so waht ya doin today?

[Bret4207]

Thanks Ian, now I understand. I've been fighting ethanol and crummy fuels in the small engine field for some time. And I agree completely that Stabil is utter garbage and near certain death for carbs in mixed oil/ethanol bearing fuels. But there are enough people out there that claim they never, ever have a problem and that ethanol actually cleans their mowers and saws that I've learned to put my experience in mild mannered terms.

What ever that is you've been getting, I'd steer clear of it.

 

[Brad]

Making calzones for dinner. Dough from scratch. Never tried this before so it will be interesting to see how they turn out. These are rolled like a jelly roll instead of folded over.

 

[Bret4207]

I have been fighting that gum varnish from red stabil for years it’s the absolute worst crud to deal with.
Isopropyl alcohol is the only thing I have found that will cut it!
Image a fuel supply module with a low pressure, high pressure electric fuel pump system with a float valve system glued together as a glob with that sticky brown goo.
That’s my day to day life this time of year!

I used Stabil, the red stuff, in a generator some years back. Lost the carb, the tank and the lines. Acetone wouldn't even cut it. That was the last time I used Stabil on purpose. Since then I've accidentally used fuel that had it in it a couple times. Fortunately I found out and ran the tanks dry and added fresh, non-ethanol/Stabil mix. Ethanol alone is bad enough on older saws. It'll swell the cap on a 70's-early 80's Pioneer saw up to the point you need Channel Locks to remove it over night. Been there, done that, got the tee shirt. You ought to see what it'll do to some older types of o-rings! Gummy worm city!

 

[Ian]

The jumper hose on the module I showed was jelly and had ruptured, which is why no fuel pressure after getting the pump running. These parts were all brand new, but obviously not ethanol toerant. I would hav to go to northern New Mexico to get Midwest fuel, which is far better stuff regardless of ethanol. For saws I use Tru-Fuel, never had an issue and the stuff is still useable after well over a year.

I can get ethanol-free fuel at one outfit in town, will see about using that from now on in my off-road vehicles.

 

[RBHarter]

Ms made scratch apple fritters for breakfast this morning ........ It's no wonder I'm so fat .

 

[Wasalmonslayer]

o

FWIW, as far as I know the corn/ethanol subsidy ended in 2012. There are other subsidies in play and mandates involving ethanol, bit the glory days are supposed to have ended some time back.

I did not know that.
Thanks for the heads up.

 

[fiver]

I'm still stumped why it costs 50 cents a gallon more for ethanol free fuel than it does for added in ethanol fuel.
the stuff would have to cost 50 cents a gallon and there would be fleets of cars running on the stuff for it to lower gas prices that much.
but then,, I was stymied when lead free gas cost more than leaded back when you could get both at the same station.

 

[Wasalmonslayer]

I have ethanol free premium fuel delivered to our shop tank from a local supplier and it is cheaper than regular with ethanol at the pump go figure on that one.......

 

[Rally]

Went mower shopping last Wednesday. They wanted $1700.00 for the same mower I had, with a stamped deck! Ordered the parts for my engine and got them this morning after running traps. New head (with valve seats), new valves, rocker arm studs, and gasket set (with head and exhaust bolts). Took about two hours to get it put back together and runs like new. Pressure washed it, and it looks better than spending $1700.00. Parts were under $250.00. Might have to go order that Girard case trimmer with the money I saved. LOL

 

[Pistolero]

Unfortunately, Bret it is REQUIRED to pollute the fuel with ethanol. They have even toyed with
upping the required level to 15%, but the auto makers have fought them on that saying it will
kill the cars.

Here in KC area, our fuel is pretty good. The only issue is leaving unstabilized fuel in a
small engine for many months. I us normal old Stabil here and it works fine for
one season storage, but you will have gelled crud if you leave it longer than about 12 months.
Like my pressure washer which just doesn't get used real often.

Finally, for motorcycles (ridden only a few dozen times in the nice months) the only
thing that goes into them is ethanol free. Next month ALL fuel cans will be filled with
ethanol free for the big mowers, small mowers, weed whacker, leaf blowers, etc. They
get stabilized ethanol free starting in Sept, so by the end of the season it is in all of them.

I had to rebuild the carbs on my brother's outboard a few times, coastal GA. Now he uses
only ethanol free in the boats.

That is the nastiest stuff I have ever seen as far as corrosion. Really unreal. Seems like it
is worthy of a class action suit.

Bill

 

[Pistolero]

Two main reasons for it costing more. First, the entire fuel transport system is set up to handle ethanol-tainted
fuel, so anything you do with shipping pure fuel is special, small-quantity and abnormal. Most tainted fuel
is shipped in pipelines. If you ship a different fuel, they put in a divider, then start using the new kind.
A certain amount at the division still intermingles, and can't be sold as the pure no-ethanol, even though
it was this when it entered the pipeline. So, in shipment some is lost (sold as ethanol fuel, even though it
may be ALMOST ethanol free). That is a cost for the ethanol free - lost quantity. Or, I would bet that
a lot of times the ethanol free is shipped by rail car and/or tanker truck. Far more expensive than
pipeline shipping. All these "special problem" shipment issues significantly increase costs.

Second, it requires a separate tank and separate pump at the gas station, which is a big cost up
front, you would be shocked at the costs, I think. And, those high costs are spread out over perhaps
10% or even less of the fuel flowage that the "Regular" gas tank and pump costs are spread over.

And finally - because it is special product with limited competition - they can get you to buy it at
a higher cost, so they will get as much as they can. It only costs about 40 cents per gallon more here,
but in coastal GA, it is a full $1.00 more per gallon. And folks there with boats need it, and very few
stations have the special tankage, so they get a huge kicker on cost.

Bill

 

[Rick]

Got one station here that all they have is sober gas, they don't have or sell any ethanol gas.

 

[Winelover]

Been using Sta-bil since it became available without issues. When in Michigan, I used it with ethanol fuel in mowers, weed wackers snowblowers and outboards. Could hardly find a station that sold ethanol free. Here in Arkansas, the ethanol free regular, is available. The Marina only sells ethanol free regular, so that's what I use in my 115 HP Mercury outboard since 2013 when purchased new. It gets Sta-bil in the last tankful of the season. There is nearly seven hundred hours on that engine. The twenty plus year old Honda mower, currently gets Sta-bil treated ethanol free regular, year round, as does the Echo weed wacker. The "Country Store", just down the road from me, only carries ethanol free regular and diesel. They discontinued carrying the tainted stuff. Most of their customers are trailered boats, who are willing to pay the extra 50-60 cents per gallon. I take the 72 Chevelle over there to gas up........haven't run across anyone that carries ethanol free premium, around here.

 

[Bret4207]

We usually have a choice of ethanol (10%) regular, ethanol mid grade and non-ethanol premium. Runs about $3.10 @ gal currently. Our little dinky corner store 2 1/2 miles down the road from me sells non-ethanol mid grade a $3.59 currently. He's given up trying to sell the ethanol regular because no one wants it. Kind of odd putting a higher grade gas in a 46 Case farm tractor, but I don't have gelling issues or any of a number of other issues with 2 cycles or older saws, etc.

Cost? Remember that the current tax per gallon of gas (NYS) is about 50 cents per gallon. It's been as high as 62 or 3 cents when fuel prices were higher. Diesel was over over 75 cents IIRC.

 

[RBHarter]

I have ethanol free premium fuel delivered to our shop tank from a local supplier and it is cheaper than regular with ethanol at the pump go figure on that one.......

How much do you buy at a time ? Long ago a friend had a "co-op" pump at his hanger 80/87 and later 100LL avgas from 76 was "only" about a dime more than regular . The Farm fuel deal was that they had to take 5000 gal in one delivery twice a year (10,000 gal/yr or more) , then they got the wholesale price . That was typically 50-60¢ below local market price ......until ARCO came in then it was only a dime or so , but $1000 is a lot of 1983-6 money to a farmer on 200 acres .

 

[fiver]

so I went to the Lowes yesterday on my way home from shooting some clay targets.
got the one board I needed, then cruised through the discount plant section and nabbed a couple of Elderberry bushes, and a pair of Cherry trees.
I got home and realized I had grabbed the drink I bought, but left the hinges and heavy duty screws at the checkout counter.
soo off I go this morning.
first to stop and pay for the metal that is already on the roof of the patio [yep carry and pay when the bill is ready]
the bill wasn't ready so I took off and stopped in later in the afternoon and since the trim pieces for the edge were missing I gotta wait until Thursday for those and to pay for the roof... LOL
[try that where you live]

drove the 75 miles to town and they found my bag of stuff at the Lowes.
I didn't know what to do with myself in town and cruised out to the boat shop and looked at a used boat they had out there for a minute then cruised back through town towards home [bypassing all the gun shops]
figured I better get the trees and bushes planted and finish prepping the last 3 beds in the garden since they had the dirt and the grass I put in there was really starting to break down.
I got about 8-9 worms out of each hole I dug for the bushes in the prepped beds and at least 40 were in each 8' bed with the grass and stuff..
just about perfect dirt I figured so I hit them all with some 4-4-2 fertilizer and covered everything up with some loose plastic.

 

[freebullet]

Quite a time, fiver. I think ya need to grab a northern variety of grape vines to make some homemade wines.

We cleaned a really nasty(the carpet not the house) rental house carpet, handled some admin duties, & went over to see how bad one of my fathers sheds was damaged. Looks like the storms last night bent one tree over right on his wood pile & a second fell on a shed. Messed it up pretty good, maybe structural damage.

 

[Brad]

We didn't have any damage but damn did it rain. Not sure of the official total but we certainly got a few inches in 36 hours.

 

[fiver]

vines seem to do pretty good here but they don't seem to produce fruit too well.

I have a water melon out there that grows about a foot every night, and it has one little melon about an inch long on it that hasn't budged in size in about 10 days.
the vines are covered in flowers every 4-5 inches but none of them will ever bear fruit before the frost hits.

the 'wild' grape vine I had on the north side of the house was the same way, it would grow up and around the rain gutters each year but never gave us any grapes [or at least they never got any bigger than raisins] before the cold come and it dropped all of it's leaves.

I'm not even sure I'm gonna get any zucchini squash, it has around 40 flowers on it and maybe 3 of them are looking like they might shoot out something pickle size before the frost hits.

 

[Hawk]

I had a Duracell 6 volt lantern battery, as a temp battery in a deer feeder, that didn't perform as expected. Ran out of juice.
Got it home and was holding it and an Energizer 6 volt battery and noticed the Duracell felt lighter.
Opened the case and found this.
Was pretty shocked, to say the least.