the same affect on the orings and rubber parts on the oil tank as gas would over time. I might be way off base, but that's why I store them dry all around.

 

[BobL]

Doesn't have much to do with starting the saw but I have seen some bar oils get very thick sitting in the saw, not sure why it doesn't happen so much when it's in the jug.

There was a theory going around in the 70's? about how wood sap catalyzed polymerization of mineral oil but I never saw any definitive evidence of this. One small advantage of constantly flushing the oil is that the tank is kept clean of sawdust which probably reduces the build up of sawdust in the oil tank and reduces clogging of the oil line. I generally drain the oil and rinse the tank out with raw gas about once a year but otherwise I have bar oil in the tank for years on end and have no problem with it.

Also a non veg base bar oil I would think would have the same affect on the orings and rubber parts on the oil tank as gas would over time. I might be way off base, but that's why I store them dry all around.

That would have been the case when natural rubber was used but more recent synthetic rubbers are relatively immune to mineral oils. I remember the soles of one of my first pair of work boots disintegrating after standing in a pool of engine oil for a few days and buying replacement boots that said they were oil resistant but even they fell apart after a while.

 

[sachsmo]

I have been running 110 purple and Klotz for damned near a year.