We only use the generator during football season. I forgot about it and its just been sitting with gas in it since then. So, should I run it dry or buy some stabilizer? If so, which one? And should I run it for a few minutes after the stabilizer is added to get it into the carb?

Tia fellers.

Twenty/twenty hindsight, but I ALWAYS use stabilizer in any small engine, any time of the year. That way I always know it has it. I just add it to my gas can.

I'd drain the gas from the tank and the carb, seeing as its been months and you're in College Station. You probably have water.

I fill with premium gas with Stabil and let run for a few minutes. Top tank to the brim and store like that. The absence or air space reduces condensation.

Ok chemists...

Let's say you effectively removed 99% of the air from the tank.

With the gas being about 5-10% ethanol (is that a correct number?), when and over what period of time will the gas and ethanol separate and then the ethanol breakdown?

For the generator:
I've never used stabilizer, but I do make sure the carb is empty every time I cut it off whether for a day or months. Cut the gas off and let it run itself out of gas in the carb. It always cranks right up the next time I use it. That said, for long periods of time I'll usually drain the tank too. There are enough gas guzzlers around to never have to store fuel for long.
The lawn mower never sits very long so I've never really done anything special for it.

Pawn Shop

quote:

---

I fill with premium gas with Stabil and let run for a few minutes. Top tank to the brim and store like that. The absence or air space reduces condensation.

---

DON'T do this. NO benefit to running the higher octane and may lead to hard starts and excess engine heat. They are designed to run on the cheap stuff. Either bleed them dry before long periods of sitting or run stabil in them.

Leave them in the garage and hope they start?

I'm with Canyon... I always put Sta-bil in the gas can as soon as I fill it up. That way, I know it's good no matter how old the fuel is.

We run a lot of small engines on equipment (pecan cleaners/pre-cleaners/conveyors in the field) and running sta-bil is the only thing we do when we put them up. Next year rolls around, add some new gas to the old and burn out the old stuff. Not as ideal as draining the tanks but it works.

I use the marine grade sta-bil (green ). Works for me in welding machine, log splitter, and lawn equipment.

quote:

---

Leave them in the garage and hope they start?

---

This...but in the shed. If it doesn't start, that's why God invented Home Depot. Buy another.

quote:

---

Leave them in the garage and hope they start?

---

Usually this. I'll also start my mower periodically whenever I'm tooling around in the garage and let it run for a few minutes. Maybe run it around the driveway a few times to blow off the leaves and whatnot.

Sta-bil in every gas can prevents many, many headaches.

Who in the hell calls them gennies Nancy?

quote:

---

Who in the hell calls them gennies Nancy?

---

Someone too lazy to type out generator. Guess that backfired...

Turn the gas line off and run it til it is done, at least on a Honda.

Convert fuel to propane. LPG won't go bad no matter how long you store it. Won't have to change the oil as often, either...

quote:

---

For the generator:
Cut the gas off and let it run itself out of gas in the carb. It always cranks right up the next time I use it.

---

Same here. Never had any issues.

Some form of fuel stabilizer is a must. With many gas stations selling gasoline with a percentage of ethanol, the sugar deposits add to your headaches if you don't let the gas all run out of the carburetor Stabilizer will fix this.

Store all of my Genies in a bottle. ......oh wait.....Never mind. ..

Sugar deposits?

Another great product that I would reccomend is Star-Tron. It's a fuel stabilizer plus it counter acts the ethanol. Ethanol is really hard on small air cooled engines. It's the ethanol that hardens all you fuel lines on your line trimmers/ chain saws ect.

Canyon. Ethanol is made with corn sugar, this leaving different deposits than fossil fuels.

Big part of the problem is the fact that most gas (unless you get it from a specific place) is ethanol blend. The pump say "up to 10%" but it's realistically closer to 20%. That stuff is pretty hard on small engines.

I buy ethanol-free at TWS in CS, or you can get it at a marina... Or the expensive "Tru-Fuel" off the shelf at WalMart. Regardless, it's not cheap, but you wil eventually pay the fiddler in the form of carburetor rebuild/replacement.

Personally, I run Sta-Bil and Sea-Foam, then burn the gas out of the carburetor when it's going to sit for more than a few days.

quote:

---

Ethanol is made with corn sugar, this leaving different deposits than fossil fuels.

---

How does the sugar find it's way into the gas after being fermented into ethanol and distilled?

quote:

---

The pump say "up to 10%" but it's realistically closer to 20%

---

Not legally, it's not. In Texas, it has to be labeled if it is even 1% ethanol. Most pumps are labeled "up to 10%" to allow various blends.

But if the content is > 10%, by law, they have to tell you the exact %. And anyway, it makes no economic sense to put in > 10% when ethanol is so expensive.

quote:

---

Canyon. Ethanol is made with corn sugar, this leaving different deposits than fossil fuels.

---

Someone has been filling your head with tall tales. Corn ethanol comes from the starch part of the corn seed, and once it is ethanol, it is no longer starch or sugar. Sure, it leaves different deposits. It leaves fewer, and less harmful deposits.

Ethanol will attract water, and that's where the trouble comes.


Troy's Tractors dot com

Canyon. You might want to Google "How ethanol is made." The returned results all said that ethanol is made from plant sugars. If corn is used, the starch is converted to sugar to make ethanol.

You might want to google how fermented ethanol is distilled before Canyon reads your post. Distilled liquors contain zero carbs (sugars) and distilled fuel alcohol will have even less than that.

During fermentation the yeast converts the sugars to ethanol, water, and other misc. byproducts. The distillation process separates the ethanol from the water. IF there is still sugars present in the fermented ethanol then they are not transferred to the distillate with the ethanol.

Brazil runs their transportation system on distilled ethanol made from sugar cane. Ever hear about any widespread problems with their ethanol fuels?

Also, there is this:

http://www.cartalk.com/content/i-put-sugar-my-husbands-gas-tank

quote:

---

Canyon. You might want to Google "How ethanol is made."

---

Okay. Did so. First Result:

Renewable Fuels Association

quote:

---

The production of ethanol or ethyl alcohol from starch or sugar-based feedstocks is among man's earliest ventures into value-added processing....

the entire corn kernel or other starchy grain is first ground into flour...

Enzymes are added to the mash to convert the starch to dextrose

---

And as far as "corn sugar"

Wiki

quote:

---

Corn syrup is a food syrup, which is made from the starch of maize

---

And of course, as agent-maroon points out, ethanol, whether made from sugar cane, corn or potatoes, is not going to leave sugar residue anywhere. It's like saying that plastic is going to leave an oil stain because it's made from crude oil.