Non-Ethanol gas?
- Thread starter Tkirwan
- Start date
According to the EPA you'll use 3% to 4% less fuel if you use Non-ethanol gas.
The 3% difference in fuel economy will not save you $0.60 per gallon, so it's not worth it.
The 3% difference in fuel economy will not save you $0.60 per gallon, so it's not worth it.
https://www.fueleconomy.gov/feg/ethanol.shtml
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- RDX Aspec Adv.
I never saw a difference. Absolute waste.
It's really not harmful for four cycle engines which most lawn mowers are. It's really bad on the two cycle engines like chainsaws, leaf blowers and edgers. The engines where you have to mix oil and gas. I buy non-ethanol gas in cans at Sears. They have 40/1 and 50/1 fuel. I got tired of replacing the carburetor on my Stihl weed wacker so went to the non-ethanol fuel. Never had a problem since.
Also if you're worried about the lawn mower you can get an additive to add to the fuel that's suppose to negate the ethanol effects. Not sure if it works.
I've been putting 15% ethanol in my Honda mower for 16 years and never had a problem. I drain it every winter though.
It depends Most lawn mowers will run just fine on 10% Ethanol gas I run the stuff from the pump in a 20 year old Ferris professional mower, a 56 year old Farmall tractor, and a 68 year old Kohler generator. The only precaution I take is to urn them out of gas before putting them away for the winter.
BUT both Husqvarna and the local repair shop say I ruined my chain saw by using ethanol. I sidestepped the problem and replaced it with a electric chain saw. It starts easy and cuts just as fast.
http://www.husqvarna.com/us/forest/basics/ethanol-free-fuel/
http://www.greenworkstools.com/80v-pro/commercial-chainsaw/
BTW For some reason opinions of Ethanol seem to follow political lines so I feel I need to make it clear. I am not defending it being made or sold or mandated. I think that should be a free market question. I am just addressing what it does to a engine. I am a conservative capitalist I want a government small enough to fit inside the Constitution "Harry Browne"
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- 2023 CX-5 Premium; 2018 Mazda 3 GT hatch
Absolutely! There's a booming business these days in pre- mixed non- ethanol canned fuel mixes for power equiptment.
WOW. I just looked it up, $23.33 a gal. Now I am real glad I went battery powered.
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- 2023 CX-5 Premium; 2018 Mazda 3 GT hatch
Amen!
Thanks, but lets not start another political thread. I just wanted to be sure it was clear I was speaking about what it does to engines only. I am not addressing weather it is a good idea. (Not my job)
B-ham Gary
Member
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- 2016 CX-5 Touring AWD
Well, it might help if you don't place you political opinion on the size of government in your plea to avoid a political thread. Right?
Absolutely! I've been running 89 octane with 10% ethanol in my 1996 Stihl 026 since it was new. I cut 3-4 cords of wood every year with it and never drain the fuel when I put it away (unless it happens to run out of fuel when I'm done cutting for the day). This saw runs like a top and slices through 3 foot diameter old growth Douglas Fir like nobody's business. I run Stihl synthetic 2-stroke oil in it at 50:1 and it just rips. Here's the extent of the work it's needed in the last 19 years:
two new bars and an unknown number of chains
three new air filters (I clean and re-use the air filter about once twice a year)
I've adjusted the fuel/air mix screws and idle stop screw about 4 times
installed a new fuel pickup last year
one new spark plug
That's it! If ethanol was bad for small engines I think I would have found that out by now. People who pay big bucks for specialty small engine fuel must have holes in their head. I live in PNW logging country and know a number of professional loggers. None of the pros I've spoken to run anything but regular old 10% ethanol from the pump.
Henry Ford's Model T was approved to run on gasoline, pure ethanol or any combination in between. Most people ran them on gasoline because it was so much cheaper back then.
Ethanol free gasoline has a few more BTU's per gallon and will return slightly better MPG than most E10. But not enough to make up for the price difference. If you do run ethanol free gas, it's a good idea to run a tank of E10 every once in a while. This will absorb any water that is sitting in the bottom of your tank from condensation and help keep moisture levels down. Pure gasoline can absorb almost no water so it just builds up in the bottom of your tank. In the 1970's (before ethanol was commonly available) it was common knowledge here in the wet PNW that the first thing you did when your car started running roughly was to go down to the local auto store and pick up a bottle of Heet for $0.69. Dumping this bottle of pure ethanol in your tank would quickly cure it more than 50% of the time.
Yep, 4 stroke engines run fine, it's the 2 stroke engines you have to be careful with.
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- 2023 CX-5 Premium; 2018 Mazda 3 GT hatch
I just rebuilt the carb on my Husqvarna 125B leaf blower this afternoon. This after replacing the fuel filter and associated lines as well as the spark plug. Small engine shops make a pretty good living doing this kind of thing all day long to 2 strokes that have been running on ethanol gas. One of the aluminum parts included in the kit had dissolved after three years of use in my blower.
It sounds like Husqvarna uses inferior materials if they are damaged by E10. Stihl claims their 2-stroke oils are designed to readily mix with E10 so that could be the difference. In any case, it's hard to argue with 19 years of usage and never being serviced by the dealer. It's shameful that the Husqvarna parts dissolve in E10 in 2015 and yet Henry Ford's Model T was designed in to run on 100% alcohol or any mixture in between without damage. That was in 1910!
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- 2023 CX-5 Premium; 2018 Mazda 3 GT hatch
Well the Zama carburetor was made in China. That may have something to do with it. That and the part I'm referring to was wafer thin!
Poor design? Poor choice of materials? Either way the final blame lies with Husqvarna. It doesn't matter what the country of manufacture is as long as Husqvarna thinks it's good enough for their power equipment.
My electric recharges with electricity made with any kind of fuel. Alcohol, wood, coal, even falling water.
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- 2014 QX70 AWD
Quite possible. My Husqvara snowblower and lawnmowers certainly run worse on 87 octane w/ 10% ethanol. They sputter and seem a tad weaker than they should be. But put in the higher octane gasoline and whola, they run smoothly.
For my Stihl weed wacker, and my chainsaw (can't recall the brand name), I simply use those expensive cans of "rocket fuel". I go thru such a small amount of pre-mixed gas/oil that splurging on an $8 can or two per year of premixed fuel is not big deal, and its one less large container of gasoline I need to keep (and continue mixing).
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