The Ethanol Fuel Issue

Topic: Using Ethanol poisoned gasoline in our FRP fuel tanks manufactured after 2004 is typically not an issue.  Our resin formula is compatible with the current ethanol blend injected fuel.

> We use the FRP tanks on our flying fleet and purposely use ethanol injected fuel to monitor this activity. 

Rant:  I cannot say from day to day what the boneheads running this country (especially the EPA) will devise as additional additives to our gasoline to reduce our (non existent) dependency on foreign oils.  This whole idea of using our primary source of food as an additive to motor fuels is a disaster that will eventually happen.

Alternative: In Louisiana and many other states the use of ethanol is a choice.

A source for non ethanol fuel suppliers is available @ www.pure-gas.org

Also if you want the ethanol removed from the gasoline I have a method for that as well.

Observations: Ethanol and fuel systems in general are a perplexing issue.  Ethanol easily and readily attracts water.  Water is typically introduced into fuel tanks through contamination and/or condensation.  Once the water is inside the fuel tank it blends with the presence of ethanol. If you pre-mix your 2 stroke oil with your gas the plot thickens.  You’ll now have a combination of ethanol, water and oil.  And as an added ingredient most 2 stroke oils contain ammonia. The water part of this mixture wants to settle to the bottom of the fuel tank in the form of a sludgy goo.  For this reason I always drain a small amount of fuel from the lowest level of my tank.  A drawing for this is HERE.  If I know that I won’t be flying for a while I will run all the fuel from my carburetors and leave them dry.

Conclusion: No matter what type of fuel tank is on your craft if you are using ethanol there are issues.  If your tank is pre 2004 you may have an issue with the ethanol.  The EPA would tell us that forced ethanol was coming but would not supply the MSDS sheets to allow for preventative measures.  We had to wait till it was sold in its final form to then develop a plan of complying with the new compound.  This whole EPA ethanol thing is single handedly sending fuel related items into costing 3 times what they were 10 years ago.  If this upsets you then you should contact your congressman.  If you have a question for me, do not hesitate to contact me.

airtech@air-techinc.com

Thanks,

Bever