I use gas pump and mix my own. Once done sawing, I drain the saw, turn over and drain tank, then run dry dry. No problems as ethanol gas is gone when I am done using saw. If pre-mix is "old" I use in my older car/truck and get a new batch. I cannot get ethanol free but would if I could.
Pre mixed fuel vs mix it up yourself
- Thread starter coffeesnob
- Start date
I don't even drain anything.
I have had generators sit for 3 years and still start right up and run fine that only had fresh 87 10% ethanol fuel with 1 oz of stable stabilizer per gallon put in them the last time they were used before they were stored.
It's a better idea to start them at least once a year and even better to start them every 6 months or even every 3 months and let them run 30 or 40 seconds or so.
Also, when you start a piece of equipment it's been sitting like this and have it running well, it's best to turn the choke back on a couple of times and let it chug for 3-4 seconds at a time and if is anything larger than a string trimmer or leaf blower but still has a primer bulb like snow blowers and some of the older push mowers, push that nice and firmly several times as it's running because this, and closing the choke back causes it to force (or suck) more fuel through the main jet which can help clear things out and keep that very important passageway closer to 100% open.
Skippydiesel
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Always do your own mix. It's easy and the only way to have control over the quality of the oil & fuel used and the ratio applied.
But NEVER at the ratios they recommend.
Amsel isn't the first to do this. There was some "super high tech fully synthetic magic oil" one of the lawn mower shops was selling back in the mid 80s for my dad bought some commercial equipment that said no matter what your equipment called for, use this stuff at 50 to 1.
It probably got by okay because it was a high quality oil but still I'm not going to run any piece of equipment that happens to call for 32 to 1:00 at 50 to 1 no matter how good the oil claims to be.
Amsoil will tell you some of this stuff is fine to run at 100 to 1 and probably because some of the outboard motors that are injected do this but again these engines are not those.
While you may get by and still have as much life as you expect out of the equipment, it is certainly not the best situation for the cylinder walls, piston and rings.
It's always better to err on the side of too much oil because the only thing that can really happen is it might clog up your exhaust screen a little more quickly but on well designed equipment that takes about 6 seconds to pull the old one out and slap the new one in or burn it off with the torch and slide it back in.
I don't even run equipment that's made for 50 to one at 50 to one even though I use a highly rated synthetic oil.
And by rated I don't mean reviews or hype but rather API and JASO specs.
I run everything at 40 to 1 because with the good oil even if I hit an old 32 to 1 one it will be fine and for the 50:1 stuff I'm offering it a little bit better lubrication than it even wanted from the factory plus the better oil so when it does finally fail or wear out it won't be from lubrication issues of the piston and cylinder.
I run 40:1 in all of my stuff too. I don’t see any reason to keep two mixes on hand.
Agreed, but I live in Florida and don't have a non-growing season.
I have never, ever notice any running difference in any two-stroke equipment due to what type of oil was being used.
I have noticed a different color of the gas and often more or less smoke coming out the exhaust and sometimes a different smell of the exhaust but never have they run any differently.
I think for most people, if you could blindfold them or give them the equipment that was totally disguised so they wouldn't know and so they wouldn't know which fuel was in it, they wouldn't be able to tell any difference even though it seems there is a running difference when they know these things.
I like to be 100% accurate in what I do and say. I have some strong personal opinions too but for things like my comments on Heinz being the only catch up with eating or at least being the best, I have done blind taste tests many times with things like multiple brands of ketchups and I mean 10 and 12 at once, and I've also done all the local donuts in the area.
People are always jumping up and down talking about how someone so has the best donuts etc when most these people haven't even tried all the competitors or haven't tried them in decades. They know one thing and they stay with it.
If you sit this person down at a table in front of me and I can let them taste test eight different of the same style of donut, and let them rank them and make comments on each one, almost always they won't pick the one they thought was the best.