Moonshine in my tank?
eyolf said:
You can get by with it. But you're getting by...
there are a couple of problems with it. The alky absorbs water, which is bad. Blended fuel also degrades much more rapidly than fuels without an oxygenate, especially when stored in a semi-permeable container like a plastic gas can. Milk jugs and other recycled containers are even worse.
Buy your fuel in small quantities often, don't plan on storing it for more than a week or two. Put the old fuel in your lawnmower or tractor.
I don't know about where you live, but some communities have outlets that cater to the outboard, snowmobile, and racing crowds, who usually demand "pure" gas. In the US this is usually labelled "off-road" or sometimes other labels. There is a station near me that is owned by a fellow involved with classic cars...he sells racing gas to his buddies at $4 a gallon, but its good stuff.
Hello all, from the midwest (Iowa)
This is corn country! And what do we do with all of that corn....make it into moonshine of course
(!)
For fuel purposes....the 'ethonol' that you speak of is corn-alcohol...hillbillies called it moonshine. Whan mixed with unleaded gasoline at a 10% rate it becomes what has been termed "Gasohol" here in the midwest for around 20 years. Other names have popped up such as 'ethonol blended' and other variations. A more recent development is an auto fuel called "E-85". This fuel is 85% ethonol and 15% gasoline. This fuel is not universaly interchangable with gasoline due to its energy content, and a host of other factors, not the least of which it does not like certain metals and plastics! Despite this, the "big three" have offered cars (Ford Taurus is one of them) that can use this fuel without problems.
As for using 10% blends in small engines, it's up to you and the manufacturer. I have used 10% blend since it became available in the 80's and the only problem I have ever had was with an old auto that had been in storage for years. Alcohol is a wonderful solvent and the first thing I did when I got the old car out was to fill the fuel tank with Gasohol and the solvent nature of the alcohol dissolved all kinds of grah-doo in the fuel system. The result was a number of fuel filter replacements, and then it was fine.
While I have used Gasohol in 4 cycle aircooled engines such as mowers, etc I have adopted the policy to not use the blended fuel in anything I have to fuel from a portable container (gas can). The reason, as stated above, is the long term storage of alcohol fuel is not as stable. The fact that alcohol absorbs water has never been a problem as there are products sold to do just that. "HEET" is an example of this. (This product may not be needed in your climate, but it essensial in Iowa winters.) In addition to using standard fuel in all of my gas can fed engines I ALWAYS use Sta-Bil. Last Summer I had a batch of gas go stale in less than a month in my old mowing outfit. The fuel tank had been exposed to the heat of the sun for several weeks and the fuel lost its votalitity. (Without Sta-Bil)
In defense of blended fuels, I've burned little else in my cars for 20+ years without any problems except the car that I took out of long term storage.
There are two ethanol producing plants within 25 miles of where I live. One bushel (56 lbs) of corn makes about 3 gallons of alcohol. After the starches are removed to make the alcohol the remaining parts of grain are a high protein feed supplement for livestock animals. One plant is using 40 semi loads of corn per day of operation.
On of the nearby Ethonal plants has this web site
http://www.hawkeyerenewables.com/about.php
Thanks for the interesting conversations guys, I hope this gives a little perspective on the use of alcohol blended fuels!
dave (in Iowa)