Fuel Conditioner... what type??

bshillam · Posted: Mon May 25, 2009 11:04 am Post subject: Ace

Ace Hardware has Stabil for $6.99 a bottle and free shipping. I've never bought this stuff and thought it would be a good idea to star using. Specially since all I put in the tanks are E15 blended gas. Is that a good deal? What's this stuff usually run a bottle?

marvin4239 · Posted: Mon May 25, 2009 12:50 pm Post subject:

I haven't seen it mentioned but there are two types of Stabil that I'm aware of the red type and the blue type. The blue is for the ethanol. I have been fortunate to be able to still get ethanol free fuel at the local marinas but I did purchase some of the blue stabil the other day for times I'm trailering and want to take advantage of the cheaper ethanol fuel and for my lawn equipment. I don't know if it works but as I remember the blue was more expensive than the red stuff and hard to find locally.

thataway · Posted: Mon May 25, 2009 3:24 pm Post subject:

Using Stabil as a fuel stabalizer vs to prevent water problems (Phase separation) are entirely different. The summary of the Practical sailor showed that none of the products were of much value in the phase separation prevention.

Again--scientific evidence is difficult to find. I havn't seen much supporting any of these--but again I try them, hoping that they will help.

I have never had water in fuel problems, until I started using the E 10 (or 15).

DaveS · Posted: Mon May 25, 2009 10:57 pm Post subject:

Big Mac · Posted: Mon May 25, 2009 11:38 pm Post subject: Blue marine Sta-bil

Starting in the middle of June you should be able to get this product at the Ace Hardware stores. My son-in-law is an assistant manager of the one of the Ace stores and he will be able to get it from the main warehouse in the middle of June. I have always had good luck with the red Sta-bil, pre E-10 gas. I guess I will now try the blue. I think it will be very important to drain the carbs for winter and maybe run them dry after each use if it will be more than a couple of weeks before the next trip? I also plan to use the blue in all my yard power equipment.

Tortuga · Posted: Tue May 26, 2009 1:24 am Post subject:

So, here's my question. If E10 presents such obvious problems, and something like blue Stabil doesn't harm performance, why don't gasoline companies include some kind of fuel stabilizer in the gas? Clearly modern fuels are intensely engineered petro-chemicals with conditioners and detergents included. My view up to now is that high quality gasoline includes all of the conditioners needed to optimize performance for fuel used within a couple of months of purchase -- short of the water issue that the marine environment introduces. Wouldn't this also be true for E10?

rogerar · Posted: Tue May 26, 2009 6:51 am Post subject:

D'OH I already gave away my copy, it's a great test-very scientific, but I forget the ratings, I don't use additives, I try to use up my gas fast!!
Roger

denny-o · Posted: Tue May 26, 2009 8:23 am Post subject:

The best way to store the E10 crap is to run it through the engine before storing...

Lacking that, then make sure your tank is kept full to reduce condensation... Fill your tanks at the end of the weekend and when storing at the end of the season...
Top off the tank with high octane when storing - which contains more actual gasoline and less fillers than 83 octane...
Aviation 100 LL, has excellent storage qualities and is high in aliphatic's that make it a good stabilizer... It does contain lead so it is not friendly to oxygen sensors... Though in small quantities as an end of season stabilizer the lead will be diluted enough to minimize this issue...
80 octane aviation gas without lead is slowly becoming available, though not widely... It would make an excellent end of season fill up...
Non ethanol gas can be had from the fuel distributors, but you have to haul a tank to them for filling... Some of the airplane owners on my field do this...
Use a water rejecting funnel to filter the gas when you fuel up all season long - the West marine WM-F8C works very well... You are gonna be surprised once in while when the funnel rejects some gas...
'
Think carefully about using stabilizers that are simply more alcohol...

AstoriaDave · Posted: Tue May 26, 2009 8:54 am Post subject:

Year and a half of consistent running with no issues, exclusively using Oregon's E-10, adding stabilizer per recs on the container; first the red stabilizer, and now the blue the last month. Never attempt to fill tanks prior to long storage. They sit half full in an unheated shed, for a couple months at a time, minimum, here on the coast of Oregon, where we got about 6-7 feet of rain last year.

Perhaps the principal difference is that my tanks are metal: all aluminum.

Two years ago, when the engine was laid up during construction of the boat after an initial test run, I allowed the first load of fuel in the engine to EVAPORATE to dryness, and had added NO stabilizer: result: EVERY filter was gummed to the useless state and had to be replaced

My conclusion is that if you use stabilizer with every fill, E-10 is a non-issue except for the power loss.

Captains Cat · Posted: Mon Jun 01, 2009 11:11 am Post subject:

Don't you wish you had one of these in your neighborhood!! Laughing

Big line of trailer boats on the weekends! It's in Reedville, VA about 20 minutes away. I have 20gal worth of 5 gal tanks and I fill them up whenever I can and refuel the TC! $2.40 a gallon right now.

Charlie

Matt Gurnsey · Posted: Mon Jun 01, 2009 2:47 pm Post subject:

Port of Bremerton is buying non ethonal fuel for the Port Orchard Marina Fuel Dock. It's being trucked up from Texas as an off road use fuel.