Non-Ethanol Fuel

[Quantico Frank]

This is a snowblower issue for me today since my nearly new snowblower failed me before the mid-Altantic had its storm about a week ago. Fortunately, I was able to re-kindle my manual laborer skills from my summers in high school and college and clear the 10 or so inches of snow we got a week ago with a good old shovel. It's like riding a bike.

When I called the Troybilt repair place, they told me it's the gas-- full stop-- when I told him I used our mandated ethanol gas in it. I actually had previously siphoned then run the tank to empty before I ignored the thing for about three years before I tried to start it in the watertight shed I stored it in before last week's storm. I do the same thing with my Suzuki 2.5 outboard. The snowblower probably has less than 10 hours total use on it since I bought it brand new. 

So now I'm looking at buying non-ethanol gas for all my small engines which for me means a 40 min trip to south of Fredericksburg, VA. My question is what do you run in your small engines? Do you have access to non-ethanol, and where do you have to go to get it?

[Charles Brennan]

Frank, I am a big proponent of the use of non-ethanol fuel in small engines.
Here's a web site that lists stations by state, that have non-ethanol fuels.

https://www.pure-gas.org/

It may list a station someplace closer to you, than what you currently describe.

But for me, that's only half the issues involved, with intermittent use engines.
I am also a Big Fan of Sea Foam fuel additives.

Sea Foam's claim to fame:
Product Features:
Cleans fuel injector and carburetor passageways
Cleans intake valve and chamber deposits
Lubricates upper cylinders
Works in crankcase oil to liquefy harmful residues and deposits
Stabilizes gas and diesel fuels up to 2 years
For any gas or diesel fuel blend
For all motor oils, conventional and synthetic.

I put approx an ounce or so in all my small fuel tanks of lawn mowers, edger, pressure washers, 15hp Johnson outboard, chain saws, leaf blowers, emergency generator, 25 hp Yamaha outboard, John Deere riding mower, etc.
None of those gas powered appliances have required a carb rebuild since I moved up here to north central Florida, 8 years ago.

I also have 30 gallons of fuel that I store for generator usage during hurricanes.
I add Stabil to those 6) 5-gallon cans since the fuel can sit for up to 6 months before usage.  After hurricane season is over, I gradually use the 30 gallons in the yard equipment and the outboard motors, etc. The idea being, that by June 1, when hurricane season starts up again, I get another 30 gallons and store it until November 30, when I start using it up again.

The last time the carburetor was rebuilt in my 15hp Johnson 2-stroke outboard was 2004, 20 years ago.
I attribute that record to religiously running the carb dry after using the motor, adding Sea Foam to every tank of fuel that gets connected to the motor, and to using only non-ethanol fuel.

Hope this helps,
Charles Brennan

[Wolverine]

For small engines like line trimmers, chainsaws, or leaf blowers, I use the premixed canned fuel.  Been using it for years with absolutely no other maintenance done to those tools and not once have they failed to start after sitting all winter.
Yes, it costs more, but we'll worth not dealing with the aggravation.  For my outboards that use much more fuel, we have non ethanol available in town, and I use a gas stabalizer.

[tjspiel]

It used to be harder to find non-oxygenated gas but one of the local convenience store/gas station chains now has it available at most of the their locations.

It's premium only though and you pay more than you would for regular premium.

It has minimized but not eliminated occasional carburetor problems on my small engines and I usually empty the tanks and the carburetors of things that sit for months like snowblowers.

Sometimes I've been able to successfully clean the jets and get them working again but other times I've had to get new carburetors. They can be found on Amazon for not much money.

[Quantico Frank]

Frank, I am a big proponent of the use of non-ethanol fuel in small engines.
Here's a web site that lists stations by state, that have non-ethanol fuels.

https://www.pure-gas.org/

It may list a station someplace closer to you, than what you currently describe.

Hope this helps,
Charles Brennan

Charles, thanks so much for the tip about Sea Foam. I was on the Lowes website, and read a review that pretty much matched my situation— bringing a machine back from the dead. I'm going to pick some up tomorrow and give it a try. The reviewer said he put a can of it in his tank with a quart of gas, and it worked.

I'm working from that true-gas web site, and Fredericksburg is the closest for me, but I am absolutely bought in at this point— at least for the small small engines. My Deere lawn tractor gets a lot of use in the summer and periodic use in the winter to haul firewood. It goes through a lot of gas in the summer, but maybe I'll start using non-ethanol during the winter months at least as well. We'll see what happens.

[Riggerdood]

It's my understanding that ethanol gas works OK in fuel injected engines (as in most modern cars), but not so much in normally aspirated (carburated) engines. Where I lived in FL, non-E gas was available everywhere, but not so much here in CA. In fact, I've even looked into the stations listed in pure-gas, that are even remotely close to me, and the gas they claim is non-E actually still has alcohol in it. So, it's a strict regimen of SeaFoam and Sta-Bil for me. Luckily, no snowblowers are needed here, and my mower, weed wacker, pressure washer, etc. are all electric, so the outboards are really the only small gas engines I have. Since I get to use them so rarely, and usually with at least a week's notice, I just fill the gas cans before each trip, and what I don't use goes into the car after the trip, plus I run the carbs dry when I rinse the outboards after a trip. I also picked up one of those ultrasonic cleaners that Gary-S mentioned on the happy hour, and I plan to make yearly carb cleaning part of my regular PM regimen.

Hope using the non-E gas works for you in the snowblower!

[tjspiel]

...
I also picked up one of those ultrasonic cleaners that Gary-S mentioned on the happy hour, and I plan to make yearly carb cleaning part of my regular PM regimen.
...

I've been tempted to buy one too. You'll have to let me know how well they work !

[Brian N.]

I've been using Sta-Bil and similar additives for many years in my Honda outboard, snow blower, and mower with great success. "Non alcohol" gas is generally not available in NY except in small cans at Lowes or Home Depot. I also store them with a full tank and start them a couple of times in the off season.

[Riggerdood]

...
I also picked up one of those ultrasonic cleaners that Gary-S mentioned on the happy hour, and I plan to make yearly carb cleaning part of my regular PM regimen.
...

I've been tempted to buy one too. You'll have to let me know how well they work !

I've used it once so far, and while it's pretty difficult to see/know exactly how well it cleans out the jets, it definitely removed all the varnish from visible parts like the carb bowls, etc. Both outboards definitely idled smoother and generally ran better after the cleaning. I picked up the 10 liter model on one of the Amazon Prime days, and it was something like 25-30% off. Right now there's a 20% off limited time deal:

https://www.amazon.com/Tek-Motion-Professional-Ultrasonic-Transducers/dp/B01FDIFAG2?ref_=ast_sto_dp

[Riggerdood]

I've been using Sta-Bil and similar additives for many years in my Honda outboard, snow blower, and mower with great success. "Non alcohol" gas is generally not available in NY except in small cans at Lowes or Home Depot. I also store them with a full tank and start them a couple of times in the off season.

There definitely seems to be two different schools of thought: store completely full, or completely dry. I split the difference by running the carb dry, but keeping the tank full. Seems to work well.

Edit: this only applies to the Honda 2, with its integral tank. On the Nissan 6, I disconnect the fuel line and let it run until the carb is empty.

[tjspiel]

I've been using Sta-Bil and similar additives for many years in my Honda outboard, snow blower, and mower with great success. "Non alcohol" gas is generally not available in NY except in small cans at Lowes or Home Depot. I also store them with a full tank and start them a couple of times in the off season.

I've often wondered if that might be a better approach.

My neighbor empties the tank on his snow blower every Spring but running it in the driveway for 30 minutes to an hour. Aside from being incredibly wasteful, it's also darned annoying. He's otherwise a great neighbor so I let it slide.

I drain the gas but often end up spilling a little bit. Running it a few minutes every month during the off season wouldn't end up using much more.

[Wayne Howard]

Connie and I used SeaFoam in our first motorcycles. We bought them used so we didn't know the motor history. My bike would get warm and then would not idle down. After 4 or 5 tanks of fuel, I noticed that the engine was running smooth and would idle down at stop lights. Since then, we are believers.

I've got a gas powered hookah rig on the big boat for snorkeling and bottom cleaning. It runs on non-ethanol and SeaFoam on a normally aspirated carburetor. Now the 2 stroke 9.9hp dinghy motor gets SeaFoam in its fuel. That engine gets started everytime we go to Pensacola and it gets run dry by disconnecting the fuel line. Still starts on the first or second pull if the IDIOT on the pull cord follows directions. 

[pgandw]

On my 19ft Carolina Skiff with a 115hp Susuki, I found occasional missing even with Stabil and non-ethanol gas (I fill from jerry cans at my dock/boat lift) after boat had sat for several months and was run above 4500 RPM.  I now make a policy to run it wide open for about 5 minutes as part of a 30+ minute run at least once a month.  No problems since, the monthly wide open keeps the gas lines and injectors clean, and I found out from Suzuki warranty folks they like their motors run hard.

Perhaps if I had run the Honda 5hp on my Mariner harder, it would have done better.  I rarely got much above idle because it was faster than I needed.  Epropulsion Spirit (3hp equivalent) saved my shoulders from trying to get that Honda started when I needed it.

Finding a reasonably warm day to run the Carolina Skiff in January is sometimes tough, but the rest of the year I can usually find a good day.  And a decent day on the water is always a good day.  Also keep the tank close to full.  Of course, today the creek was iced over from cold spell we have been having.

Fred W
Hertford, NC 

[Charles Brennan]

I'm in agreement with Riggerdood; Run the carb dry and keep the fuel tanks full.  Full, they can't have any humidity in the empty air space of the fuel tank that condenses into water, then have more humidity, that condenses into water, ad infinitum. 
Next Spring, you run into all the usual contaminated fuel issues, otherwise.

On the outboard motors, there's no problem keeping the tank full and the carb dry; simply disconnect the fuel hose and let the carb run down. When I hear the motor start to rev up (lean mixture, due to fuel depletion) I kick on the choke (to restore fuel/air mixture balance) and let it run the rest of the way down.

Not so easy to do with a snow blower, or a lawn mower. 
For all the gasoline-powered yard equipment, I added fuel cut-off valves in between the fuel tank and the carb.
Here's an example:
https://www.amazon.com/Inline-Briggs-Stratton-9494768-493960/dp/B076F2HKM9/ref=sr_1_1_sspa?dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.GAC7lRsDHIzLBJkPTTMaurwKdP2a8elDgtMIJ57ZqbCdkxKZ_neyr2QWLOZgXnGJ0AdW4-tViOZSKMxsQHocOrLNplVIoq4jhDonCJcG_LsbbfhWRFphUfdEQLs2I3KgXM2TM9zTpNoHYVc6SK9Hkl2lsRo6PLs4O6K2NICJ8YWf-rTn2Tf9YKSQAFnm1G4i9EWzGrhhOVhTFbRJN3-RSbjCCdlu0ABl2lO3mPYcGGg.z5JCPEoQol2XEG6CNs7NXIR8T_HmyeEyHpewB7Q98-w&dib_tag=se&hvadid=580692433603&hvdev=c&hvlocphy=9011729&hvnetw=g&hvqmt=e&hvrand=7961274443507438699&hvtargid=kwd-430064553256&hydadcr=18648_13466044&keywords=fuel+shut+off+valve+for+lawn+mower&qid=1737051910&sr=8-1-spons&sp_csd=d2lkZ2V0TmFtZT1zcF9hdGY&psc=1

The last carb rebuild was the Johnson 15hp back in 2004; NONE of the yard tools have ever required a carb cleaning or rebuilding.  Sea Foam, Run Dry, Tanks stored full, and using cutoff valves (Plus Stabil for long-term fuel storage on the hurricane fuel) have all done the trick for me.

One guy's opinion,
Charles Brennan 

[Riggerdood]

<snip>
On the outboard motors, there's no problem keeping the tank full and the carb dry; simply disconnect the fuel hose and let the carb run down. When I hear the motor start to rev up (lean mixture, due to fuel depletion) I kick on the choke (to restore fuel/air mixture balance) and let it run the rest of the way down.
<snip>

Interesting Charles, I had never heard of that technique. Can't say I've ever noticed the revving up as the fuel ran out, possibly just because I wasn't listening for it, or I was off doing something else until they stopped completely. Next time I'll have to pay more attention!