Ethanol free gasoline.

[noelex 77]

Ethanol free gasoline is helpful (some would say essential) for small petrol engines such as outboards and petrol generators. Unfortunately, in some parts of the world finding ethanol free fuel is difficult.

You can seperate out the ethanol yourself using phase separation. This only involves adding water and then draining off the water/ethanol mix. No heating is needed.

The video below shows the technique. Has anyone done this? Thoughts?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BeL_2ecQci4

[Jammer]

I can't imagine that it's worth it.

[rslifkin]

Separating the ethanol out will reduce the octane rating of the gas. So you need to start with higher octane than what you actually require. If doing this for an engine that needs 87, I'd start with 91 or 93 to be safe.

[Bill O]

Removing the ehtanol will lower the octane of the gas.

Here is a link discussing water contamination in gas pulling the ethanol out into the water phase. https://petroclear.com/resources/dont-be-phased.php

Since ethanol has a higher octane than gas, removing the ethanol would result a lower octane rating of the fuel.

[tkeithlu]

Are there really still manufacturers using rubber gaskets and hoses that will be harmed by ethanol? I can see an issue for old engines, but they've had a bunch of years in which to switch to resistant components, and certainly it is not an issue with modern cars. Are we actually dealing with an old wife's tale?

I don't know the answer to that, but I wonder. Anyone have up to date info?

Hmmm. Where I hang out we have bunches of small engines, all running on ethanol gas. There is an issue - loss of volatility if the gas is left sitting too long, but no issues with rubber parts.

[Jammer]

@thinwater will be along shortly to share the true facts.


Locally, non-ethanol fuel is readily available and inexpensive. I use it in increasingly tiny amounts. My "big" dinghy has a 9.9 4 stroke and the "small" dinghy has a 3 hp antique. At my house on land all the outdoor power equipment is electric.


It is my view that the rubber hose/gasket/seal deterioration problem was solved a long time ago and the only remaining problem with ethanol in fuel is that it forms mixtures with water that will corrode some metal components. Ethanol fuel critics are fast to blame ethanol for every carb rebuild and fuel tank failure. I can assure you that we still rebuilt carbs and replaced tanks and lines in 70s and 80s before ethanol was widely used in fuel. I don't think the problem is worse now, and I still have had occasional carb problems on nonethanol fuel.

[rslifkin]

Personally, there are only 2 things I bother with non-ethanol for. The dinghy outboard and the lawn equipment at the house. And if it weren't easily available, I wouldn't worry about it. Based on other people's experience, the carb in our dinghy outboard (6hp Tohatsu) is somewhat more problematic with E10 compared to E0. And in our area, E0 isn't hard to find. We don't burn a lot in the dinghy either, so the cost difference isn't a big concern. The snowblower at the house doesn't seem to care either way. The lawnmower is jetted pretty lean, so it runs even leaner on E10 and seems a little down on power and doesn't run quite as well (so I feed it E0 whenever possible).

For the gas inboards in the boat, they get whatever is cheaper. Fuel docks in this area typically just have E0, but if I'm hauling fuel, traveling, etc. I'll gladly put in E10 if it's cheaper. The boat ran on it for 15 years when it was in CT (no E0 available) so I know it runs just fine on corn juice (and all of the relevant rubber parts have been replaced at least once or twice anyway).