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Well, I ain't puttin' that crap in my boat!! Many folks have ruined the motor due to ethanol wearing out gaskets/sealants. Brand new motors nonetheless.
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Most production runabouts have polyethylene or aluminum tanks, which are impervious to ethanol, but larger, older boats sometimes have fiberglass fuel tanks that aren't up to the dissolving power of ethanol. Ask your dealer to inspect your boat to see if you're in the clear.
also? ethanol can be hard on aluminum...
but it's pure ethanol that is considered a problem in auto racing, not 10%...
E85 is 85% ethanol and can only be run in engines specifically designed for E85
pure alcohol racing engines have to run about twice as much fuel thru the carb as a gasoline engine to make the same power...
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Unlike fuel tanks in autos, boat tanks are vented to the air. Ethanol attracts a significant portion of its weight in water -- especially in warm, humid climates. When this occurs, the ethanol and the water separate from the fuel and settle at the bottom of the tank. The result is goo in the fuel systems, clogged filters and stalled engines. If that isn’t bad enough, ethanol has negative effects on fiberglass tanks.
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Pure ethanol (100% ethanol) will indeed pull water out of the air. It will until it reaches 5% water; which, with 95% ethanol forms an azeotrope which cannot be separated via distillation, then it will separate no more water from the air. That mixture will burn quite readily in an internal combustion engine (or otherwise) and, without instrumentation to detect the difference, pderformance is not noticeable different from 100% ethanol.
Ethanol left in a "vented" and partially filled fuel tank that is otherwise closed to the atmosphere will "collect" water, which being heavier than the ethanol, will settle to the bottom. Then, with the outlet to the engine at the bottom of the tank, if enough has collected, that water feeds to the fuel lines to the engine and will not burn.
That same thing happens if the tank is empty or if it is partially full of any liquid which is not miscible with water and lighter than water, including gasoline or diesel fuel. That is why the fuel tanks on aircraft are supplied with an easily actuated drain at the bottom of the fuel system.
The culprit is not the fuel, even if it is ethanol, but naturally occurring temperature variations, which allow water in the air filling that part of the tank not filled with fuel to condense along the inner sides of the tank at lower temperatures (it's called dew), then work downward via gravity and through the lighter weight fuel, collecting at the bottom. With warmer air temperatures (like the next night), the air expands and part of it is expelled to the outside but, when the air again cools, fresh water containing air is breathed into the tank for a new cycle and more water condenses. It may only takes a couple of nights for enough water to collect at the bottom of the tank to result in engine failure. You can stop the whole process by installing caps to the tank vents that are shut whenever the engine isn't to be used.
It isn't the ethanol that causes the condensation and it happens at exactly the same rate with gasoline. In either case it can cause engine failure.
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It took me forever to get use to saying three dollars instead of a dollar something and now we are are back in dollar something land. Not for long imo but it is nice to be able to fill up for under $20 again no doubt.
Virginia Beach 1.62 at BJ's 1.67 WaWa for the "cheap" chit.
where's the hydrogen pumps?
...... where's the hydrogen cars??
-------------------- All post are my opinion. Do your own DD. Who's clicking your buy/sell button!?
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quote:Originally posted by BooDog: It took me forever to get use to saying three dollars instead of a dollar something and now we are are back in dollar something land. Not for long imo but it is nice to be able to fill up for under $20 again no doubt.
Virginia Beach 1.62 at BJ's 1.67 WaWa for the "cheap" chit.
where's the hydrogen pumps?
...... where's the hydrogen cars??
it's all just a big game huh?
-------------------- Don't envy the happiness of those who live in a fool's paradise.
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quote:Originally posted by Peaser: Oil just above $50/barrel
C'mon $20-$30! Imagine gas under $1 again.
Don't think that's a joke. It really could happen. Anybody out there still trying to believe that a 1-2% change in consumption levels was driving this?
NOW BUSH. NOW is when you start to fill the reserve up ya idiot.
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