New rules for ethanol in gasoline

   / New rules for ethanol in gasoline #11  
understand. curious your location? regards
 
   / New rules for ethanol in gasoline
  • Thread Starter
#12  
Read it in the local rag this morning (AP article) so I had no link as it wasn't on the net to begin with and I didn't look.

If you leave e-gas in a carb without additive for an extended period, it will separate (called phase shift) and the water will most certainly corrode the inside of the carb and clog the jets. Been there and done that more than once. I imagine that an EFI engine is less impacted but something with a carb is.

Why all my small stuff (chainsaws and weed eaters) are now on synthetic fuel). All carbed and all susceptible tp getting gunked up and the chainsaws with their diaphragm carbs especially.

I always use Marine Stabil in the mowers as they sit all winter with full fuel tanks but phase shift is still an issue.

Most small engines don't like e-gas. They will tolerate 10% but 15% could spell death for them. In fact, most newer small engines state that right on the fuel tank or on the gas cap for a reason.

Both of our vehicles are flex fuel which means the fuel delivery components are tolerant of alcohol though I've never used it and it is widely available here.

I get 40 on regular anyway, good enough for me as I don't drive all that much anyway.

Even states in our owners manuals that using E85 will decrease the fuel mileage. I imagine that Fords (my car) and GM (my wife's Suburban) know what they are talking about.

I know on my car it states in the owners manual to run a tank of regular unleaded every 4th tankfull. Why I don't know.
 
   / New rules for ethanol in gasoline
  • Thread Starter
#13  
One thing I didn't mention and most non farmers don't realize is, American farmers combine corn (strip the cobs of kernels and leave the stalks and stripped cobs in the field) and the majority of the alcohol producing sugar is actually in the stalk itself. European corn growers that grow e-corn chop the entire plant, cob, kernels and stalks and all of it goes to the distiller.

The other issue is, distillers are particular about varieties of corn grown. IOW, corn grown for food production and e-corn are 2 different animals and distillers like to control pricing as in cheap.

What happened here. The distiller went out of business when local farmers were told they had to grow specific varieties and sell to them at a low ball price. Once that went down and local farmers realized food grade corn paid much better at the elevator, the local distiller folded.

Finally, it's a well proven and documented fact that it takes more energy to produce a gallon of corn alcohol than that gallon produces in realized energy, which is why all distillers need gummit subsidies to stay in business.

You pay twice. Once in taxes and then again at the pump.
 
   / New rules for ethanol in gasoline #14  
IIRC, every bushel of corn processed for ethanol produces about 3 gallons of ethanol and about 20 lbs of animal feed. And, from what I understand, the feed produced is much richer than the corn before the processing, so it displaces about 120%.

IOW, 100lbs of ethanol-processed feed takes the place of 120lbs of corn. Not sure about all that.

I'm not crazy about using it for ethanol but I don't think it's as bad as some think. Technology is good in the right hands.

In the wrong hands -- Well, those people screw up everything they touch anyway, so.................
 
   / New rules for ethanol in gasoline #15  

For the conspiracy people: It's all a plot to kill small gas engines to be replaced with battery powered ones. :D

Bruce

To my reading, this is not forcing anyone to buy E85 gas. It would be allowing its sale in the summer months, as well as winter.

When I have seen E85 offered for sale in Ohio, it is labeled as a cheaper alternative. The same station offers "normal" gas for a higher price, and it can have up to 10% ethanol.
 
   / New rules for ethanol in gasoline #16  
I live in a small, rural county in Middle Tennessee. Since the price of ethanol gas per gallon is cheaper, that's what sells at every place in town except one store that still offers 100% gas. If that one store stops selling 100% gas, the next place that sells it is in the next county about 20 miles away who sells it because they are on the same road that leads to a major fishing lake.
 
   / New rules for ethanol in gasoline #17  
so going back to OP, does availability of ethanol free fuel depend on demographic demand in each locale, or is it a matter of state/local regulation, or lobbyists?
 
   / New rules for ethanol in gasoline #18  
I already switched my chainsaws and weed trimmers over to syn fuel. It's expensive but I'm tired of dealing with gunked carbs and failed fuel lines on seasonal and occasional use gas powered equipment.

Syn Fuel ?? what is syn fuel ?
 
   / New rules for ethanol in gasoline #19  
OK Folks. 15% ethanol is NOT E85!

They are two different product.

E15 is 15% ethanol and 85% gasoline.

E85 is 85% ethanol and 15% gasoline.

Also, the OP's statement is misleading.

No one is forcing people in those states to use E15. It allows them to sell E15 all year VS just seasonally.

 
   / New rules for ethanol in gasoline #20  
....

You cannot pipeline e-gas as it's corrosive to pipelines. It has to be blended in at the refinery and road trucked to filling stations.

...
The majority of gasoline sold in the US is E10. It has never been made at refineries, and has always been blended at the rack, as they say. It's been that way since the 80s. So this is nothing new.

 
 
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