Ethanol Question!!

[RABBITFISH]

I know this is probably going to sound stupid, but how do you tell if the gas has ethanol in it? At all of the stations here in my area, I check all over the pumps looking for some kind of sign if the gas has ethanol, and only found one station that had a little yellow sticker on one of the pumps that said "may contain up to % ethanol additive" I have not seen this label on any other pumps.....If I ask the attendant inside, they have no clue what I'm talking about...What's ehtanol?....We only have gas..........
Is it just in my area or is it like this in other areas??

[parishht]

WOW, in my area it is really hard to find a station that does not have ethanol added to teh fuel.
There should be stickers on teh pump that explains teh fuel mixture, like the one that you found that says may contain 10% ethanol.
But there should be stickers that say what additives are in the fuel.

[tsubaki]

In our area, all the pumps I have paid attention to do have the ethanol stickers.
We also have 2 pumps in this county that are nonethanol, 89octane Marine fuel. Most of the Marinas have this also.
There is a kit sold at most lawn mower shops that sell and service 2 cycle equipment.
Basically, it is a test tube with a cap. There are lines marked to fill the suspect fuel to. Then add water to another line, shake, let settle. There will be other lines with % values of the ethanol mix (which is in between the fuel fill and water fill lines).
Basically the water mixes with the water in the ethanol and separates from the fuel.

[bradford]

Hey Tsubaki, which pumps are non ethannol besides the BP on Montgomery Crossroad?

[tsubaki]

Haven't been there but it is supposed do be at 142 Pine Barren Road, just off Hwy80, west of Pooler.
Coffee Bluff Marina is supposed to have it also.
I haven't checked Hogans or any other Marinas.

[bradford]

Originally Posted by tsubaki

Haven't been there but it is supposed do be at 142 Pine Barren Road, just off Hwy80, west of Pooler.
Coffee Bluff Marina is supposed to have it also.
I haven't checked Hogans or any other Marinas.

My neighbor supplies Bull River and Lazaretto Creek marinas, all non-ethanol. I wish there was a pump I could trailer to that wasn't half way across the county though. I've considered having my neighbor deliver to my house and store it in 55 gallon drums.

[spareparts]

get a burrett, add 9 cc of gas, add 1 cc of water,put a stopper in the top, shake it up, let it sit, if the water dissapears, you have at least 10%( the gas quanity will grow accordingly) ethanol, if it doesn't loose any water, you either have good straight gas or ethanol tainted fuel that allready has absorbed its capacity if water. If the tank has a "may contain" sticker on it, it so they can file for a rebate from the government for each gallon pumped. Since the price of ethanol has gone up to more than gas, you won't see as much, its actually getting closer to non ethanol fuel than they wan't to admit(no rebate). Ethanol just ends up being the whipping post for most neglected maintaince issues

[phatdaddy]

have a friend with a test kit and he has checked a lot of the area stations, the "cheaper" off brand stations have the least amount of ethanol. usually less than 2%. the name brand ones have the most...

[valiant_200]

There is plenty of that rat piss in the fuel here on the Mississippi Gulf Coast, but you rarely see a sticker announcing the fact.

I know it is there because I can't let any of my fuel sit for long or it turns to water and nothing will run on it.

[throwback]

No doubt alcohol in gas for a boat is bad news. Aside from the operational problems ethanol
left in the tanks for an extended time makes a mess out of the complete fuel system ie carbs injectors filters. I run a merc optimax and the mechanic who services the engine pumps all the fuel out of the boat in the fall. We then put ten or so gallons of 100 low lead
aviation fuel in run it thru the engine and then shut it down. Av fuel has an indefinate shelf
life and is is probibited by law to not have ethanol. It works alot better than stabil or the other fuel stabalizers. The problem is when ethanol sits it breaks down and alcohol is a powerful solvent as well as being anhydrous / sucks up water. Bottom line our govt got sucked in by the ag industry as a way of slowing down the flow of imported oil but in reality alcohol has a lot less BTUs than petrol so milage goes down so it tends to be a wash except for the folks who grow and sell corn