fuel conditioner mixing

I keep wondering about all these additives. Mind you Im just thinking out loud and dont really know so all I say is more a question. But ok – todays gasoline has 10% ethynol which its had that for last 10 years or so, correct? Ethynol is a type of alcohol and a lot of additives actually are alcohol based. Heres a link: http://www.fuel-testers.c…_safe_with_e10_list.html …so you want to use the kind that arent alcohol based or your just adding to it.From what Ive read in Mercury outboard sites it seems you dont really need an additive for the gas – the main thing is the fuel lines which now are capable of the 10% ethynol. There is a more concern of seperation of water and gas with ethynol in gas but only if you dont run the engine for a couple of months at a time. Which if you let engine stand for a couple of months then an additive is necessary.So I guess what Im asking is if you are able to run an engine a couple of times a month, do you really need any additives? I wonder if BCB has recommendations on this.

As schodackbassman said there are some chemical reactivity issues to consider when premixing gas additives. All additives have been stabilized for longer shelf lives.That means that all of the chemical constituents of the additive are protected against cross reactivity with each other. When you mix two additives the stabilizers in one additive were not designed to be effective against the chemical constituents of the other additive. Without going through a whole series of experiments to determine the stability of the mixed additives, it would be best to add them separately to the gasoline. About the concern of the alcohol base of the additives. If that one ounce of additive was pure ethanol, after it was mixed with six gallons of gas it would increase the total alcohol content of the gasoline from 10% to 10.1%. I doubt that they control the alcohol content of the gasoline content at the refineries to within 0.1% .Since the additive is considerably less than 100% ethanol (probably more like 5 – 10%) it will have a negligible effect in increasing overall alcohol concentrations in the gas. These are the ramblings of a bored chemist patiently waiting for the St. Louis boat show to open. Heres to warmer weather and melting ice!! Good Fishing.john

Just like bass1958 I too wonder how great the additivies are for our engines. Obviously, if the manufacturers of the motors we use are reccomending them they must be safe. I know I personally I do everything possible to avoid the use of fuel containing ethanol. (which is tough since our exiting governor mandated a 10% ethanol policy in Missouri a few years back). I wonder if he had any money invested in ethanol production? I have one station close to home that offers no ethanol premuim grade fuel (according to their sign). And like others, I try and run my rig at least 2-4 times per month so I dont have any issues with long term storage. If youd like to learn more about what Mercury specifically says about fuel containing ethanol go to their website and look at the what they say. I will include to just a little of what they have printed but wont bore anyone to death. Unless I am reading things incorrectly, I dont think adding ethanol has been a positive experience but everyone has to decide for themselves. I know I personally have already had issues with using ethanol fuel. I had been using it in my lawn equipment and after just one season it caused the fuel lines to deteriorate and send particles into the engines carburator. It required boiling the carb with cleaning solution and replacing the damaged fuel lines. (the diagnosis was from my local small engine repair shop that said lots of other customers were having the same issues) Ive since gone to using non-ethanol fuel in these engines and have not had any other problems.Here is a little of what Mercury says: Does ethanol affect horsepower or fuel-efficiency? Ethanol has a heating value of 76,000 BTU per gallon, which is approximately 30 percent less than gasolines heating value (which is approximately 109,000 to 119,000 BTU/gal). The result is E-10 gasoline which should yield slightly lower mileage – a decrease of approximately 3 percent. Fuels containing higher levels of ethanol will have a corresponding reduction in mileage. For example, E85 fuels produce mileage approximately 30 percent less than gasoline.The octane rating of pure ethanol (200 proof) is about 100 and is therefore useful in elevating the octane value of gasoline. In E-10 blends the presence of ethanol provides about 2.5 to 3 percent of the overall octane rating. The effect on engine horsepower is determined by the octane result of the blended fuel. Care should be taken to select fuels having the octane rating recommended for the engine as indicated in the Operation, Maintenance & Warranty manual for proper operation.Will the use of fuels containing ethanol void my engine warranty? Fuels containing up to 10 percent ethanol are considered acceptable for use in Mercury engines. Fuels containing higher levels of ethanol are not considered acceptable for use, and the use of fuels containing ethanol higher than 10 percent can void the warranty.That last statement is scary as our wonderful law makers continue efforts to increase the content of ethanol. Even with the know facts that they are driving up the cost of corn (a limited resource) and the much less known fact that “ethanol production is heavily subsidized by the government. To the point that if these subsidies were removed ethanol prodcution would most likely go away.Sorry for the rant but when I saw Bob Jensen of Fishing the Midwest recently endorse the use of ethanol I became very irritated. I should have posted this on his website but hopefully others have already let him know how ignorant his comments were. He even stated that adding ethanol to our fuel would “NOT” reduce fuel mileage which seems to be completely different from what Mercury believes. Maybe he is good buddies with Missouris former governor and has a little money invested as well.Lastly, isnt it a shame that all of these additives to deal with the ill effects of ethanol werent even a thought 10+ years ago? I wonder how many billions of dollars are being made on these products alone each year?