GENERATORS???

I found a 4650 watt inverter generator by Champion with remote start and it works perfectly.  It will run everything I need, including the a/c.  I have a hard time finding ethanol free gas in my area ( Northern Illinois ) so  add seafoam to all my fuels, and i do use the premium blend in my unit.  Thank you all for all the iformation!

I found that most of my carb issues stopped when i started using Sta-Bil in my E10 gasoline.

Originally posted by podwerkz Originally posted by Masternav   <span style=": rgb251, 251, 253;">Your point is valid, but your math is off significantly.  Ethanol produces 70% of the energy of gas, so if gasoline has 10% ethanol content, then it will produce 3% less energy than pure gasoline, not 10% less as you stated.</span> The math may be wrong on the chalkboard or the computer screen but in the real world the math is correct. Since typical gasoline engines and even typical flex-fuel engines are not optimized for burning a 90-10 blend (or any other blend) then yes...we get about 10 percent less range per tank, or 10% less mpg.  I have verified this many times.

This is the post I was referring to, weeks ago btw.

Every credible source (including the EPA BTW) states that fuel economy with E10 is 3-4 percent less than with non ethanol gasoline, yet you say you have personally verified a 10% reduction many times.

Please then share your scientific data demonstrating that. How did you control for all the other variables that effect fuel economy and what were the statistical techniques you used? Or perhaps this is just an personal anechdote you are putting forward? Again.

With reference to Colt's post, if we bought fuel by the pound your units would be valid but we don't so we need to stick with units of energy/volume. So ethanol is 76330 btu/gal and gasoline is 116090 ⁶and the ratio is 65.8%.

I do fully agree about avoiding using E10 in carbureted engines, especially small ones. If you have to, and in many places you do, then it's best to have a fuel cutoff valve and run the engine till it shuts off from lack of fuel before storage, which will (mostly) clear the carb.

I'm not a big fan of E10 personally, especially because it screwed me up in the past for mogas aircraft use. 100LL avgas is extremely expensive and has lead in it which causes lots of other issues. E10 is harmful to expensive aircraft fuel system components. But E10 is better environmentally than the MBTE it replaced.

As for it otherwise being food, that in itself doesn't bother me. Only a small fraction of corn produced in the US is consumed by humans, and that is mostly in the form of high fructose corn syrup, not really the best stuff for you.

The fact that corn ethanol's energy balance (output energy/input energy) is so bad does bother me. There are much better biofuel feedstocks.
Brazil, for example, which uses mostly sugarcane based ethanol, is much more efficient at ethanol production.

From the Engineering Toolbox:
LHV of ethanol is 11,479 BTU/lb
LHV of gasoline is 18,659 BTU/lb
Ethanol has 61.5% of the energy of gasoline.

Ethanol does have oxygen in its molecule, but only one Oxygen atom, and requires 6 O atoms to burn. While that's less than the 15 or so required for gasoline, it is still isn't a good source of Oxygen for combustion. Its primary function is to displace gasoline molecules and raise Octane rating allowing cheaper gasoline to be used as a base. Displacing gasoline molecules probably causes the exhaust gas to appear lean, causing in the vehicle's ECU to command more fuel to reach the 14.7 A/F ratio it is designed to hold, further increasing fuel consumption.

I am always puzzled as to why more fuel consumption is eco-friendly.

Fuel injection systems using E10 (with evaporative controls on the tank) are well sealed and mostly prevent oxygenation of the ethanol and water absorption. By now, all fuel systems are built with materials impervious to ethanol damage, so there is no worry there. However, carburetted systems in small engines are not sealed and cannot prevent oxidation of the ethanol, nor water absorption. That can easily corrode ferrous parts of the fuel system (tank, float bowl, ....)

I learned the hard way not to use E10 in a carburetted 4-cyl motorcycle after I let it sit for 6 weeks over the winter. That bike ran well on E10, as long as you burned it out quickly.

Bottom line, avoid E10 in any carb'ed engine and especially one that doesn't run several days a week.

I am still disturbed by using a food source for fuel. Alas, the farm lobby likes the extra demand for corn and will not let the politicians stop it.

If you're worried about damage to the generator's engine components getting hurt by the ethanol, why not buy a dual fuel inverter generator (or convert it to dual fuel)?  Our little used generator has never had a drop of gasoline in it.  It is used very, very rarely, but I never have to worry about ethanol damage to the motor.  Yes, there is a slight reduction in output, but that's a reasonable tradeoff for an engine that doesn't have stinky exhaust and the mess of adding gasoline to the engine fuel tank.