Drain gas tanks when storing to prevent possible problems with ethanol

Bob Decker of Bob's Small Engine Repair works on a lawn mower at a customer's house in Lakeland Tuesday. Ethanol may play a role in carberator problems in small engines.

If you put your snowblower away last spring with gas still in the tank, beware.

There's a chance it won't start again.

Gasoline stored for 30 days or more can go bad, leading to a number of problems, ranging from hard starting to rough running to no starting at all, said Kevin Fletcher, of Fletcher4Outdoor, a small engine repair and service shop in Brewerton.

On top of that, the ethanol now required in gasoline can separate when exposed to moisture, leaving gummy deposits in carburetors.

"If it's setting for any period of time, (the fuel) gets gummy and doesn't ignite," said John Butler, of Butler's Small Engine Repair in Auburn. "You can have a good spark, but it's not going to light up."

How much of a problem ethanol is creating is difficult to pin down, with some small-engine repairmen seeing an increase in carburetor work and others not.

"I can't quantify it in numbers," Butler said. "People can come in for a tune-up, and during that, you might discover a fuel-related (problem). I'd say maybe a 25 percent increase."

Mike Bonus, manager of Marine 2000 in Brewerton, said, "I'm not swamped, but I'm seeing more carburetor work than I've seen in the past. I've sold a lot of additives."

Bonus said boat engines with carburetor problems linked to ethanol are primarily older, from the 1980s to 1990s. In older engines, rubber gaskets and seals already decaying from age can have problems with ethanol because alcohol softens rubber.

Rick Keir, owner of Pro Scapes Inc., of Jamesville, a commercial landscaping service, said his business took precautions when it heard ethanol was creating engine problems.

In addition to additives, on some machines they've put in filters that are designed to sense when the ethanol and gasoline start to separate.

"We've been proactive," he said. "I haven't heard a lot of problems from people who are proactive."

Ethanol is alcohol made from corn. Most gas stations now sell E10, a combination of gasoline and 10 percent ethanol. Ethanol lowers tailpipe emissions from cars and uses crops grown in the United States. Federal taxes on E10 are 5 cents lower than on straight gasoline.

Ethanol seems to create more problems in two-stroke engines commonly found in lower-power devices, such as chain saws, leaf blowers and trimmers.

Older snowmobiles with two-stroke engines have been having more problems, said Dave Perkins, executive director of the New York State Snowmobile Association."

"For two-stroke engines, (ethanol) is a huge issue," Fletcher said. "You have to put an additive in."

If a two-stroke engine is damaged by ethanol, it can be fixed, said Bob Decker, of Bob's Small Engine Repair in Syracuse.

"It's nothing that can't be fixed," he said. "But there are some things it's not cost-effective to fix, like weed whackers. Anything worth fixing is fixable."

To prevent problems, Bruce Dunning, owner of Creekside Shop Inc., in East Syracuse, said people should buy gas for lawn mowers, snowblowers and other small power tools, in smaller quantities, so it's used up more quickly.

He also advises:

Always shake the gasoline can before you pour in into the tank.

If you have gas you know might have moisture, such as a can left out in the rain or that is more than 30 days old, don't dump it in the ground. Pour it into a nearly full gas tank in your car or truck, which should burn it up with no trouble, he said.

For two-stroke engines, he recommends buying 93 octane gas, which has less ethanol.

The most important precaution is proper storage. Drain the gas tank of your lawn mower, snowblower and other tools before storing them for the off-season.

"The only issue is that no one stores them properly," Fletcher said. "Ethanol doesn't create its own issue but it adds to existing problems."

Decker agrees. "Take the gas out, you won't have a problems," he said.

source: blog.syracuse