Premium or Mid-grade gas?

[802climber]

First of all, is premium gas bad for saws? I heard it makes them run too hot or something and will wear out saws faster.

At work we get mid-grade (89 octane) for saw gas but I thought I was doing good getting premium for my personal saws, I guess not though...

Use Husky oil and the occasional stihl ultra, following directions on bottle for ratio, I believe it is 50:1.

So mid grade it is then?

 

[galde]

Premium gas burns cooler than regular. I always use premium 100% gasoline for my 2-cycle mix, but it looks like I will soon have to decide if it is worth paying $5 per quart for the 100% gasoline ready-mix that everyone is now selling, since all the sources for 100% gasoline are drying up.

 

[mikefunaro]

Premium gas is not bad for saws. racing gas may be harder on them...however there seems to even be debate about that...

The best evidence I can give you for premium gas being fine for saws is the fact that stihl's supplied pre-mixed gasoline has a RON of 95, which is equivalent to a 92 or 93 here using our calculations. Clearly if stihl were going to market a high priced and high grade fuel mix, they would select the best fuel, and so they selected something equivalent to our premium pump gas...

more arguments for premium:
-in some states you can still get premium ethanol free. Always a good thing.

When you get small quantities of gas, there is probably about quart of fuel in the lines of the pump. So if you buy 89, and the last guy pumped 87, and you only get a gallon, you're getting 88.5, which again, isn't the end of the world, but it's less than the 89.

 

[GASoline71]

I have run OPE for 30+ years on 91 or 92 octane fuel... no probs. Don't overthink it... get the good stuff.

I miss Ethyl fuel.

Gary

 

[Ironbark]

Over here the lowest octane you can get is "regular" unleaded at 95RON and "super" is 98RON.

 

[StihlyinEly]

in some states you can still get premium ethanol free. Always a good thing.

Minnesota may be the most Socialist state, but at least we can still get non ethanol 91 or 92 octane here at most gas stations.

 

[802climber]

Thanks a lot, great points.
I was hoping it was a myth... I am an over-thinker by nature.

I will go back to getting Premium then.. ethanol-free if I can ever get a straight answer out of a place.

 

[mikefunaro]

FOR THE LAST F-ING TIME, CORN LOBBY/BIG Ethanol REPUBS are the only ones who want ethanol at this point. NOT socialists. Most socialist states have less ethanol in their gas than we do. Talk to your boys about it and see if they listen...

I didnt start flinging the sh!t this time...

Woo woo---here comes the clue train...

 

[StihlyinEly]

FOR THE LAST F-ING TIME, CORN LOBBY/BIG Ethanol REPUBS are the only ones who want ethanol at this point. NOT socialists. Most socialist states have less ethanol in their gas than we do. Talk to your boys about it and see if they listen...

I didnt start flinging the sh!t this time...

Woo woo---here comes the clue train...

Dude, feel better now? Gotcha!

 

[chainsawland]

I only run 94 Octane in chainsaws, trimmers, lawn mowers or any other equipment.

 

[sweetjetskier]

I have run 89 and opti-2 for probably 15 years, recently switched to 91 and stihl HP Ultra, mainly because i finished the box of opti and no opti was in stock.

The 91 and Ultra mix has been great so far, we will see over time how equipment fairs.

 

[BobL]

90% of my saw use is for milling where the saw can run non-stop for 2-3 consecutive tank fulls of mix so it gets real hot! To keep it cooler, whenever possible I run the highest octane rating I can get from a high turnover gas station.

In our neck of the planet most people use regular gas and in some gas stations the the premium sits in the storage tank for a long time so I wonder how good it is.

We have a gas consumption gauge on our Subaru and if I buy premium from a low turn over gas station I notice the consumption goes from ~30 MPG to around 26 MPG. If we use regular we only get about 24-5 MPG.

 

[Anthony_Va.]

Theres 2 stores I know of near me that carry eth free fuel still. You won't find it at the big name stations anymore. I use 93, (the highest we can get) the higher the rating, the cooler and better it runs.