On 3/19/2017 9:21 AM, Jack wrote:
On 3/18/2017 2:27 AM, Puckdropper wrote:

Oh yeah, stabilizer... I don't use it. Stabilizer seems to be one of
those "doesn't hurt" products that some areas actually need but others
are just wasting money

Agreed, although not sure what areas you need stabilizer?
I live in Pgh Pa where the weather ranges from 20 below to over 100, so
the climate seems to be a non-issue.

Over the past 60+ years my brother an I have owned over 16 gas powered
machines. Most of them we still have and use, none of them have we ever
used stabilizer or drained the gas. Never had a problem.

My brother, who at one time was a chemical engineer for Gulf Research,
said oil companies put additives in gas that keep it good for long
periods of time. Gas turning to varnish is probably something that you
needed to wring your hands over pre-1950-60's. I don't think they had
stabilizer then, when it was needed.

I will add that a friend of my brother gave him an old snow blower that
didn't run. There was no gas in it and the carburetor was all gummed
up. Turns out the guy USED stabilizer in it, let the gas dry up and the
stabilizer turned into gum. The main thing I guess is don't let the gas
evaporate if you use stabilizer.

The other issue I never worry about is keep the tank full, otherwise
water vapor will condense and you get water in your gas. Never worried
about that either, and never had a problem.

Oh, our 1954 and 1956 Gravely Tractors and my 1975 Sears chainsaw can be
hard to start, have been that way since birth. A squirt of ether cures
that. Older equipment has inferior electrical systems and can be hard
to start. Newer stuff seems to fire up first pull. My lawnmower, which
I rarely use, has 2 year old gas in it, and it starts first pull every
time.

Of course, my 60+ years of first hand experience shouldn't stop anyone
from wringing their hands and buying the hype, but since EC asked, I
shared...


You do not need gas stabilizer,,,,until you do. Bigger cities that have
pollution problems tend to use fuels that seem more prone to go bad.

My 30 year old Honda never needed special stabilized gas,,,, until it
did, starting about 6~7 years ago. Still runs like a top with a single
pull to get it started after using gas stabilizers.

Just because you have not had gas issues does not dictate what other
regions of the country experience.