Engineered Fuel vs E-Free Pump Mix

[Ethobling]

You can save even more using regular pump gas (87 octane) and mix small amounts that you use right away. The only real down side of using ethanol is if it sits for a long time. I use 87 octane and use it within a week or less and I run my saw till it runs dry or I dump it out and run it dry.
Try calculating regular gas at $2.99 where average fuel cost is.

Average price of gas is not $2.99 as a national average. That is the average of the cheapest-gas state in the US: Texas.

The national average is $3.76 as of November 17. I get E-free for ~$4/gallon, but I decided to calculate using a more conservative estimate of $5/gallon so it applies to everyone that can get E-free or wants to use premium 93 octane.

Yes, you can use regular and crappy 2-stroke oil and save even more money, but that wasn't the point I was trying to make. I was pointing out that running "Premium" engineered fuel over the life of a saw is going to cost a lot more vs running a home-made/pump "premium" mix.

Personally, I store a lot of gas. Because I want it to store a long time (2+ years), I store E-free. This also means I use my oldest gas in my saws and cars and rotate out old stock.

Also, I have saws I don't use often. Using E-free across the board makes it so I don't have to worry about draining tanks every time I go to use one for a day and am unsure when I will use it next. This is HUGELY cheaper than using engineered fuel for that same purpose.

 

[Ethobling]

You can save even more using regular pump gas (87 octane) and mix small amounts that you use right away. The only real down side of using ethanol is if it sits for a long time. I use 87 octane and use it within a week or less and I run my saw till it runs dry or I dump it out and run it dry.
Try calculating regular gas at $2.99 where average fuel cost is.

Just multiply my figures by 5/7ths. That will get you your answer.

Ex: $5075 * (5/7) = $3625

 

[Mad Professor]

That's true. It also impares your cognitive ability when your breath the fumes...

Kids in the 50s and 60s are were a lot smarter than the offal schools are producing now.

 

[Mad Professor]

That's true. It also impares your cognitive ability when your breath the fumes...

I also like it when the red squirrels chew into a plastic containers or tanks to have a drink.......

 

[bwalker]

I also like it when the red squirrels chew into a plastic containers or tanks to have a drink.......

Funny you mention that. When I had a fishing lodge we cached plastic gas cans in the bush. More than once a bear would grab one drag it back in the woods and bite holes in it until they got a mouthful of gas. Then they would drop it and go on.
I also had a damn bear that ate the fiberglass hood off an outboard motor. That had to be hard on the guts!

 

[bwalker]

Kids in the 50s and 60s are were a lot smarter than the offal schools are producing now.

Actually IQ tests done prior to and after the ban of lead gas showed an improvement in IQ.
The poor results notes today can be blamed on government meddling and the break down of the traditional family unit.

 

[bwalker]

You can save even more using regular pump gas (87 octane) and mix small amounts that you use right away. The only real down side of using ethanol is if it sits for a long time. I use 87 octane and use it within a week or less and I run my saw till it runs dry or I dump it out and run it dry.
Try calculating regular gas at $2.99 where average fuel cost is.

There are other downsides to using ethanol blend gas in small.engines beyond storage issues.

 

[sb47]

There are other downsides to using ethanol blend gas in small.engines beyond storage issues.

Care to elaborate.

 

[jellyroll]

Diesel and ethanol free is not available at the moment so it is either use ethanol gas or buy a cross cut saw.
No way i am paying $30 for premix and most of the containers is under 1 gallon.

 

[bwalker]

Care to elaborate.

Ethanol attacks rubber and plastic parts. It also causes corrosion internaly because it attracts water,even in the short term. Some guys have suggested it's use also causes increased piston skirt wear on the intake side. Seems plausible given it's boiling point and the fact it's a strong solvent, but I haven't noted it with my own eyes as I dont run it.
If it's all you got I'd run it, but if you have access to Efree I would go that route or perhaps look into removing the ethanol from premium using the water absorption method.
Also keep in mind E15 is going to happen in the near future so these issues will only get worse.

 

[bwalker]

Diesel and ethanol free is not available at the moment so it is either use ethanol gas or buy a cross cut saw.
No way i am paying $30 for premix and most of the containers is under 1 gallon.

It's a shame canned fuel is so damn expensive. It works fine for the guy that uses small amounts, but no way could I justify using it daily or even weekly.
Perhaps separating the ethanol from premium would work for you?

 

[Ethobling]

Perhaps separating the ethanol from premium would work for you?

That's an excellent point I forgot about! Basically, you can throw in a couple cups of water in some gas and it will bind to the ethanol and pull it out of solution.

Only downside is you will, essentially, be losing 10% of your "fuel", but doing that method to regular gas would probably still be cheaper than buying straight E-free, albeit more laborious.

 

[bwalker]

That's an excellent point I forgot about! Basically, you can throw in a couple cups of water in some gas and it will bind to the ethanol and pull it out of solution.

Only downside is you will, essentially, be losing 10% of your "fuel", but doing that method to regular gas would probably still be cheaper than buying straight E-free, albeit more laborious.

The other downside is I would only do it with premium. Ethanol is a high octane component snd removing it will lower your octane. You can figure out roughly how much by running the numbers.

 

[Ethobling]

The other downside is I would only do it with premium. Ethanol is a high octane component snd removing it will lower your octane. You can figure out roughly how much by running the numbers.

Yeah. Regular comes out to 85 Octane from 87. Premium 91 comes to 89. So, basically, drop 2 octane points if you remove the ethanol.

 

[Mad Professor]

Actually IQ tests done prior to and after the ban of lead gas showed an improvement in IQ.
The poor results notes today can be blamed on government meddling and the break down of the traditional family unit.

You mean liberalisim?

 

[Mad Professor]

That's an excellent point I forgot about! Basically, you can throw in a couple cups of water in some gas and it will bind to the ethanol and pull it out of solution.

Only downside is you will, essentially, be losing 10% of your "fuel", but doing that method to regular gas would probably still be cheaper than buying straight E-free, albeit more laborious.

That's moronic. How about drying the organic layer? thought about that?

 

[sb47]

Ethanol attacks rubber and plastic parts. It also causes corrosion internaly because it attracts water,even in the short term. Some guys have suggested it's use also causes increased piston skirt wear on the intake side. Seems plausible given it's boiling point and the fact it's a strong solvent, but I haven't noted it with my own eyes as I dont run it.
If it's all you got I'd run it, but if you have access to Efree I would go that route or perhaps look into removing the ethanol from premium using the water absorption method.
Also keep in mind E15 is going to happen in the near future so these issues will only get worse.

Most gas pumps in my area says it may contain up to 10% ethanol. The key word is "MAY".
Just because it might, does not mean it does.
We only hear about ethanol harming small engines fuel systems. I never hear of it harming the millions of cars that still have a carbonated system and we never hear of it harming the millions of cars with fuel injection or throttle body systems. My 94 truck has a throttle body and only gets driven once a week. It sits with regular pump gas in it since it was bought with no ill effects. It has over 211K and runs just fine. In fact it's fuel pump is located in the gas tank and has a lot of rubber and plastic parts and has survived 28 years sitting submerged in fuel.

 

[bwalker]

Most gas pumps in my area says it may contain up to 10% ethanol. The key word is "MAY".
Just because it might, does not mean it does.
We only hear about ethanol harming small engines fuel systems. I never hear of it harming the millions of cars that still have a carbonated system and we never hear of it harming the millions of cars with fuel injection or throttle body systems. My 94 truck has a throttle body and only gets driven once a week. It sits with regular pump gas in it since it was bought with no ill effects. It has over 211K and runs just fine. In fact it's fuel pump is located in the gas tank and has a lot of rubber and plastic parts and has survived 28 years sitting submerged in fuel.

Yes, some refiners get wavers to not blend ethanol. This has lessened greatly under the Biden admin.

Cars don't have carbs with sensitive rubber and plastic parts. Plus most of the fuel system parts are stainless now days.
I worked for the company that built the fuel systems including the intake pump/filter/sending unit for GM and even back in the 90's they were designed to use ethanol fuel. This came about because Brazil and other countries began to start ethanol use even back then

 

[bwalker]

You mean liberalisim?

Exactly..

 

[sean donato]

The sad part is we use one of the most costly methods to make ethonal.