Outdoor Power Equipment (Lawn Mowers, Snow Blowers, Chain Saws and more) Discussions

     Just recently in New Brunswick , Canada, our regular gas is  a 10% ethanol mixture,   I realize that in the USA, you have had  E85 , a mixture of   85% ethanol ,15% gasoline.  I was just wondering how these  fuels work   in the  the 4 cycle  gasoline engines used in lawnmowers , snow blowers etc.  Here ,the ethanol is not used in the premium gasolines, so I am using that until I find out more about ethanol .

Ethanol generally works OK in brand new engines with brand new fuel lines and a brand new fuel tank.  Where it causes problems is when it is used for the first time in older engines, tanks and fuel lines.  Ethanol is a cleaner, and it will "clean" the gunk off the sides of the tank and fuel lines, and then all of that crap will plug up your fuel filter(s).  So, if you have to use ethanol, be sure you have a FANTASTIC fuel filter if you run it in older equipment.  As an aside, there are rumours that ethanol is responsible for prematurely corroding certain carbureutor parts found on some newer small Chinese engines.

Issue number two is that most older equipment doesn't have rubber parts (hoses, gaskets, o-rings, etc.) that will stand up to the corrosiveness of ethanol.  Therefore, if your owner's manual says not to use ethanol, or says nothing about ethanol, then DON'T use it!

Issue number three is that ethanol will produce slightly less power, so you will use slightly more fuel to do the same job.  They try to account for that in the U.S. by making ethanol around ten cents per gallon cheaper than the good stuff, through taxpayer subsidies no less.

Issue number four is that a lot of land has been taken out of CRP (Conservation Reserve Program) and a lot of highly-erodible land has been broken by farmers so that they can take advantage of higher corn prices.  The net result is a loss of habitat, much more fragmented habitat, and an exponential loss in upland game bird populations as well as other wildlife.  There is also more topsoil erosion on the highly-erodible land that has been broken.

Issue number five is higher grain prices contribute to higher food prices.  Corn lobbyists are quick to point out that only a couple cents worth of corn goes into a box of corn flakes; however, they ignore the fact that prices for other crops have also skyrocketed since there is less land for them that has been switched over to corn production.  Additionally, feed prices for beef, dairy, etc. have gone up, also (I know because two of my brothers are dairy farmers).  This is reflected in higher milk and cheese prices, and higher prices for beef, as well as other livestock.

Ethanol is a false economy.  It makes uninformed people feel good and gives them warm fuzzies.  That is one of the reasons politicians push it (the masses who vote are generally uninformed), along with powerful corn lobbyists giving kickbacks to the policticians.  There's also an extremely good chance that the politicians themselves are uninformed, or improperly informed.  It really does nothing of significance to curb our oil demand from other countries, especially when you consider all of the negatives associated with it.

p.s. - one other big issue I forgot to mention is that ethanol collects water over time.  If you have to use ethanol, you don't want to leave it in equipment that you store during the off-season.  By the same token, avoid purchasing ethanol fuels from out-of-the-way filling stations that may have their fuel sitting for a few weeks (or months!), as that gives the fuel more time to absorb water.  Net result is much poorer performance from your power equipment, if it runs at all.

I could go on and on about ethanol issues, but I think you get my point.

I've been using E10 fuel for many years (10 at least) and have not encountered ANY of the mechanical woes you've mentioned and I have tons of OPE as well as numerous other machines such as motorcycles, ATVs, outboard motors etc.   Proper fuel management will go a long way to keeping E10 fuel from absorbing moisture.   Just keep stored fuel in air tight containers and keep fuel tanks topped up. 

I agree with all of the other points you've made about the economics of ethanol as a fuel source.  It's as much of a scam as is windmills for generating electricity in a country full of large rivers!

My John Deere manuals say that E10 is fine...but not to use fuel with more than 10% ethanol.  I wonder if using fuel with 15% ethanol will void warranties. 

Paul7 wrote:

If the manual say not to ... you can pretty much guarantee your warranty will be voided.