I am shutting down my snowblower for the season. I have Ethanol free gas in it. Will it be a problem to leave the tank full until next winter without any additional fuel treatment?
Is it a problem to at least burn off what's in the carb? I have a pressure washer that sits for long periods of time between uses, and I always shut off the fuel petcock and run the motor out of gas before putting it away. But then again, every can of fuel in my shed has fuel stabilizer in it. Its cheap protection.
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Originally posted by maxwayne: I put some Sta-Bil in, turn off the fuel and let it run itself dry.
I do this but I don't turn off the fuel. I let it run a few minutes and shut it off. Done it with both of my riding lawnmowers and motorcycles. Never had a problem.
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Posts: 3652 | Location: The armpit of Ohio | Registered: August 18, 2013
I use Ethanol free gas also. I add the recommended amount of Stabil Marine 360. To be honest, I add Stabil to my cans before refilling them, that way I run Stabil in all of my small engines all of the time. Lawnmower, snowblower, four wheelers, offroad motorcycle...This message has been edited. Last edited by: hvyhawler,
Posts: 1913 | Location: U.P. of michigan | Registered: March 02, 2010
The 7 years that I lived in AK and Canada, I never left fuel in the snowblower's tank over the summer. Syphon into the lawnmower and then run the snowblower until it died.
Also, all of my fuel had Sta-bil in it as I put it in at the gas station prior to putting gasoline in my container.
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Posts: 23855 | Location: Northern Suburbs of Houston | Registered: November 14, 2005
I have had good luck with Sta-bil over the years, although you will hear stories from those who don't. It comes highly recommended by a friend that has a business repairing small engines for a living. It may have something to do with how it's used. You need to run the equipment after adding. I usually mix it in when I buy the gas as well unless it's early in the season. That way I don't have the chance to forget... it already in everything should it need to sit unused for a while. Otherwise I don't even think about it, the stuff just sits like I left it after the last use.
I always run my snow blower and lawnmower completely empty of gas at the end of their seasons and then close the fuel tap. Change the oil on both if they have been run enough to require it, say 25 hours or more.
Clean the mower deck and sharpen the blades and clean the airfilter for the lawnmower. Clean out the housing and check the blades for the blower.
Remove the spark plugs and pour about a tablespoon of oil into each cylinder and pull the starter cord gently to distribute the oil. Check and replace the spark plug and pull the cord to get the piston on the compression stroke and store it safely until it's needed next season.
Posts: 1571 | Location: SW PA | Registered: November 18, 2005
I'd drain it and put the gas in your car or something. But if not, I'd definately pour some stabilizer in it, shake it up a bit, and run it for 5 minutes before throwing it in the garage.
Stabilizer works and I use it 100% of the time in stuff I don't use very very often.
Thanks for the tips guys. Those of you recommending stabilizer, is that intended for non-ethanol fuel? I know I used to use that when I was using E10 fuel, I wasn't sure if it was still needed.
Just checked the bottle of Stability Storage, red, I have for my small, upto 25hp Kawasaki. Says effective with all ethanol blended fuels. The guy I use for my small engine repairs had to replace a metal tank on a 2400w generator I have had for many, many years. He said the tank had finally succumbed to rust from storage. He recommended either completely full with stabilizer, or completely empty storage over the season that the equipment is stored. Advantage plastic tanks, I guess?
Jim
Posts: 1356 | Location: Southern Black Hills | Registered: September 14, 2012
Originally posted by walkinghorse: Just checked the bottle of Stability Storage, red, I have for my small, upto 25hp Kawasaki. Says effective with all ethanol blended fuels. The guy I use for my small engine repairs had to replace a metal tank on a 2400w generator I have had for many, many years. He said the tank had finally succumbed to rust from storage. He recommended either completely full with stabilizer, or completely empty storage over the season that the equipment is stored due to condensation issues in a partial tank. Advantage plastic tanks, I guess?
Jim
Posts: 1356 | Location: Southern Black Hills | Registered: September 14, 2012
I find that leaving tanks completely full of stabilized fuel to be best for metal tanks. If plastic, drain them.
Condensation forms inside empty tanks with pressure and temperature changes. This condensation will rust a metal tank.
As another posted, every tank of gas in my shed has stabil in it.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ "The trouble with our Liberal friends...is not that they're ignorant, it's just that they know so much that isn't so." Ronald Reagan, 1964 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ "Arguing with some people is like playing chess with a pigeon. It doesn't matter how good I am at chess, the pigeon will just take a shit on the board, strut around knocking over all the pieces and act like it won.. and in some cases it will insult you at the same time." DevlDogs55, 2014 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Stabilizer has to be mixed in with the gas then the engine has to be run for enough time to get the stabilized fuel into the carburetor. On most small engines, shutting off the gas at the tank and running it until it dies does not completely drain the carburetor. It only lowers the fuel level in the carburetor until the engine will no longer run. If the fuel gums, it will still plug up passages in the carburetor. Some carburetors do have drain plugs in the bottom and if you open those, all the fuel will drain out.
If you have a metal tank you want it full of fuel. period. A plastic one it won't matter. I have found over quite a few small seasonal engines that you do better with leaving the carb full rather than dry. The seals are not designed to be dry. With Ethanol free fuel you will come out ahead.
“So in war, the way is to avoid what is strong, and strike at what is weak.”
Snowblower and mowers with get filled with ethanol free fuel with Seafoam in them, both are going on 9 years old now, mowers a Honda, snowblower is a Toro, and I've never had problems with either.
Posts: 430 | Location: South Dakota | Registered: October 13, 2010
