The Walden Effect: Farming, simple living, permaculture, and invention.

Ethanol problems

using the right fuel in a weed trimmer

I used some fuel in the weed eater that had ethanol for the first time this year.

The fuel I used was fresh, and I chose the higher octane, but I think I'll go back to hunting down the ethanol free fuel in the future.

It might not be connected, but it now takes a harder pull on the rope to get it started and it does not always start on the first try like it did last year and the year before.



Anna Hess's books
Want more in-depth information? Browse through our books.

Or explore more posts by date or by subject.

About us: Anna Hess and Mark Hamilton spent over a decade living self-sufficiently in the mountains of Virginia before moving north to start over from scratch in the foothills of Ohio. They've experimented with permaculture, no-till gardening, trailersteading, home-based microbusinesses and much more, writing about their adventures in both blogs and books.



Want to be notified when new comments are posted on this page? Click on the RSS button after you add a comment to subscribe to the comment feed, or simply check the box beside "email replies to me" while writing your comment.


RSS
Higher Octane = Harder to light

Mark,

Higher octane fuels are harder to ignite and require higher compression to do so (c.f. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Octane_rating). So, it makes sense that the higher octane fuel would make the weed eater harder to crank. Try putting some 87 back in it and see if that makes a difference.

That being said, ethanol free is better if you can find it. It has more BTUs that fuel with ethanol added.

Cheers,

Bobby

Comment by Bobby Nations — Wed Jul 9 17:27:55 2014
just an observation
i have used regular, gas pump gas on my old second hand weedeater with no problems. had it for 5 years now and it starts within 3 pulls every time. I had issues last year with my chainsaw which i attributed to the gas. This year's mixture was made with fresh oil at the correct ratio, and lo and behold, after almost 2 years without using it, it also now starts within 3 pulls. All i am saying is that maybe its the gas/oil mixture what needs adjusting.
Comment by pedro — Wed Jul 9 20:20:55 2014
2 stroke gas
I've been told the ethanol can be a problem with drawing moisture. I also recall something about motocross guys avoiding it due to some oil/gas mixture issues. With that said I have ran it in saws, weed eaters, and a polaris 400 2stroke with no problems that I'm aware of. I just sarted avoiding it recently on the moisture issue I believe to be true. If it's not in an air tight container I can see where it would be a problem over time.
Comment by Heath — Thu Jul 10 07:48:45 2014
Lowes
Lowes Now sells ethanol Free, pre-mix. it comes in 40:1 and 50:1 ratios. I believe they also have straight ethanol free gas for 4 cycle engines as well. I found a weed eater in the trash last year that would not start. Poured a little of this stuff in it and it has been running like a champ all season.
Comment by TJ — Thu Jul 10 09:00:59 2014
Add a comment





profile counter myspace



Powered by Branchable Wiki Hosting.

Required disclosures:

As an Amazon Associate, I earn a few pennies every time you buy something using one of my affiliate links. Don't worry, though --- I only recommend products I thoroughly stand behind!

Also, this site has Google ads on it. Third party vendors, including Google, use cookies to serve ads based on a user's prior visits to a website. Google's use of advertising cookies enables it and its partners to serve ads to users based on their visit to various sites. You can opt out of personalized advertising by visiting this site.