Age old question, Winter Storage?

[Billlh]

Bill, where in NY are you at? I'm from Lee Center in Oneida County. After years of fighting with snowmobile carbs, I started using non-ethanol fuel and stabilizer with a splash of MMO in my fuel can. I've had good luck even now that I live on the Delmarva Peninsula in Maryland. I'd say if you use a good quality fuel, you could get away with no stabilizer. But as a younger man, I always didn't have the time or $ to do things the right way. So I've found what works for me. If something works, do it how you want, right?

I'm along the Lake Erie Shore near the PA border. I generally buy the stuff sold on the Indian reservations cause it's the cheapest. I burn a lot of fuel over the summer. So I don't know I just do what works for me. I burn way too much fuel in tractors to buy Ethanol-free stuff. Plus I use it in my vehicles since it's all the same gas. Lots of times I'll fill one or more up with cans before I take a trip to refill all the cans. I have a lot of 5-gallon cans too lol. I do however do so for my trimmers. I buy that stuff usually a gallon at a time to do the mix ratio. Maybe I'm just lucky but it's what I do and have been doing for years.

 

[davis2]

I'm along the Lake Erie Shore near the PA border. I generally buy the stuff sold on the Indian reservations cause it's the cheapest. I burn a lot of fuel over the summer. So I don't know I just do what works for me. I burn way too much fuel in tractors to buy Ethanol-free stuff. Plus I use it in my vehicles since it's all the same gas. Lots of times I'll fill one or more up with cans before I take a trip to refill all the cans. I have a lot of 5-gallon cans too lol. I do however do so for my trimmers. I buy that stuff usually a gallon at a time to do the mix ratio. Maybe I'm just lucky but it's what I do and have been doing for years.

So you know lake effect too... I lived in the flight path to Griffiss AFB. Also in the lake Ontario lake effect area. 55 years of that was enough! But yeah do what works for you. I have a station that sells a lot of non-ethanol fuel to the boaters in the Chesapeake Bay, and they are 5 miles away, and the closest station. Pumps are on 24/7...

 

[BTBO]

Live in SW Virginia with a 4 month moderately cold winter and I keep my Cub Cadet 42 tractor in a shed with a push Honda mower. The tractor battery stays in tact but I do keep it connected to a battery tender.
Is it better to complete run the engines dry of fuel (with an empty tank) or, as I have read elsewhere, fill the tanks with conditioned fuel to minimize any possible condensation?
The Honda push mower has a fuel shut off valve ( as does my Honda generator) however the tractor does not, in case any of that matters? Thanks

I have a Scag Liberty Z w/Kawa engine and a TroyBilt push mower w/Honda engine. My method of winter storage for both is to use Seafoam (3ozs/gallon) Stabil Marine and Yamaha RingFree in nothing but ethanol free gas. During the off season. I will crank up both at least twice monthly and let 'em run for 5+ minutes. With the Scag, I engage the blades as well. With that 3 prong brew of additives, I have never had a problem with those engines starting easily. I believe one of the worst things you can do to an engine is not run it----even if it's just for several months. Gotta keep those seals, gaskets, etc from drying out and become brittle.

 

[Craiger]

Live in SW Virginia with a 4 month moderately cold winter and I keep my Cub Cadet 42 tractor in a shed with a push Honda mower. The tractor battery stays in tact but I do keep it connected to a battery tender.
Is it better to complete run the engines dry of fuel (with an empty tank) or, as I have read elsewhere, fill the tanks with conditioned fuel to minimize any possible condensation?
The Honda push mower has a fuel shut off valve ( as does my Honda generator) however the tractor does not, in case any of that matters? Thanks

When you say "battery tender" using lower case it may confuse people. They might think you mean old fashioned trickle charger. "Battery Tender" is a trademarked brand name and as another posting said, is a smart charger. There are plenty of other good ones including CTEK and Noco Genius. A smart charger senses when the battery nears full charge and tapers off the voltage applied until it will balance and just keep the battery fully charged. If by "battery tender" you meant old fashioned dumb trickle charger, it is a bad idea to leave it plugged in continuously. It will overcharge the battery if left on for extended periods, boiling away the electrolyte in the battery and damaging it. These days, smart chargers have become ubiquitous and are quite reasonably priced. I have thrown away my old school battery chargers and only use smart chargers. Some are smarter than others and have special settings for small batteries like lawn tractor and motorcycle, some have settings for AGM or Li batteries, some have desulfate and recondition cycles. You get what you pay for. To answer your question about winter storage, I live much further north of you and all I have done for years with lawn tractor and snow blower is to siphon most of the gas out of the tank and dump that in a car. Then I start the machine with a jack or wood blocks under the appropriate side to cause the remaining gas to run towards the tank outlet and run it until it stalls. I don't bother with Stabil. I've never had a problem in over 40 years of doing this. If you want to use Stabil it won't hurt anything and might help but from my experience it would be overkill if you run the engine dry.

 

[7394]

I only use Battery MINDers 1.5mA, they also have temp compensators to regulate float level by the temp around them..
Last deltran battery tender .750 mA I had cooked my H-D Fat Boy battery. It sleeps with the fishes for many years now..

 

[hotajax]

According to a (4 year old) Briggs and Stratton troubleshooting video, Sta-Bil is their "official" fuel additive.

I think I'm going to start using what someone suggested earlier in this thread for this year's end of season (instead of doing the tried and true carb emptying).

I know folks lie and fabricate reviews all the time, but 647 ~5 star reviews is damn good plus the testimony from the knowledgeable folks here is good enough for me.

(Funny how a random thread redirects me from all of the sh!t I'm supposed to be doing to spending all morning on it )
View attachment 67293

You're making THE correct choice to preserve your expensive e-free gasoline.

 

[7394]

stabil has expiration dater on bottle..

Seafoam is good forever..

 

[Moparjoe499]

I've know people who put a drop of motor or olive oil in the fuel to essentially (maybe) accomplish the same thing- seal moisture & oxygen out.

Me? I pony up and buy Lucas Fuel Stabilizer 10302. A $4.98 bottle treats 40 gallons. Five dollar peace of mind?

Exactly as MoparJoe said about Stabil, Lucas is made of "petroleum distillates" (And naphtha- another petroleum distillate.) Plus, alkyl phenol, a cleaner.

Paul

It won't hurt it to set over the winter. I have a snowblower that has not been started in over 6 years. I choked it, pulled it 3 times and it runs great like it always has. People get anal over anything.

 

[Moparjoe499]

Yeah, there are people like that and perhaps money is meaningless to them, but then, why would they be doing these landscaping chores themselves?
Unfortunately the US has an over abundance of lazy and stupid people.

Lazy and stupid is right. They either pay someone to cut their grass or they watch their grass grow. Several years ago our neighbor would cut his grass every 2 days even in the summertime with no rain. The grass didnt have a chance to grow 1/2 inch.

 

[MarineBob]

Lazy and stupid is right. They either pay someone to cut their grass or they watch their grass grow. Several years ago our neighbor would cut his grass every 2 days even in the summertime with no rain. The grass didnt have a chance to grow 1/2 inch.

We have neighbors who have a landscaper mow their lawns. I guess they have some sort of contract so every week, rain, shine, cold, hot, April through Novemeber, here in New England they show up. But the folks also water the Be-Jesus out of the lawns. Rain shine, wet dry, auto sprinklers like clock work. NO one seems to have any concern about water usage so long as the grass is green with lots of chemicals applied. So the routine is water mow whack and blow, water mow whack and blow: repeat endlessly. Personally, I am a little rain fan, eliminates the need to mow during August more than once maybe twice.