ibow24

My Feedback: (10)

This may sound like a dumb quesiton but. What do you do with old fuel that you don't trust running through your engines?
I have about 2/3 of gallon of 10% that I noticed some condensation on the inside of the jug so I set it aside. That was about 3 years ago and it's still sitting in my garage. What do you with your old/unusable glow fuel?
thanks
Steve

Ernest-T

My Feedback: (7)

Use it or give it to me! Check out Joe Wagner's article in the Jan. 2004 Model Aviation magazine. He set out to prove or disprove the myth of water contamination in glow fuel. He actually added 20% water to his fuel then ran it. Guess what...........other than being a little hard to start the engine ran great (actually had an increase in RPM). Joe had already researched and disproven the myth that water in fuel causes rust in engines.

Glow fuel is too expensive to be throwing it out!

Jim Thomerson

I have some fuel ( 1/3 gallon) that is @25 years old. I've run it in engines on the bench and it runs OK. I wouldn't take it flying, however. You can soak a dirty or crudded-up engine in old fuel as a step in the cleaning process. You can also keep it until the fire ants make it to your area and then pour it on a fire ant mound.

Jim

canadianjosh

As long as the fuel is sealed, any condensation on the inside of the jug is just fuel that has evapourated in the jug and condensed on the inside. Adding water to fuel would increase rpm one because it leans the mixture, and two because of additional oxygen content. Pilots in WW1 had water injection in to cylinders to increase hp.

Chris300s

My Feedback: (1)

Water does not add horsepower. Combustion does not break H2O down into 1) H and 2) O's, it creates steam! ADI was, and still is injected into high performance or high altitude engines to prevent detonation by lowering the cylinder head temperatures. Water mixed with alcohol is injected in and on the engine to cool it. Look at any of the Reno recers up close for a detail.
As for the old fuel, I'd run it out on the test bench or dump it into your car's gas tank. Your car would see little difference between our alcohol based fuels and commercial Dry-Gas or other additives.

Chris

ooooo

Awww...c'mon now guys. 3yr old fuel.......I just used some I had last Saturday...works fine. Not a burp in the engine and it never knew the difference. I'd say...go ahead and fly with it. Most that can happen is a "dead stick" landing....which will increase your skills anywayz.

Chris300s

My Feedback: (1)

I second that, fly it! I shouldn't be the only one bringin' them in with the prop stopped.

Sport_Pilot

I'll second that! In fact that is exactly how you distill alcohol from wine. Both meth and ethyl. You will see the same from a new bottle of fuel. If any doubt get a new bottle of unopened fuel and set it next to the old. Wait for it to reach the same temperature. You will see condensation on the new fuel. Our fuel is almost as clear as water, the oil is what has color.

bigchap

IT'S EXCELLENT FOR LIGHTING BONFIRES.SERIOUSLY,THATS WHAT I DO WITH OLD FUEL.

Hircflyer

Great weed killer!