E10 Petrol & Garden Equipment

eirman

This is my summary of the attached E10 fuel DOCX

(The file is a hodge podge collection of clips and links).

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E10 petrol deteriorates much quicker than E5 petrol

E10 petrol absorbs moisture from the air, so using a half-full can of petrol that has been stored for 60 days might not be a good idea (especially in a 2-stroke machine).

However, using a FULL can of petrol that has been stored for 60 days may be okay.

The two examples above also apply to a half-full and a full fuel tank in a piece of garden machinery.

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Drain (or siphon) out all E10 petrol over the winter period (when machinery is not being used).

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Using a fuel stabiliser a couple of times a year is probably a good idea.

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The official start date for E10 in Ireland is July 23 (Some forecourts started earlier in May)

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Super-Unleaded fuel should be investigated. (Some may still be E5)

E10 PETROL.docx

magicbastarder

from a quick google, 1L of air can hold 0.017mL of water (100% humidity at 25C - so in reality, it'd be less than that).

closing a half full 5L petrol can in those conditions would therefore mean a max 0.042mL of liquid - less than one twentieth of a mL - in the air in the can. 2500mL of petrol is left - 60,000 times the volume of the available moisture; would that cause a problem?

reason i ask is i've used E5 stored in a can for two years without apparent issue.

eirman

"i've used E5 stored in a can for two years without apparent issue"

E5 always works for me when stored for 4/5 months in a mower over the winter. When I got a ride-on mower I tried the old mower after 16 months and the mower would not start .... not a budge!

Anyhow, this post relates to E10 which has been in use in the UK for a while now.

The Continental Op

I know that the larger Honda 2 cylinder petrol engines can have issues with fuel including stale fuel.

For anyone that really wants to follow a path of perfection they can use Aspen fuel or at least use it as the last fill they use in the Autumn to purge the system of E10.

https://www.aspenfuels.com/products/alla/

Aspen fuel can be left in the tank over winter. Most larger garden machinery sellers stock it. The problem with it is price.

RainInSummer

I drain or leave my generator run dry after every single use, it's the kind of thing that sits unused for a month or two at a time though. I think if you're using stuff on the regular you won't run into issues.

I saw a few YouTube vids re additives/preservatives and no dice for fuel with ethanol in the mix, they just didn't work.

If you're going through a decent volume of fuel I know one lad in Wicklow follows this process at a larger scale:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e7YzMjB_qYI

The odd thing is though, ethanol is an octane booster, so removing it drops the rating of your fuel. Some people put back in commercially available octane boosters....which are, you guessed it, ethanol. Back to square one.

The Continental Op

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120587826#Comment_120587826

He probably makes poteen out of the leftover ethanol ;-)

RainInSummer

I couldn't possibly comment on the quality of poteen should it exist.