mm wrote:
On Sat, 29 Oct 2005 10:50:44 -0400, "Robert11"
wrote:


Helo:

Regarding the gas stabilizer Sta-Bil product, and winter storage of
lawnmowers, etc:

After running the tank, and hopefully most of the carb, dry, is it OK to put
a little
Sta-Bil in the empty tank and cranking over a few times to distribute ?

Or, is it too concentrated to be used safely this way ?


It depends on whether it will ignite in the spring. If not, you'll be
stuck trying to get it out of the carb so gasoline can get in.

Personally, I suspect if it it burnt well, it wouldn't be able to do
what it is supposed to do.

That's not to say it won't burn if a match is applied, but to burn in
a carb the liquid has to be very volatile. Kerosene burns too but
it's not volatile enough to burn in a carbureted engine.

Not so. Plenty of farm tractors used to be "dual fuel", and maybe some
still are. They started on gasoline from a small tank, then switched
over to kero once the engine was warmed up. IIRC, you had to switch back
to gasoline just before shutdown so the carb bowl was filled with that
for the next start.

I've seen small one lunger genny sets made that way too, for use in
remote places where gasoline was in short supply but kero was plentiful
for lanterns and stoves.

During WWII, when gasoline was rationed, I remember poring over a DIY
article in Mechanix Illustrated (or a similar rag) giving step by step
instructions on how to add kero capability to your car. (Kero was also
known as "No.1" fuel oil.) One part I still remember was loosely
wrapping a copper kero fuel line around the exhaust manifold so that the
kero was warmed when it reached the carb.

I don't know for sure, but I'd suspect those folks who are running their
cars on biodiesel fuel derived from scavanged deep fat fryer oil and
such may have to start the engines on something like gasoline when they
are cold. Can someone comment on that?



(I realize
now that I don't know how diesels work, but I don't think there are
any diesel lawnmoweres ??)

I haven't run into any walk behind ones, but there's sure plenty of
diesel riding mowers offered.

Given that I had a small one cylinder diesel model aircraft engine over
50 years ago (NOT a glow plug engine.), There's no technical reason I
can think of why a small lawnmower couldn't be diesel powered.

Jeff


--
Jeffry Wisnia

(W1BSV + Brass Rat '57 EE)

"Truth exists; only falsehood has to be invented."