Fuel Mix for Occasional Chain Saw

I only use boat gas for every single motor I use (chainsaw, mower, hedge trimmer, Kawasaki mule, boat, jet ski) since they aren't used every week. Boat gas, in case you don't know, contains no ethanol. There is also a product called stabil that some people swear by but I just avoid the problem altogether. If you have a boat or other infrequently used vehicle I use that as fuel storage. It's nice to have 150 gallons of fuel around in case the lights go out also, and I've run the generator for several days when no one near me had lights or A/C and never had to refuel.

> I'd call mine an occasional chain saw because it doesn't get a workout on a weekly or even monthly basis, but gets used intensively from time to time. GPS means that the saw gets used more intermittently, which is fine with me, but when I need it, I need it to fire up and go.
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> The folks at the chainsaw shop advised me that keeping old fuel with a high ethanol content in a saw was causing problems and advised me to use an ethanol-free fuel that Stihl sells premixed with 2-stroke oil, this one in particular:
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> Stihl Motomix
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> It's pricey, but if using it means that the saw will start after laying up for a month or two without draining the tank and running the saw dry, then the cost is neglible.
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> What do others do to avoid the problems associated with ethanol in gasoline and/or occasional chainsaw use?

Aloha, Kent:
We have had a lot of issues with our various small engines due to ethanol gas and high humidity here in Hawaii.

The solution that was suggest by a local boat mechanic was to use ethanol free gas and empty out the fuel tank after each use before storing the saw or weed eaters.

Empty the fuel tank then run the saw until it stops. Storing any small engine with gasoline with or without ethanol apparently detrimental to carburetor. I think in your case due to occasional use it is extremely important that you empty out the fuel system before storage.

If your saw is already having trouble starting...I'd have it serviced and even have the carburetor replaced in addition to the spark plug replacement. Then follow the above storage method with ethanol free fuel, you will okay.

All our saws (six of them) use 50:1 mix (fuel: oil). I just buy the 2 stroke oil from Amazon.com. I personally would not bother with the expensive premixed stuff.

For some reason I thought Texas is pretty low in humidity and ethanol should not cause any problems. Maybe I was thinking Arizona...Oh well...we the islanders think the entire mainland as one state with same climate:-D

> I only use boat gas for every single motor I use (chainsaw, mower, hedge trimmer, Kawasaki mule, boat, jet ski) since they aren't used every week. Boat gas, in case you don't know, contains no ethanol.

I did a quick search on google and found more than a few Q&A topics about problems with E10 and E85 in boating use, which leads me to think that ethanol-free boat gas may not be universally available.

I use sta-bil marine in my small engine fuel along with amsoil dominator for the
two strokes. Never have problems, even with extended periods of no use.

> For some reason I thought Texas is pretty low in humidity and ethanol should not cause any problems.

Texas probably is arid compared to the Big Island. We only get about 30 inches of rain per year in Central Texas and less than 20 in parts of far West Texas.

My saw was running so poorly that I thought it needed to go in for some work. The guy at the counter let me know that they had a backlog of 4-6 WEEKS in their repair department and suggested both a product called "Mechanic in a Bottle" to clean out the fuel system and reverse the ethanol damage and the Stihl Motomix as an alternative to gas with ethanol. The "Mechanic in a Bottle" did in fact restore the saw to a hale and hardy mechanical existence in less than four minutes run time.

I looked and there doesn't appear to be nearly as many ethanol free stations in Texas as there are here, which I find strange. There's two ethanol free locators I found on google if anyone would like to see if there's any around them. Another solution that a master mechanic who is a good friend of mine says works is to keep the tank completely full at all times so water cannot be absorbed into the fuel.

> I use sta-bil marine in my small engine fuel along with amsoil dominator for the
> two strokes. Never have problems, even with extended periods of no use.

Sta-bil Marine might be the ticket, and a cheap one, too. The makers of Sta-bil Marine recommend 1 oz. to 5 gallons of gas for storage, which means that a 10 oz. bottle may just outlive the saw.

Whell, Mr Kent, I can help you

Buy only ethanol free fuel. If you are buying it from a pump that uses the same hose, for all fuel, then run 1/2 gallon or so, into your auto, then pump it into your gas can. I usually mix up 2 gallons at a time.
I have Stihl saws, so I use Stihl oil.
Mix the oil into about 1/2 gallon of gas, and shake well. Then, add the rest of the gas, and shake well again. Then, find you a bottle of STAR TRON, fuel enzyme.

I have had gas sit over a year in various small engines, and still ran fine.

I have found this to be a very satisfactory solution to the problems you describe. Better than STABIL.
I have not had to throw out any gas, since using star tron.

I use it in all my little motors. I just put a slug of it, into the 2 gallons. An 8 oz bottle treats 49 gallons. You can take a lawn mower, add a jigger of it to the gas, and shake a little, start it up, and you can actually hear it running poorly, then in about a minute, start running fine.

And, that is better than 0.04'!

🙂

N

> > For some reason I thought Texas is pretty low in humidity and ethanol should not cause any problems.
>
> Texas probably is arid compared to the Big Island. We only get about 30 inches of rain per year in Central Texas and less than 20 in parts of far West Texas.
>
> My saw was running so poorly that I thought it needed to go in for some work. The guy at the counter let me know that they had a backlog of 4-6 WEEKS in their repair department and suggested both a product called "Mechanic in a Bottle" to clean out the fuel system and reverse the ethanol damage and the Stihl Motomix as an alternative to gas with ethanol. The "Mechanic in a Bottle" did in fact restore the saw to a hale and hardy mechanical existence in less than four minutes run time.

Aloha, Kent:
Wow! That's very little rain. We can get that much in a single week here on the island Kauai (East side).

Okay, I am going to buy "Mechanic in a Bottle!" Thanks!

Edit: Just Googled...our local Home Depot carries it!

When you plan on storing your chainsaw for an extended time, try to store it with an empty tank. Don't use old fuel. Just buy enough for what your going to use and buy new fuel the next time if it's going to be stored for an extended period of time. A fresh spark plug once a year is cheap to do and helps also.

Ask any small engine repairman what's one of his biggest money making repairs and I'll bet that it'll be spring or fall repairs, such as lawn mowers put away in the fall with a tank of gas at the end of summer and then won't start the next spring. The same with chainsaws.

If you plan on leaving fuel in the tank, using a fuel stabilizer wouldn't hurt and is a wise idea.

Whell, Mr Kent, I can help you

> Buy only ethanol free fuel. If you are buying it from a pump that uses the same hose, for all fuel, then run 1/2 gallon or so, into your auto, then pump it into your gas can.

Okay, that's fine if you're BUYING the gas, but what about if you're on a budget and are siphoning it from some vehicle in, say, the Walmart parking lot? What are the clues that the gas doesn't contain any ethanol? Is this more of an Oklahoma question?

I avoid ethanol-contaminated gasoline like Ebola -

and my Husqvarna 346XP fired up without difficulty earlier this week even though it had not been started for at least two years.;-) That was on the gasoline that has been sitting in the saw the whole time without any stabilizer. Of course it helps that our air is pretty dry - we get only about 10 inches of precipitation in an average year.

From what I can tell, the best source of information on locating ethanol-free gasoline (E0) is pure-gas.org. That site has a fairly active user community, and they make their information convenient for travelers by providing free iPhone and Android apps along with POI (Point of Interest) files that work with Garmin (and probably other) standalone GPS units. That's what I use when I travel now that the Renewable Fuels Standard ethanol mandate has gone into effect.

This evening I took a quick look at Buyrealgas.com for the first time, and although it does not list as many stations as pure-gas.org, it does have some in this region that are not on pure-gas.org. The Buyrealgas.com homepage provides a great (although overly simplified) explanation of ethanol politics.

What I have found curious in my travels post RFS is that it is pretty easy to find E0 in Nebraska and Iowa (which are obviously both huge corn/ethanol producers) but darn hard in Casper, Wyoming (center of Wyoming's oil industry).

GB

I avoid ethanol-contaminated gasoline like Ebola -

> From what I can tell, the best source of information on locating ethanol-free gasoline (E0) is pure-gas.org.

The nearest station reported to be selling ethanol-free gas in Texas is way too far to drive from Austin, which is amazing when you consider how little ethanol is actually produced in Texas and how much petroleum-based gasoline is. So far, the Sta-bil Marine seems the most promising workaround.

Sta-Bil or better yet, Sta-Bil Marine.

Whell, Mr Kent, I can help you

Whelllllll, now you do bring up an interesting point there. According to the wal mart web site, they are now carrying star tron. It will make ethanol gas burn much better. So, it looks like the answer is the same, but you will have to factor in the fact that ethanol is hygroscopic, meaning it sucks water out of air. IF you pull the gas from a car that has a full tank, then there is less air in the tank, to pull the water from. Thus you will get less water, if you choose carefully, and only pull your gas from RICH rednecks, (Glen Campbell, and Willie Nelson come to mind) that have over a half a tank of gas in their rig. OR limit your tendancy to pull gas from stranger's vehicles, to friday, when often they get paid, or can borrow from their mother in law, and sometimes have already added gas to their loud and dirty older vehicles. I would caution you against drawing from R/V's though, as this story is a poignant warning to all:

A thief who tried to siphon gas from a motor home got a mouthful of sewage instead, police said. Police got an early morning call from Dennis Quigly, the owner of the vehicle. Quigly was inside the parked motor home when he heard strange noises outside. "Apparently, the suspect was attempting to steal gasoline and got the sewage tank instead," Officer Tom Umporowicz reported. Officers found sewage and what looked like vomit on the ground. Nearby they found a 14-year-old boy curled up ill next to a car. Quigly said he declined to press charges in the incident, figuring the boy, who was not identified, had been punished enough.

However, I can say to those who make Wal Mart their one stop shop, that they do sell mouph wash, and breath mints as well.

So, you should do well, although I have refrained from testing all the above methode, and have substituted internet research, (AKA, high accuracy guessing) in place of actual testing, and performing a complete least squares adjustment of all the data. I think your error ellipses should estimated by a magnitude of of an average car count, at the Wal mart of your choice.

Best Regards, and your mileage may vary.

Nate

I use aviation fuel.

I use aviation fuel mixed with oil. I have two 15 year old chainsaws,a 7 year old blowers and 8 year old weedeater that have nothing but av. gas and all still run like new.

It doesn't go bad as fast, the gas both in the can and in the equipment is still good from the end of one summer till the beginning of the next.

I use aviation fuel.

I use either Amsoil two stroke oil and mix in Stabil or use the Stihl oil which has a stabilizer in it. I also use it in a lot of different engines, weed eater, pole saw, chain saw, leaf blower, and a lawn boy so I'm usually able to use it up in a few months.

There is a guy locally who sells non-ethanol fuel. It's been tested and proven and it's a bit pricey, but excellent for the saw and boat and other off road gasoline things.

For what I do with my Sthil, they sell a compound that you use to winterize it. You basically pour out the gas, pour a small amount of the compound in, run it for 30 seconds or so and kill it. Then when you put the new gas in, the seals are still moist and haven't dried out. I learned this the hard way when I had to have the 260's carb worked on. (Ugh).

Also, I don't mix the gas until I'm ready. I have a 2.5 gallon gas can filled and even though it's non-ethanol fuel, I put the required amount of sta-bil in the can. In 4 years, I haven't had one issue with it yet and I run mine similar to yours. I may not run it for three months, but then when I do, it will get run for 6 to 10 hours.

The already mixed gas I saw and we use it at the fire department because (A) there is a budget and (B) my method is much more labor intensive and requires preforming maintenance that the rest of the fireman don't do because there is (A) a budget. 🙂

You guys

are hilarious. I always get a kick out of it.