E10 gas

It seems everywhere is having this problem. It's really a problem with Experimental/ultralight/LS aircraft. I guess the alcohol acts like a cleaning agent (like bio-diesel) and loosens all the accumulated crud and it floats down stream to the first filter and clogs it up. Big problem when you are flying

You can test for it.
Apparently the alcohol will combine with water.
Take a test tube shaped glass container and put an inch of water in the bottom. Mark on the outside with a grease pen or tape or something to show the water level.
Put the gas in the tube. Shake it. Let it settle. If there is alcohol, there will be more "water" in the tube than when you started.

 

Google is your friend

My search using "washington state ethanol gas" came up with this:


Low-Percentage Blends:
The majority of ethanol is used to increase octane and improve the emissions of gasoline. Ethanol is typically combined with gasoline as a blend of 10% ethanol and 90% gasoline, known as E10. According to the U.S. Department of Energy, one out of every eight gallons of gasoline sold in the United States contains ethanol.

Use of oxygenated gasoline was mandated by the Clean Air Act Amendments of 1990 in areas with unhealthy levels of carbon monoxide. The primary oxygenates were ethanol and MTBE. The demand for ethanol has been increasing, as MTBE has been shown to contaminate ground water supplies. In Washington State, oxygenated gasoline is sold during the winter in areas that do not meet the federal carbon monoxide standard under the Clean Air Act. In past years, these areas were central Puget Sound and Spokane and Clark counties. The oxygenated gasoline program has been phased out in central Puget Sound and Clark County due to air quality improvements in those areas.

While low-percentage ethanol blends are sold in every state and are available in Washington, consumers typically do not have a choice between E10 and 100% gasoline. In areas where oxygenated gasoline is mandated and E10 is used to meet that mandate, the ethanol blend makes up nearly 100% of the gasoline sold. And the blend is typically not available in areas where the mandate does not apply.

Low-percentage ethanol blends are approved for use by all auto manufacturers and have been used for years in all types of vehicles and engines that require gasoline. There is typically a minimal impact on vehicle performance with the addition of the 10% ethanol.

 

Check with Costco I asked the pump attendent in Union Gap a while back and he said that so far they were resisting the Ethanol.

I'm not sure how "high" their high octane is though.

 

Costco has the ethanol labels in the Puget Sound area...

 

10% Ethanol has been used in this area for at least 14 years that I recall, especially in the winter months to reduce emissions, (so they say). Sounds to me like they are re-branding or re-advertising to show their "environmental consciousness."

 

I've been running Oregon's E10 blend (I'm not sure if it's the same as Washington or not) with no problems for years and years. That includes all my cars-- 365, BB, 456, and 612. Plus my 85 911, although the owner's manual in that explicitly allows E10.

 

Oxygenated fuel is sold to the consumer as a “Cleaner” more environmentally friendly solution than burning 100 blended gasolines. Supposedly, it burns cleaner because it has an extra oxygen molecule.

What you don’t normally hear is you burn more fuel traveling the same distance (Alcohol has roughly ½ the BTU content as blended gasoline). You’re putting the same amount of HC, O2, and CO2 into the atmosphere traveling the same distance as with untainted fuel, are you really cleaning up the air and saving the environment?

There is 0 net environmental benefit using alcohol in low compression Otto cycle engines (less than 11/1 compression) except to the corn growers, gas companies and a few congressional members. It’s a boondoggle for the consumer period.

Tom Harkin D-Iowa is the biggest pig with his nose in the corn constitutes trough, what this latest little trip through memory lane has done is increase food cost and reduced the US ability to send food to other countries as aid to prevent millions from starving, politics aside, this is unconscionable.

Alcohol needs to be drunk, or used as a stand alone fuel (see the Brazilian model, VW flex fuel car), but in either case, it shouldn’t be a tax payer subsidized fuel. ADM, fertilizer companies (Potash) and Iowa corn farmers don’t need tax payer money.

 

+1 on JH355! From what I have read online (and I did recently stay at a Holiday Inn Express...) is that E10 was beneficial on cars made before the mid 1990's, in lowering emissions slightly. But has no effect on emissions on newer cars, and lowers mpg on ALL cars. The net effect of the lower emissions is very low, as older cars keep getting taken off the road....E10 probably should have been eliminated 4 or 5 years ago. The lobbying power of the corn industry is the only reason this stuff continues...and a few misguided "greenies".

Oh, and no, I have no fear that E10 is damaging my car. Manufacturers have accounted for it's use in designing fuel pumps, tanks and lines that it (should) be of no consequence.... the only negative is it raises the cost of your pump gasoline, lowers your mpg, and with no real benefit to the enviroment.

 

.......that's per the almost always flawed "Environmental Science" that keeps getting called out on a multitude issues. Thanks for the post.