[Mark / Ohio]

New ethanol blend damages marine engines, industry engineers say - JSOnline

It goes beyond just marine engines. There are also negative comments from Kohler and Briggs.

 

[Mark / Ohio]

EPA information regarding E15:

E15 (a blend of gasoline and ethanol) | Fuels & Fuel Additives | US EPA

 

[bwdbrn1]

Informative stuff Mark. I think they might be asking too much to think the average consumer is going to stop and change pumps when gassing up the car or truck, then topping off the cans for the home lawn mower. I ran across a gas station not to awfully far from me that had at least one ethanol free pump. I might just have to start driving the extra distance to get that for my equipment.

 

[Austen]

Man, that's scary! Thanks for the post, Mark.

"I don't think people are naturally inclined to look at all of the labels on a fuel pump to make sure they are putting in the right amount of ethanol,"

I think before I fill up from now on, I'm going to take a closer look and read the fine print on the pump to see just what blend exactly is going to be going into the can or tank.

 

[Mark / Ohio]

Unfortunately I'm in a state where pump labels are not required.

Ethanol Labeling Laws - State by State Guide.

They are labeling the new E85 pumps with a caution label that only flexfuel vehicles should use it. Other then that BP is the only place so far that I found a label mentioning the percentage of alcohol blend. Next time I see a tanker at my local stops maybe I'll ask the driver if he knows.

I'm all for E85 and lesser ethanol mixtures as well as biodiesel and other alternative fuels being at the pumps for those that can use them. Anything to cut down our overseas dependance and add recycling and renewable sources into the mix. But they all need a dang label so we know and can use them accordingly to the engine/equipment design limitations we are buying for. The alternative fuel folks might find less resistance to their product if they would quit trying to sneak the stuff in under the radar of sorts. At the moment I think the average consumer's knowledge is pretty much limited to gas for gas engines and diesel for diesel engines and I'm betting there are a few still confused by that.