Pump gas

A half glass of water slowly poured down the carb while it is running will have the same effect as sea foam.
...that does absolutely nothing for the fuel in the tank and lines though. Sea Foam isn't just for decoking.
 
If you go through that much fuel, the regular pump gas with ethanol won't matter. I believe the damage comes over the off season when the equipment suits. That's when the gas absorbs the moisture and does it's damage. Get some non ethanol gas or 100LL from your local small airport, towards the end of the season and run that till you stop. Then finish off the jug in the spring, and run regular gas all season long till near the end again. Repeat as necessary...
 
For my 4-cycle lawn mower, it seemed that after about two years of use, they consistently start to act like a flaky governor was going on. Idle - top speed - idle, cycle repeat. Spark plugs were always carboned-up. I went through my stash of used J-14Ys and changed the air filter often, but they all acted the same after two years of use. Rather than buy another one or take it to the shop, I'd just go down and spend $150-200.00 for another one. It'd run fine, but start the same issues after the first season.

A car club friend mentioned a Lucas Oil (anti-) Ethanol additive. Good with E10, E15, and E85. Colored GREEN. No problem with "over-treat" either. So I dumped some in my year-old mower. Definitely, not on purpose, "over-treat". It started and ran well with normal E10 regular.

But after 20 minutes of run time, in taller grass, suddenly the engine speed increased higher than it (or any other mowers) had ever run at. Kind of a squeal. Possessed? It stayed at that rpm and I could not kill the motor as I pushed it over some knee-high grass. If I did, then I started right back up and away we went again! Next time, though, the rpm level was normal, but it was harder to kill the motor than before. I looked at the spark plug and it looked brand new, with a slight green tint on the ceramic. Always started on the 2nd pull, too, even after sitting for months, or over the winter. Spark plug stayed "new", too.

So I've been dumping some in the gas can with each new fuel I put in it. No precise measurements, either.

My friend initially had O-Reilly's order it for him by the case. Then I found it at WalMart, in the larger size and for less money.

For my weed eater, I use the TruFuel 50:1 premix. About $5/quart. Also available in gallon cans, too. Other brands have appeared later, from VP Racing Fuel and others. I like it as it's already pre-mixed. Ethanol free and 93 Pump Octane.

Many of the newer WalMarts have ethanol free regular, for about 35cents/gallon more. There are a few websites which list ethanol-free fuel and the stations that have it. Many are near big lakes. Most are regular fuel, name brand or "no name".

As far as I know, there's now real way to know if one brand/grade is ethanol free in ALL areas of the nation. Most states have labelling laws for the fuel pumps, as to "This fuel can contain up to 10% Ethanol", but some states don't have that requirement.

The www.fuel-kits.com website had some test kits to determine if the fuel has ethanol in it and possibly at what concentration. Even a method to "wash" the ethanol out by inducing phase separation and then removing that part of the fuel mix. As ethanol is an octane booster, if the ethanol is washed out, then a non-alcohol octane booster would be needed, possible. Also a list of octane booster/fuel additives which contain ethanol/alcohol on that website, too.

Lucas "Safeguard" Ethanol Fuel Conditioner with Stabilizers. 1 oz/5 gallons 16 fluid oz is the larger size. Usually about $10.00 for the large size, from what I've seen. And "Made in USA". It works for me.

CBODY67
 
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