Gas Question: Premium Gas or Ethanol Free

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You only need e free fuel for things that sit for long periods of time between usages. I f you use it at least once a week the ethanol fuel works just fine. But if you gonna store it I would run some e free fuel in it to flush out the ethanol, then run it till it runs out of gas or shut the fuel off and let it run and empty the fuel bowl.
 
lone wolf said:
I take the old gas out of saws that sit 3 or 4 months,put it in a mason jar and find little water in it. So I put non Ethanol in all of them in the beginning of my slow season up here ,Winter.
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I've actually thought about putting "TruFuel" in my saws that I know will be sitting for a while, but, haven't tried it yet.
 
Ill have to check out that Stihl mix. Last gallon of gas i used premium gas but just recently noticed the E Free 87 at a local station. The premium may be E Free too...gonna ask next time.

The main reason I was looking at ethanol free is because the saws will most likely be sitting for a month or two at a time and just get sick of draining my tanks after use.
 
TheWhiteLotus said:
I looked at the Tru Fuel too but its like $20 a gallon here and figured i could make my own for cheaper!
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No, No, No, I would not use TruFuel, except like one quart per year, to put a little into saws that were going into long term storage. I go through about 5 gallons of mix a week when cutting firewood and about 5 gallons every two weeks during mowing season.
 
I have heard nothing but good things about Echo Red Armor https://www.echo-usa.com/Products/Accessories/Fuel-Oils-Lubricants/PowerBlend/Red-Armor-Oil and if you read on that link it has fuel stabilizer added to it.

RedBull660 did a comparison test on Premix

Personally I have just changed over to Motul 800, why? I'm giving full synth a try. I ran Castrol 927 for years without any problems and even with 85 oct with ethanol in it, piston and cylinder in those saws still looked great.

If you want to mix your own then Hotsaws101 did a good review on them . The problem with recommending anything is there will always be someone else with a different opinion and oil is a hot button topic.
 
I use E-free "premium" which is 91 octane at Murphy Oil (Walmart) in tools and motorcycles. My backup is E-free 87 "regular" from another station. The backup station pump is old style, dedicated to E-free but the Murphy Oil pumps are the newer kind where all grades of gas come through a single hose. That's always bothered me since most people are filling up with 87 E-10, how much of that is still in the pump and hose when I select premium? If I'm only filling up a gallon jug, it's a concern. I'll try to flush the hose in my car with E-free before filling gas cans. Non-ethanol is better in every case IMO. I get 2-3 MPG better in motorcycles with E-free. Even though I let carbs run empty every time AND I dump any leftover gas, there's still a residual.
 
DaddyFlip said:
I use E-free "premium" which is 91 octane at Murphy Oil (Walmart) in tools and motorcycles. My backup is E-free 87 "regular" from another station. The backup station pump is old style, dedicated to E-free but the Murphy Oil pumps are the newer kind where all grades of gas come through a single hose. That's always bothered me since most people are filling up with 87 E-10, how much of that is still in the pump and hose when I select premium? If I'm only filling up a gallon jug, it's a concern. I'll try to flush the hose in my car with E-free before filling gas cans. Non-ethanol is better in every case IMO. I get 2-3 MPG better in motorcycles with E-free. Even though I let carbs run empty every time AND I dump any leftover gas, there's still a residual.
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I'm getting mine at Murphy's as well and it's 88 oct E free, The pumps use different hoses for the E-Free here.
 
I have some VP U4.4 that is over 5 years old and it runs fine. But I keep it in a metal true fuel can and put the lid on real tight. Plastic cans will let light in the can and will cause the fuel to go bad faster. Fuel needs to be stored in metal cans that wont let light in. Plastic cans will let fuel evaporate. Fill a plastic five gallon can and take a sharpie and mark the fuel level. Then let the can sit fir 3/4 months and the fuel level will be several inches lower then it was when you filled it. Plastic can are for temporary fuel transfer containers, not long term storage.
 
My saws actually run better one e10. Seem to have a bit more power.
 
If you don't use much just buy the non ethanol premix from the store. I've bought it for around $10 a gallon on sale. It lasts years and works great. It's all I use on my husky 576. On my old stihl and poulan I use 92 octane efree from the pump and add a stabilizer and synthetic oil.
p.s. as soon as I switched my lawn tractor to efree all the hard to start issues went away.
 
acarpenterdad said:
If you don't use much just buy the non ethanol premix from the store. I've bought it for around $10 a gallon on sale. It lasts years and works great. It's all I use on my husky 576. On my old stihl and poulan I use 92 octane efree from the pump and add a stabilizer and synthetic oil.
p.s. as soon as I switched my lawn tractor to efree all the hard to start issues went away.
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Those little handy cans of e free /true fuel are for the urban yard guys that have very little gas powered equipment and don't have room to store a 5 gallon can of the stuff. Buc,eez has e free 94 octane fuel for I think about 3,50 a gallon. It's a 50 mile round trip for me so I just buy 20 gallons at a time and run it in all my saws and splitter. and generators. 20 gallons last me about 3 months. I'm not noticing any performance differences ether. It does smell different the ethanol fuel though.
 
sb47 said:
Those little handy cans of e free /true fuel are for the urban yard guys that have very little gas powered equipment and don't have room to store a 5 gallon can of the stuff. Buc,eez has e free 94 octane fuel for I think about 3,50 a gallon. It's a 50 mile round trip for me so I just buy 20 gallons at a time and run it in all my saws and splitter. and generators. 20 gallons last me about 3 months. I'm not noticing any performance differences ether.
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I get the efree from a gas station about 15 miles away. Its a small town farm community. I get 2ea 5gal for my mower and splitter and 2ea 2.5 gal tanks for the weed wackers and saws. That'll last me half the summer. I just like to baby my husky so it gets what they spec for it and I don't use it too much anyway. I did notice a big difference in how my mower and splitter started.
 
I'm a homeowner firewood type of guy, I burn less all year than a lot of you guys do in a day. Half hour drive each direction to get to the nearest station that sells non ethanol fuel, vs $40/year for Trufuel click click delivered from Amazon. It sure isn't for everyone but I couldn't be happier. Don't burn enough to care about the cost.

The delivered thing really sealed it for me. No extra trips or time taken, remember I need fuel, pull out my phone, a minute later that problem is solved and I can get on to the next thing.
 
Im in the same boat....i MAYBE go through a gallon of gas in a winter. Perhaps the TruFuel is a better idea...its $20 at the Lowes right down the street from me. Ill keep an eye out for some sales.

Im gonna ask the gas lady if our Premium is ethanol free. I wanna say that we have certain months that the gases contain ethanol here in NV, but im not sure. Ill do a little digging.

What oils do you guys like for the occasional home use saws/blowers? Someone recommended the Echo Red Armor earlier....im just looking to buy the small little bottles you just add to a gallon of gas. The Echo Red Armor recommends adding to 89+ but would it be fine with the Efree 87 ?

Thanks for all the input guys! Its greatly appreciated.
 

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