On 3/20/2017 2:23 PM, Leon wrote:
On 3/20/2017 9:23 AM, Jack wrote:
On 3/19/2017 1:00 PM, Leon wrote:
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.

60 years of not needing stabilizer seems somewhat significant.

Bigger cities that have
pollution problems tend to use fuels that seem more prone to go bad.

I live in Pgh. Pa., actually Allegheny County. It is not well known for
it's pollution free environment, particularly when steel mills lived
here. Also not particularly small, with population of over a million
it's considered large.

A tiny town compared to the Houston metro area and the pollution we are
talking about is from gasoline engines. Pittsburgh is about 5% of Houston.

Well, anything over 300,000 is considered large. Houston is 626 sq
miles with population of 2.2 million. Allegheny County is 745 sq miles
with a population of 1.2 million. Closer to 50% than 5% I think.
Still, don't see what that has to do with anything as far as gas going
stale is concerned.

My 30 year old Honda never needed special stabilized gas,,,, until it
did, starting about 6~7 years ago.

Our 61 year old Gravely never needed special stabilized gas, and still
doesn't. Perhaps Texas is selling inferior gas to the rest of the
country?

Special formula gas.


Still runs like a top with a single
pull to get it started after using gas stabilizers.

All our equipment runs like a top, some of it for over 60 years. None
of it is Honda though, perhaps Honda has a defect that requires brand
new inferior Texas gas?

New Honda's probably do have defects, the have been tweaked to prevent
cancer in California.




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

True enough. Just wondering what those other experiences are? Pgh
weather is all over the place, from hot and humid to cold and dry?
I guess northern Alaska or the desert might get significantly extreme
weather that could effect things, but most weather experienced in the US
also occurs in Pgh. I think more likely it is the Texas gas, or even
more likely, the imagination and hype.


Not the imagination when you have to use the additives to keep the
equipment running. I did not start with additives but ended up there.

True that. All I could add is if you own Honda, or buy gas in Houston,
use gas stabilizer.

--
Jack
Add Life to your Days not Days to your Life.
http://jbstein.com