Ethanol

Evil 85
Project Farm video!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UvS_D4_lF5U

Really like his channel.

Well Scrubby
as far as entertainment value & production techniques is was fine.
As for his "experiments" they go into the curosity catagory.
Most carbs are zinc not aluminium so there is a fail right from the start.
If you are doing a corrosion test then the test pieces must be polished and weighed prior to the test.
You then was and weigh after the experiment.
All of the test pieces must come from the same source & be in the same state as the carb body s they need to be castings of some sort.
Some of the pieces he was using look very much like extrusion in which case they are a different alloy to the lumps of what looked to be broken cooling fins.

In a carb the problem is the galvanic cell set up between the different metals of the body & float bowl & the float needle.

Fuel goes off because the fractions that are volatile at room temperature evaporate, which is exactly what they are there for, to evaporate so there is some thing to form a gas & burn at room temperature so the engine can start.
Remember that only gasses burn

Most of what he called "corrosion gunk " was not corrosion at all but alge that grows in the ethanol / water mix.
You get the same stuff growing in diesel fuel tanks and also in jet A1 fuel tanks.

Scrub, thanks for the video. It was interesting to watch and well done. For me, the video demonstrated something I've believed for a long time: be careful when trusting product claims. Fuel stabilizer has its place to me and adding it to fuel to protect equipment during the operating season probably makes sense. Hopefully, though most people drain their fuel and prep their equipment for the off-season and should never have problems.

I find it to be less trouble to just not put enthanol in the gas tank in the first place. Check pure-gas.org to find a station that sells non-ethanol gas.

cpurvis said:

I find it to be less trouble to just not put enthanol in the gas tank in the first place. Check pure-gas.org to find a station that sells non-ethanol gas.

Click to expand...

Ethanol-free gas isn't a cost effective option in parts of the country. The only reasonably close source for me is the local power equipment store that sells packaged VP Racing for $30 / gallon. There's only about 5 places in the state that sell ethanol-free at pumps and none of the them sell it for less than $10 / gallon.

At that price I buy E10 in 2-gallon increments, add stabilizer and use it up in about 2 months or add the balance to my vehicle.

The problem with ethanol in fuel is a big one but the one & only thing from the videos that was factually correct, was it happens over time
SO the go is buy in small quantities and use quickly.
I play with old motorcycles ans some of the riders are getting as long in the tooth as the vintage veterans they ride.
As half of them are on their 2nd or 3rd bypasses jumping up & down on a kick starter is a big no no.
The solution is fresh fuel each & every ride.
When they get home the tanks are drained and the left over fuel goes into the car.

The other biggie is the extent of phase separation & alge growth is totally dependent upon the local climate.
So for instance a mower stored on one side of a house will be fine for months while the same mower left on the other side of the house can have the fuel go off in less than 2 weeks.
Some people can leave fuel in their mowers for 2 years and have no problems & others can be in strife after 2 weeks.
Thus 1/2 the people accept it is a problem & the other 1/2 will tell you you are talking rubbish.

cpurvis said:

I find it to be less trouble to just not put enthanol in the gas tank in the first place. Check pure-gas.org to find a station that sells non-ethanol gas.

Click to expand...

That's how I roll.....