Fuel

[TLloyd]

Is it really worth the extra price (Over a dollar a gallon extra) to get ethanol free fuel for mowers? I have a 18 hp Briggs & Stratton engine engine on my riding mower, I have a small small push mower and I have a 2-cycle weedeater. I’m in south Alabama, 65 miles from the coast. The past several years, I’ve cranked up the weedeater during the off growing season just to polish up what I may not have weed-eated earlier – just to run it for a little bit. I may or may not do that for the push mower. The riding mower is used to drag limbs to a burn pile so it gets cranked every so often in the ‘cold’ season. We’re not long out of growing season and we don’t have really cold winters.
I’m just wondering if there’s something I can do different or is there just no reason for the non-ethynol fuel at my location.
I appreciate your thoughts and time!

 

[mikehouse]

Hey TLloyd,i'm in NC myself,but I see no reason you can't use regular fuel.As long as you don't let it get stale.Now that WILL cause problems.I like using a stabilizer to keep it as fresh as possible while stored.I'm partial to Seafoam.But there's others out there.2 small capfuls in your gas can should suffice.Let's hear from some others.Good advice on here.

 

[7394]

Seafoam been around since 1942 i believe..

 

[Rifraph48]

Is it really worth the extra price (Over a dollar a gallon extra) to get ethanol free fuel for mowers? I have a 18 hp Briggs & Stratton engine engine on my riding mower, I have a small small push mower and I have a 2-cycle weedeater. I’m in south Alabama, 65 miles from the coast. The past several years, I’ve cranked up the weedeater during the off growing season just to polish up what I may not have weed-eated earlier – just to run it for a little bit. I may or may not do that for the push mower. The riding mower is used to drag limbs to a burn pile so it gets cranked every so often in the ‘cold’ season. We’re not long out of growing season and we don’t have really cold winters.
I’m just wondering if there’s something I can do different or is there just no reason for the non-ethynol fuel at my location.
I appreciate your thoughts and time!

I only use ethanol free gasoline for all of my small engines. It cost more per gallon but I think (I do not have hard data) that the lifecycle cost for the use of the equipment is less. Further, the engines always start an run good even if that have been sitting for a few months. Ethanol can damage a two cycle engine as the ethanol can separate out (phase separation) and you will seriously damage the engine. On the four cycle engines, I have replaced carburetors after years of use of ethanol gasoline but the engines run for years with no issues if I only use ethanol free gasoline. I also treat all of my small engine ethanol free gasoline with Schaeffer Oil Neutra™ Fuel Stabilizer (https://www.schaefferoil.com/neutra.html). There may be other additives from Schaeffer's or others that work, too.

Bottom line: I only use ethanol free gasoline treated with Schaeffer's Neutra Fuel Stabilizer and I have nearly zero engine fuel related issues on multiple engine types and brands. I go through a lot of gasoline in the summer on the ranch. My experience with this is over many years.

 

[Rifraph48]

I only use ethanol free gasoline for all of my small engines. It cost more per gallon but I think (I do not have hard data) that the lifecycle cost for the use of the equipment is less. Further, the engines always start an run good even if that have been sitting for a few months. Ethanol can damage a two cycle engine as the ethanol can separate out (phase separation) and you will seriously damage the engine. On the four cycle engines, I have replaced carburetors after years of use of ethanol gasoline but the engines run for years with no issues if I only use ethanol free gasoline. I also treat all of my small engine ethanol free gasoline with Schaeffer Oil Neutra™ Fuel Stabilizer (https://www.schaefferoil.com/neutra.html). There may be other additives from Schaeffer's or others that work, too.

Bottom line: I only use ethanol free gasoline treated with Schaeffer's Neutra Fuel Stabilizer and I have nearly zero engine fuel related issues on multiple engine types and brands. I go through a lot of gasoline in the summer on the ranch. My experience with this is over many years.

Forgive my typos/spelling. They always show up AFTER posting regardless of my proofreading!

 

[Rifraph48]

Forgive my typos/spelling. They always show up AFTER posting regardless of my proofreading!

BTW, buy your ethanol free gasoline at a station where you know it is fairly fresh. I suspect some stations sell little of it so it ages and gasoline does not age well unless it is treated.

 

[TonyPrin]

As long as you're mindful to not store gasoline over 2 months there is no reason to use ethanol-free gasoline. Fresh or reasonably fresh gasoline won't damage a small engine. Check your manual and I think you'll see B&S agrees with me.

 

[Tbone0106]

Interesting comments here. I've been working for a lot of years as a small-engine service guy, and I'm the kid that tore down the little Briggs engine on Dad's push mower in 1966, when I was eleven years old. I've seen a few things.

Fuel stabilizers don't work to prevent the damage ethanol does. Ethanol -- grain alcohol -- is hydrophilic, meaning that it likes water a LOT. Ethanol likes water so much that it can literally be removed from blended gasoline by adding water to the blended mix. (That's exactly how ethanol content testers do their thing.) Ethanol is water-soluble; gasoline is not. But ethanol will literally attract water, even the humidity in the air. I would be afraid to estimate how many times I've torn down a small-engine carburetor and found lime deposits in the bowl. The lime (calcium) is carried there by water.

I use non-ethanol gas in my occasional-use small engines -- chainsaws, weed whackers, leaf blowers, tillers, etc. Yes, it's more expensive, though where I live the difference is nowhere near a dollar a gallon. It's more like 30 cents. But it's also 91 octane, compared to the 87 octane ethanol-polluted stuff. For use on my three-acre property, the extra cost is so worth it that it's hard to describe. In the mowers, I'll use the ethanol-laced stuff during the peak mowing season, which is May-July around here, because I know it won't sit in the fuel systems for very long. But when things start to slow down in late August, it's non-ethanol gas only.

Putting corn likker into our gas tanks is truly one of the dumbest things our national government has ever come up with.

 

[Rifraph48]

Interesting comments here. I've been working for a lot of years as a small-engine service guy, and I'm the kid that tore down the little Briggs engine on Dad's push mower in 1966, when I was eleven years old. I've seen a few things.

Fuel stabilizers don't work to prevent the damage ethanol does. Ethanol -- grain alcohol -- is hydrophilic, meaning that it likes water a LOT. Ethanol likes water so much that it can literally be removed from blended gasoline by adding water to the blended mix. (That's exactly how ethanol content testers do their thing.) Ethanol is water-soluble; gasoline is not. But ethanol will literally attract water, even the humidity in the air. I would be afraid to estimate how many times I've torn down a small-engine carburetor and found lime deposits in the bowl. The lime (calcium) is carried there by water.

I use non-ethanol gas in my occasional-use small engines -- chainsaws, weed whackers, leaf blowers, tillers, etc. Yes, it's more expensive, though where I live the difference is nowhere near a dollar a gallon. It's more like 30 cents. But it's also 91 octane, compared to the 87 octane ethanol-polluted stuff. For use on my three-acre property, the extra cost is so worth it that it's hard to describe. In the mowers, I'll use the ethanol-laced stuff during the peak mowing season, which is May-July around here, because I know it won't sit in the fuel systems for very long. But when things start to slow down in late August, it's non-ethanol gas only.

Putting corn likker into our gas tanks is truly one of the dumbest things our national government has ever come up with.

"Putting corn likker into our gas tanks is truly one of the dumbest things our national government has ever come up with." Consider that it might not be dumb. It might be corruption. What if it is a way to launder taxpayer money? Cargill likes the program so much they give a lot of taxpayer sourced money to both parties in DC. Also, I measured the ethanol content (it is 0-10%) in the gasoline (it is not hard to do) for my car for a while and determined that it would reduce my mpg by up to 20% (My Corolla would drop from 40 mpg to 32 mpg hwy). If I know that, the EPA knows that.

 

[Hammermechanicman]

The great ethanol vs non-ethanol debate rages on!!!!

Just like oil, oil filters, spark plugs use what gas makes you happy. I have about 30 things with gas engines that all run regular pump gas and i have stored regular gas in cans for over a year. Never had an issue. I guess i am just luckier than most.