Re: [ihc] Octane selection

[Steven Stegmann <steve.stegmann@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

John,

I keep hearing that gas won't keep but practice just
doesn't bear it out.  Today's gasoline is so much
cleaner that the gunk we used to get...  Ever notice
how you don't see the red varnish any more.  Mobil
even cleaned out my old thero-quad before I junked it.
 Where the gasoline sprays from my EFI there is never
any deposit.  Just as clean as if I'd been spraying
acetone through there.

Talking with my small engine dealer in St. Louis last
fall, I've known him for 25 years, he has switched his
company around on recommendations for fueling lawn
mowers, trimmers, etc.  John Deere (he's a JD small
equipment dealer, lawn stuff up to about 50 hp) now
recomends that fuel tanks be kept full.  Through the
winter fill them as full as you can get.  The idea is
to exclude all air.  He has been having happier
customers and I sure have been having better luck
since I've been doing this, maybe 2-3 years.  They
always (2 cycle & 4 cycle) start immediately in the
spring.

He also recomends never using two cycle fuel without a
good stabilizer, and NEVER, NEVER, use two cycle oil
that isn't specifically rated for chain saws.  Chain
saws run very hot.  So get oil from a chain saw mfr. 
He likes Stihl.  Especially don't bring him any
engines that have been run with lawn mower or outboard
motor 2 cycle oil, no warrantee, no sympathy!!

BTW I have a power washer and mower with Briggs Intec
engines.  They have never yet failed to start on the
*first* pull, including first time out of the box.  No
joke, they really do that.  I have no idea what B&S
did to them but they really do that.

Take care,

Steve
--- John Hofstetter <hofs@domain.elided> wrote:

> On Aug 16, 2004, at 9:10 AM, David Raistrick wrote:
> 
> > As far as gas vs propane...hard call.  You'll get
> more kw/h out of x
> > amount of gas then you will propane...You have to
> store more propane 
> > then
> > you would gas.  And gas is easier to find/fill
> often times.
> 
> Propane stored for long periods is the same as when
> it was put into the 
> storage tank. Gasoline, on the other hand,
> especially today's gasoline, 
> deteriorates and gets nasty very quickly.
> 
> I empty the fuel tanks on my mower, chain saw, and
> trimmers about once 
> a month if I haven't emptied them in use. (Hmm, does
> that sentence make 
> any sense? Anyway, I try not to let the gas get
> old.)
> 
> I empty the Propane tank every Winter unless we're
> down in the desert. 
> <g>
> 
> John
> 
> John Hofstetter
> Ol' Saline
> www.goldrush.com/~hofs