Ritch's Brew Bad Experience
 

My first experience with Ritch's Brew has been terrible. Gave me some very different fuel than what I ordered and paid for. I've made five phone calls and sent three e-mails in the last four weeks. Does not return the phone calls nor the e-mails. Not a good outfit from my experience. Of all the fuel brands out there I have never been treated so badly by any of the others, and I have purchased fuel from five or six different companies in the last fifteen years. Ritch's Brew is the wosrst. And I'm not even talking about the quality of the fuel. As it stands now I got fuel I can't even use so it appears I got screwed out of the price for a case of fuel. Just a warning out there if your going to make a fuel purchase you might want to think twice as to who you deal with. I'm sorry I ever switched from Powermaster. I won't make the same mistake twice. You live and you learn I guess. It's a shame that unscrupulous companies in this hobby are out there, but I'm sure that sooner or later their customer base shrinks as people get wise. [X(]

RE: Ritch's Brew Bad Experience
 

How do you know it's different?

What did you order and what did you get?

RE: Ritch's Brew Bad Experience
 

I know it's different because the case is marked as a different fuel than what I ordered and the company rep told me it is the wrong fuel. He also said he would send me the correct fuel, but in almost five weeks now he has not done what he said he would.

RE: Ritch's Brew Bad Experience
 

Did you return the fuel?

RE: Ritch's Brew Bad Experience
 

Gunga,
I met "Red" Ritch when I moved to the Houston area in 1974. His son Randy was pretty much in diapers. I bought fuel from his Dad back then and now that Randy has taken over the business about 8-10 years ago, the company is in the best shape ever. His operation is modern. His mixing process is computerized and top rate. His business practice is impeccable. I have no reason to doubt that something has slipped through the cracks somehow but I wonder a few things about this particular instance. I have heard the story of how things were a little different at Toledo this year. The fire marshal there in Toledo told all fuel vendors that they were not to dispense fuel off the show floor. I don't know if you were the gentleman involved in this instance but a case of fuel was paid for on the floor and then was picked up from out back of the arena by the customer. In this case the customer got his own fuel and left. He later called Ritch's Brew to say he had been given the wrong fuel and if I'm not mistaken, was given orders to dump the bad fuel, give it away, etc. I don't really know what was "bad" about the fuel other than it might not have been the type or percent nitro fuel the customer was wanting. He was offered a new case with free shipping. (I'm thinking somewhere around 100 dollar value on this) I'm the one that prepared another case of what I was told to re-send to the customer. I wasn't involved with labeling or addressing or general accounting procedures but I do know that this customer was offered this replacement case free of charge. I email Randy and help him out in his business every so often as any friend of his family would do. He's pretty easy to get a hold of on the phone too. If I have offended you or ticked you off in any way I'll be most happy to slit my wrists and jump off a cliff at the time of your choosing...... BUT! Behind the scenes, I think I tried to accommodate this customer (if it was you) in every professional way I could. Now....... If Ritch's Brew fuel is so horrible, I'll make it up to you. If you land long and dead stick any time in the next five years I'll go fetch it for you. If you snap your fingers, I'll appear from out of nowhere and tune your needle valve. If you dumb-thumb it in to terra-firma in the future, I'll bag it up, take it home and repair it for absolutely nothing and deliver it back to the flight line at the time of your choosing. OH WAIT A MINUTE! I won't be able to do any of this! My blood pressure is fading due to my slit wrists! I'm packing on a little humor here to tell you I'm truly sorry for your mis-adventure. How about calling this one a day and putting it to rest. And if we are lucky to gain your trust again, call us and we'll get the next order to your liking or so help me, I'm coming to your shop to do all your sanding, glassing and painting for the next ten years! (Gotta get my blood pressure up first)
ICEMAN:)

RE: Ritch's Brew Bad Experience
 

I've used Rich's fuel for several years. I've used 10, 15, & 20% nitro fuel with the synthetic-castor blend oil package. It has always worked great. Even some that I had setting around for four years. I bought it all at Toledo and always got exactly what I asked for. I picked it up off the back dock this year as stated above. The transaction seemed to go smoothly. The other two guys and I bought 5 cases together.

RE: Ritch's Brew Bad Experience
 

I cant vouch for rich's brews customer service but I did buy a case of it went in with a friend he ordered two cases one fo rme and one for him. I wont ever use it again I wasnt impressed at all with it. Not saying it didnt work but it wasnt up to par for my needs. I gave the balance of my case to my friend that went in on it with me.

RE: Ritch's Brew Bad Experience
 

Hey guys--My reason for the post was cause I was very unhappy about ordering a case of fuel with all synthetic oil and getting a case with 29% castor. Finally 5 or 6 weeks later I got another case of fuel from Randy at no charge to me. Better late than never. But this new case has no labels on the jugs telling me what kind of fuel I got. As a matter of fact it is exactly like the previous case of 29% castor, also with no label on the jugs. So I call Randy and tell him this stuff looks exactly like the wrong 29% castor stuff. He says if it has a majic marker writing on the jug it is the synthetic oil fuel. These jugs do have 10% written with a marker on them. So do the jugs on the first case which I thought and so did Randy think was the wrong fuel cause the case they came in also had written in a black marker pen, 29% all castor. So now Randy tells me someone probably used the box to put the fuel in and didn' think it was important enough to cross out the 29% all castor writing and re-write 20% all synthetic on the box with their black marker. Soooo I guess expecting each gallon of fuel to have a real genuine label on it telling the purchaser what they are getting is not the way things work with Ritch's Brew. But this does not make Randy Ritch a bad guy or a crook or anything nasty like that. My phone conversations with him have been decent and I don't want people to think he is unscrupulous, cause he really isn't. And I inferred that he was in one of my previous posts I think. So I take that back and apologize for saying it. What does all this mean. Well my experience dealing with this company was a little less than satisfactory and I don't think it is too much to ask for the jugs of fuel to have a label on them with the formula of nitro and oil. Cause if they did this whole problem that I have been dealing with since April would never have occured. So that's my story and I'm stickin to it.:)

RE: Ritch's Brew Bad Experience
 

I have never have had a bad experience with Ritch's Brew, it runs great.... As far as the Ritch's, they seem to be pretty decent folks, I see this in the way Randy runs his hobby shop and making good on items that have been misused or abused by the customer. Ritch's Brew has always been up to par for me my unlike what MUTT from CA states.

RE: Ritch's Brew Bad Experience
 

It's very difficult to mark plastic jugs of fuel in any way that will last. Most jugs sweat or leak very slightly in shipping and the label or magic marker will run or wipe off. I've had similar problems with several brands of fuel including Cool Power and Ritch's Brew. Metal cans seem easier to label.

I suggest that you donate the 29% castor fuel to a Control Line guy cause that is what they use and it is rather hard to find. You could also calculate what you need to mix with it to get to where you want to be. There are several good fuel mixing spreadsheets available to figure this out, it's not rocket science. Search RCU for fuel buddy.

I have been using Ritch's Brew for years with no problems. Good product, but NO BLING BLING magazine ads or Pro Sponsorships. If that sort of thing is important to you than this is the wrong fuel for you,

RE: Ritch's Brew Bad Experience
 

I am glad you have had good results with it. I myself personally have not. A few others out here dont care for it either. As I also said as for the ritches I can not comment as I have had no dealings with them myself. Not everyone will be happy with a product I am sure there are products I am happy with but you wouldnt be.

RE: Ritch's Brew Bad Experience
 

I think that Ritch's Brew is mixed by weight and not volume. If so, you end up with less nitro and oil when compared to some other fuels. Oil and nitro are expensive. Methanol is $2-3 buck a gallon.

RE: Ritch's Brew Bad Experience
 

I havent had any problem with the rich's brew service, most of our club members fly it in fact. One club member did test the 30% nitro full sythetic blen against magnum 30% heli fuel and his engine dropped 1000rpm with the rich's brew. It was a saito 180 spinning an apc 18x6. i dont know if this was a bad batch or what but that seems like a pretty significant drop off to me. Anyone else have similar results?

RE: Ritch's Brew Bad Experience
 

It's difficult to compare fuels unless you know the exact proportions of the components in the fuel. If you get more power with one fuel when compared to another it indicates that one fuel has more combustible material than the other. There are only three basic components, two are combustible, the third is a lubricant.

The more powerful fuel will have more "go" stuff and less oil. You don't get something for nothing! So you must decide if you want power or lubrication.

If two fuels have exactly the same mixture they will provide the same power.

Another thing to consider is the heat rating of your plug. A hotter plug will often have the same effect as hotter fuel.

RE: Ritch's Brew Bad Experience
 

You don't have to have less oil in your fuel to make more power. The majority of the fuel is methanol so a blend of say 5% nitro, 18% oil and 77% methanol would make less power than a blend of 30% nitro, 18% oil and 52% methanol. Both have the same amount of oil but the 30% nitro blend would make a lot more power. Since the higher nitro would make it necessary to run richer on the needle the oil content could be cut back and the engine would still be getting the same amount of oil per revolution.

RE: Ritch's Brew Bad Experience
 

Jezmo- You speak the truth- more nitro will produce more power.

However - In a previous post, a person compared two fuels with the same advertised amount of nitro. One fuel produced more power. The more powerful fuel had either more nitro or more alcohol or both, and probably less oil.

Some of the confusion is due to how components are measured when blended. Some manufacturers measure by weight and some by volume. The net amount of each component will be different. 30% nitro measured by weight is not the same as 30% nitro measured by volume.

A fuel that seems less powerful is not a reflection of the quality of the product but a reflection of the amount of burnable stuff (nitro or alcohol) in the fuel.

Fuel manufacturers WANT you to believe that their fuel produces more power than any other fuel, while at the same time providing more lubrication than any other fuel, while at the same time causing your engine to run cooler than any other fuel. Large magazine ads and pro sponsorships placed by fuel manufacturers serve to convince the masses that their fuel actually does all of this.

RE: Ritch's Brew Bad Experience
 

I think we're on the same page. All I was trying to point out was power is more a function of Nitro to Methanol ratio than burnables to oil. Like XJet, (He runs low oil percentages in his mixes) I have dropped the oil percentage to extremely low levels and found small amounts of power increase. That increase is nowhere near what I find when switching from 10% Nitro to 30% Nitro with the oil percentage remaining the same. As you said, mixing by volume as opposed to weight is not the same. It's like comparing apples to oranges.

RE: Ritch's Brew Bad Experience
 

We get a measurable improvement in performance by running 12% oil -- but remember that not all oil is created equal.

I suspect that part of the reason we see such an improvement is that we're running a higher quality oil that not only provides excellent protection at these low ratios but also reduces friction as well.

You only have to work out how fast the bits inside an engine are sliding back and forth to realise how much difference the viscosity and lubricity of an oil can make to the amount of power it puts out.

RE: Ritch's Brew Bad Experience
 

Hi XJet,

Complete agreement. I have dropped my oil percentages and gained power as well; I just didn't gain anywhere near as much power as going from 10% nitro to 30% nitro with the same oil content in both mixes. I am going to eventually try the good oil at low percentages in my E85 mix. I just want to take it one step at a time so I can document the results properly. My E85 mix is down on HP over methanol/nitro fuel even with the same nitro percentage. I am thinking that using the good oil at a lower percentage might get me most of that lost power back. It's not very much anyway. (In the world of big business this stuff is called Research and Development, I call it fun)

Hope you have a great day.

RE: Ritch's Brew Bad Experience
 

XJET--So what is your "higher quality oil" may I ask.;)

RE: Ritch's Brew Bad Experience
 

Well, it's sorta like Rocket Science. You can't simply mix ""a cup of this and a cup of that"" to get a 50/50 mixture! Mixtures of fuels, enhancer, additives, and oils must be done as a Molar Percentage. The percentage of components is a function of the requirements the mixture is supposed to fulfil. A blend must be calculated as a function of mass, and converted to something easy to use, like weight or volume. A full understanding of the difference between volume, weight, mass is really very important.

RE: Ritch's Brew Bad Experience
 

Oh my !!![X(]

RE: Ritch's Brew Bad Experience
 

Cooper's Plus C oil. Their website is at [link=http://www.cooperfuels.com]cooperfuels.com[/link]

We've now got engines that have been running for over a year on fuel blended with 12% of this stuff and they're just like new inside.

RE: Ritch's Brew Bad Experience
 

I do not have any problem knowing what you say is true. I can remember back in the days when a team who flew FAI team race as it was then known running 10% oil in their fuel, and I used to run 15% in my combat fuel with similar results as you describe. If the oil is doing it's job 18 to 20% is not usually needed.

RE: Ritch's Brew Bad Experience
 

Did you ever get this resolved? I have used Ritch's for a few gallons now and I am very happy with how my truck runs on it.

*