Windward 672 Posted July 12, 2021 Share Posted July 12, 2021 Can this really be this easy? Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Sailabout 169 Posted July 12, 2021 Share Posted July 12, 2021 av gas? Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Blue Crab 2,436 Posted July 12, 2021 Share Posted July 12, 2021 Or ... ban ethanol. While it helps farmers it hurts everyone else. Seems even simpler. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
sailhmb 48 Posted July 12, 2021 Share Posted July 12, 2021 been using av gas for 2 years on 3 chase boats. I have not had to clean a carburetor since switching over. 2 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
ryley 682 Posted July 12, 2021 Share Posted July 12, 2021 44 minutes ago, sailhmb said: been using av gas for 2 years on 3 chase boats. I have not had to clean a carburetor since switching over. how does the cost of av gas compare to the cost of fuel at a dock? marine gas prices in boston are pretty crazy right now. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
El Borracho 2,615 Posted July 12, 2021 Share Posted July 12, 2021 1 hour ago, sailhmb said: been using av gas for 2 years on 3 chase boats. I have not had to clean a carburetor since switching over. I run at least 12 gasoline engines here. Outboards, splitter, autos, saws, etc etc. All on discount off-brand regular gasoline. No $nake oil additives either. Zero issues in dozens of years. Some unused for months at a time. I don’t get the ethanol rant. The home-chemist duffer in the video could simply save a lot of trouble by upgrading his hoses and floats. Plus he has introduced some water into his fuel which should be removed with a desiccant. Must be grumpiness, misdirected blame, and politics. 1 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Diarmuid 1,338 Posted July 12, 2021 Share Posted July 12, 2021 7 hours ago, Fleetwood said: Yes, the magic of high school chemistry. Even easier, buy high octane, alcohol-free petrol. Also, the ethanol is there for two reasons: first, it helps better oxygenate the fuel/air mixture, resulting in more thorough combustion. More power, less pollution. Second, it emulates octane and nonane by raising the flash point of gasoline. Flash point ethanol=55°F; octane=54; pentane and hexane (which comprise most of gasoline)=minus 56 and minus 4°F respectively. By emulating the heaviest hydrocarbons in gasoline, ethanol stops pre-ignition (engine knock) in 4 stroke, high-compression engines -- while burning more cleanly and completely than the octane it replaces. In function, ethanol does the work of MTBE and organic lead, which tended to contaminate groundwater and carried health risks. Downsides: ethanol has less intrinsic energy per unit volume than octane or gasoline. Alcohols adsorb water, which can lead to corrosion of tanks and engine components and cause evaporating fuels to leave 'varnish' behind. The production of ethanol is energy-intensive (tho not any longer net energy negative, as some claim), requires large-ish industry subsidization, and diverting cultivated land for ethanol production has complex social and ecological impacts. OTOH, biomass fuels are 'short cycle' carbon, meaning the CO2 released on combustion was sequestered by photosynthetic plants in the past 1 to 100 years, and theoretically that sequestration/release cycle could go on forever w/out greatly raising atmospheric CO2 concentrations. Fossil fuel CO2 was laid down in the Carboniferous period, 350 million years ago; its release is additive to global CO2 levels. 6 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Ruminator 156 Posted July 12, 2021 Share Posted July 12, 2021 Coming from a general aviation perspective: you would be well advised not to use AvGas in your motors. AvGas is 'enriched' with tetra ethyl lead to prevent premature detonation inside the cylinder. Think of AvGas as super-premium-leaded gasoline. As it has more lead than the old mogas leaded version. This is something that GA has been struggling with for decades (for various reasons). Unless your engine has the ability to lean out the mixture and burn off the lead deposits, a clean carb will be the least of your concerns. As the lead begins leaving residue inside the engine and will corrosively attack the valves (seats and attachments) and the heads. Even aviation engines suffer from this due to improper operation. But that extra lead will make you feel fuzzy & warm... Cheers! 2 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
seaker 44 Posted July 12, 2021 Share Posted July 12, 2021 I agree with everything Diarmuid said Removing ethanol in this manner is not a good idea. Octane will be even lower then before. If you don't want ethanol then find ethanol free fuel. It will have a good octane. https://www.pure-gas.org/index.jsp?stateprov=ME Quote Link to post Share on other sites
sailhmb 48 Posted July 12, 2021 Share Posted July 12, 2021 6 hours ago, ryley said: how does the cost of av gas compare to the cost of fuel at a dock? marine gas prices in boston are pretty crazy right now. we do not have non ethanol fuel available at the fuel dock. av gas = $ 5.50. 5 gals of small engine fuel from Sonoco is $65. works great too. 1 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
sailhmb 48 Posted July 12, 2021 Share Posted July 12, 2021 4 hours ago, Ruminator said: Coming from a general aviation perspective: you would be well advised not to use AvGas in your motors. AvGas is 'enriched' with tetra ethyl lead to prevent premature detonation inside the cylinder. Think of AvGas as super-premium-leaded gasoline. As it has more lead than the old mogas leaded version. This is something that GA has been struggling with for decades (for various reasons). Unless your engine has the ability to lean out the mixture and burn off the lead deposits, a clean carb will be the least of your concerns. As the lead begins leaving residue inside the engine and will corrosively attack the valves (seats and attachments) and the heads. Even aviation engines suffer from this due to improper operation. But that extra lead will make you feel fuzzy & warm... Cheers! before I tried this I checked in with a senior Honda marine technical manager in LA who was a former USAF engine maintenance supervisor. He was completely up to speed on the problem with california gas. He also used the Sunoco Optima fuel for his garden equipment. He had not tried Avgas, but couldn't pin point an incompatible that the Hondas would have and recommended I keep an eye on the seals. I keep him updated after each annual maintenance. so far no problems. Since these motors are for youth sailing chase boats they spend most of their day at idle forward to stay even with the students. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
The great unwashed 383 Posted July 13, 2021 Share Posted July 13, 2021 I buy “racing gas”—one of the gas stations down on the main drag sells it. No ethanol—for which I pay an extra 75 cents a gallon. I use the racing gas for outboards, gen sets, etc. I’m still pissed about adding ethanol to car gasoline. My early 2000s car lost 4 mpg when we made the switch to ethanol gas. 32 mpg to 28 mpg. In other words, we were burning MORE gasoline in addition to the 10% added ethanol to “be good to the environment.” Right. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Pertinacious Tom 1,923 Posted July 13, 2021 Share Posted July 13, 2021 16 hours ago, Diarmuid said: Alcohols adsorb water, which can lead to corrosion of tanks and engine components and cause evaporating fuels to leave 'varnish' behind. If the ethanol absorbs enough water to be saturated, phase separation occurs and you wind up with low octane gas floating above corrosive goo in your tank. The corrosive goo is, of course, the first thing sucked up by a fuel intake. Engines don't like it. 1 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Sailabout 169 Posted July 13, 2021 Share Posted July 13, 2021 16 hours ago, Ruminator said: Coming from a general aviation perspective: you would be well advised not to use AvGas in your motors. AvGas is 'enriched' with tetra ethyl lead to prevent premature detonation inside the cylinder. Think of AvGas as super-premium-leaded gasoline. As it has more lead than the old mogas leaded version. This is something that GA has been struggling with for decades (for various reasons). Unless your engine has the ability to lean out the mixture and burn off the lead deposits, a clean carb will be the least of your concerns. As the lead begins leaving residue inside the engine and will corrosively attack the valves (seats and attachments) and the heads. Even aviation engines suffer from this due to improper operation. But that extra lead will make you feel fuzzy & warm... Cheers! has been used by boat racers all over the world since WWII, any trouble with the lead is an old wives tale Quote Link to post Share on other sites
The Q 787 Posted July 13, 2021 Share Posted July 13, 2021 1 hour ago, random. said: So you are serious? You really believe that lead in fuel is not a health hazard? I think Sailabout been drinking the Tetraethyllead, his brain is damaged.. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Max Rockatansky 914 Posted July 13, 2021 Share Posted July 13, 2021 I add a bit of Seafoam and use whatever gas is available. Working for me. Another option is Coleman ‘white gas.’ Quote Link to post Share on other sites
PurpleOnion 293 Posted July 13, 2021 Share Posted July 13, 2021 2 hours ago, Sailabout said: has been used by boat racers all over the world since WWII, any trouble with the lead is an old wives tale You may want to read this: https://www.motherjones.com/environment/2016/02/lead-exposure-gasoline-crime-increase-children-health/ Or don't, if your mind is already made up. If you do read it, you may make the argument about correlation not meaning causation, but then you should continue reading the article through to the end. In googling to get the above link, there appears to be many follow-ups and additional country-specific data reported after the above article was published. 1 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
sailhmb 48 Posted July 13, 2021 Share Posted July 13, 2021 thanks for reference. Interesting read. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Sailabout 169 Posted July 14, 2021 Share Posted July 14, 2021 13 hours ago, PurpleOnion said: You may want to read this: https://www.motherjones.com/environment/2016/02/lead-exposure-gasoline-crime-increase-children-health/ Or don't, if your mind is already made up. If you do read it, you may make the argument about correlation not meaning causation, but then you should continue reading the article through to the end. In googling to get the above link, there appears to be many follow-ups and additional country-specific data reported after the above article was published. I meant trouble with the engine, lead is bad for you like smoking Seems they still have lead in the fuel in Chicago... Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Sailabout 169 Posted July 14, 2021 Share Posted July 14, 2021 15 hours ago, random. said: So you are serious? You really believe that lead in fuel is not a health hazard? I mean the engine has no problems, yes its a poison Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Schnappi 125 Posted July 14, 2021 Share Posted July 14, 2021 But how do you get the ethanol out of the blue water? I don't want to drink watery blue ethanol. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
GCADDY 4 Posted July 14, 2021 Share Posted July 14, 2021 11 minutes ago, Schnappi said: of Mix with buttery mashed potatoes Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Diarmuid 1,338 Posted July 14, 2021 Share Posted July 14, 2021 31 minutes ago, Schnappi said: But how do you get the ethanol out of the blue water? I don't want to drink watery blue ethanol. It's quite popular: 'Vapor infused', so you know it's good! Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Blitz 122 Posted July 15, 2021 Share Posted July 15, 2021 And good for you. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
blurocketsmate 109 Posted July 16, 2021 Share Posted July 16, 2021 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.