(outdoor temps must be below freezing)
1) Go get a gallon of gas at the station you normally go to.
2) Leave it outdoors overnight.
3) Transfer the gas in it to another container.
4) Put the (hopefully now empty) container inside a warm garage for a few hours.
5) If there is anything still inside - pour it into a clear container of some kind and look at it...


* You have to use a clean, dry SAFE gallon container to get the fuel with in the first place

PURPOSE:
I was recently shown a container that was used to get gas for a chainsaw by a good and trusty friend of mine. After being outdoors most of the day - about an INCH of ice froze inside of it at the bottom.

It was plain evidence of the huge amount of nasty water that had accumulated in the stations tanks where he got the gas from.

Gasoline does not freeze - nor usually does methanol. And the color of the water, or presence of sediment in it can indicate other problems with a gas stations storage tanks.

Best of all - with freezing temperatures out of doors, the risky part of the test is done outside in a well ventilated area. That of allowing any water in the fuel to freeze and settle out. You don't want a gallon of gas in your refrigerator.

Thawing it out allows us to examine whatever is in the water, or if it is indeed water to begin with. - But water in the fuel is the main concern


~Wolf out

 

I've thought about trying to do that recently with a pint of good real gas and a pint of the ethanol crap. I want to see how much water is in the ethanol so many people put into their vehicles.

 

Ethanol supposedly will combine with the water condensate in fuels, and cause them to be done away with.

Any water combined with a form of alcohol should also resist freezing to a higher degree - which is a part of what "ANTI-FREEZE" is intended to accomplish in a vehicles coolant system - so if you find that ethanol bearing gasoline doesn't do the job, THAT WOULD be very interesting to see demonstrated...

Particularly by an independant and unbiased party, who has nothing to gain or lose either way.


HOWEVER (and this is a cause for worry) -

Supposing ethanol CAN hide or mask the presense of water in gasoline, what is to prevent fuel stations from getting high ethanol fuels, and running a garden hose out to their tanks when no one is looking, to maximise their profits? In effect adding water to their product, and selling it anyway???


Now THAT is a disturbing notion...


Fuel is sold by VOLUME, and nothing else. If the pump meter says fifty gallons of GAS!

You pay for GAS

~and water is cheap


It would seem to open a door for us all to be ripped off


I never really thought about it that way before, but yeah...

So if your fuel is supposedly such and such percent of alcohol, but water still freezes out of it, what does that mean?

 

ya, from my limited home brewing experience I know that alcohol is made by fermenting a sugar, be it malted barley or corn, and yeast, and water. Then if spirits are desired then the mash is heated and the run offs are the flammable alcohols. mostly. There is still water in it. That in my head, is what ethanol is.....water and corn alcohol. Maybe i'll do the experiment and post it on youtube. If I do and you guys don't hear from me anymore then big brother got to me. lol.

 

got me interested! Have had lots of issues with water in fuel in many different gasoline operated equipment lately... and Greywolf makes a good point too.

 

Any up dates?

 

That's why "dry gas" sells so well in cold climates to prevent the gas lines from freezing.

 

Since the alcohol is attracted more to water than to gas, I have to wonder if you can use water to wash the alcohol out of modern gas? Put an excessive amount of water in a can of gas, shake it up really well, let it settle for a while, and then drain off the collected water mix-

 

There's a place in NY that sells ethanol free gas. When lawn mowing season starts I'm going to buy me some.

 

I scrap cars, so I get "free gas".
You have to put it in an open bucket and let it settle. An average 15 gal tank has a quart of water in it. EVERYTIME.
If you pour slowly, the water will stay in the bottom of the bucket, allowing you pure gas .
It used to be gas could sit in a tank for a couple of years, and still be used. Now, it has a shelf life of 3 months, and it is pure junk, and will hardly burn.

 

I don't want to be around when you start testing gas Charlie,lol .Phew

 

mix that gas with oil for 2 cycle and good luck

 

camp fire fuel

 

I thought the ethanol would "draw" water, basically any condensation in the fuel system. I try to find gas stations around my home that doesn't sell fuel with ethanol, it's getting harder to do, and those stations are more often than not "country stores" that look questionable in the first place. Anyway, I don't worry as much about my vehicles, and I do use BG fuel system cleaner here and there to try to combat the issues with ethanol, but I refuse to run "E-Anything" in my small engines, boat motors, lawnmower, 4 wheeler, etc. Thanks for the tip, will conduct a science project ASAP...