[SFDXA] Gasoline and E10

[Pete Rimmel N8PR]

>From a friend in Ohio...  Watch what fuel you use with your generators !

--WAKE UP CALL--

At a DXer's group meeting a couple of weeks ago a story was told by an owner
of a Honda gas-powered generator. I understood he meant this occurred in
less than a year after purchasing the unit. While it had been test-run every
so often, the engine seemed to have carburation issues. When the engine was
serviced, the owner was shown that decomposition of the E10 fuel had plugged
things up.

So I did some checking around.  At this URL link you can read the story of
how E10 gasoline degrades over only three months. In vehicles that are
driven often, the tank is refilled often enough. But a generator or mower or
blower or snow blower in storage a long time can have a problem. What is
needed is gasoline without ethanol. If there is a trace of water in the
fuel, there are more problems.

http://www.fuel-testers.com/expiration_of_ethanol_gas.html

All this might explain why my snow blower was so hard to start the winter
after I bought it.

--- MORE ---

So in this Web site:

https://www.pure-gas.org/station?station_id=14738

you can see the KML file link (click on "KML")  for the file "pure-gas.kml"
..

If you have Google Earth on your computer, you can just download that file
and click on it to see a map of the lower 48 states (at least) with little
pushpins.  Zoom in and you can see where the gas stations around NE oHio
have 100% gasoline. They aren't really all that close together.

One of them (mentioned at the meeting cited above) is located on the west
side of Prospect Rd near Westwood in Strongsville, at the railroad tracks, a
Marathon station, with 100% gas in pump 14.  ( Now the KML file may point
you to the northeast. You have to turn around 180 degrees and go across the
street.)

The local GPS-useful address for that Marathon station (at "Cuyahoga
Landmark") is

12966 Prospect Rd, Strongsville OH

Well, today I went to that Marathon station and bought 5 gallons of pure gas
for my equipment. (No credit card reader!)  Tests with some running
equipment will happen soon. Now I have good gas for my generator in case of
bad weather this winter.

--73, Glenn, AF8C