Gas Caps do seal out any condensation from entering the gas tank, despite the arguments here saying they do not

[ILENGINE]

I do not know why you get so much water in your gas chain saw tanks. I have one chain saw, one backpack blower, one hand held blower, one line trimmer, two walk behind lawn mowers, one shredder-chipper, one snow thrower, and I do not get water in any of the tanks. I DO however, refill the tank after use so that the tank has little room for air (ever air with moisture). I use Sta-Bil in all of my straight gas containers, and 2-cycle oil in my mix gas containers. I do not seem to get moisture in my storage containers. I live in a summer time humid area (Shenandoah Valley, Va.)

My dad has his saws in another storage building 10 feet away and never has water problems. there are several factors leading to the condensation issues with my chainsaws, but the statement was to prove that condensation does occur.

 

[Gord Baker]

Condensation does not come from Outside the Tank, but forms on the sides of the INSIDE of the tank from any moisture laden air that is already inside a NONvented tank. Done with this nonsense. Keep your tanks Full and rotate often.

 

[Hammermechanicman]

 

[Moparjoe499]

In 57 years of using every conceivable kind of lawn equipment, I have NEVER had a problem with water in a gas tank. NEVER. And the only thing I've ever done is take the OEM cap off, fill the tank, and put the OEM cap back on. No plastic wrap, no rubber bands, only using the OEM caps. I do try to keep the tank full on all my equipment, refilling after every use, especially when the machine is going to sit idle more than a few hours. As for not being much water in air at 100% humidity, stand out in the rain sometime and then tell me that with a straight face. ;-) But, in the small confines of a full fuel tank, there's not enough to worry about. IMO of course.

You are correct. If someone can convince people to replace the cap to stop water from getting into their gas tank, they will replace it. They better check their gas cans for water. It is really hard to fix stupid.

 

[Moparjoe499]

I do not know why you get so much water in your gas chain saw tanks. I have one chain saw, one backpack blower, one hand held blower, one line trimmer, two walk behind lawn mowers, one shredder-chipper, one snow thrower, and I do not get water in any of the tanks. I DO however, refill the tank after use so that the tank has little room for air (ever air with moisture). I use Sta-Bil in all of my straight gas containers, and 2-cycle oil in my mix gas containers. I do not seem to get moisture in my storage containers. I live in a summer time humid area (Shenandoah Valley, Va.)

STA-BIL is a money scam. Look at the ingredients. You can buy a gallon of PETROLEUM DISTILLATES or MINERAL SPIRITS to add to the gas tank. Stupid people never learn anything.

 

[SamB]

Boy I hit a nerve. I just call them as I see them. I may not be right, but you also could be wrong. Let others who read this thread make their own decisions when they get both sides of this theory.

Top quality info from you, Rivets, always. Don't sweat the trolls. Water WILL get into fuel tanks in many ways. My late father-in-law's ztr mower's carbs bowl was full of rust. Never spent a night outside. Always new fuel, too.

 

[bertsmobile1]

A couple weeks ago I started a snowblower that had been sitting in my garage for 6 years. I ran it for 5 minutes without any problems. People get all anal about the fuel worrying about if the cap has a good seal, draining the tanks dry, putting fuel stabilizer in the tanks, ect, ect. Unless you are purchasing 100% gasoline, then it already has 10% alcohol in it and the water will be burned when it is running.

Fuel stability isa random thing
I live 500 yards from the landord.
is old house is by the river & the new house is up the hill 60' to be above the flood line.
Between us is open pasture
My fuel keeps fine for over a year , his goes off in 2 weeks . It is all about your local microclimate , shed type, max & min temps & dew points.
95% of people will be fine but because of the testimonials from that 5% another 75% get sucked into using them
If you do need them then most work really well as for the rest of us they just lighten the wallet .

 

[bertsmobile1]

Isn’t condensation caused by the difference in temps between inside the tank, and outside, with a little bit of humidity thrown in? Condensation doesn’t leak in through a gas cap. Asking for a friend!

No it is simply because the moist air that came in cools down overnight.
As the air cools it capacity to hold moisture drops so the water forms droplets & runs down the side of the tank

 

[Moparjoe499]

Top quality info from you, Rivets, always. Don't sweat the trolls. Water WILL get into fuel tanks in many ways. My late father-in-law's ztr mower's carbs bowl was full of rust. Never spent a night outside. Always new fuel, too.

People need to check their gas cans for water. Take a glass jar and pour some in gas in it. The water will be on the bottom. People will leave their gas can outside and expect their mowers to run. Meryl Haggard sang a song, Rainbow Stew. When they find out how to burn water and the gasoline car is gone.

 

[ILENGINE]

People need to check their gas cans for water. Take a glass jar and pour some in gas in it. The water will be on the bottom. People will leave their gas can outside and expect their mowers to run. Meryl Haggard sang a song, Rainbow Stew. When they find out how to burn water and the gasoline car is gone.

Most of the time people are putting water into their gas cans and don't even know. Ethanol in fuel contains a certain percentage of water left from the manufacturing process. That water may be stable at 70 degrees but could phase separate at 30 degrees.

Years ago before ethanol people would leave their vented gas cans out and would either condense water from temperature air exchange or just flat get rain in them. Now with ethanol the alcohol makes it it's mission to draw water from the air every change it gets being it from open vent container or other means.