GAS: Regular? Premium? Ethanol?

[scrappy isb67]

That's probably not true, as octane is separate and independent of the fuel, whether it's gas or ethanol. The gas or ethanol doesn't naturally have octane in it.

What is true is that ethanol contains about 15% less energy per volume than gas. So you really start to lose out when mixing ethanol into gas. It's actually noticeable if you can carefully measure and track MPG on a vehicle.

octane is a measurement of the flammability of a fuel, as in how fast and smoothly it burns. a low octane fuel burns quick and roughly whereas a higher octane fuel burns slower and smoother. the only difference between the different grades of fuels is an additive that alters the base octane rating of the gas to achieve the desired octane rating. and the octane rating of ethanol is higher than regular gas.
the BTU content has NOTHING to do with the octane rating.

 

[s219]

octane is a measurement of the flammability of a fuel, as in how fast and smoothly it burns. a low octane fuel burns quick and roughly whereas a higher octane fuel burns slower and smoother. the only difference between the different grades of fuels is an additive that alters the base octane rating of the gas to achieve the desired octane rating. and the octane rating of ethanol is higher than regular gas.
the BTU content has NOTHING to do with the octane rating.

I hope you're not trying to correct me, as I have been trying to get that across all along. Octane controls the speed of combustion only, not the energy of it (though the work produced mechanically is affected by the oc

 

[masscity]

The station where I get my gas for years had non-ethanol, but recently went back to ethanol. Right on the pump it says 87 octane is 10 percent, 91 octane is 0 percent and they mix the two together and get 89 octane with 5 percent ethanol. My weedwacker call for mid grade, so this is what I buy for everything here. My Champion generator says do not use high grade gas in this engine.

 

[clemsonfor]

No disrespect, but every source I can find says that E10 gasoline has 10% ethanol by volume, regardless of grade. Do you know different?

But around here premium does not have any ethonol most places, so that we can buy non e10 gas. So its pure, if you get midgrade 89 octane its a blend of the e10 and premium without so you dont quite get e10 more like e7?

 

[ruffdog]

Does anyone test their fuel to see if they are getting ethanol when they shouldn't be? We used to test the fuel at the cycle shop to make sure we were not getting ethanol. There was one occation when they mixed up the ethanol and one time a station filled the tank with diesel instead of gas. Many times, the pump may say "up to 10% ethanol" but might check out at only 5%. The testers are cheap and easy to use too.

Test gasoline for ethanol - YouTube

 

[cropdusting]

Out here in Colorado some blends have "up to" 18% ethanol but can be labled as E10

 

[jonyyuma]

Thanks for the tip. I believe i will be searching the web,for a kit to test our fuel.. My opinion, is the Murphy Oil has more ethanol in it than the Kroger outlet..Then I will be testing Shell?? The car tells me it likes kroger better and i check fuel mileage most tanks. So Monday I shall try to get the kit.Today we paid $2.94 a gallon for E10 and diesel was 3.47 a gallon.