Ethanol Fuel Options

[salty fil]

Below is an extraction from Fishing World Magazine re the change to ethanol fuel

COMMENT: Mandatory Ethanol Fuel a Bad Idea
27 Jan 2012
by Jim Harnwell

THE NSW Government is planning to force petrol companies to add ethanol to all “standard” or “regular” fuel sold at service stations by the middle of the year. This move is being touted as having environmental credentials but many pundits claim it is a ploy to prop up the ethanol industry.

Ethanol is basically alcohol derived from plants. It has a lower heating value than petrol – meaning you get fewer miles per litre – but is a renewable “biofuel” with fewer harmful emissions than the fossil fuels the global economy currently depends on. Most modern cars can run on fuel blended with 10 per cent ethanol, as can other modern internal combustion engines such as outboards.

The NSW Government wants all unleaded fuel to be blended with 6 per cent ethanol by July 1. NSW Premier Barry O’Farrell is coming under significant pressure about his decision to mandate ethanol fuel. It will be interesting to see if he and his Government buckle. The deadline for forcing the fuel companies to blend ethanol with their petrol has already been extended by a year and public outcry is becoming more vocal as people begin to understand what this ethanol issue will entail.

The big issue here for boat fishermen is that ethanol-blended fuel is utter crap. In fact, NSW Maritime – the government agency responsible for boating safety – says ethanol-blended fuel is not recommended for use in boats. This is because ethanol is “hygroscopic”, which means it attracts water. You don’t have to be Einstein to work out that this has obvious implications for boats. According to the NSW Maritime website, ethanol also adversely affects “carburettors, fibreglass fuel tanks, rubber fuel lines, fittings, seals and filtration systems, particularly in older engines, and non-standard engine installations”.

Premier O’Farrell has very generously given marinas special dispensation to continue selling “straight” fuel. You ever bought fuel from a marina? You need to take a mortgage out to get a couple of litres. And why would someone with a trailer boat go to a marina to buy fuel?
Mr O’Farrell has obviously spent a lot of time thinking about this ... Not!

So if you don’t want ethanol fuel buggering up your boat, and probably putting your family at risk while you’re out on the water, you can avoid the issue and by premium fuel, which the Government has decreed will not be tainted by ethanol.

You purchased premium fuel lately? As a bit of an experiment, I put 20.87 litres of Caltex Vortex 98 octane premium fuel in my 4.65m Sea Jay tinny yesterday morning. It cost $1.659 per litre, equalling $34.63. If I’d filled up the 65l tank it would have cost almost $110. This is for a small boat fitted with a 70hp engine. My Bar Crusher 670C has a 200l tank. Filling that up with premium would cost $330. I guess I won’t be fishing as much as I’d like once this stupid ethanol rule comes in …

Like just about all boat owners, I don’t need premium fuel to run my engines – they are designed to run on unleaded - but I will have no choice but to use premium under Mr O’Farrell’s plan. The fact is that ethanol fuel is just not safe in boats. You would be nuts to use ethanol-blended fuel in any boat, big or small. It just ain’t worth it. Unleaded fuel is cheaper than premium but I – and all you guys lucky enough to be living in NSW who like fishing out of boats – fundamentally have no choice but to fork out more of our hard-earned cash just to wet a line after July 1.

On top of all the other crap we have to deal with involving crazy Greens who want to ban fishing, more and more marine parks and a commercial sector that seems out to catch and kill every fish that swims, Premier O’Farrell’s ethanol tax on fishos is just another kick to our collective guts.

This decision is stupid and unnecessary. The petrol companies are up in arms about it, the 750,000 motorists in NSW whose cars won’t run on ethanol fuel or premium are wondering what they hell they’re going to do and boat owners are seething. This fuel tax will damage the already struggling boating and fishing industries. Things are tough enough as it is – we don’t need to pay even more for our fuel!
Rethink this ethanol issue, Mr Premier. You’re on the wrong track.

Jim Harnwell is the editor and publisher of Fishing World magazine.

[nimrod]

Ironic aint it, Labor government in power everyone saying get rid of labor and bring in Liberal they will fix all our problems. Labor is green etc etc etc.

WHAT HAPPENED ?

[nimrod]

Genuine question to anyone knowing the answer.

When I bought my 90 hp Etec motor in 2006 I was told to use normal unleaded petrol and NOT to use Premiem grade petrol.
Now unleaded petrol is being phased out and won't be available for much longer, Where do I and thousands of other people that own a motor that the experts say premiem is no good for, where do we stand ?.

And please lets not get smart arse answers like you should have bought this or that.
I made my choice now just want to know where I stand.

This post has been edited by nimrod: Jan 28 2012, 05:33 PM

[Jumpus GooDarus]

Ironic aint it, Labor government in power everyone saying get rid of labor and bring in Liberal they will fix all our problems. Labor is green etc etc etc.

WHAT HAPPENED ?

Who knows with govnments may very well be trying to help out the farmer growing the crop to supply the fuel instead of importing where bulk of tax's go to federal govn.

All it takes is one minister to get an idea into his head & we all have to pay for that decision.

Frank premiun is only an advantage on performance motors to use it on a non performance motor is a waste of money as there's no benefits

[nimrod]

Who knows with govnments may very well be trying to help out the farmer growing the crop to supply the fuel instead of importing where bulk of tax's go to federal govn.

All it takes is one minister to get an idea into his head & we all have to pay for that decision.

Frank premiun is only an advantage on performance motors to use it on a non performance motor is a waste of money as there's no benefits

HaHa back in the good old days of little johnny rule for years he stated there would never ever be ethenol introduced to australian petrol.
His brother bought a ethenol plant and 3 months later we had 10 % ethenol petrol.
Good old liberal.

[Fed]

Your etec will run on ethanol Frank even my old 1988 will run on it.
The problems come from everything before the motor, tank crap, fuel lines & primer etc.
I'm going to use premium though, if I wanted to change to ethanol I'd put a filter/water trap just in case.
Most of the US is now running ethanol.

Do you know of any outboard manufacturers who say you can't use it?

[storms72]

Frank, I always ran the old 35 and then the newer 30 johno's on 98.....
old leaded fuel was 97 octane rating which dropped to 95 or 96 when LRP(lead replacement petrol) was introduced in the mid/late 90's-the LRP was fine to use in most engines but if you used E10 due to the low octane rating like in some high performance cars there may be detonation issues due to the low octane rating....My first hand experience is with my WB Statesman-it has a stage 3 308 V8 and coughs and splutters when under heavy load-runs fine on 98. Not sure if or which brands could be effected or if it could only relate to either 2 or 4 stroke engines.

Premium 98 at most service stations says it contains cleansing and special economy formulas/additives-would be interesting to know if these additives are suitable for outboard use or if there are possible long term use issues.

Fishing Australia link for you Frank.
http://www.sportsfish.com.au/pages/boating..._e10_fuels.html
Pretty much says FED is right.

[Fed]

Here's a twist storms, I've happily used Super/Premium petrol all my life, like who in their right mind would use a low grade fuel anyway?

No due to the servo not having super available I used this lower grade fuel in both my car & my outboard and shock horror they both seemed to run smoother to me.

Not sure about economy though, I suspect super would be better than standard but I'll be sad to see the standard go to ethanol.

[Jumpus GooDarus]

Hello wakey wakey mr shinny

Standard did go to ethonol over 12 months ago
Standard unlead does not existanymore choices are 95 & 98

[nimrod]

Here's a twist storms, I've happily used Super/Premium petrol all my life, like who in their right mind would use a low grade fuel anyway?

No due to the servo not having super available I used this lower grade fuel in both my car & my outboard and shock horror they both seemed to run smoother to me.

Not sure about economy though, I suspect super would be better than standard but I'll be sad to see the standard go to ethanol.

Engine is probably over due for service, Time, not hours used , so will talk with the service manager about it.

[Fed]

I use any pump that isn't green.

[storms72]

I use any pump that isn't green.

Funny you say that, old WB gets better economy from Optimax, when I tried the green stuff which is supposed to be 98 as well economy went down as did top end power, worst was the hesitation when taking off from a stop.

[Spudly]

do ya want another wb storms, ive got one for sale

[Jumpus GooDarus]

You offering the landcruiser spud

[Spudly]

last time i checked wb's were made by holden and landcruisers were not?

[Fed]

The proposal to ban unleaded in favour of E10 was first legislated by the former Labor government in 2009 in the Biofuels Act.

A pox on their house!

Mr O'Farrell said last night that the government would introduce legislation to overturn the need for a ban on standard unleaded fuel. However, the 6 per cent ethanol mandate would remain.

So where does that leave us?

I think the problem for the current govt is that to dump it altogether would cost them an arm & a leg in payments to the ethanol producers because of the 'deal' setup by the labor grubs.
Sometimes it's virtually impossible to wind things back.

[Jumpus GooDarus]

last time i checked wb's were made by holden and landcruisers were not?

could've sworn i read wc

[nimrod]

could've sworn i read wc

Decision to wipe unleaded has been overturned.
Just goes to show how much these poli's think about a subject before introducing their plan.
One day say it's the best thing to do and then after a TV show tells the people what is planned , all of a sudden these so called brains decide, well perhaps we might lose a few votes on this one so lets do an about face.
Instead they will simply increase the persentage of ethenol to 12 % maybe 15 % or even higher.
After all the V8 supercars run on ethonol don't they, so it must be a good thing.
What these BRAINS in power don't consider is that the V8 supercars do about 2000 k's on the track and then get fully re-built, also their engines run a very low compression, (loose rings ) etc to create less friction.
Bloody BRAINS these politicians have, being driven around in their flash cars that get traded in at 60,000 for newer versions.
They would'nt have the slightest idea in the real world.

[Fed]

Instead they will simply increase the persentage of ethenol to 12 % maybe 15 % or even higher.

Is that the new plan Frank, E12 / E15.....->

Leaving ULP & PULP ethanol free?

Hello wakey wakey mr shinny

Standard did go to ethonol over 12 months ago
Standard unlead does not existanymore choices are 95 & 98

I must be living on a different planet mate.
Dead set I was sure one of my local servos had ...

GREEN-- E10
YELLOW-- Standard-- ULP
BLUE-- 95 Octane somewhere in between ULP & PULP.
RED-- Super-- PULP

I bought YELLOW last fill up which I thought was ethanol free.

I need to get out more.

[Fed]

Straight from the BP website Jumpy they still sell non ethanol ULP.

Petrol
BP supplies the following automotive petrol fuels in Australia
Opal®fuel
Unleaded 95 (Premium)
Unleaded 91
BP Unleaded 91 + ethanol

Check out he opal fuel it's to stop petrol sniffers. LOL