Yes. Yes. I agree with the ethanol added to the fuel phenomena effects also 100%.
Why I learned the hard ways to follow along with the engine manufacturers haveing mostly gone now with plastic fuel tanks, with my now thick plastic fuel cans.
Vapor sealed thick plastic fuel cans.
It is more than just the corrosion resistance of the better grade of plastics. They transfer daily heat cycles much less. So do not breathing in and out air moisture condensate sweating inside. The gasoline components molecules better ambient temperatures swing protected also get less high temperatures cooked, and changed.
Ha! Moving; I’d gathered up all of the old steel gas cans accumulate from three generations. One fellow saw one antique can, lusted, and took all eight of them. Knowing I was going to bucket edge of the tractor flatten to scrap metal them all. Poor, poor you, I told him.
It is important to realize Why the drive into adding ethanol into gasoline was commanded done in the first place . . . to add an oxygen rich liquid to the fuel to decrease especially winter carbon monoxide tailpipe emissions.
Then the suppliers of the ethanols became a political dragon driving the mandate demanded. Lots of money to be made. Now to get ethanol-free gasoline we must pay a 30% higher price.
Then the kill-the-IC-engines warring people on got onboard as another way to take engines prematurely out of services.
The warning is beware of the better-ideas Geeks.
Look honestly in the mirrors . . . it this you??
Driving practical, affordable, available from everyday useages?
I’ve had to face that in myself and say: yes, sometimes; I was.
Not pleasant at all to have to admit you are an effects, problems causing, contributor.
Steve Unruh
I didn’t get all the E-10 out of my log splitter last fall so it sat for 10 months. Champion-25 ton. Pulled the carb off and soaked it and cleaned out the jets but there are some internal passages that must still be clogged. Could not get it to run with choke off. Waiting on a replacement off E-Bay. $30 bucks with shipping. I wasted a couple hours messing with the old carb. I’m going to buy replacement carbs for all my small engines for preps and never, ever, put ethanol in them again. Finally figured out what that other bolt in the float bowl was for.
According to a Shell oil fuel systems engineer that gave a presentation I attended - cross linked polyethylene used for portable fuel tanks is technically permeable. The polymer is “chains of molecules” that are random in how they are arranged. There are very small gaps between the chains that are simply so small that surface tension of the liquid prevents leaks. These spaces are permeable - particularly to the octane producing components in gasoline.
Fuel simply should not be stored for long periods due to a number of factors.
I’ve intentionally used the varnish dissolving capability of the alcohol to clean fuel systems. 5 years ago I purchased a truck that had sat for far longer than the seller claimed. I brought it to my shop and after an hour of idling while I searched for electrical problems it slowly quit running. It would start with fuel added to the air cleaner. There was no fuel pressure. I suspected a plugged screen in the fuel tank or the fuel filter. I put 1 quart of denatured alcohol in the fuel tank and returned the following day. It started fine and I was able to drive the truck to where I had means of removing the fuel filter. The fuel was the color of dark tea - weak coffee. I drove to the ethanol plant some 13 miles from home and put several gallons of E-85 in the fuel tank. End of problems.
One of the concerns of ethanol fuels is that the alcohol is chemically polar opposite of petroleum. Surfactants are added to enable the alcohol to blend with the gasoline. If oil is added such as for 2 stroke engine use - the oil may require more surfactant than the fuel contains. I discovered this when I used E-85 to make fuel for an antique chainsaw that had been sitting for over 20 years with fuel in the tank. The E-85 quickly cleaned the varnish out of the tank and carburetor. However - I had extra fuel in a polyethylene milk jug. I noticed a few weeks later that there was an amber color substance in the bottom of the jug. It was the oil. The blue dye was still in the fuel but the oil had separated out of suspension. I shook the jug and the oil blended. Then as days passed I could see the oil accumulating again in the bottom of the jug. The oil would blend again if the jug were shaken.
I have flown ultralight aircraft for over 30 years. Ethanol fuels have been blamed for engine seizures for many years. I suspect that I discovered exactly what is happening to cause those events. Oil blended fuels that are allowed to sit for days/weeks in the airplane or a portable fuel tank had the oil separate out of suspension. Simply adding fuel from a portable fuel tank without shaking it first may have resulted in adding fuel to the aircraft that did not contain sufficient oil as the oil was resting in the bottom of the portable fuel tank.
The cap after dribbling a few drops of Water Dispersant #40 on the cap. It does seem seem to effect the water drops.
Remember to always shake the can…there is some kind of polymer or alcohol in the bottom that separates out of the carrier oil.
Yesterday, with my truck loaded to the hilt with wood and in the worst possible location to work on, It wouldn’t start. It started 20 minutes before when I moved it to this location so not sure why it failed but it never runs any length of time. Just starts a lot and moves from place to place. Anyway I decided to get a jump starter. As usual watched a couple hours of youtube reviews and rely a lot on Project Farm ones. The only jump starter I could easily buy was a NOCO GB40. Got decent reviews from most people but failed on PF. His best reviews were cheaper but only available here on-line so I bought the NOCO. Good for up to 6L gas engine and my truck is a 5.3 so iffy but the next one up the line was 50 bucks more. I payed $100 and it was with a 11 per cent rebate , to $90. Fired the truck right up, no cranking at all. Will power a lap top for a couple days and a phone longer. Has a good flashlight. I guess I recommend it.
I just checked out my Cen-teck 4 in 1 portable power pack. Charged it back up to the green ready light from the yellow light. It goes back down to yellow light half charge, Humm… might be at the end of the battry packs life it is a few years old now. I will keep charging it up to see if it will stay charged up on the green light.
Yes Tom, that looks like a great portable power pack for the monies.
What do you guys think of this stuff? Says it is good to 500 degrees f. It is a lot cheaper than the red rtv and is a lot easier to apply with a caulk gun.
I found it at Menards when I was looking for stove rope. I’ll let you guys know how it works out, I used the plastic bag trick to work it into the stove rope for the lid seal on my heat exchanger. It is clear and smells like regular silicone sealant.
Flicking through Youtubes I came across this and watched it. Pretty impressive for what it is. The argon will be more expensive than the welder but cheap TIG for some of these thin metal projects would definitely make life easier. Even a stable arc with 1/16 rod would be good. Duty cycle on these welders is short and you have to pay attention.
If it’s silicone it should work most places- the cement type silicone, or chimney cement might not work for coating cracks around welds, best to reweld if any cracks around welds. I think the chimney cement works for holding in door seal rope. Though I use plain high temp silicone for door seal rope,as it is more flexible. Problem only place 500f silicone might not work is glueing together a heat exchanger exit from the crossover junction, mine is welded solid untill it needs any repairs.
I bought a Yes brand MIG205DS welder 3 years ago. 110/220v MIG, Stick, Tig welder. Scary in how it’s built inside with just circuit boards with a lot of solder added to the copper traces to carry the current. I’ve used it at all the way to maximum output quite a bit as a MIG welder and been happy with it. I have not tried TIG with it.
I wanted a dual voltage inverter based MIG welder for portability and this looked decent for the price with an all metal wire feeder. I don’t like the “synergistic” controls. I’d prefer having simply amperage/voltage nobs and a wire speed control. Once you understand how to set the parameters it gets easier to use.
I found it will trip a 30amp 110v breaker quite often on high output. Thankfully I have an outdoor box that I installed that has 110v and 220v in it. Mine is the earlier blue version. They have a newer version that has a black case. They also now offer other machines - some with more conventional controls.
Thanks for the reply, - I was thinking about buying that model- though I did not know about the different versions of that model, sounds like a good enough machine for gasifier welding, and if I need weld 1/2" plate I could use my old centuty mig welder or my old wards stick welder.
Hi All,
Now finally fully moved and the change to bad outside weather I will have time to fix things in this very imperfect older house.
This fast easy-watch video looks very interesting for an, “I hate wood working!” fellow such as myself.
Ah. Another good channel to watch.
Wife has me changing over all to the house closets to rod hanging brackets with a built on top stacking shelf.
Some closets easy to find the wooden studs.
Some have not wood behind the drywall. Needing drywall specialty fasteners.
And the last I did was one of the two layers of drywall redone with no backing wooden studs.
That one kicked my butt. Was snapping off my holes pre-drilled COBRA brand WallDriller Plus anchors setting them!! They were good enough for all of the book shelves settings.
I needed the all metals versions. 50 miles round trip to get.
So shoulderless all treaded coarse drywall screws was the only way to set the hanger brackets with materials on-hand. No happy with that. Little girls cloths. Not as heavy as ours. It will be O.K. Eight screws at ~40 pounds sheer each:
