15% Ethanol Fuel? [LOCKED DUE TO POLITICS]

[Flomounier1]

All cars say don't use fuel containing more than %15 ethanol. (Unless they are flex fuel.)

Fuel lines will deteriorate and crack after 20 years either way so I just plan on using Costco 87 in mine.

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[Maverickman74]

Son in Law worked offshore for the Oil Companies drilling. Considering the risks associated with the job they are not overpaid at all. Paid $125k a year for the dangers associated with the job is cheap. When he worked in Deep water and had to be helicoptered to his rig was dangerous on it's own forget the other dangers associated with that when he worked offshore off Louisiana in shallow water the government under Obama slow walked permits. Lastly I would rather be oil dependant as we were rather then relying on foreign despots for being spoon fed our oil at their whim and pricing. Want to see a revived economy...drill.....and keep the Fed out if determining fines ...because unless you have data on the permits not being used based upon my experience this mess is all political ...

I have to use a razor sharp machete to chop coconuts while holding them with my hand. The machete falls 1 to 3 inches from my hand at a rate of 8 swings every 10 to 12 seconds. I do this while explaining to tourists the details of the several different ages of a coconuts lifespan and telling them the directions to the waterfalls and bathrooms. Aswell as keeping any ear and eye out for other random things that need my attention. Like violent drivers and screaming children, or just my other co workers needs. I make around $20 an hour in a place where the medium home price is a million dollars.

What is so hard about a nice helicopter ride and a million safety meetings? No work is harder than digging ditches and no one gets paid less.

 

[DeanR]

At 8 dollar corn there will not be a lot more used unless gas prices rise again.

 

[413 Maverick]

Just an FYI for the "we have so much corn" crowd who may not be aware. The feared food shortage is not because of a lack of farmland and capacity, but fears because of the amount of fertilizer production lost from the war. Russia and Ukraine play a major role in fertilizer production and the loss of that could be devastating, especially for poorer countries.
While WE certainly won't run out of corn in a worst case scenario, diverting any corn away from food could have major ramifications for poorer countries, especially when compounded by droughts and war hurting Soy, wheat and other global crop production.



We don't know how badly fertilizer supplies will be impacted by the war, but the potential for disaster is very real.

This isn't totally relevant to the primary topic obviously, but I had a feeling some posters may not have been aware of this concern in the context of the OP's mention of a food shortage.

 

[Geep]

Just an FYI for the "we have so much corn" crowd who may not be aware. The feared food shortage is not because of a lack of farmland and capacity, but fears because of the amount of fertilizer production lost from the war. Russia and Ukraine play a major role in fertilizer production and the loss of that could be devastating, especially for poorer countries.
While WE certainly won't run out of corn in a worst case scenario, diverting any corn away from food could have major ramifications for poorer countries, especially when compounded by droughts and war hurting Soy, wheat and other global crop production.



We don't know how badly fertilizer supplies will be impacted by the war, but the potential for disaster is very real.

This isn't totally relevant to the primary topic obviously, but I had a feeling some posters may not have been aware of this concern in the context of the OP's mention of a food shortage.

20 miles down the road from me is the 2nd largest potash (read fertilizer) mine in the world, 30 miles further is the largest potash producing mine in the world….they have ramped things up to 110 % to try and make up for the shortages from the Ukraine invasion…..wonder if we are a

 

[Akuma72387]

Just a extra thing about the drill permits. While there are 100s of unused permits not even half of the permits will be worth using because you typically get the permit then you have to start exploration and testing to find out if that spot will be viable for extracting, if it is does that spot have enough to recover the cost of said extraction and since the Fed said they were gonna stop giving permits for certain places alot of the companies are gonna hold off till their current spot is almost done so they can keep their business going.

It's like anything If I give you 100 dollars to live on then told you I won't give you anymore are you gonna go blow all 100 at once or ration it until you KNOW that you can get more. That's how I look at it anyways

 

[Maverickman74]

I use neither in my vehicles unless when we travel in our RV we go places where only ethanol is available. Ethanol is garbage...and when you look into the process for making it you will find fossel fuel is an ingrediant that supplies power to the process.

Do you think it doesnt take power to make regular gas?

 

[Hatonapug]

As a plant scientist & horticulturalist... ethanol is a pipe dream, unsustainable unless we go all GMO and it is susceptible to uncontrollable weather conditions when agriculture wells all thru the Midwest have been going dry for yrs now. Anytime you turn to a single crop (monoculture) you amplify the problems that crop has. An example is Loropetallum shrubs, if you have ever been to FL you will see these purple, red-ish leave plants. Back in 2000 there were not that many Loro's but as more and more were planted their susceptibility to mites became known. Now every Aug/Sept the problem is a well known issue requiring spraying because the # of Loro's in the environment has increased by millions. Asian longhorn beetle, Dutch elm disease are other ex of how a living crop is decimated by a single change. We can not control our environment sufficiently to guarantee that mass grown crops can be reliable for a fuel source.

If we take away the gas & oil subsidies & fine oil drillers for not using the thousands of permits they already have that they are not utilizing we can gain control over the industry. Right now they see the current environment as ripe for profit and they are not going to use the permits they have till we fine them. They don't need to ruin more land by getting more permits they need to open the ones they have unused. Also the pro self reliance on US oil alone people do t also tell you American oil industry workers are the highest paid in the world, relying on American only oil will be more expensive than what we pay now.

Even 15 yrs ago the ag sci dept of my school was producing exponentially more ethanol per sq ft in algae farms than corn could ever produce. With a practical method of scaling that up, ethanol could easily replace oil products in most small motors. Main reason it hasn't is the same reason h2 cars are basically dead... People decided evs made more sense and shifted the funds there.

 

[Old Hickory Trojan]

Do you think it doesnt take power to make regular gas?

The whole idea around ethanol was to get rid of use of fossel fuel. Using fossel fuel to produce ethanol seems to have been missed in the BS surrounding why we need ethanol to begin with. ethanol was a bad idea and destroys engines and plastic parts used in the engines Just like the idea that electric vehicles won't hurt the invironment like fossel fuels when the batteries have hazardous materials. Nice talk about the future but the facts are only 5% of current production are recycled.
Electric cars: What will happen to all the dead batteries? - BBC News

 

[Maverickman74]

The whole idea around ethanol was to get rid of use of fossel fuel. Using fossel fuel to produce ethanol seems to have been missed in the BS surrounding why we need ethanol to begin with. ethanol was a bad idea and destroys engines and plastic parts used in the engines Just like the idea that electric vehicles won't hurt the invironment like fossel fuels when the batteries have hazardous materials. Nice talk about the future but the facts are only 5% of current production are recycled.
Electric cars: What will happen to all the dead batteries? - BBC News

I wholely agree, the best way to operate vehicles is on alchohol made from algae, run through appropriately sized and tuned carburetors. Modern cars have to be brought in every few months for software updates anyway. Get a retune and a couple o rings replaced while they are at it. Apply modern tolerances to old carbs and they are vastly improved. When you add in moder ignition, cam design, and everything else we have improved a carb will benefit nearly as much as fuel injectors have. We had injectors widespread jn the 80s. It wasnt until we improved everything else that it became efficient. I really think a variable electronic fuel pump on a multicarb setup, with pcm controlled floats would be the ticket.

Of course it is all a moot point when we learn how to harness static charge. Who needs batteries when you get your power from an antennae. Free power with only initial hardware cost wont keep any fat cats happy though.

How about a seawater engine that burns hydrogen, expells O2 and has a salt cannister to clean and recycle for 10cents/lb. Cleaning the air and reducing ocean volume(sea level rise).

 

[abjbrtd]

I have used 15% ethanol for decades with no fuel issues. In fact, I'd say I avoided having issues during the winter by using it because ethanol is a fuel dryer. I run it because I have never had an issue with it and because I figure I have already paid for some of it via the tax credit manufacturers receive for producing it.

We used it in our '69 Chevelle, '78 Sapporo, '80 RX7, '83 Caprice, (I don't remember the miles until we sold them). We ran our '89 F150 slant six on it for 165,000 miles, our '97 F150 for 300,000 miles, our 2001 Grand Marquis for 247,000 miles. Our current 2015 Edge and 2012 F150 have 115,000 miles and 117,000 on them respectively and no issues.

Do not run it in your small engines like lawnmowers, tillers, weed whackers, etc.

Huh, by listing my vehicles in chronological order, I can tell about when I got married. . . . .

I think your confusing "low lead" and "ethanol E10, E15, E85"
All your pre 1990 cars would have suffered complete fuel system (fuel lines, carburetors and fuel pump) failure!
PLUS E10, E15 wasn't even legal to sale before 2001!

 

[Nw_adventure]

Can we have an " I am 100 percent out on Ethanol" Zoom happy hour set up ?

 

[mr mojo risen]

Increased ethanol mandates are simply a back-door subsidy to the powerful agribusiness lobby. I work in the petroleum refining industry and I have access to high-octane, ethanol-free gasoline at my workplace. Hard pass on 15% ethanol from me.

 

[Mavman123]

As a plant scientist & horticulturalist... ethanol is a pipe dream, unsustainable unless we go all GMO and it is susceptible to uncontrollable weather conditions when agriculture wells all thru the Midwest have been going dry for yrs now. Anytime you turn to a single crop (monoculture) you amplify the problems that crop has. An example is Loropetallum shrubs, if you have ever been to FL you will see these purple, red-ish leave plants. Back in 2000 there were not that many Loro's but as more and more were planted their susceptibility to mites became known. Now every Aug/Sept the problem is a well known issue requiring spraying because the # of Loro's in the environment has increased by millions. Asian longhorn beetle, Dutch elm disease are other ex of how a living crop is decimated by a single change. We can not control our environment sufficiently to guarantee that mass grown crops can be reliable for a fuel source.

If we take away the gas & oil subsidies & fine oil drillers for not using the thousands of permits they already have that they are not utilizing we can gain control over the industry. Right now they see the current environment as ripe for profit and they are not going to use the permits they have till we fine them. They don't need to ruin more land by getting more permits they need to open the ones they have unused. Also the pro self reliance on US oil alone people do t also tell you American oil industry workers are the highest paid in the world, relying on American only oil will be more expensive than what we pay now.

Lol . Be careful what you wish for. Everything, and I mean everything you touch every single day relies on hydrocarbons and will for decades and decades to come

 

[JASmith]

That having been said, there's been so much FUD about ethanol that I know people willing to fight an hour's traffic each way just to fill up with ethanol- free gas from one station out in the middle of nowhere, because they're convinced it'll do I have no idea what.

Ethanol free is important in certain use cases. If you have a boat or motorcycle or generator or lawn mower that is going to have several weeks between uses, then the best thing you can do is get the highest octane ethanol free fuel available and put fuel stabilizer in it and run it a bit so the stabilizer gets into all the lines.

The stabilizer prevents "gummyness" from happening as quickly, ethanol free keeps water out of your system and reduces evaporation and octane degradation rate (ethanol is very hydrophilic with a short shelf-life), and as fuel ages it decreases in octane so if you put in 93 octane then you'll know it'll still be at least 87 octane for a long time.

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