Plan B Forum

Robuto, I need some info. The amount of two cycle gas I am buying is starting to get expensive. It cost about seven dollars a half gallon. There is a place where I can buy none ethanol gas and mix my own. How can I tell the difference between the two fuels without waiting six month for the ethanol to go milky in appearance? Does the ethanol weight enough I can tell difference with a small spring loaded food scale . I would rather pay for expensive gas than use ethanol in my two cycle tools so I am on my to buy more, but I will check back for any help you might be able to offer.

Store the non-ethanol fuel in a separate container from any other fuel. This guarantees that you will be able to tell the difference.



yrs,
Robuto

This looks like a pretty convenient way--if you cannot get latest tube, any long skinny container should work.

http://www.autofuelstc.com/fuel_testing.phtml

The alcohol in the gasoline will preferentially mix with water. The gas won't. Get a glass bottle with a cap - preferably narrow and cylindrical. Quarter fill it with water and mark the water level as accurately as you can with a Sharpie pen. Add about the same amount of gas. Stir or swirl it thoroughly. The gas layer will stay on top of the water because it is lighter. Let it settle. If the boundary between the two layers is at the point you marked, it's pretty pure gas. If the boundary has crept up, that means some alcohol from the gas has migrated into the water layer.

And don't smoke while you are doing this; and stay away from open flames! If you can swipe a test tube from somewhere you can do this with the minimum of gas. If you can find a measuring cylinder from a lab you could even do this semiquantitatively. Of course if you have access to a lab you could steal a GC-mass spec and do it properly but they tend to be nailed down.

ETA: I should have read BigRR's post which says the same thing.

The alcohol in the gasoline will preferentially mix with water. The gas won't. Get a glass bottle with a cap - preferably narrow and cylindrical. Quarter fill it with water and mark the water level as accurately as you can with a Sharpie pen. Add about the same amount of gas. Stir or swirl it thoroughly. The gas layer will stay on top of the water because it is lighter. Let it settle. If the boundary between the two layers is at the point you marked, it's pretty pure gas. If the boundary has crept up, that means some alcohol from the gas has migrated into the water layer.

And don't smoke while you are doing this; and stay away from open flames! If you can swipe a test tube from somewhere you can do this with the minimum of gas. If you can find a measuring cylinder from a lab you could even do this semiquantitatively. Of course if you have access to a lab you could steal a GC-mass spec and do it properly but they tend to be nailed down.

ETA: I should have read BigRR's posted link which says the same thing.

liberty wrote:Robuto, I need some info. The amount of two cycle gas I am buying is starting to get expensive. It cost about seven dollars a half gallon. There is a place where I can buy none ethanol gas and mix my own. How can I tell the difference between the two fuels without waiting six month for the ethanol to go milky in appearance? Does the ethanol weight enough I can tell difference with a small spring loaded food scale . I would rather pay for expensive gas than use ethanol in my two cycle tools so I am on my to buy more, but I will check back for any help you might be able to offer.

Just use the damn E10. The sky is NOT falling.

Big RR wrote:This looks like a pretty convenient way--if you cannot get latest tube, any long skinny container should work.

http://www.autofuelstc.com/fuel_testing.phtml

Thanks Big, that is exactly what I needed. It never occurred to me it would be that simple. I knew that different percent alcohols have different level of water, but it didn’t occurred to me that alcohol would absorb more water. I thought it would be some chemical mystery. My chemical knowledge is spotty, it has been better than fifty years.

Joe, it is not that if I forget which container I put my gas in; the problem is I don’t always trust corporations. I especially lack faith in small corporations that don’t put their name on the product they produce. It may be valid or it may be low ethanol that they are calling ethanol free. I don’t know what circumstance would produce such an outcome I just want to make sure that no ethanol is used in my babies.