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I only use ethanol free gas on all my small engines. Should I use a stabilizer?

Until five years ago I would have said yes, but now I say no. For the last five years we have been recommending to our customers that they completely drain the fuel systems when storing their units for more than a month. We even try to show them how to drain the carb.

Rivets said:

Until five years ago I would have said yes, but now I say no. For the last five years we have been recommending to our customers that they completely drain the fuel systems when storing their units for more than a month. We even try to show them how to drain the carb.

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Rivets- Why the change ?

If you're going to leave the fuel over the winter then yes it's best to add a stabilizer. Non-ethanol gas degrades too.

I’ll try to keep this short, but it was a long process to get to this decision. About 7-10 years ago we started seeing far to many comebacks concerning fuel related problems. At the time we were using ethanol fuel and stabilizer, plus realized that the carbs which were coming out were being set leaner and leaner. As a small family owned business we had to do something about our procedures. First thing we did was to switch to non-ethanol fuel and switched cleaning carbs from soaking to ultrasonic cleaning. This drastically reduced our fuel related comebacks, but we were still seeing fuel related problems on unit sitting for more than six weeks with fuel in them. This was with and without a stabilizer. At this point we decided to run all 4-cycle units, which were not going to be use for a month, dry and remove the fuel from the carb bowls. 2-cycle units, not being used, we replaced the fuel with the premixed canned fuel. Because we are small and have a large amount of repeat costumers, it is easier for us to track our results. We found that the vast majority of customers who followed our directions did not have any fuel related problems. There are many out there that disagree with this method, but it has worked for us, so this is why we recommend this to all customers. Don’t know if this makes sense to you, but changing has been a positive experience for us.

Down here the fuel companies guarantee unleaded for a period of 60 days ex- refinary
If & only if the fuel has been stored in a regulation fuel can filled to the correct level stored in a cool dry place out of direct sunlight.

Or in other words, no guarantee.
As for diesel it only gets a month from the date it is canned so no guarantee on diesel bought at a pump.

While I can get customer to tip out the 2 stroke & run them dry , all together different with the ride ons.
None have tank drains so the best you can do is fit a tap then run the tank down turn the tap off & run the fuel out of the carb.
Stopped selling 4 liter ( 1 Gal ) 2 stroke cans in favour of 1 L ( about a quart ) mixing bottles so get a lot fewer hand helds back a second time.

When do you think the clock starts ticking to determine how "old" your gas is?

Why not ? Stabilizers are a cheap insurance.

I run stabilizers year long in my small engines fuel, which is ethanol free. This way, fuel is always ready for storage.

I don't use that much fuel per year for these engines, perhaps 10 to 15 gallons in the summer, 5 at most during winter, so a stabilizer bottle last me over a year.

"but we were still seeing fuel related problems on unit sitting for more than six weeks with fuel in them."

I've always drained my Mercury outboard for the winter even though I use stabilizer year round in all 6 of my gas cans. All I can get easily is ethanol gas.

When I bought my Toro MX5050 3 years ago I asked the 3rd-generation shop - Scag, Toro, Stihl, Echo, etc. - what to do during our 4- or 5-month winter with the Kohler 7000. They said to keep using Startron and to drive the mower up and down the driveway or around the yard for 15 minutes every 2 weeks to stir up the gas and the transmission oil. Accounting for bad weather, I manage to do it about twice a month and haven't had any problems at all. But Virginia winters aren't too bad compared to farther north. (I'd always used Stabil, but they recommended Startron.)

I'd never thought about the transmissions on the mower needing to be exercised regularly. About that time I noticed the manual for my 2016 4Runner with part-time hi-lo 4WD says to use the 4WD for at least 10 miles every month all year long to keep it evenly lubed.

John

Johnbt said:

All I can get easily is ethanol gas.

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There are 400 places in Virginia that sell ethanol-free gas.

https://www.pure-gas.org/index.jsp?stateprov=VA

https://www.pure-gas.org/extensions/map.jsp?statecode=VA

cpurvis said:

When do you think the clock starts ticking to determine how "old" your gas is?

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When it leaves the rack at the refiners...

Interesting thread. I've always used Marine Stabil in my gas (winter and summer) and for storage in the winter and never had any issue with spring starting. Far as diesel goes I use the Powerservce diesel additive in my 1500 gallon bulk tank which gets filled once a year on the average and I've never had any issue with diesel fuel at all either.

IT is all a bit of a lottery.
my workshop is 450 yards from the landlords machinery shed and about 50 foot lower.
I can get away with leaving the diesel engines sitting for a year but he has to run all of his every month or so or the diesel goes off.
I can leave petrol engines sitting for ages & they will fire right up, again his will play up on petrol that is a couple of months old.
Same fuel stored in the same containers & bought from the same servo.

"There are 400 places in Virginia that sell ethanol-free gas."

Sure, but if you scroll down to the R's you will see there are none listed for Richmond. They don't allow real gas in the urban areas.

The station in Providence Forge is 29.5 miles from me.
The one in Mechanicsville is 29.1 miles.
Those appear to be the closest to the house. Next would be Lanexa and Ed Allen's boat dock, etc. on the Chickahominy.

Heck, only 44 of the 400 in the state are even in the 804 area code.

Rivets- Thanks for the detailed reply.

I'll stick to using Seafoam in my 100% used in my gas mowers, no issues to date.

Johnbt said:

"There are 400 places in Virginia that sell ethanol-free gas."

Sure, but if you scroll down to the R's you will see there are none listed for Richmond. They don't allow real gas in the urban areas.

The station in Providence Forge is 29.5 miles from me.
The one in Mechanicsville is 29.1 miles.
Those appear to be the closest to the house. Next would be Lanexa and Ed Allen's boat dock, etc. on the Chickahominy.

Heck, only 44 of the 400 in the state are even in the 804 area code.
View attachment 41117

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Sorry but your address lists only "Virginia." I had no way of knowing where in Virginia you live.

That's fine. I agree that Richmond City should have some non-ethanol gas available, but we're one of the areas required to use RFG - reformulated gas - to reduce pollution.

www.deq.virginia.gov/Programs/Air/AirQualityPlans/ReformulatedGasolineinVirginia.aspx

"The first phase of the RFG program began in 1995 and the second and current phase began in 2000. According to EPA, 17 states and the District of Columbia are in the RFG program, and about 30% of gasoline sold in the United States is RFG."

"However, at this time, an ethanol-free product meeting RFG specifications is not available."