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Jun 30, 2007
Shelf life of gasoline deteriorating
By KYLE MARTIN
kmartin@hernandotoday.com
BROOKSVILLE — Gasoline isn’t what it used to be.
Just ask Tim Amsler, a fourth generation mechanic and owner of a Brooksville machine shop.
With 51 years of experience under his tool belt, Amsler can recall the time a chainsaw could be left on a shelf for year and crank up just fine.
Now the gasoline in the tank will likely go stale inside three months, maybe a little longer if you add a stabilizer. “People need to be aware that if you buy a chainsaw or a generator that it’s not going to start without proper care,” Amsler said.
The loss of potency is the tradeoff for cleaner fuel.
Starting in 1973, the Environmental Protection Agency began phasing out leaded fuel to reduce hazardous vehicle emissions. Low levels of MTBE (methyl tertiary-butyl ether) were first added in 1979 to boost the oxygen levels in fuel and improve combustion.
The push for oxygenated fuels grew over the following decade and in 1990 the Clean Air Act mandated that cities with high air pollution, such as New York and Los Angeles, use oxygenated fuels.
But at the turn of the century it was discovered that MTBE was leaking from underground storage containers and contaminating the water supply.
Federal regulations still required an oxygenated fuel, however, so much of the West Coast turned to ethanol. By 2005, many petroleum companies had announced they were doing away with MTBE and mixing their gasoline with ethanol.
From an environmental standpoint, ethanol burns cleaner and economists tout the corn-based fuel as the solution to America’s dependence on foreign oil.
But it can also wreak havoc on engines, particularly in boats, said Gail Alexander, founder of Cocoa Beach-based Fuel Testers.
Alexander’s company sells kits that test the amount of alcohol in fuel because a concentration higher than 10 percent has several consequences.
Alcohol dries so quickly that it can crack the rubber hoses in an engine, Alex-ander said. She also finds that alcohol’s excellent dissolving capabilities tend to loosen built up dirt and rust in an old engine. Sounds great until that all that gunk travels into the valves of the engine block and gums them up, she said.
Furthermore, ethanol absorbs water at an incredible pace, Alexander said. Before the introduction of ethanol, none of the ingredients in gasoline’s chemical cocktail would absorb water.
By her estimates, every teaspoon of water in a gallon of gas today will cause separation and ruin the gasoline. Stabilizers don’t have any lasting effect, because “there’s nothing that makes alcohol not alcohol,” Alexander said.
Ethanol is not added to the finished product at the refinery, but by the drivers of fuel trucks, according to the EPA. As long as the fuel remains below 10 percent ethanol, most current vehicles will be OK.
But problems arise if the driver is heavy handed by accident and pours too much into the mixture, said Alexander, who is lobbying for more quality control. Customers have called her from all over the country with horror stories about $25,000 boat engines ruined by ethanol.
Outside of hurricane season, this means that you should replace the fuel in your lawnmower or weed whacker every few months.
It also means that the gasoline you’re saving in the garage for your generator might not be any good come September.
Back in Brooksville at Amsler’s Inc., Amsler continues to repair generators that were run on bad fuel. All of the sediment from the tank is bending valves and clogging the pipes, he said.
Another problem comes from new generator owners failing to add oil to the crank case, which causes the engine to seize. That’s why Amsler suggests buying only from professionals who can explain the workings of a generator.
Amsler places the shelf life of gasoline at 3-4 months, but consumers should also remember that includes the time it takes for the fuel to arrive at the gas pump.
One study tracked the progress of diesel fuel from a Texas refinery that was stored, pumped into a coastal tanker, offloaded at Port Everglades, stored again, delivered to the fuel jobber who put it in the pump. Twenty-three days had passed and the fuel tested out of “spec,” according to epicenter.com
Gasoline should be stored in an airtight container, because the more moisture that seeps in the faster the fuel goes bad, Amsler said.
Reporter Kyle Martin can be contacted at 352-544-5271.
This story can be found at: http://hernandotoday.com/news/MGBZE5SIK3F.html
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