[Rhodes22-list] E85

[Brad Haslett]

Rik,

The German army ran their tanks on "wood alcohol", same stuff as ethanol.
It produces 15% less energy per pound versus petroleum based gasoline but
otherwise is good stuff provided your seals can handle it.  What it won't do
is replace "ancient sunshine", ie, crude oil based gasoline.  It will at a
1.1 to 1 ratio which is fine if you are at war and cut off from your oil
supplies, but it isn't a long term solution. It is a "killer" in aircraft
applications because of the vapor pressure issues and somewhat less so
because of its long term affect on bladders and seals.  I personally think
ethanol is a wonderful product and has its place in the 'energy' mix.  My
favorite brand is Johnny Walker.

Here's the ultimate test of corn based ethanol.  Remove the 54 cent per
gallon subsidy and see if Archer Daniel Midland (ADM) is till so gung-ho on
the product two years from now.

Here is the ultimate, ultimate, test.  Name the farmer anywhere who supplies
the fuel to grow the fuel he needs to farm fuel from his own farm to keep
growing more fuel.

Brad



On Thu, Apr 17, 2008 at 12:57 PM, Rik Sandberg <sanderico1 at gmail.com> wrote:

> Brad,
>
> Sure, we heard all that sky is falling bs when we first started using
> ethanol in our gas 30 years ago. Yes, if your fuel system was
> exceptionally full of gunk, you might have trouble with the fuel filter
> clogging for a bit due to the different solvent properties of the
> ethanol. Like any gas it need some Stabil or something in it if you are
> going to leave it sitting around for a long time.
>
> I've been using this stuff in cars, trucks, lawn mowers, boat motors and
> every other gas powered machine I've owned for 30 years, as I said, and
> have never had a problem. Those of you that are just starting out with
> it now are going to be hearing all the horror stories we listened to 30
> years ago. Unfortunately no one seems to be able to look at the
> experience of people who have gone before them and realize that if it
> works OK for them, why shouldn't it work for me.
>
> Heck, I ran my sprint cars for a couple years on straight ethanol when I
> had a sponsor for the stuff. The rest of the time we used methanol which
> is much harder on stuff.
>
> Rik
>
> "Stupid is supposed to be painful" .... Rik Sandberg
>
>
>
> Brad Haslett wrote:
> > Rik,
> >
> > You hope you're buying 10% or less ethanol.  The way it is mixed at the
> tank
> > farm is pretty crude and that is why it is called "splash" blending.
>  Here's
> > a link to some marine issues-
> >
> > http://www.theoutboardwizard.com/boat_ethanol_danger_precaution.html
> >
> > Brad
> >
> > On Thu, Apr 17, 2008 at 8:11 AM, Rik Sandberg <sanderico1 at gmail.com>
> wrote:
> >
> >
> >> Slim,
> >>
> >> What you're buying here in MN isn't E85, it's gasoline with 10% ethanol
> >> added. You've been running the stuff in your car for years. So have I.
> >> Most pumps say "this fuel contains 10% ethanol"
> >>
> >> There aren't many stations around yet that have E85. If you find one,
> >> the pump generally has a yellow hose and the pump definitely says E85
> on
> >> it. Our Cenex in town has E85. It's the only one. Yes, unless you have
> a
> >> flex fuel vehicle, you don't want to try to use this stuff.
> >>
> >> Ethanol enriched gasoline is 10% ethanol and 90% gas. Most any internal
> >> combustion engine can run this stuff, unmodified, with no problem. This
> >> has been sold at most every station in MN for almost 30 years E85 is
> 85%
> >> ethanol and 15% gasoline ..... Big difference.
> >>
> >> Your scooter friend doesn't know what he is talking about.
> >>
> >> Rik
> >>
> >> Steven Alm wrote:
> >>
> >>> I've got some good news and some bad news.  The good news is that we
> >>>
> >> finally
> >>
> >>> got some spring-like weather up here in Minneapolis and I got the
> >>>
> >> scooter
> >>
> >>> out for a nice long ride.  The bad news is that I was talking to
> another
> >>> biker dude who told me he goes down to Iowa and loads up on gas for
> his
> >>>
> >> bike
> >>
> >>> because Iowa doesn't use any ethanol.  He told me virtually all gas
> >>>
> >> stations
> >>
> >>> in Minnesota have it.  I thought they had to put a sticker on the
> pumps
> >>> saying it's E85.  WTF?
> >>>
> >>> I know we've discussed this before but IIRC engines have to be
> reworked
> >>>
> >> to
> >>
> >>> run on ethanol because it's hard on hoses, gives lower gas-mileage and
> >>>
> >> so
> >>
> >>> on, and so-called "flex fuel vehicles" have undergone this
> modification.
> >>> But I'm sure the vast majority of Minnesotans have not made these
> >>> modifications to their cars so I'm wondering if we're all ruining our
> >>>
> >> cars
> >>
> >>> or was this biker dude just blowing smoke.  I've googled around a bit
> >>>
> >> and
> >>
> >>> can't find evidence one way or the other if all or how many Minnesota
> >>>
> >> gas
> >>
> >>> stations have it now.  Or if it's required that pumps display a
> sticker.
> >>>
> >>> I'm not at all on the corn-produced ethanol bandwagon and don't see it
> >>>
> >> as a
> >>
> >>> viable option--unless of course you're a corn farmer of which there
> are
> >>>
> >> a
> >>
> >>> lot in this neck of the woods.  But there's probably no place that
> grows
> >>> more corn than Iowa.  So what do the Iowegians know that we
> Minnesotans
> >>> don't know about ethanol?  More importantly, am I wrecking my
> scooter's
> >>> engine?  My out board?  My V-8 without even knowing that I'm running
> >>>
> >> E85?
> >>
> >>> Aside--they're all running well but I haven't checked gas mileage
> >>>
> >> lately.
> >>
> >>> Slim
> >>> __________________________________________________
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> >>>
> >>>
> >>>
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