We want our generators to work when we need them. Using gasoline blended with ethanol should only be used in cars that are driven often AND have fuel systems that don’t breath. If you have a vented gas tank, you should expect trouble, and might see it the first day.
Here’s two websites you should consider book marking.
http://www.fuel-testers.com/index.html
lots of really good information. Unless you are sure you can get a supply of straight gas now and in the future, you should rule out gasoline generators period! (unless you don’t need your generator to run when you try starting it.)
George B.
I was wondering;Phase separation; Simple enough. But could there be a way to, lets say, have a certian size glass contianer; Pour in the fuel; let it separate, and through some means, just siphon the top layer of gasoline off? Sure it’s going to have some ethanol in it, but maybe, lessen it a bit. WHOLE lot preferably! For lawn mowers/gensets and such. Somewhere down the road, there’s gotta be a way. It is evident; They want piston engines out of the lower 48! Hey,..might have to start moonshining! On another site, someone for E85 stated.”his grandpa ran his cars on corn whiskey, I’m all for it!” He’s wrong; Ethanol and old time moonshine are not the SAME! You don’t have to post this, I’m just trying to come up with plan C. I don’t scare easy, that’s stupid. Just like to plan ahead. Right now; We have laws; If a big breakdown occurs; I’m sure they’ll have thier hands full with other things…PRAY!
What!? Are you serious? What exactly do you think ethanol is? It is alcohol made from grain, most notably corn.
Sorry sir, but YOU are wrong.
This blend relies on the Alcohol to have any useful octane rating.. don’t know how low the compresssion ratio would have to be to run the gasiline once separated from the ethanol. Why not give it a try, and report back?
Hi George,
Enjoying reading through your site and came across the page about the ethanol blended fuel. We have this rubbish here in Australia as well and it’s caused me problems of one kind or another in every engine I have used it in.
I found a soloution to get the ethanol out of the blends which is very easy.
Wash the Petrol.
I add about 20% water to the E10, give it a slosh about and let the drum settle. Pretty soon you have clear petrol on the top and the water and ethanol on the bottom.
The petrol is then ethanol and problem free.
I use the water/ ethanol mix in the water injection system of my veg fueled car.
As you probably have seen, veg oil can cause the piston rings to stick with carbon but after having run veg oil for over 5 years, my cars with a basic Water injection system just keep running perfect and I don’t do everything according to the book of good veg oil practice either.
I have a small horozontal Diesel engine I’m coupling up to an induction motor to use as a generator and run that on veg and give that a drip feed of water every so often to make sure everything is clean in the cylinder with that as well. Once I get it set up properly, i’m thinking of using a pulse type fuel pump to run off the crankcase pressure to pump water through a spray nozzle in the intake. this way the water will only work when the engine is running and i’ll never have to remember to turn it on or off or flood my engine.
For running small ( and large) petrol engines, I have found the washing works well and gives you nice pure petrol that isn’t available here normally.
Have fun George,
David Smith
Sydney Australia.
So, you purposely add water to your gasoline, hope it separates and THEN pour it in your engine and run it?
Nice. And to think you were worried about the “harmful” effects of ethanol. What do you think any residual water will do?
I see a problem with removing the ethanol,.. it works to raise the octane ratiing of the fuel, as we know.. the higher the octane rating, the less worry about pre-detonation.
Todd, please tell us what it will do, and how we keep the water and gasoline mixed..
How can I convert a small petrol generator to ethanol without any problem.pls I need way out.
Hi, I just want to mention re these tanker trucks that go around collecting light crude from remote oil Wells, they run their trucks on the stuff. For .10 cents a liter, buy the time the fuel injectors go, about a hundred thousand km. they’d have saved enough for a new engine to run on light crude straight out the ground.
I’m not suprised to hear this.. light crude is good looking stuff.. https://www.utterpower.com/north-dakota-slow-speed-diesel-oil/