[ZoomZoom]

I looked at AvGas a couple times but it got pretty pricey and at 105 octane, it could easily burn up some small engines.

Last time I was looking (a couple months ago), I was talking to a mechanic at the airport and he gave me some info:
- You need to add an additive to it for non-aviation use.
- What airports have a pump that you can pull up to. Some use trucks and you won't be buying off of those nor their supplier but other airports have gas pumps that you pull up to, insert your credit card and get your gas.
- No guarantees that it won't toast your engines since most are not made to handle that level of octane.
- There's only one company in the USA that makes something really important in that fuel. Being a sole provider is making engine mfgr's and someone in the gov'n nervous so they may be changing the formula or something like that.

 

[BasecampUSA]

I looked at AvGas a couple times but it got pretty pricey and at 105 octane, it could easily burn up some small engines.

$150 repair bill every 2-3 years is pretty pricey too...

Nobody up here I know has burned up an engine so far, unless they were abusing the equipment.

Last time I was looking (a couple months ago), I was talking to a mechanic at the airport and he gave me some info:

- You need to add an additive to it for non-aviation use.

Baloney - no one here ever used an additive.

- What airports have a pump that you can pull up to. Some use trucks and you won't be buying off of those nor their supplier but other airports have gas pumps that you pull up to, insert your credit card and get your gas.

Small airports will sell, you may have to make an appointment or go on the weekends when a lot of private pilots are flying. Myself and most people I know buy it 10 gallons at a time and store it safely in cold dark dry environment. I have had some stored for 3 years with no additives and no problems.

- No guarantees that it won't toast your engines since most are not made to handle that level of octane.

Like I said, we haven't had any problems that I know of. You get more "mileage" out of av-gas too (in my experience)

- There's only one company in the USA that makes something really important in that fuel. Being a sole provider is making engine mfgr's and someone in the gov'n nervous so they may be changing the formula or something like that.

I'm sure that will be well researched and publicized before it happens... even one tiny incident and the NTSB will have more say than anyone.

Like I said all the above is from my own experience (after having 3 different chainsaw carburetors repaired @ $125 apiece).

I wouln't be misleading anyone here with B.S. - but you can believe who you want, it's you money.

$5.80 a gallon is mighty cheap insurance for a small engine not having to go in the repair shop because of ethanol degredation in the carburetor.

That doesn't mean you can leave gas in it over winter, the same applies to av-gas... empty the engine and run out what's left in the carb before storing it for winter.

PS-- I have a King Craft 4500 w generator. It has 12 hours on it so far. Bought it at Aldi for $199 in the autmn of 2008, used it 6 times since, and never had a problem with it.

 

[ZoomZoom]

Not trying to get in a pissing contest with you. I was just stating what was told to me by the mechanic. To each his own. YMMV

 

[BasecampUSA]

Not trying to get in a pissing contest with you. I was just stating what was told to me by the mechanic. To each his own. YMMV

I know... no problem

 

[Tweto]

The mechanics at the airport are not fuel experts. Do your own research!

The EPA wants the lead removed from 100LL fuel, but the problem with that is the FAA doesn't have the money to do the research. Just about all of the current aircraft piston engines were designed for use with lead in the fuel.

The fuel will not be changing any time soon, this issue has been around for 20 years.

 

[JayJay]

Hey guys...dh and I finally used all our stored ethanol gas..so now that we have stored non-ethanol gas/pure gas, does it need treatment or not??
Thanks for any comments.

 

[VUnder]

Is there a way to separate the alcohol from the gasoline?

 

[ZoomZoom]

Is there a way to separate the alcohol from the gasoline?

I've found if you drink it, the body absorbs the alcohol and you're expected to pass the gas. Unfortunately, some of the gas comes out as burps. That's a killer, especially if you smoke.

FOR ALL YOU KIDS READING, I'M JUST KIDDING!!!! DON'T EVER DO THIS. I just found out the hard way by siphoning gas via sucking. Don't do that either. :surrender:

 

[Tweto]

Hey guys...dh and I finally used all our stored ethanol gas..so now that we have stored non-ethanol gas/pure gas, does it need treatment or not??
Thanks for any comments.

I would not even concider not treating any fuel that's stored. I've had treated fuel stored for 5 years and it ran fine.

 

[ZoomZoom]

I would not even concider not treating any fuel that's stored. I've had treated fuel stored for 5 years and it ran fine.

I'm running marine grade StaBil on my bulk tank and haven't had a problem whatsoever over 2 years.
Untreated fuel is now worthless and sits there waiting for some way to burn it.

 

[VUnder]

I've found if you drink it, the body absorbs the alcohol and you're expected to pass the gas. Unfortunately, some of the gas comes out as burps. That's a killer, especially if you smoke.

FOR ALL YOU KIDS READING, I'M JUST KIDDING!!!! DON'T EVER DO THIS. I just found out the hard way by siphoning gas via sucking. Don't do that either.:surrender:

Hey, since I drink the mountain dews, and tend to use the empty bottles for gas primer bottles, I know the taste of unleaded all too well.

 

[JayJay]

I would not even concider not treating any fuel that's stored. I've had treated fuel stored for 5 years and it ran fine.

Thanks..will do.

 

[HamiltonFelix]

I've never wanted to count on StaBil doing better than one season; put it in the snowblower in spring or the lawnmower in fall. But PRI does last a long time. I've seen gas more than 8 years old, treated with PRI-G (PRI-D is for diesel) when it was put into a motorhome, siphoned out and used in a car with no problems. Of course, that was 1999 gas, so it was not gasohol...

Since octane is a measure of resistance to detonation or pre-ignition, how can high octane fuel "burn up" an engine because it's "not designed for that level of octane?" BTW, most vehicles intended to run on regular will not get better mileage on premium; there's not more energy in gasoline blended to have a bit higher octane. Exceptions would be vehicles (often turbocharged) with knock sensors and engine management systems able to take advantage (via more spark advance or higher boost) of the higher octane fuel.

Since I'm on a roll: Alchohol has great octane, but less energy than gasoline. If you run alcohol in a sprint car, you can run more compression and more spark advance than with gasoline, but your fuel system has to supply a LOT more fuel. If our governent favored honesty over deceit, they'd make car makes publish EPA fuel mileage figures for cars running on ethanol blends. Most folks know the mileage is worse than with "real" gas. We can certainly see it; there's a Union 76 on my wife's route to work that sells acohol-free gas.

OH, and on the original topic: Low oil shutdowns on portable generators come in two flavors. The type on the Briggs engine of the cheap 5kw Generac bought at Costco is the kind that closes a circuit to short out the igniton. Just unhook the wire and it will start. The type I've found on Honda engines is the kind that closes a circuit to allow the ignition to function. Unhook that wire and it will never run. I have had a generator or two that were a bit too sensitive on the low oil shutdown. Fill them with oil and you still had to rock them round, making sure the oil sensor was completely covered, before they'd start.

Oh, and thanks for the reminder about avgas. I grew up an "airport brat," thinking "flying" was prop starting a 1946 Aeronca Champion or Mom's J-3 Cub, but it's been many years since I hung around an airport. It should be no problem to pick up a barrel of avgas and store that. Keep it closed and temperature stable, and adding PRI-G would almost be superfluous.

 

[boss429]

Since octane is a measure of resistance to detonation or pre-ignition, how can high octane fuel "burn up" an engine because it's "not designed for that level of octane?" BTW, most vehicles intended to run on regular will not get better mileage on premium; there's not more energy in gasoline blended to have a bit higher octane. Exceptions would be vehicles (often turbocharged) with knock sensors and engine management systems able to take advantage (via more spark advance or higher boost) of the higher octane fuel.

Since I'm on a roll: Alchohol has great octane, but less energy than gasoline. If you run alcohol in a sprint car, you can run more compression and more spark advance than with gasoline, but your fuel system has to supply a LOT more fuel. If our governent favored honesty over deceit, they'd make car makes publish EPA fuel mileage figures for cars running on ethanol blends. Most folks know the mileage is worse than with "real" gas. We can certainly see it; there's a Union 76 on my wife's route to work that sells acohol-free gas. superfluous.

High octane fuel is better formulated to keep you from "burning up" an engine than lower octane fuel. I've never had an engine damaged from high octane fuel, ever. I went thru the leaded to unleaded transition and did a lot of research back then(was even a leaded gas horder) .I now have a 1994 vehicle that was desgined for lame 98 octane fuel that is just slowly beating itself to death due to todays 93ish octane ethanol fuel.

 

[madatkingcraft2]

Kingcraft junk out of the box

I bought a new kingcraft generator from aldi food stores and when I got it home, I filled it with oil, filled it with gas, turned on the fuel valve, and finally turned on the switch, turned the choke lever to choke and pulled the pull start....NOTHING! I then called the number for service and waited like 40 min to talk to the agent who is not associated with the manufacture and told me that he will pass this on to his boss and they will be contacting me. well, I would took it back to ALDI and demanded a refund, but the seal on the box and in the box states "IF THIS SEAL IS BROKEN, YOU CANNOT RETURN TO STORE, YOU MUST CALL XXX-XXX-XXXX, after a few days I did not hear back from this acwarrenty place and wrote back to the person whom I spoke to who had me email a copy of the receipt to, and asked " what is going to happen with this worthless generator" and received a reply that my case was forwarded to the claims department and it usually takes 10 business days for them to contact me. well this is BS! ALDI does not have their phone # on the receipt, their number is not listed, I was going to pay by credit card (so that I would be protected) but they don't accept credit cards I had to pay with a debit card but was processed as credit for this reason., they do not want to be bothered and know they sell junk. I emailed the main company ALDI in Illinois and have not received a reply. I cannot find on the web who makes kingcraft or any info for company. so I then filed a dispute with my bank because my debit card has the master card logo and they will be investigating it.
A WARNING TO ANYONE THINKING ABOUT BUYING THIS CRAP...DON'T EVEN THINK ABOUT IT!!!!!!!

 

[The_Blob]

Looks like AvGas still has lead in it. I bet retailers won't sell it to me unless I have government elite citizen status like a rich-boy pilot's license.

hahahahaha I live on an airport and can tell you two things about who they'll sell fuel to:

"money talks, and bull$h!t walks"

"if the cash is there, we do NOT care"

you won't have any problems

 

[madatkingcraft2]

Just heard from AC-warranty because my bank called ALDI who then contacted them, I found out that kingcraft is made in china and AC-warranty is the distributor of these worthless generators and their address is; 13980 mountain Ave., Chino CA. 91710
they told me that my claim is in process and they will be contacting me. but if I pursue my dispute with my bank, they will cancel the warranty...WTF? so I told her that I will not drop my dispute with bank but put it on hold until I hear from claims and I will not pay for fright to ship back to them. and that i should not have to wait for 2 or more weeks to resolve this issue. so now we wait again

 

[boss429]

Just heard from AC-warranty because my bank called ALDI who then contacted them, I found out that kingcraft is made in china and AC-warranty is the distributor of these worthless generators and their address is; 13980 mountain Ave., Chino CA. 91710
they told me that my claim is in process and they will be contacting me. but if I pursue my dispute with my bank, they will cancel the warranty...WTF? so I told her that I will not drop my dispute with bank but put it on hold until I hear from claims and I will not pay for fright to ship back to them. and that i should not have to wait for 2 or more weeks to resolve this issue. so now we wait again

Don't drop your bank dispute. Just take it back to Aldi, be really polite and see if they will take it back.Rather than saying it's broken just say you didn't have a use for it afterall. I have taken other things that say "don't return to store-blah blah blah" and the store gave me a refund no problem-still in box of course.( Never tried it at an Aldi's though-never been to one)

 

[JayJay]

I bought a new kingcraft generator from aldi food stores and when I got it home, I filled it with oil, filled it with gas, turned on the fuel valve, and finally turned on the switch, turned the choke lever to choke and pulled the pull start....NOTHING! I then called the number for service and waited like 40 min to talk to the agent who is not associated with the manufacture and told me that he will pass this on to his boss and they will be contacting me. well, I would took it back to ALDI and demanded a refund, but the seal on the box and in the box states "IF THIS SEAL IS BROKEN, YOU CANNOT RETURN TO STORE, YOU MUST CALL XXX-XXX-XXXX, after a few days I did not hear back from this acwarrenty place and wrote back to the person whom I spoke to who had me email a copy of the receipt to, and asked " what is going to happen with this worthless generator" and received a reply that my case was forwarded to the claims department and it usually takes 10 business days for them to contact me. well this is BS! ALDI does not have their phone # on the receipt, their number is not listed, I was going to pay by credit card (so that I would be protected) but they don't accept credit cards I had to pay with a debit card but was processed as credit for this reason., they do not want to be bothered and know they sell junk. I emailed the main company ALDI in Illinois and have not received a reply. I cannot find on the web who makes kingcraft or any info for company. so I then filed a dispute with my bank because my debit card has the master card logo and they will be investigating it.
A WARNING TO ANYONE THINKING ABOUT BUYING THIS CRAP...DON'T EVEN THINK ABOUT IT!!!!!!!

Sorry about your troubles...we decided to take ours to our mower repair guru.
$60 and I bet all he did was clean the ***** gas out and we will definitely use pure gas in all our equipment now.
Lesson learned. I still buy from Aldi's but am more cautious about China made.
We searched for a new inexpensive generator at several places, and even Lowe's said made in china.
We're so screwed!!!

Oh, this is the # I found and got the run-around also
King Craft
6000 Watt Generator
Item #1705-11
Toll Free...888 896 6881

 

[JayJay]

Don't drop your bank dispute. Just take it back to Aldi, be really polite and see if they will take it back.Rather than saying it's broken just say you didn't have a use for it afterall. I have taken other things that say "don't return to store-blah blah blah" and the store gave me a refund no problem-still in box of course.( Never tried it at an Aldi's though-never been to one)

You didn't understand?? we opened the box...heck, mine was over 8 months old--I had been starting it every month and the 9th month, no go.
Fuel probably clogged all lines.
And, not trying to release myself from ignorance, but I had to really search for a MADE IN CHINA label on that equipment.