canned gas thoughts and opinions
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sunfish
Fish Head
That is a helpful site, but not near complete. If there is nothing listed in an area, doesn't mean no E-free there.
Sawyer Rob
Addicted to ArboristSite
I use premium gas in my 2 stroke motors, it has 10% ethanol in it, as I don't have E free gas available... BUT, when I know THAT tool is going to sit a while, I pour the gas that's in it out, into another motor, or back into the can and pour in a SMALL amount of the "canned" gas in that motor. Many times on my chainsaws, I just put some canned gas in for the last cuts... I then run that tool a while on canned gas, running it out of gas.
Once I started doing that, all of my fuel problems went away!
SR
Once I started doing that, all of my fuel problems went away!
SR
zogger
Tree Freak
sunfish
Fish Head
Aspen isn't available in the US, as far as I know.
zogger
Tree Freak
Quite popular as fuel in europe from what I have read. Their pump fuel is high as it is, so a canned replacement that burns very well and burns clean is the ticket for a lot of cutters there.
Tell ya, cutting in the olden days turned me off on cutting as a career, leaded gas and 30 weight for mix oil was rather nasty. I did it, but only when I had to. I used a chainsaw when working for others, but my own wood, I hand cut it.
If I wasn't a geezer wuss, I would most likely still hand cut my own personal firewood.
I do have an option now that works well, quiet, cuts good, no standing in a cloud of fumes, no yank starting..my Oregon battery saw. And if I chose to, I could refill it as it where from my little solar panel array.
They come out with a batt saw that will pull a 20 and cut on a par with a stock consumer 50 cc saw..I'm there for most of my cutting needs.
Personally, I more like the quiet aspect and the on/off starting the best, but fumes are in there as something I could do without. I spend most of my working moments with diesel machinery, and diesel smoke/fumes sometimes I like to get stuff done but have it be *quiet* and non stinky.
edit: almost forgot the link! Aspen fuel
http://www.aspenfuel.co.uk/products...petrol/aspen-2-alkylate-petrol-pre-mixed-501/
Many here will frown on this, but I really like a saw that can do the job well without having had its muffler hacked nor immersing me in a sea of HC and POM (the worst- lots of carcinogens). Some stuff that you can't see can kill you, and others. Really.
Last two years I have had problems with water in fuel during summer months. We just have to much humidity during the summer. I only buy 91 fuel and do not store on the floor. It seem my saws are picky about fuel.
Just tried the can fuel since baileysonline had 94 race fuel one sale 40:1. I am saving the cans to put fuel back into the can. After the first test with can fuel I ordered three more cases while onsale and free shipping.
Just tried the can fuel since baileysonline had 94 race fuel one sale 40:1. I am saving the cans to put fuel back into the can. After the first test with can fuel I ordered three more cases while onsale and free shipping.
HuskStihl
Chairin'em for the sound
It's really about storage and understanding what happens to fuel. I have no E free near me, and my masterminded 394 can literally drink $30 of canned mix in an hour of hard use, making E10 my only good option (I've gone postal on the not-a-good-idea-ness of 100LL on enough threads to skip it here). If I buy E10 brand name gas, mix in my bel ray and stabil, fill a used trufuel can to the top (zogger's right, the cans are great) and put the cap on tight, I have had no problems with storing up to 3 months. Never leave ethanol in an open system for more than a few weeks. Ethanol is definitely suboptimal in 2-strokes, but almost all of the horror stories start with "I left gas in my x for y length of time and z happened."
sunfish
Fish Head
Hard to believe you don't have E-free in Tx? I didn't think we had it here either, but found a couple un-advertised sources a few years ago.
HuskStihl
Chairin'em for the sound
According to pure gas, 86 sources in Texas, but Texas is fairly big, and I'm not driving 3 hrs for gas
sunfish
Fish Head
That site does not list any close to me either. But I found a couple sources, one 13 miles.
philoshop
Addicted to ArboristSite
3 or 4 years ago there were only two places for me to get E0 'conveniently'. Now you'd be hard-pressed to find a station that doesn't have it.?
Consumer demand, maybe? Lots of boating and snowmobiles, and lawn-care businesses, golf courses, etc. I don't know enough about the regulatory aspects of it to make an informed comment. I do, however, encourage friends and family to use the canned stuff if they only need a gallon or so a year for their trimmers and occasional chainsaw use. It's just too easy, IMO.
As to electrics: I play with radio-controlled airplanes, and one thing we've found with the electric motors is that they'll bite you a lot worse than an equivalent wet-fueled power source (2-stroke gas or nitro-methane) which hurts like hell when you get too close to the propeller, but it'll slow the engine down some. The electrics hit you even harder with the second blade because that's how DC electric motors work! I'm pretty sure electric chainsaws are the same.
Most PPE isn't even rated for electrics. Don't get complacent just because there's no noise. Sorry if I sound preachy here, but I've seen a few accidents with model airplanes, and they're not even specifically built to cut things apart.
Consumer demand, maybe? Lots of boating and snowmobiles, and lawn-care businesses, golf courses, etc. I don't know enough about the regulatory aspects of it to make an informed comment. I do, however, encourage friends and family to use the canned stuff if they only need a gallon or so a year for their trimmers and occasional chainsaw use. It's just too easy, IMO.
As to electrics: I play with radio-controlled airplanes, and one thing we've found with the electric motors is that they'll bite you a lot worse than an equivalent wet-fueled power source (2-stroke gas or nitro-methane) which hurts like hell when you get too close to the propeller, but it'll slow the engine down some. The electrics hit you even harder with the second blade because that's how DC electric motors work! I'm pretty sure electric chainsaws are the same.
Most PPE isn't even rated for electrics. Don't get complacent just because there's no noise. Sorry if I sound preachy here, but I've seen a few accidents with model airplanes, and they're not even specifically built to cut things apart.
I have race bikes so I have plenty of race gas on hand so thats what I use.
I use VP U4.4 but thats because that what i use in my bikes but VP also makes a small engine pre mixed fuel in up to 55 gallon drums.
The U4.4 is cheaper but is a higher octane the this. http://www.vp-sef.com/
I agree storage is key to keeping it fresh.
A steel can is best. Plastic cans allow light into the fuel and evaporation.
I use VP U4.4 but thats because that what i use in my bikes but VP also makes a small engine pre mixed fuel in up to 55 gallon drums.
The U4.4 is cheaper but is a higher octane the this. http://www.vp-sef.com/
I agree storage is key to keeping it fresh.
A steel can is best. Plastic cans allow light into the fuel and evaporation.
The rub...
You have no way of knowing the condition of fuel when purchased. It ain't possible to make a silk purse from a sow's ear; no stabilizer or storage method can salvage what's already bad. When (supposedly) "fresh" fuel is delivered to the pump it's just dumped in with the old... the old may have started oxidizing, the ethanol may be water saturated, the fuel may have phase separated (more than once) which will change the percentage of ethanol (and octane rating) in the fuel you pump.
Most "horror" stories I hear from OPE equipment shops have nothing to do with end-user storage, rather the amount of ethanol in the fuel... finding 20+% is quite common, and I've heard as high as 35%‼ More ethanol means a higher rate of equipment corrosion and fuel instability. This also means it also possible to get fuel containing less than 10% ethanol, meaning the octane level could then be as low as 84-85... and that ain't good in any two-stroke. Fresh, clean, uncontaminated, 10% ethanol-blended fuel ain't really all that bad... provided it is fresh, clean, uncontaminated, 10% ethanol-blended fuel. Phase separation may not be as big an issue in Texas where you don't see the temperature extremes we do... but Texas ain't immune.
If 10% ethanol-blended fuel is fresh, clean and uncontaminated it will store just fine for 3 or more months even in a ½ full plastic container.
The rub is... your chances of buying fresh, clean, uncontaminated, 10% ethanol fuel is a 50/50 proposition at best.
It ain't that you've been lucky so far... you just ain't been unlucky yet.
*
HuskStihl
Chairin'em for the sound
TruDat. The times I have purchased "bad" gas have been in small town out of the way stations. If I buy from a busy corner name brand station, I haven't been unlucky yet. My closest EtOH free is in Jasper, TX. Not worth it.
zogger
Tree Freak
I am almost at the point I might just drive to the next town and get the sef 40:1 by the five gallon pail. 5 gallons of two stroke is a lot of wood on the ground... I can get non e premium, but am wondering how fresh it is, seeing as how the station is next to a truck stop with buck a gallon cheaper gas with ethanol, which most people buy.
