Making pure gas from E10?

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Kestas

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Is there a good way to scrub ethanol from the gasoline for use in our garden equipment? I was thinking of buying pure gas from a marina next time I'm near one, but people tell me it cost $6/gal.

Is it as simple as adding a good amount of water, shake, let settle, and decant the gasoline? Has anyone tried it?
 
Originally Posted By: motor_oil_madman
it usually costs about 80 cents per gallon more.


What a scam.
mad.gif


It used to cost 14c more a gallon for many years.
 
Phase separation!

Would think it best to have the fuel analyzed before use, but draining off the water is the fun part.

Lab style separatory funnel should work, but finding one for large scale use is expensive.

Have thought about this myself but you cost yourself 10% more just by removing the ethanol, plus time and dangers associated with handling gasoline.
 
yes adding water gets rid of the alcohol.
Since the E in gas gives it a little octane you downgrade it from 87 to 84 at most. This will run fine in you older small motors. I dont know about a new lawnmower, it depends on its CRatio.
 
I suppose it would make more sense to start with premium so as not to suffer too much octane loss.

Dirving to a marina is very inconvenient for me. They're far away and not on the way to anywhere I drive.
 
Originally Posted By: Kestas
Is there a good way to scrub ethanol from the gasoline for use in our garden equipment? I was thinking of buying pure gas from a marina next time I'm near one, but people tell me it cost $6/gal.

Is it as simple as adding a good amount of water, shake, let settle, and decant the gasoline? Has anyone tried it?


I ran "washed" gas all spring and summer for my lawnmower which uses a 4cyl Honda GCV-160. Ran perfectly fine, noticeably improved power and fuel efficiency from E10. I can cut a full 1/3 additional lawn surface area with the washed gas.

Use a "no spill" gas can that has the push button dispenser (the one where you can set it so the opening is on the bottom, parallel to the ground so that the water/ethanol mixture is the 1st thing that comes out because it's heavier).

I would get 4 gallons of 93 E10 (so that I would still have at least 89 octane after removing the 112 octane alcohol which is fine for a 4 stroke) then add one gallon of water. Shake well for 5 minutes continuously (somewhat of a workout). Then let it sit 30 mins, drain off the 1 gallon of water you added (an empty distilled gallon water jug works fine) plus the 51+ ounces of ethanol.

Rinse and repeat a second time to get any residual ethanol out. Then use an F15C Mr. Funnel fuel filter and filter the entire remaining contents through into another clean & dry 5 gallon container--this will catch any minute amount of free water.

Originally Posted By: JHZR2
I'd want to dry that gas before burning it.

After I do all of the above I add 1 ounce of seafoam. If you still weren't comfortable with that you could add a small amount of iso-heet red bottle. A lot of people have often used seafoam anyways so they wouldn't be changing anything additive wise.

I guarantee that if anyone tries this that whatever you run it in will run noticeably better than on E10.

Even before any isopropyl is added, there is zero water visible at the bottom of the remaining gas that was just filtered. I confirmed this by dispensing it in a clear container and inspecting it.
 
Last edited:
Originally Posted By: tpitcher
Originally Posted By: motor_oil_madman
it usually costs about 80 cents per gallon more.

What a scam.
mad.gif


It used to cost 14c more a gallon for many years.

Still costs 10 cents per gallon more around here.
 
Today I just bought some premium (Shell 93 octane) to wash the alcohol. I used a clear glass bottle for washing. Add water to gas, shake it up, then let it settle. It seems that ethanol washes out of the gasoline rather quickly. The only thing that got me worried is that the gasoline remained cloudy, even after letting it sit for a couple hours. The water portion became clear with time. A second wash didn't seem to be necessary.
 
You could probably finish it with a zeolyte...which, funnilly enough is what I dry my ethanol with when mucking around with my biodiesel experiments.
 
For some reason, the gasoline isn't all that cloudy anymore. Nothing has separated further.

I'd much rather mess with washing gas than to drive from one marina to the next, begging for pure gas. Washing the gasoline is faster and cheaper. Pure gas isn't as easy to come by in Michigan as it is in Florida.
 
To prevent phase separation and the subsequent gelling and corrosion that follows in my equipment. I'm not always diligent in draining the OPE fuel quickly after the season. Plus, one never knows when the last use of a snowthrower may be during the season. One-half gallon is all I ever prepare.

There may also be the added benefit of running pure gasoline, as my old equipment was designed to run. I have a 40 year old snowthrower, 30 year old lawnmower, 30 year old chain saw, 20 year old leaf blower, and 20 year old generator. I'm not about to replace all this equipment for the sake of E10.

I may even consider doing this for my 41 year old car. Though I suspect it'll be cheaper to retune it properly.
 
I've been on that site many times. Most of the stations are at marinas. None are near me in Livonia. None are along any of my commutes. The closest station is listed across town in Allen Park and would cost me $10 in gas just to go there. Then there's the chance that if I go there, the listing could be a goof and there is no pure gas.

Go on that web site, pure-gas.org, and click on "map". Compare what you see at the Detroit area with the Minneapolis-St. Paul area and you'll apprieciate how difficult it is for me to find pure gas.

It's just so much easier and cheaper for me to wash premium fuel.
 
Quote:
After I do all of the above I add 1 ounce of seafoam. If you still weren't comfortable with that you could add a small amount of iso-heet red bottle.
I guarantee that if anyone tries this that whatever you run it in will run noticeably better than on E10.

Even before any isopropyl is added, there is zero water visible at the bottom of the remaining gas that was just filtered. I confirmed this by dispensing it in a clear container and inspecting it.


Why would you remove alcohol from fuel just to add more alcohol?
 
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