I agree with everyone in this thread who drain and run their equipment dry! Small engines whether they are 2 stroke,4 stroke a chainsaw,weed trimmer or yard tractor were never intended to operate on ethanol blended fuel. 99% of all small engine problems (that I personally encountered) have been fuel related issues with folks leaving fuel in their machines for extended period of time. Dried out or crumbled fuel lines and dried out carburetor diaphragms. If one would research the major manufacturers canned fuel ie: Stihl moto fuel,Husqvarna fuel, Echo Red Armor, Tru fuel they are all ethanol free,92 or greater octane and blended with a premium Jaso FD 2 stroke oil. Most advertised ideal for long term storage! Tru fuel even has a 4 stroke ethanol free fuel that I use to purge the ethanol fuel from my yard tractor before I put it away for winter. I don’t recommend ethanol free engineered fuel for large jobs like felling a large tree or mowing your yard all summer @ $$$ but for putting your equipment away for the end of season or your power saw for the next time you need it I highly recommend it. I have never had to repair my personal equipment due to fuel related problems but have repaired a lot of other folks equipment because of ethanol! You wouldn’t believe how many people buy new equipment because of service center repair quotes or toss their equipment in the trash because they failed to start when all they needed to do is run them dry and purge the alcohol! Small price to pay In my own opinion!Pre ethanol I used to throw my string trimmer in the shed in the fall, and in the spring add a fresh mix and it'd start up (sometimes begrudgingly) and be running fine again after burning off the old mix.
After the only thing I could get was ethanol, I either make sure to run whatever piece of two stroke every month or so, or dump out the gas and run it dry. Even with ethanol stabilizers the diaphragms harden up, fuel lines harden up, carb gets plugged up and have to pull the needles and clean it out...
In other words, leaving gas in there to keep the carb parts "wet" is not a thing with ethanol (in my experience) unless you're talking short term, couple months at most. More than that and it will evap/varnish and cause all sorts of problems. Trufuel on the other hand, I wouldn't think anything of leaving it for an extended period. Not a sponsor, don't even use it, but my BIL loves it because it's trouble free.
I don't care about the politics of ethanol gas, but what it's done to two stroke engines is criminal. The repair shops probably love it though!
