Last year I began an experiment testing different storage techniques for different types of stored gas. I want to compare the differences between the following fuel samples:
- Unopened 50:1 TruFuel
- Unused, but opened 50:1 TruFuel
- 10% Ethanol gasoline
- Ethanol free gasoline
- 10% ethanol + PRI-G
- Ethanol free + PRI-G
- 10% Ethanol + Sta-bil
- Ethanol free + Sta-bil
- Ethanol free + PRI-G with 15 mL additions of PRI-G every 9-12 months or so
You can get more information about my experiment here: https://gadgetsoftheoutdoors.blogspot.com/2018/06/review-ethanol-free-gasoline-and.html
My question is: what's the best and most economical way to test my samples? I want to test ease of starting as well as running performance. My initial thought is to put the gasoline mixture in my Stihl MS 170 or Echo PAS-225 (powerhead only) and measure the idle and WOT RPMs with a tach (objective measure) as well as count how many pulls I'd need to start the engine (subjective measure). And between samples, I'd run ethanol free gas (or TruFuel?) to purge the system.
Seems straightforward enough, right? But I'm curious as to whether there's a better way to objectively measure the quality of my stored gasoline samples. There's also the hassle of having to not only purge the old sample from the engine, tank and fuel lines, but I'd have to run the engine with the new gasoline sample and let it cool down for a while to simulate a cold start. This can pose a problem if the new gasoline sample is such poor quality that starting the engine won't reliably start.
Also, I'd like to do this experiment in a double-blind manner, but that's not possible as I will have no one to help me (and therefore no one to randomize my samples while another person keeps track of which sample is which). So I need to take into consideration the placebo effect. That's why finding an objective method of measuring gasoline performance/quality is so important.
Any advice will be appreciated. Thanks!
- Unopened 50:1 TruFuel
- Unused, but opened 50:1 TruFuel
- 10% Ethanol gasoline
- Ethanol free gasoline
- 10% ethanol + PRI-G
- Ethanol free + PRI-G
- 10% Ethanol + Sta-bil
- Ethanol free + Sta-bil
- Ethanol free + PRI-G with 15 mL additions of PRI-G every 9-12 months or so
You can get more information about my experiment here: https://gadgetsoftheoutdoors.blogspot.com/2018/06/review-ethanol-free-gasoline-and.html
My question is: what's the best and most economical way to test my samples? I want to test ease of starting as well as running performance. My initial thought is to put the gasoline mixture in my Stihl MS 170 or Echo PAS-225 (powerhead only) and measure the idle and WOT RPMs with a tach (objective measure) as well as count how many pulls I'd need to start the engine (subjective measure). And between samples, I'd run ethanol free gas (or TruFuel?) to purge the system.
Seems straightforward enough, right? But I'm curious as to whether there's a better way to objectively measure the quality of my stored gasoline samples. There's also the hassle of having to not only purge the old sample from the engine, tank and fuel lines, but I'd have to run the engine with the new gasoline sample and let it cool down for a while to simulate a cold start. This can pose a problem if the new gasoline sample is such poor quality that starting the engine won't reliably start.
Also, I'd like to do this experiment in a double-blind manner, but that's not possible as I will have no one to help me (and therefore no one to randomize my samples while another person keeps track of which sample is which). So I need to take into consideration the placebo effect. That's why finding an objective method of measuring gasoline performance/quality is so important.
Any advice will be appreciated. Thanks!
