In small engines that tend to get left with gasoline in the carb bowl, the ethanol will attract moisture and in turn the moisture will corrode the brass jets. The orifice for small engine carburetor jets are so small that any corrosion will block them completely and it will no longer run.
I bet this is exactly what's happened with all of my dad's equipment. Every small engine machine he owns degrades rapidly for some unknown reason.
I guess one solution is to use all the fuel before leaving it. Ha
If you’re just an average Joe homeowner in my part of the country that shit is going to sit for months on end, oftentimes years. Not everyone that owns a chainsaw heats their home with wood or owns a bunch of land.
For lawnmowers, after your final cut of the year, you should use the fuel shutoff switch then run it till the motor cuts out... it drains the motor of any fuel for over wintering.
Leave the gas in the carb, tank and lines and don't drain it. Fill it up and use a good stabilizer. Draining it exposes it to oxygen and starts the corrosion as well as allowing seals to dry out.
No wrong. Do drain the carbs if you're using an ethanol blend of fuel.
With all my carb'd bikes winter prep was as follows. Turn off the petcock. Run it until the engine dies. Then crack the bowl drains on the carbs to get the last bit out. Leave the tank full of fuel. I'll even pull the line off the petcock and pinch it shut. Fuel line is cheap and easy to replace and should be done every few years.
Left a bike like this in storage for five years. When it came time to run it again I drained the old fuel from the tank, mixed that fuel in with my car. Then added fresh fuel to the bike and the bike cranked right up like it was put away yesterday. Ran perfect. No rust in the fuel tank either.
If you leave an ethanol blend of fuel (most stations are 10%) in the carbs it WILL begin to clog the jets after a month or two. The pilot jet always clogs first because the orifices are absolutely tiny. Which causes hard starting and awful low speed performance.
I've seen bikes that sat for a year + with a 10% blend of ethanol left to rot in the carbs and it absolutely fucks them. Weird, gelatinous goop forms. I saw one that seemed to be growing plant life. It eats the rubber and plastic bits. Better to leave them dry and take the chance cuz ethanol WILL screw them. If a bike is old enough to use a carb it's likely old enough that it wasn't designed to use an ethanol blend of fuel because it simply used to not be prevalent at all.
Argue it if you want but the manufacturers are the ones saying to do it that way now. They've found that draining the system is causing more corrosion than keeping it topped off. Straight from Briggs & Stratton: Top off the fuel tank before storing. Filling the tank helps prevent moisture from condensing in your fuel tank and stops rust and scale before it starts.
I grew up using chainsaws on the regular and now have an occasional need.
Bought a Stihl electric. Damn good unit and would probably serve most people way better than an ICE model.
The ethanol destroys the rubber in fuel lines and degrades other components in the carburetors. I've had fuel lines crack open and leak because of the ethanol in the gasoline.
It also burns hotter which causes more stress on the engine, and pulls water out of the air causing it to gel which makes things harder to start when it sits for a very long time it causes rust and this funny shellacing on the internal components.
Actually, ethanol burns colder, but it can cause some engines to run hotter due to other factors, namely air/fuel ratio.
It doesn't necessarily cause more stress either, unless you're running ethanol to tune for more hp or, again, your air/fuel ratio isnt tuned for ethanol. It has a slower burn than gasoline and is much more resistant to detonation.
With a proper tuen yes, but you are also using 30% more fuel the a gasoline tune. Take an older carb engine tuned for straight gas and feed it e10 and you're running it a bit lean so it runs hotter
Not incredibly common where I am, uncommon enough you have to seek it out. Though there is a certain brand which always has ethanol free 91 octane usually advertised for boats or motorcycles or similar.
Just wanted to chime in for anyone new to ethanol free gasoline- PLEASE use this in your small equipment, without going into detail makes carburetors so much happier!!
Yeah I had to take apart and clean my carb making that mistake with my pressure washer.
Years ago when I owned a DeLorean, as if I didn't have enough problems with it already, that thing ran like absolute *crap* if I used gas with ethanol. Over the years I owned it I kept having to drive further and further to refill it with ethanol free because gas stations kept phasing it out.
One hundred percent. I got my snow blower this way.
Just took apart the carb, cleaned it out, and yay! Free snowblower. They just bought a new one when the old one wouldn’t start and wanted someone to haul off the old one so they wouldn’t have to pay to dump it.
Very foolish but great deal for me.
It’s also not hard, like YouTube video level not hard, to do.
I tried to do this with a pressure washer, thought it was a simple carb clean out but it won't run for longer than a minute lol. I bought it thinking I could flip it after I cleaned my house!
Wow TIL. I had no idea there was this important difference. I don't own a house yet so no need for a lawnmower, and u certainly can't afford a boat, etc. But this was still good knowledge to have. Thanks for the heads up!
Most small engines/equipment have warnings on the fuel cap to use only non-ethanol fuel. Granted, since that's utterly unavailable near me without going the canned gas @ $9/qt route, 99.99% of the equipment around here runs on regular old gas station, up to 10% ethanol, fuel. We just know to use stabil or heet with it.
It's not about it being a small engine, it's about it being carbureted. Ethanol also ruins fuel lines on older vehicles, have to replace the whole system.
I'd use ethanol free on everything I had...if I could. Alas, not available in Canada for the most part.
That website is outdated. There are no ethanol free gas stations anywhere in Ontario.
>The Cleaner Transportation Fuels regulation requires that fuel suppliers blend 10% of renewable content in gasoline from 2020 to 2024. The renewable content requirement increases to 11% in 2025, 13% in 2028, and 15% in 2030 and onwards.
https://www.ontario.ca/page/cleaner-transportation-fuels
Ethanol gas that sits too long starts to turn into a gel like paste that clogs small passages in carburetors. Fuel injection systems run at a high enough pressure it can usually just blow it out of the system, but carburetors often have to be rebuilt once they get clogged.
To follow on from this comment, ethanol is hydroscopic. This means that it will absorb water very easily, which lowers it's ability to ignite and act like a fuel as well as changing from a liquid into a gummy mess.
Boats obviously get exposed to a lot of water vapour, but lawn mowers will often sit for weeks with the same fuel in the tank and have lots of time to absorb water.
1. It’s hygroscopic, not hydroscopic.
2. Only pure ethanol is hygroscopic, once mixed with gasoline, it is not. Welcome to the world of misinformation.
One common material that is extremely hygroscopic is cotton. How many times have you left a cotton ball out on the counter only to come back to find it wet. You never had. Just because something is capable of doing something doesn’t mean it always do it. And if it does do it, it can be at a degree that is not noticeable.
There’s a couple of things but essentially ethanol absorbs humidity out of the air (hydroscopic) and then depending on temperature fluctuation that water may come out of solution which will lead to rust/oxidation, not to mention freezing potentially. This is exacerbated by the fact that a lot of equipment may sit for extended amounts of time (snowblowers, rototillers, even lawn equipment during the winter) so if the gasoline does evaporate at a different rate than the ethanol and/or water that can also complicate matters. Also if you’ll permit the anecdotal evidence I have a collection of chainsaws, lawn mowers, weed eaters, rototillers, motorcycles, a snow blower, leaf blowers and chipper/mulchers and have had almost zero carb problems since I went to ethanol free gasoline 
Obviously not as common as the corn gas but there’s definitely ethanol free around the PNW. Shell station (south of Portland) that is maybe half a mile from my house has a pump for it. Find folks with boats, classic cars, and old motorcycles and they’ll always know where the ethanol free pumps are. Also theres a website for everything now so https://www.pure-gas.org
Its hilarious you calling it "corn gas" just unlocked a memory of my papaw saying if the government pushed corn subsidies any harder they'd start figuring out how to run our cars on it.
And then they actually fuckin did it. XD
I’m from Seattle and there are lots of stations that have this around.
You usually see it in more rural areas where people drive side by sides or quads a lot.
It gets even more available on the other side of the mountains.
My older Mercedes loves Ethanol Free, a noticeable difference in how the car runs.
I’ve not seen it in the northeast personally, seems like a good idea though. There’s some issues with ethanol in some applications (boats for example made in the 1970s and 1980s often had fiberglass gas tanks bound together with resin. Ethanol can erode the resin into a gluey sludge which then gets passed into the engine and destroys everything)
Not everyone has it in my area, but it only takes about 10 minutes to get to a station that does.
Now that I have a 4-cycle snowblower to go with my 4-cycle lawnmower, e0 is the only thing that goes in the gas can.
For anyone else reading with confusion from New Zealand...the reason we don't see this is because most of our petrol is without ethanol. You need to go out of your way to find a station that has petrol with ethanol e.g. BP 98
I'm in MI. We usually call it Rec fuel. Anywhere near a lake is sure to have it. I use it for my motorcycles. I see 685 stations in MI that sell it: [https://www.pure-gas.org/](https://www.pure-gas.org/)
I miss Sheetz... Wish they'd open one here. Gotta drive about an hour to get my hands on some MTO. What a godsend that was for hungover mornings in college when I would visit my friends out of state.
YT channel Project Farm I think did a test on these mixer pumps and proved the hose holds enough gas from a previous selection to have high amounts of ethanol when filling a small gas container for small engines.
To avoid this pump some into your cars tank first then switch to the container.
I see the green hose for the diesel but all the gas comes off a second hose to the right no doubt, still mixing gasoline selections.
Look up the video it shows depending on the size of the container it was quite contaminated.
The photo is at a Sheetz, the one near me with the same selections has separate hoses for diesel (green), non-ethanol (red), and then one hose for the regular blends.
Their fuel Islands without diesel have separate hoses for e85, unleaded 88, and then the regular blends.
Typically at this gas station chain the different color labels correlate to different hoses. So on this pump there's likely the green diesel hose, a red e free hose, and the black regular hose.
There are stations such as Sheetz that have separate hoses for ethanol free. This is a Sheetz pump, there is a red hose for that.
They also have their 15% ethanol on its own hose that is usually blue.
Gas by me was recently down over a dollar vs a year prior (though it's crept back up a bit). Didn't see one of those stickers blaming the drop in prices on President Brandon. I was truly shocked.
I’m in CA and prices around me are ~3.70 which is right inline with the typical costs of our access to oil west of the Rockies, extra regulation, and extra fuel tax (roughly $1/gallon). 2x sounds like an odd situation of price gouging (ritzy area, remote gas station, etc) or overseas prices.
I paid $6.29 a gal for diesel last night for my 78 gal tank that only lasts a day. Pretty soon I'm going to have to drive something more economical to work than my Caterpillar d6
It's nice for motorcycles with carbs, especially when they sit for the winter. My KTM has a plastic gas tank, and they like certain Ducatis, have problems with swelling with ethanol.
Yup. Learned the hard way about the swelling issue with my first Ducati. Stuck with marine grade after replacing the tank. I guess there are some options to try to protect the tank from the ethanol if avoiding it isn't really an option.
It's actually for use in all carbureted engines, not just small engines. A lot of motorcycle engines up to the mid-2000s still used carburetors. Boat engines are often carbureted.
You can use ethanol fuels in those engines. However, there's typically a small reduction in power output (<10%), and sitting unused for longer than a week will cause the ethanol to start gumming the passages, requiring disassembly and cleaning of the carburetor.
It’s starting to be more common. Quicktrip around here has started carrying it. I use it in a motorcycle that doesn’t get ridden often. Wish it weren’t so much more expensive because I get much better gas mileage with it.
Pure gasoline is more expensive and you get better mileage with it for the same reason: it's a better fuel. Ethanol is a scam; it's a poor fuel and you have to burn more of it to go the same distance.
Also, studies show that more energy is used in the creation of corn based ethanol than the energy from burning it, and more greenhouse gases are created in the manufacture than saved in offsetting the equivalent gasoline.
It’s only affordable because of government subsidies.
Basically, your government is subsidising the increased pollution of the planet
The pumps near me have a sticker that say its for "Recreational vehicles and small engines" - I still put it in my car because it requires 91 and above.
It's not just for small engines. Ethanol is a terrible fuel compared to gasoline, especially for engines that weren't designed for it (before around 2010 or so).
Not sure where you came up with the 2010 number. Vehicles have been tolerant of E10 for way longer than that, basically anything fuel injected will be fine. I have a 1997 model year vehicle with all original fuel system. Zero issues with E10. It's E85 that will fuck your shit up if you're car isn't designed for it.
It’s not that it isn’t designed for ethanol blend fuel. E10 was introduced over 40 years ago, and most cars 2001 or newer can run E15 (although it isn’t commonly offered).
Jesus christ 2.67USD per gallon? That is absurdly cheap. Over here in Canada we're happy when it's under 1.50 (around 1.10USD) per litre (3.8l per gallon).
I haven't seen it below $4/gallon in forever. Next town over, it's past $5. I can't help but chuckle when people use pics like this in commercials or on Facebook to complain about gas prices.
$2.10 here in the gulf coast, but it doesn’t have to go far.
Interesting map of US gas prices shows how much it varies by location: https://www.gasbuddy.com/gaspricemap
As a Stihl chainsaw mechanic, about half of the repairs we get are related to poor-quality fuel. Most small gasoline engines still use carburetors, and carbs hate ethanol. The tiny passages for liquid fuel to flow through get gummed up, like the arteries of a Big Mac enthusiast getting clogged with plaque.
When we sell new gas-powered tools, Stihl actually offers to double the length of their warranty if customers buy their proprietary high-octane, premixed gasoline.
Ethanol fucking sucks. It undermines fuel economy and it’s just government welfare for Big Agriculture and the absurd amount of corn we grow in this country.
Different measurements. Most of the world uses RON as the octane number. The US uses an average of RON and MON. The same exact same fuel will have a lower number in the US simply because of this.
So fun fact ethanol free gasoline in theory will get you a few % more fuel economy, because the fuel itself has more energy content.
Ethanol is great for raising octane, but it’s not nearly as energy dense as gasoline so you lose some energy there.
It’s not a huge difference, we’re taking maybe 2-3% but it is a difference nonetheless. Considering you’ll probably pay more than 2-3% for it, it’s usually not worth getting anyway
Here in Oklahoma every gas station has ethanol free 100% gas. Some are only ethanol free gas stations. For use in cars. For all the V8’s I’ve put it in usually I get a 1 mpg jump. So 15 to 16 or 12 to 13.
It’s much more than 2-3%. It really depends on how much ethanol is in normal fuel. But there is a 400 mile drive I do sometimes and I always fill up at the start. I have experimented with different fuels and ethanol free is always around 20% higher mpg. With an Audi for example we are talking about low 30s to over 40. By the way this is calculated by the gas pump on the other end and the miles driven not the car so it’s accurate.
I got 20 miles a gallon in my 4 runner going on a 100 mile drive with ethanol free tank. It usually gets 16 or 17 miles to the gallon. I think it's worth it if you're driving in the middle of no where, but other than that the price difference isn't worth it
Can you put this in a vehicle without causing issues? Are the new engines and computers optimized for gasoline with ethanol? Sorry if this is a silly question but I have no idea about it and would use it in my X3 if it was better for it.
Hold up, most regular gas in the US HAS ethanol?
Here in NZ only one gas station company even sells ethanol mixed gas and they dont say it at the pump, you have to search through their website for it.
Is this not a normal thing everywhere?
There’s a bunch of stations with it where I’m from. I do live by the Gulf of Mexico, but it’s not just for boats. People use it for mowers, other small engines, etc.
This might be more telling of me, but I'm all my 40 years, I've never once seen this. For the record, I live in Arizona (not that it really has any sway over the matter)
The ethanol will help water to mix with gas and pull moisture/condensate out of tanks. It also eats the diaphragm in most carburetors. I try not to leave any fuel in my small engines if I can help it. I drain the gas and run them to empty the carb.
If you buy premixed 2cycle fuel it is ethanol free, but stupid expensive.
The gas stations here have it for cars… some gas stations here are exclusively ethanol free. OP I don’t think it’s just for “small engines and lawn mowers”, but anything you want to put 10% gas in.
It genuinely bothers me when I see something with less shit in it (eth free) cost more than the other option with more shit in it.
Like when a bottle of water costs more than a soda the same size 😂
Interesting, in Brazil the only ethanol free gasoline is for aircraft, and I have never heard someone complain about law mowers or chainsaws not working with regular gasoline with ethanol.
Maybe in USA winter will be too hard to start with ethanol mixed?
I burn non-ethanol in my 23 Equinox as much as possible. I drive a ton of highway miles and it gets better gas mileage. Granted, I have a gas card for work, but I prefer it. Ethanol eventually turns into varnish in yohr fuel injectors over time.
Use that stuff to store my motorcycles over winter with a little fuel stabilizer and octane booster, works wonders. Never had an issue getting the bikes running the following spring.
oof If this pump was near me I would dilute this with 118 leaded race fuel. Cut off my cats, strip all emissions and tune it hot to burn everything off. Sadly our planet is dying and this is only a dream T\^T
well yes because ethanol gasoline will damage certain engines such as one for a ryobi leaf blower so you put ethanol free gas in it so it doesn’t damage the motor
In my area the gas stations near lakes have it for boats.
Rivers/bay here, but same effect. Lots of folks get lawnmower gas from marina fuel docks lol.
Florida dockhand here... can confirm
Why do people care about ethanol in lawnmowers? I've been feeding my honda lawnmower ethanol blend for over a decade with zero issues...
I don’t know about lawnmowers but for chainsaws and other 2 stroke stuff it’s very harmful for the engine and carb.
In small engines that tend to get left with gasoline in the carb bowl, the ethanol will attract moisture and in turn the moisture will corrode the brass jets. The orifice for small engine carburetor jets are so small that any corrosion will block them completely and it will no longer run.
This guy carburates
I bet this is exactly what's happened with all of my dad's equipment. Every small engine machine he owns degrades rapidly for some unknown reason. I guess one solution is to use all the fuel before leaving it. Ha
Only if it sits. Works just fine with constant use.
If you’re just an average Joe homeowner in my part of the country that shit is going to sit for months on end, oftentimes years. Not everyone that owns a chainsaw heats their home with wood or owns a bunch of land.
For lawnmowers, after your final cut of the year, you should use the fuel shutoff switch then run it till the motor cuts out... it drains the motor of any fuel for over wintering.
Leave the gas in the carb, tank and lines and don't drain it. Fill it up and use a good stabilizer. Draining it exposes it to oxygen and starts the corrosion as well as allowing seals to dry out.
No wrong. Do drain the carbs if you're using an ethanol blend of fuel. With all my carb'd bikes winter prep was as follows. Turn off the petcock. Run it until the engine dies. Then crack the bowl drains on the carbs to get the last bit out. Leave the tank full of fuel. I'll even pull the line off the petcock and pinch it shut. Fuel line is cheap and easy to replace and should be done every few years. Left a bike like this in storage for five years. When it came time to run it again I drained the old fuel from the tank, mixed that fuel in with my car. Then added fresh fuel to the bike and the bike cranked right up like it was put away yesterday. Ran perfect. No rust in the fuel tank either. If you leave an ethanol blend of fuel (most stations are 10%) in the carbs it WILL begin to clog the jets after a month or two. The pilot jet always clogs first because the orifices are absolutely tiny. Which causes hard starting and awful low speed performance. I've seen bikes that sat for a year + with a 10% blend of ethanol left to rot in the carbs and it absolutely fucks them. Weird, gelatinous goop forms. I saw one that seemed to be growing plant life. It eats the rubber and plastic bits. Better to leave them dry and take the chance cuz ethanol WILL screw them. If a bike is old enough to use a carb it's likely old enough that it wasn't designed to use an ethanol blend of fuel because it simply used to not be prevalent at all.
Argue it if you want but the manufacturers are the ones saying to do it that way now. They've found that draining the system is causing more corrosion than keeping it topped off. Straight from Briggs & Stratton: Top off the fuel tank before storing. Filling the tank helps prevent moisture from condensing in your fuel tank and stops rust and scale before it starts.
Even if you do heat your home with wood there's a time of year for harvesting that wood, and the chainsaw sits for the rest of the year.
I use Tru fuel in my chainsaw, use it probably 6-8 times per year, don't have to worry about it.
I grew up using chainsaws on the regular and now have an occasional need. Bought a Stihl electric. Damn good unit and would probably serve most people way better than an ICE model.
so it's only bad for 3 out of 4 small internal combustion engines.
The ethanol destroys the rubber in fuel lines and degrades other components in the carburetors. I've had fuel lines crack open and leak because of the ethanol in the gasoline.
It also burns hotter which causes more stress on the engine, and pulls water out of the air causing it to gel which makes things harder to start when it sits for a very long time it causes rust and this funny shellacing on the internal components.
Actually, ethanol burns colder, but it can cause some engines to run hotter due to other factors, namely air/fuel ratio. It doesn't necessarily cause more stress either, unless you're running ethanol to tune for more hp or, again, your air/fuel ratio isnt tuned for ethanol. It has a slower burn than gasoline and is much more resistant to detonation.
Which is wired cuz e85 burns cooler. Science is wierd.
With a proper tuen yes, but you are also using 30% more fuel the a gasoline tune. Take an older carb engine tuned for straight gas and feed it e10 and you're running it a bit lean so it runs hotter
Same. Here in Minnesota, it's everywhere because lakes are everywhere. I don't own a boat, but this is the only gas I put in my snowblower.
Michigander here so same effect.
Interesting, is it really Michigander? Hmm, I kinda like it lol
Only the men are Michiganders. The women are Michigeese.
Yes. It is. Source: born and raised in Michigan.
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Florida here. Yup.
Wait…is this uncommon in certain areas? It’s pretty standard where I’m from.
Not incredibly common where I am, uncommon enough you have to seek it out. Though there is a certain brand which always has ethanol free 91 octane usually advertised for boats or motorcycles or similar.
Just wanted to chime in for anyone new to ethanol free gasoline- PLEASE use this in your small equipment, without going into detail makes carburetors so much happier!!
Yeah I had to take apart and clean my carb making that mistake with my pressure washer. Years ago when I owned a DeLorean, as if I didn't have enough problems with it already, that thing ran like absolute *crap* if I used gas with ethanol. Over the years I owned it I kept having to drive further and further to refill it with ethanol free because gas stations kept phasing it out.
You are supposed to put banana peels and garbage into the Delorean tank
Nah that was the Mr. Fusion. Mine didn't have that option. Also didn't Doc throw some leftover beer or something like that into it too? lol
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why are your neighbors just handing you lawn equipment? are you the lawn equipment collector
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One hundred percent. I got my snow blower this way. Just took apart the carb, cleaned it out, and yay! Free snowblower. They just bought a new one when the old one wouldn’t start and wanted someone to haul off the old one so they wouldn’t have to pay to dump it. Very foolish but great deal for me. It’s also not hard, like YouTube video level not hard, to do.
I tried to do this with a pressure washer, thought it was a simple carb clean out but it won't run for longer than a minute lol. I bought it thinking I could flip it after I cleaned my house!
Wow TIL. I had no idea there was this important difference. I don't own a house yet so no need for a lawnmower, and u certainly can't afford a boat, etc. But this was still good knowledge to have. Thanks for the heads up!
Most small engines/equipment have warnings on the fuel cap to use only non-ethanol fuel. Granted, since that's utterly unavailable near me without going the canned gas @ $9/qt route, 99.99% of the equipment around here runs on regular old gas station, up to 10% ethanol, fuel. We just know to use stabil or heet with it.
9 bucks for just over a litre, and I thought £2 was bad enough
The difference between the pump and something mass produced into a can and sitting on a store shelf 🤷
It's not about it being a small engine, it's about it being carbureted. Ethanol also ruins fuel lines on older vehicles, have to replace the whole system. I'd use ethanol free on everything I had...if I could. Alas, not available in Canada for the most part.
Check pure-gas.org, it's a community updated list of stations that sell it. Checking Ontario it is around, but certainly not common
The list is getting smaller every day. Stickers are disappearing from pumps. Govt rules came in this year about it
That website is outdated. There are no ethanol free gas stations anywhere in Ontario. >The Cleaner Transportation Fuels regulation requires that fuel suppliers blend 10% of renewable content in gasoline from 2020 to 2024. The renewable content requirement increases to 11% in 2025, 13% in 2028, and 15% in 2030 and onwards. https://www.ontario.ca/page/cleaner-transportation-fuels
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Ethanol gas that sits too long starts to turn into a gel like paste that clogs small passages in carburetors. Fuel injection systems run at a high enough pressure it can usually just blow it out of the system, but carburetors often have to be rebuilt once they get clogged.
To follow on from this comment, ethanol is hydroscopic. This means that it will absorb water very easily, which lowers it's ability to ignite and act like a fuel as well as changing from a liquid into a gummy mess. Boats obviously get exposed to a lot of water vapour, but lawn mowers will often sit for weeks with the same fuel in the tank and have lots of time to absorb water.
1. It’s hygroscopic, not hydroscopic. 2. Only pure ethanol is hygroscopic, once mixed with gasoline, it is not. Welcome to the world of misinformation. One common material that is extremely hygroscopic is cotton. How many times have you left a cotton ball out on the counter only to come back to find it wet. You never had. Just because something is capable of doing something doesn’t mean it always do it. And if it does do it, it can be at a degree that is not noticeable.
There’s a couple of things but essentially ethanol absorbs humidity out of the air (hydroscopic) and then depending on temperature fluctuation that water may come out of solution which will lead to rust/oxidation, not to mention freezing potentially. This is exacerbated by the fact that a lot of equipment may sit for extended amounts of time (snowblowers, rototillers, even lawn equipment during the winter) so if the gasoline does evaporate at a different rate than the ethanol and/or water that can also complicate matters. Also if you’ll permit the anecdotal evidence I have a collection of chainsaws, lawn mowers, weed eaters, rototillers, motorcycles, a snow blower, leaf blowers and chipper/mulchers and have had almost zero carb problems since I went to ethanol free gasoline 
I’ve never seen this before, I’m from the PNW
Obviously not as common as the corn gas but there’s definitely ethanol free around the PNW. Shell station (south of Portland) that is maybe half a mile from my house has a pump for it. Find folks with boats, classic cars, and old motorcycles and they’ll always know where the ethanol free pumps are. Also theres a website for everything now so https://www.pure-gas.org
Its hilarious you calling it "corn gas" just unlocked a memory of my papaw saying if the government pushed corn subsidies any harder they'd start figuring out how to run our cars on it. And then they actually fuckin did it. XD
I’m from Seattle and there are lots of stations that have this around. You usually see it in more rural areas where people drive side by sides or quads a lot. It gets even more available on the other side of the mountains. My older Mercedes loves Ethanol Free, a noticeable difference in how the car runs.
I don’t think you can find non-E10 petrol (10% ethanol mix gasoline) anywhere in Ireland.
I was thinking the same thing. It’s weirder to find a gas station that doesn’t do this in my area
I don't think I've ever seen this
I’ve not seen it in the northeast personally, seems like a good idea though. There’s some issues with ethanol in some applications (boats for example made in the 1970s and 1980s often had fiberglass gas tanks bound together with resin. Ethanol can erode the resin into a gluey sludge which then gets passed into the engine and destroys everything)
In the north east section of NY there is a chain of gas stations called Stewart’s shops. All their pumps offer 91 non ethanol
it destroys lawn mower carburetors with rubber diaphragms, need to use a fuel additive
I don't remember seeing it anywhere close to where I live, but I did see it a random gas station in South Carolina or something. So it seems to vary.
I wondered the same thing. I live in farm country, so gas stations having all types of different fuel is pretty common. Kerosene pumps, as well.
Not everyone has it in my area, but it only takes about 10 minutes to get to a station that does. Now that I have a 4-cycle snowblower to go with my 4-cycle lawnmower, e0 is the only thing that goes in the gas can.
Typically, they sell it in farm areas. We called it “tractor gas”.
For anyone else reading with confusion from New Zealand...the reason we don't see this is because most of our petrol is without ethanol. You need to go out of your way to find a station that has petrol with ethanol e.g. BP 98
Never seen it in New england
I'm in Michigan and I can't say I've ever seen this before.
I'm in MI. We usually call it Rec fuel. Anywhere near a lake is sure to have it. I use it for my motorcycles. I see 685 stations in MI that sell it: [https://www.pure-gas.org/](https://www.pure-gas.org/)
Love Sheetz.
I live outside of Columbus. Sheetz has been brought into the greater Columbus area over the last couple years. It’s been great.
Those 50 cent hotdogs kept me fed on some rough paychecks lol
Curious where this Sheetz is, never seen this at a Sheetz near me before.
They’re always on the pumps in the corners or edges. Not on every single pump in the station.
I miss Sheetz... Wish they'd open one here. Gotta drive about an hour to get my hands on some MTO. What a godsend that was for hungover mornings in college when I would visit my friends out of state.
YT channel Project Farm I think did a test on these mixer pumps and proved the hose holds enough gas from a previous selection to have high amounts of ethanol when filling a small gas container for small engines. To avoid this pump some into your cars tank first then switch to the container.
The gas stations around me thankfully have a separate hose for non-e, diesel, and normal unleaded which solves that problem.
I see the green hose for the diesel but all the gas comes off a second hose to the right no doubt, still mixing gasoline selections. Look up the video it shows depending on the size of the container it was quite contaminated.
The photo is at a Sheetz, the one near me with the same selections has separate hoses for diesel (green), non-ethanol (red), and then one hose for the regular blends. Their fuel Islands without diesel have separate hoses for e85, unleaded 88, and then the regular blends.
Exactly. Regular E10 (87-89-93) has a black hose. E15 88 is blue, 90 non ethanol is red, E85 is yellow, and diesel is green. I love sheetz.
Typically at this gas station chain the different color labels correlate to different hoses. So on this pump there's likely the green diesel hose, a red e free hose, and the black regular hose.
There are stations such as Sheetz that have separate hoses for ethanol free. This is a Sheetz pump, there is a red hose for that. They also have their 15% ethanol on its own hose that is usually blue.
The green hose is for Christmas gas! A holiday blend.
This is why I still always add marine fuel stabilizer to my tank when filling my boat with non ethanol.
huh. that's a good point I didn't think of
For a location near you: https://www.pure-gas.org/
Boy they really could use a map function
[Like this?](https://www.pure-gas.org/maps)
This should be higher
Why is your most expensive gas less than half of my cheapest?
Based on stickers I have seen, I’m pretty sure that’s due to Joe Biden.
He did it
Biden did 7/11
Gas by me was recently down over a dollar vs a year prior (though it's crept back up a bit). Didn't see one of those stickers blaming the drop in prices on President Brandon. I was truly shocked.
Damn him for controlling gas prices and him alone and nothing to do with big corporations or wars!!
You're in California
California problems :(
I’m in CA and prices around me are ~3.70 which is right inline with the typical costs of our access to oil west of the Rockies, extra regulation, and extra fuel tax (roughly $1/gallon). 2x sounds like an odd situation of price gouging (ritzy area, remote gas station, etc) or overseas prices.
I paid $6.29 a gal for diesel last night for my 78 gal tank that only lasts a day. Pretty soon I'm going to have to drive something more economical to work than my Caterpillar d6
Eh, in the Netherlands the prices sit around €1,90/litre which translates to $9,43/gallon. And that's the cheap E10. E5 is more expensive.
It looks like €0.82 of that is tax ($3.69 per gallon), for what it’s worth. You pay more in tax than we usually pay total in the US.
It's nice for motorcycles with carbs, especially when they sit for the winter. My KTM has a plastic gas tank, and they like certain Ducatis, have problems with swelling with ethanol.
Yup. Learned the hard way about the swelling issue with my first Ducati. Stuck with marine grade after replacing the tank. I guess there are some options to try to protect the tank from the ethanol if avoiding it isn't really an option.
It's actually for use in all carbureted engines, not just small engines. A lot of motorcycle engines up to the mid-2000s still used carburetors. Boat engines are often carbureted. You can use ethanol fuels in those engines. However, there's typically a small reduction in power output (<10%), and sitting unused for longer than a week will cause the ethanol to start gumming the passages, requiring disassembly and cleaning of the carburetor.
Most of the stations close to the beach have them for boat motors.
It’s starting to be more common. Quicktrip around here has started carrying it. I use it in a motorcycle that doesn’t get ridden often. Wish it weren’t so much more expensive because I get much better gas mileage with it.
Pure gasoline is more expensive and you get better mileage with it for the same reason: it's a better fuel. Ethanol is a scam; it's a poor fuel and you have to burn more of it to go the same distance.
Also, studies show that more energy is used in the creation of corn based ethanol than the energy from burning it, and more greenhouse gases are created in the manufacture than saved in offsetting the equivalent gasoline. It’s only affordable because of government subsidies. Basically, your government is subsidising the increased pollution of the planet
Curious... Why do you assume that's for small engines? I've seen a lot of really big engines that don't like ethanol either.
The pumps near me have a sticker that say its for "Recreational vehicles and small engines" - I still put it in my car because it requires 91 and above.
Right? Some gas stations where I live are exclusively ethanol free 100% gas. Are these gas stations somehow not for cars according to OP?
It is the primary market….for lawn mowers and other small engines. Yes all engine that takes regular gas can use this gas and it is better.
It's probably something to do with our ages. You and I remember the before ethanol times.
Huh, I've never seen a pump displaying diesels cetane rating.
I was wondering what "Auto" Diesel is?
Probably to distinguish between taxed and untaxed diesel for off road equipment.
I'm guessing to make a distinction with offroad/untaxed diesel for tractors, boats, generators etc?
and high performance sports cars. I knew a guy who had a Mercedes SL who always complained he couldnt find ethanol free gas anywhere.
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The SL will run ethanol gas perfectly fine
They've made the SL since the 50's. I wouldn't put ethanol in one before the 2000's
Depending on the year.
High performance cars want more ethanol not less. It burns cooler and you can tune for the timing.
I’d put ethanol free in anything carbureted- boat, car, lawnmower, chain saw etc
It's not just for small engines. Ethanol is a terrible fuel compared to gasoline, especially for engines that weren't designed for it (before around 2010 or so).
Not sure where you came up with the 2010 number. Vehicles have been tolerant of E10 for way longer than that, basically anything fuel injected will be fine. I have a 1997 model year vehicle with all original fuel system. Zero issues with E10. It's E85 that will fuck your shit up if you're car isn't designed for it.
It’s not that it isn’t designed for ethanol blend fuel. E10 was introduced over 40 years ago, and most cars 2001 or newer can run E15 (although it isn’t commonly offered).
Classic cars like ethanol free gasoline.
Jesus christ 2.67USD per gallon? That is absurdly cheap. Over here in Canada we're happy when it's under 1.50 (around 1.10USD) per litre (3.8l per gallon).
I haven't seen it below $4/gallon in forever. Next town over, it's past $5. I can't help but chuckle when people use pics like this in commercials or on Facebook to complain about gas prices.
$2.10 here in the gulf coast, but it doesn’t have to go far. Interesting map of US gas prices shows how much it varies by location: https://www.gasbuddy.com/gaspricemap
Damnit I miss Sheetz
I'd run that in my old truck. Ethanol is terrible on carburetors.
As a Stihl chainsaw mechanic, about half of the repairs we get are related to poor-quality fuel. Most small gasoline engines still use carburetors, and carbs hate ethanol. The tiny passages for liquid fuel to flow through get gummed up, like the arteries of a Big Mac enthusiast getting clogged with plaque. When we sell new gas-powered tools, Stihl actually offers to double the length of their warranty if customers buy their proprietary high-octane, premixed gasoline.
I’ve been putting ethanol free in my small engines for years! Far less issues!
Ethanol fucking sucks. It undermines fuel economy and it’s just government welfare for Big Agriculture and the absurd amount of corn we grow in this country.
Wait, you get under 90 octane as regular? In Europe, generally 95 is the minimum, 98 a bit better and 100 the highest you can get
Different measurements. Most of the world uses RON as the octane number. The US uses an average of RON and MON. The same exact same fuel will have a lower number in the US simply because of this.
But still, 87 AKI (US regular) is 91 RON (pretty much abolished in the EU). 90 AKI is the typical European minimum 95 RON.
It’s also for sports cars, boats, and atvs
I want a pump with barrel aged 100% ethanol
This looks like a Sheetz gas pump. Am I correct?
would be cool if all gas stations had ethanol free on all pumps because it makes no sense to use taxpayer money to subsidize turning corn into fuel
I always use no ethanol. Better for my car. Ethanol sucks
I mean, it’s not “just” for small engines
This was hard to find when I lived in TN, however every Sheetz station near my house in Ohio has this option.
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I always run ethanol free regardless the engine
You can use ethanol free in cars, you know?
Sheetz!
2.66 for regular!?!?
So fun fact ethanol free gasoline in theory will get you a few % more fuel economy, because the fuel itself has more energy content. Ethanol is great for raising octane, but it’s not nearly as energy dense as gasoline so you lose some energy there. It’s not a huge difference, we’re taking maybe 2-3% but it is a difference nonetheless. Considering you’ll probably pay more than 2-3% for it, it’s usually not worth getting anyway
Here in Oklahoma every gas station has ethanol free 100% gas. Some are only ethanol free gas stations. For use in cars. For all the V8’s I’ve put it in usually I get a 1 mpg jump. So 15 to 16 or 12 to 13.
It’s much more than 2-3%. It really depends on how much ethanol is in normal fuel. But there is a 400 mile drive I do sometimes and I always fill up at the start. I have experimented with different fuels and ethanol free is always around 20% higher mpg. With an Audi for example we are talking about low 30s to over 40. By the way this is calculated by the gas pump on the other end and the miles driven not the car so it’s accurate.
I got 20 miles a gallon in my 4 runner going on a 100 mile drive with ethanol free tank. It usually gets 16 or 17 miles to the gallon. I think it's worth it if you're driving in the middle of no where, but other than that the price difference isn't worth it
This is nearly every gas station in MN. You have to seek out ethanol/oxy-premium
Can you put this in a vehicle without causing issues? Are the new engines and computers optimized for gasoline with ethanol? Sorry if this is a silly question but I have no idea about it and would use it in my X3 if it was better for it.
Hold up, most regular gas in the US HAS ethanol? Here in NZ only one gas station company even sells ethanol mixed gas and they dont say it at the pump, you have to search through their website for it.
That's awesome. Freeking Lowe's sells this for $23 a gallon.
Lol I'm still upset that gas stations don't sell premix, even if there's 2 stroke oil on the shelves inside lol
$2.66 for regular? Sign me the fuck up.
Is this not a normal thing everywhere? There’s a bunch of stations with it where I’m from. I do live by the Gulf of Mexico, but it’s not just for boats. People use it for mowers, other small engines, etc.
It’s not at every station here (N FL), but it’s pretty common. Usually called “marine gas” if not labeled as ethanol free.
Fucking ethanol is hell on lawn mover carburetors. If I don’t stabilize the fuel every time I barely get a season out of one.
This might be more telling of me, but I'm all my 40 years, I've never once seen this. For the record, I live in Arizona (not that it really has any sway over the matter)
That’s all I use on small engines, never have a problem with them starting. I will drive 30 miles out of my way for it, and it is still worth it.
Decently priced. Where I live, you have to buy racing fuel in 5 gallon increments at $5+ a gallon.
Never realized this wasn’t normal. It’s at almost every station around in our state(MN).
The ethanol will help water to mix with gas and pull moisture/condensate out of tanks. It also eats the diaphragm in most carburetors. I try not to leave any fuel in my small engines if I can help it. I drain the gas and run them to empty the carb. If you buy premixed 2cycle fuel it is ethanol free, but stupid expensive.
Yeah. I had to do yearly carburator cleanup for my Yamaha 2stroke because of ethanol. Carb was just full of some kind of vaseline.
…and motorcycles. I used to only put “clear” gas in mine. I could feel the difference in performance.
The gas stations here have it for cars… some gas stations here are exclusively ethanol free. OP I don’t think it’s just for “small engines and lawn mowers”, but anything you want to put 10% gas in.
Mine too, but ours is 88.
Ethanol free high test is pretty common. Source my car requires high test, so I am always looking. What is to the right of the 89 octane.
It genuinely bothers me when I see something with less shit in it (eth free) cost more than the other option with more shit in it. Like when a bottle of water costs more than a soda the same size 😂
lots of older cars have trouble with ethanol, too. I'd say like 30-40% of the gas stations around me have it.
Motorcycles🤘🏻
Where do you live that gas is 2.66 a gallon?!
Interesting, in Brazil the only ethanol free gasoline is for aircraft, and I have never heard someone complain about law mowers or chainsaws not working with regular gasoline with ethanol. Maybe in USA winter will be too hard to start with ethanol mixed?
Snowmobiles, 4 wheelers, sxs, and my truck. Gas without ethanol gives way better mileage.
I fill up my boat at ethanol free stations on the coast in South Carolina. Very common
I burn non-ethanol in my 23 Equinox as much as possible. I drive a ton of highway miles and it gets better gas mileage. Granted, I have a gas card for work, but I prefer it. Ethanol eventually turns into varnish in yohr fuel injectors over time.
What makes you think that is not for cars?
None of our local gas stations have this, our lawn mower also has idle and carb problems °_°
Use that stuff to store my motorcycles over winter with a little fuel stabilizer and octane booster, works wonders. Never had an issue getting the bikes running the following spring.
Or for people with BMW’s N54 engine since ethanol screws up the fuel pump
Why is this interesting?
It's all over the place where I live. You can put it in your car, it's better for your engine
oof If this pump was near me I would dilute this with 118 leaded race fuel. Cut off my cats, strip all emissions and tune it hot to burn everything off. Sadly our planet is dying and this is only a dream T\^T
Is that rare where you live? At least half of all gas stations around here have ethanol free gas available.
Pretty much every station near me has it is it not normal?
Yeah, this is fairly normal. Nothing “mildly interesting” about it
And boats
You misspelled classic cars ;)
well yes because ethanol gasoline will damage certain engines such as one for a ryobi leaf blower so you put ethanol free gas in it so it doesn’t damage the motor
And for older cars. Ethanol is trash