E10 Petrol in Lawnmowers & Garden Machinery – What you need to know.
Whether you’re concerned about your Lawnmower, Chainsaw, Hedgecutter, or Stimmer, we’re here to tell you the facts on using E10 fuel in your petrol garden machines.
When it comes to E10 petrol in your tools, there are 3 key things you need to know; Compatibility, Lifespan, & Alternatives.
Compatibility
95% of carburettor & fuel-injected machines will run fine with fuels with up to 10% ethanol, like E10, without any adjustments. Most of the remaining 5% can be adjusted to work with the fuel by a qualified professional.
Lifespan
E10 petrol has a shorter lifespan than E5, which is why it’s more important than ever to store it no longer than 30 days, to prevent running issues. E10’s higher ethanol content makes it very susceptible to water contamination & fuel separation during storage. This is a particular problem when the container isn’t airtight or is left open and the ethanol is allowed to absorb moisture from the air.
A small amount of water in the fuel is unlikely to cause issues, but if your machine is left in storage for a longer period, the fuel can absorb moisture to a point where it can no longer be held in suspension and phase separation occurs, in the form of a layer or bubble of water which sits underneath the fuel in the tank. This ethanol-water mix is extremely corrosive and will stop the engine from running if it gets in the fuel system. In carburetted machines, it can leave behind a gloopy residue which can block the carburettor’s ports when the fuel evaporates. Sometimes this can be sorted by just removing the carburettor and cleaning it but often, a new carburettor is required.
Alternatives
Petrol E5 & E10 is not the most ideal fuel for your tools, Alkylate fuels have many benefits over petrol; including a 5+ year life, cleaner-burning, higher efficiency, & less harmful fumes.
Compared to petrol, alkylate fuels keep for approximately 10 times longer than E5 & 60 times longer than E10 with a storage life of 3-5 years compared to 3-5 months of E5 & 1 month of E10.
Petrol’s harmful substances cause serious health issues. A chainsaw running on petrol emits as much benzene emissions as 57 cars. You’re breathing much cleaner air whilst running on Alkylate fuel.
It’s not just you that can benefit from the switch, your machine’s engine will see lower carbon deposits. Extending the useful service life.
You can learn more about Aspen in our recent blog post.
Image courtesy of Marco Verch under Creative Commons 2.0. Find the original photo here.
