Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire 15% ethanol?

Ethanol viability


Ethanol, like hydrogen, requires more energy to produce/make viable than the energy it provides.............

How does that help?????

Land acres for Solar, Wind, Ethanol or food....... pick ONE, there's NOT enough for two......

My truck gets 2mpg less on ethanol. It sucks.

Man are you wrong. Out of 24 plants in Nebraska only 2, Lexington and York have the ability to use milo. 12 milo/corn ethanol and 2 bio diesel plants are located in Kansas.

Most engines are not designed for 15% ethanol. I never put any ethanol in a small engine. Thankfully we have 4 places to buy real gas here.
I had a chevrolet car a few years ago that reliably got 10% lower gas mileage highway driving with E10 vs real gasoline. In that car the ethanol did nothing.

There was a article that ran in a Florida news paper years ago about the ethanol content in our gas.

Seems it not really tested for actual percentage by any regulatory agency.

In the article independent testing was conducted at random fuel stations throughout the state.
It found ethanol percentages were all over the board.

Many tested locations were between 10% to 15%, some as high as 20%, a few exceeded 20%.

Just did a web search for related information and only found one fuel testing company that even mentions ethanol precentages being tested for and they stated 15% to 20% can be commonly found.

Can't find anything defending these high ethanol levels other than requirements for labeling.

Anyone have any good information on this?

How much ethanol is actually in the gas we buy now?

Here's why.....

Ethanol sucks as a fuel..... compared to others available.

Even more suckage here......... https://world-nuclear.org/information-library/facts-and-figures/heat-values-of-various-fuels.aspx

The good news, I suppose, is that methanol IS better than burning wood or coal

My eldest consistently bought the cheapest gasoline at the pump, 10% ethanol!
FINALLY talked the kid into buying the more expensive, 100% gasoline.
Mileage improved!
Performance improved!
Maintenance improved!

$ for $, it's about the same cost.....BUT......you get more miles for the same dollar, PLUS you're not running that ethanol crap, destroying your engine!

I don't run "bio-diesel" if I don't have to. Some places I go, the only thing available is bio-diesel!

This new gas is just terrible.


I wish we could go back in time to when you had to rebuild a carb twice a year to clean gums and varnishes.

Also...wouldn't it be nice to have engines last 50,000 miles again?


This 200 to 250 thousand mile deal is BS!

My daughter brought home some early 60's "Popular Science" magazines from a thrift store the other day. One article I read was about how much effort it took to take a car past 100k miles and what to expect. The author was pleased that his Chevy only used a quart of oil every 500 miles.

Are we still seeing winter gas vs warm weather gas? Is that still a thing? I ask because I've picked up about 1.5mpg since March (similar driving habits). Bumping 22mpg for the last 5 weeks or so, which isn't bad for a 4wd crew-cab F150 (3.5L EcoBoost).

E10 and siblings increase smog in hot weather. Wait for air quality alerts and rules. That fits the overall plan.

I looked up how remove alcohol. Mix a pint of water per gallon, shake up, wait a few hours and either siphon off the top or have a petcock on a tank.

There were also instructions for redistilling the gas AND one guy who was treating pump gas for his airplane. Some if these people just have to be csmpfire members.

How are 'cafe standards' set these days for auto manufacturers?
Pure petrol or E10 petrol?

Bingo. When I bought my 1970 Dodge Dart Swinger it came with all of the original owners repair receipts. A stack to include carburetor rebuilds, valve cover gaskets, intake manifold gaskets, exhaust manifold gasket, rear seal replacement... All within five years.

SHHHHHHHHHHH! Don't tell Dem voters - they hate little things like "facts"...

The forced blending of ethanol in our gasoline has been a pet peeve of mine for decades.

Tucson (Pima county) and Phoenix (Maricopa county) were some of the first cities in the country besides Denver to be forced by law to go to an Oxy-fuel blend.

Denver began this experiment to deal with the temperature inversions and resultant pollution that often occurs in the winter months in cities surrounded by mountains. This was 1987. Pima and Maricopa counties followed the next year. We are only required to blend the fuels from November through March. This is still true today.

(Arizona Daily Star from Tucson, Arizona on June 21, 1987 ·
Page 16http://tucson.newspapers.com › newspage
Sunday, June 21, 1987 21, 1987 iNATION
Denver moves toward mandatory use of high-oxygen fuel DENVER (AP) Requiring motorists to use high-oxygen fuel in the ...

First they tried MTBE but soon found out it would get into the ground water. Then they used "up to 10%" ethanol. That quickly dissolved an assortment of parts in the fuel delivery system. I remember changing fuel filters that became clogged with a black substance most likely the fuel lines. After a while the parts became available that were ethanol resistant.

The intent of using Oxy-fuels was to reduce emissions which in turn might lessen the temperature inversion pollution. The extra oxygen in the blend would combine with the unburned hydrocarbons in the exhaust thereby reducing hydrocarbon and carbon monoxide emissions. It worked with older carbureted engines but, as we soon discovered, the 10% blend in the newer vehicles with fuel injection had a reduction in gas mileage.

The reason for the reduced mileage is the oxygen sensor which tells the computer how much oxygen is in the exhaust. Once the engine reaches operating temperature the system goes to closed loop and this information is used by the computer to determine how long to open an injector to maintain the proper air/fuel mix for efficiency power and minimal pollutants. The Oxy fuel causes a higher oxygen level in the exhaust which gets picked up by the oxygen sensor. A higher than normal oxygen level is telling the computer the engine is running too lean! The computer then widens the injector pulse width which makes the mixture richer so the vehicle looses gas mileage. Because it has to burn more fuel per mile it might even add to pollution!

The dummies that adopted this mandatory program never altered it and it is still in place today. It works great on my wife's 65 mustang and my 84 yamaha outboard but does nothing for emissions reduction on modern fuel injected engines.

As for dealing with the separation of the ethanol and gasoline there are many fuel additives that work. Unfortunately it is another cost. I let my boat sit for 9 months with approximately 1/2 tank of 20 gallons. I put two bottles of Yamaha fuel conditioner and have never had an issue with the fuel and the two carburetors in the 115 hp two stroke Yamaha.

I am not looking forward to a mandatory 15% ethanol blend. I am particularly concerned if they mandate its use year round. The volatility of even 10% ethanol could cause vapor lock in hot weather. Guess Tucson and Phoenix will be the proving grounds as we get very hot here. Supposed to get to 110 here this weekend.

Thanks to the other contributors and links. I had no idea corn was not the best product to turn into ethanol. Also the instructional video early in this thread had some interesting topics.

Yep, and for what we're paying for the schitt, it should be pure gas.

Honk for Joey...

Another buck chuck Grassley in the lead, wabbicon do you run soy diesel on your farm??

No Russ, no soy diesel.

Why do you think ethenol is good if you don't use soy diesel