Ethanol and your snowblower...

GentlemanFahmah

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As you near the end of the snow season, make sure you drain, or run the tank dry, then put on full choke and pull the starter until it stops coughing. This will ensure your small engine will start whenever you need it to the next time and that the carburetor will not be clogged with shellac and varnish from this wretched ethanol laced fuel!

Easy to do, and saves headaches galore. I do this with all my small engines and it pays off in spades for any small engine that sleeps for months or even years (generator) between uses.
 

reynoldston

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A lot of your small engines have a gas drain on the bottom of there float bowl.
 

dcgrazier

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I would recommend doing what you did to any small engine at the end of its working season. I also hate the ethanol and finally figured out where I can get good ethanol free gas at any time. It is AV gas. I have found 4 small airports near me that will sell their AV gas. It is 100 octane and the 2 cycles love it. I do not use the AV Gas in my 4 cycle engines. You will pay more for AV gas, but I think it is well worth it. My local small engine equipment dealer told me that there is nothing wrong with using high octane gas in 2 cycle engines.
 

panabiker

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I would recommend doing what you did to any small engine at the end of its working season. I also hate the ethanol and finally figured out where I can get good ethanol free gas at any time. It is AV gas. I have found 4 small airports near me that will sell their AV gas. It is 100 octane and the 2 cycles love it. I do not use the AV Gas in my 4 cycle engines. You will pay more for AV gas, but I think it is well worth it. My local small engine equipment dealer told me that there is nothing wrong with using high octane gas in 2 cycle engines.

I would be careful with the AVgas 100. If I remember right, it contains 4 grams of lead per gallon. If your 2-cycl is a handheld trimmer, the exhaust is too close to your nose and mouth.
 

possum

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I would imagine there is more lead in the water a person drinks than that trimmer will put out. That being said though in this day and age folks do avoid lead . I think about all the lead water pipe tubing on service lines that were still common on service runs into peoples homes in the 80s and no one drank bottled water then and I just shake my head and wonder how many people that effected. Things have sure changed. Lead in paint was common, my Dad and everyone his age poured used motor oil around all their building to keep weeds from growing, poured it all over their driveways to keep down the dust, changed oil in the street from time to time. The old Army airport near here has millions of dollors of clean up needed due to no one knows how many gallons of used motor oil being dumped when military aircraft were in for service in the 1940 and 50s. The epa is still doing well studies here in town for the dozen or so old gas stations and every year dig up more old fuel tanks. They built a new gas station here in August and in the process of building a new drive parking area found three old tanks that still had fuel in them that no one even knew about. The folks that knew where all the old fuel tanks were are all dead from old age.
 

HCBPH

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If you check your local gas stations, many have pumps labeled specifically for collector cars and small engines. In my area that means 91 octane gas with no alcohol in it. Found this out a couple of years ago and I've been using it in my blowers and lawnmower and it's been great. Costs a little more per gallon but none of the issues with crappy running engines like I had previously.
 

snapsstorer

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all the gas in Minnesota is required by law to contain 10% ethanol now. they do not even have to post the ethanol warning on the pumps anymore either. i found this out by talking to the managers of 3 stations around here. luckily i only have to go 10 miles and i can get the gas from another state that does not require the 10% ethanol being added. their pumps have to state if it was added.
 
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