So.. New Lawn Mower soon...

[Obie]

quote:

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Originally posted by leilanidude

Ethanol fuel isn't new - so why haven't the manufacturers of these products adapted to it?

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Actually they have adapted to a point.

Everything on a new piece of motorized lawn equipment is methanol resistant !

The gasoline with ethanol added still separates and absorbs water !

[terracore]

The corn lobby tried to con the US Govt into mandating E20. Fortunately the engine manufactures fought back and won (this time).

Interestingly enough, the ethanol-free gas available in Hawaii is only legal because 10% of the distillates in the gasoline that normally have a petroleum source were sourced from ethanol. Since it costs more to get these chemicals from ethanol, the gas costs more. It's not so much that the fuel must contain ethanol, it's more that the fuel's sale resulted in the purchase and consumption of ethanol at some point before it reached the consumer, whether the fuel contains measurable ethanol or not.

The important thing to remember is that ethanol is not nearly as energy-dense as gasoline, so engines burning ethanol-free fuel will use less of it than if they were burning E10. That helps offset the higher price of the E0. In some markets where the price of E0 is lower than what we pay, the net cost after factoring in higher gas mileage is a wash.